Alex Aldridge

March 23, 2011 | International Edition

As mainstream media shies away from legal coverage, Joshua Rozenberg talks to Alex Aldridge about the 20 years under his belt that have made him the UK's best-known legal commentator

By Alex Aldridge

12 minute read

February 22, 2011 | International Edition

"People are realising that a single event - even a major one - isn't enough to throw emerging markets off course anymore," remarks Ashar Qureshi, vice chairman of Renaissance Group, the Russia-based investment bank specialising in investments in the CIS and Africa. "Take Egypt, where we have investments and trade securities," he continues. "Despite the crisis, stocks in companies based there haven't shown the fragility many assumed they would." Qureshi's involvement with emerging markets work dates back to the early 1990s, when he was drafted onto the privatisation of Mexican telecoms company Telmex as a junior associate in Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton's New York office. "Emerging markets comes naturally to me. Maybe it's something to do with being brought up in Pakistan," he says. His specialism in this area gathered pace when, aged 27, he left the Big Apple to take up a role in Cleary's highly-regarded London capital markets team.

By Alex Aldridge

6 minute read

February 08, 2011 | International Edition

Sitting just off junction nine of the M27 between Southampton and Portsmouth is the unglamorous Segensworth business park, where for the last two years Blake Lapthorn - the 60th largest law firm in the UK - has paid £450,000 to rent vacant office space. When the firm moved into New Kings Court on the outskirts of Southampton as part of a consolidation following a series of mergers, managing partner Walter Cha thought he would be able to sublet the space. But unsurprisingly, he hadn't counted on a global banking crisis and the subsequent recession. It was costs such as these that saw Blake Lapthorn's profit per equity partner (PEP) fall to just £65,000 in its 2008-09 year. Although this figure has since risen to £116,000, it is still well short of the UK top 51-75 law firm peer group average of £276,000.

By Alex Aldridge

24 minute read

January 19, 2011 | International Edition

Last summer, Financial Times (FT) general counsel Tim Bratton hired a meeting room for four days in a building around the corner from the daily business newspaper's Southwark headquarters. "I wanted the legal team to take a few days out of the office together in order to have an inward look at the way we function," he says. During those few days Bratton and the six lawyers who report to him "questioned every step of the in-house legal process".

By Alex Aldridge

6 minute read

December 07, 2010 | International Edition

At first glance, Michael Meyer's daily routine - which sees him work 8am to 9pm out of offices in Moorgate in central London, punctuated with frequent business trips abroad - is much like that of a partner at a major law firm or senior in-house lawyer at a FTSE 100 company. But the days of the British Red Cross' head of international law are filled with rather different concerns.

By Alex Aldridge

6 minute read

November 23, 2010 | International Edition

'Core values' is a theme that traditionally features heavily at the Bar Council's annual conference. This year - with deep cuts looming to legal aid and huge upheaval expected with the implementation in 2011 of the Legal Services Act (LSA) - was no exception. Speakers including Kim Hollis QC and Lord Neuberger paid customary tribute to the concept, before Mayor of London Boris Johnson took to the stage to deliver a gag-filled address. With laughter still echoing around the Hilton Metropole on Edgware Road, delegates filed out into a foyer full of stalls from upmarket wealth management and luxury goods companies.

By Alex Aldridge

29 minute read

November 09, 2010 | International Edition

With compliance and risk management having soared up the agenda since the financial crisis, in-house lawyers have rarely been so in demand. At the same time, in a tough economic climate, rarely have they been forced to operate under such cost pressures. It was this paradox around which the debate centred at Legal Week's Corporate Counsel Forum Europe, held in September at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hampshire.

By Alex Aldridge

6 minute read

November 04, 2010 | International Edition

Missing out on a training contract with a leading firm doesn't mean you'll never make it to the top. Alex Aldridge meets four lawyers whose careers have veered away from the conventional path

By Alex Aldridge

6 minute read

November 02, 2010 | International Edition

Third-party LPOs aren't the only ones in the outsourcing game. Alex Aldridge speaks to Unilever about its decision to use Baker & McKenzie to do its low-cost work

By Alex Aldridge

5 minute read

October 22, 2010 | International Edition

BPP Law School is set to open up new branches in Cambridge, Newcastle and Liverpool next year, it has been confirmed. The centres will primarily deliver the Legal Practice Course (LPC), which will be taught both full and part-time. They will also provide distance learning support classes for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). The new branches are still subject to validation from the SRA.

By Alex Aldridge

2 minute read