SRA vs top UK firms: Simpson Thacher latest in wave of regulatory stand-offs
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is not alone in facing scrutiny from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), with six UK200 firms and another US50 firm coming under pressure from the regulator since 2021. Here’s how they fared. As revealed on Monday, Simpson Thacher’s London office has been accused of not having in place a compliant firmwide […]
Trowers hires business transformation team to hit £230m target
Trowers & Hamlins has recruited a business transformation team to ensure the firm meets its 2030 revenue target of £230m, as the firm reported 5 per cent revenue growth last year. The firm generated revenue of £142.3m in the 2023/24 financial year, which means it needs to grow its top line by 62 per cent […]
A&O trainee sells AI business to Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters has acquired a UK-based AI start-up that was founded by an Allen & Overy Shearman trainee two years ago. The target – Safe Sign Technologies – focuses on legal-specific use cases for large language models. This deal is part of an $8bn budget Thomson Reuters announced it had to spend on AI-focused deals […]
TDR Capital general counsel joins Paul Weiss
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison is expanding its private equity team with an in-house hire. The general counsel of TDR Capital, David Holdsworth, has joined the law firm after one year and eight months in-house. Prior to that, he was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis for six years, where he was TDR’s longstanding […]
Revealed: the quarter-billion-pound payday for Post Office scandal lawyers
The Post Office paid out a quarter of a billion pounds in legal fees in relation to the Horizon IT scandal, The Lawyer can reveal. A Freedom of Information request made by The Lawyer to the Post Office has revealed £256.9m was paid to 15 law firms and two barristers’ chambers between September 2014 and […]
UK Corporate 50 2024
This report contains: an overview of the UK corporate market in 2023 and the positive shift in mood among lawyers at top corporate practices ranking of the top 50 City firms based on UK corporate revenue, highlighting those achieving significant growth insight into firms’ strategic plans for its UK corporate group over the next five years
3VB AND TWENTY ESSEX: HOT ON THE HEELS OF THE MAGIC CIRCLE
This report contains: A history of the dominance of the magic circle sets an analysis of the two challengers to the magic circle a breakdown of the sets’ activity at the commercial court over the years
The European 100’s newest managing partners
This report includes: an analysis of 18 European 100 firms that have seen new managing partners since the start of 2023 a consultant’s top tips for an MP-t0-be an overview of the trends in the European 100 leadership selection
Litigation Tracker: Q2 2024 (Claims)
This dashboard: contains an overview of the claims at a selection of courts in the UK. allows you to compare activity at the courts in Q2 2024 against Q2 2023.
Litigation Tracker: Q2 2024 (Judgments)
This dashboard: contains an overview of the judgments at a selection of courts in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai during Q2of 2024. allows you to compare activity at the courts in Q2 2024 against Q1 2023.
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The firm that could win the sports law gold
And just like that, the Olympics are coming to an end. A bit of a comedown for many, but not for the sports lawyers of Northridge Law. Within the space of two Olympic cycles, the sports boutique has cemented itself as, just possibly, the most heavyweight sports team in the country, hop, skipping and jumping […]
The UK has three new £100m firms
An old-school Lincoln’s Inn firm with royal connections. A media-savvy employment specialist. And a full-service regional outfit with a non-lawyer CEO. The similarities aren’t immediately apparent but Farrer & Co, Lewis Silkin and Birketts all passed £100m in revenue in 2023/24, leaving rivals trailing in their wake. That’s what’s so impressive about these three firms. […]
This duo is having another crack at Leeds
In recent years, Leeds has become a hotbed for new players in the legal arena. And so the burning question old-timers have been asking is: what are their ambitions and how’s that going to affect us? Well, Gowling WLG appears content with its real estate team from Womble Bond Dickinson and has no major expansion […]
The firms set to cash in on Labour’s employment reforms
The Lawyer’s UK200 has relatively few truly specialist firms. There are a handful of big litigation, personal injury and insurance beasts, like Stewarts, Digby Brown and Keoghs. Sackers focuses on pensions; Stowe and Vardags on family, but the bottom end of the annual ranking of the UK’s largest firms is dominated by regional independents doing […]
Sidley, an unsung private equity shop
Chances are, when asked to name a private equity law firm in the City your first thought would turn to Kirkland, Latham or Simpson Thacher. Hands up who said Sidley? Thought as much. But here’s a data nugget for you. Over the past decade, Sidley’s global private equity-related fee income is thought to have risen […]
Ward Hadaway’s Newcastle offices get open-plan makeover
Ward Hadaway is set to transform both its Newcastle offices into open-plan spaces to enhance hybrid working and maximise occupancy. The firm has been operating out of both Sandgate House and Keel Row House by the River Tyne for years, with teams split across the two buildings. Keel Row House is the more modern of […]
Sicily yacht tragedy: Clifford Chance “in shock” as partner remains missing
Clifford Chance has released a statement saying it is “in shock and deeply saddened” as one of its New York partners remains missing following the sinking of superyacht Bayesian yesterday. Christopher Morvillo, a white collar and investigations partner based in New York, joined Clifford Chance in 2011 from Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason Anello & Bohrer. […]
Ex-BHS directors liable for £110m, judge rules
Two former directors of retailer BHS have been found liable for over £110m in a judgment handed down yesterday (19 August) by Mr Justice Leech at the High Court. This comes as part of one of the largest insolvency litigation set pieces that went to trial through the end of last year and the beginning […]
Linklaters hits White & Case in Stockholm for new banking head
Linklaters has made its first lateral hire in Sweden for two years, recruiting a new head of its banking and finance practice from White & Case. Magnus Wennerhorn joins the magic circle firm having previously been co-head of White & Case’s debt finance practice in the Swedish capital. Wennerhorn spent almost two decades at his […]
Debt rises across the UK200 as HMRC reforms bite
The cash boom that many firms enjoyed during the Covid-19 pandemic has been replaced with a surge in borrowing as costs rise and firms ready themselves for equity partner tax reforms. Early analysis of 2023/24 reveals that at least 20 per cent of the UK200 firms (43 of 200) increased their borrowings last year, while […]