Anna Reynolds

June 17, 2013 | International Edition

Hogan Lovells hired Rupert Shiers as head of its direct tax disputes practice. Shiers, who will start at Hogan Lovells on Monday 24 June, is top ranked in the UK by Chambers and Partners and joins the firm from Herbert Smith Freehills. Shiers has led tax litigation in the UK Tax Tribunal, English Courts and European Court of Justice and has advised in clients including Philips and Legal & General.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

June 13, 2013 | International Edition

Linklaters has hired rated antitrust lawyer Clara Ingen-Housz from Baker & McKenzie for the magic circle's Hong Kong office. Ingen-Housz, who is ranked band two by Chambers and Partners for China antitrust work, will join Linklaters in October in a boost for its pan-Asian practice. The firm's existing China competition practice will continue to be led by Fay Zhou and Cheng Yuan in Beijing.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

June 13, 2013 | International Edition

Macfarlanes has strengthened its commercial real estate practice with the hire of Shearman & Sterling partner Clare Breeze. Breeze, who is due to join at the firm in the beginning of July, has been a partner at Shearman since 2009, and has acted for a range of developer and investor clients including Stanhope, AIG and Argent Estates.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

June 12, 2013 | International Edition

Ashurst is set to launch a new low cost centre in Scotland, in a move which will see London business support roles placed at risk of redundancy. The new Glasgow base, which will open later this year, will house 150 support roles, including 30 legal analysts and 120 business support roles, with the firm set to recruit heavily in the Scottish market.

By Anna Reynolds

4 minute read

June 12, 2013 | International Edition

Linklaters carried out an internal investigation in the wake of complaints of fraudulent billing lodged against the firm by a former paralegal, an employment tribunal heard yesterday (11 June). The firm last year carried out a one week investigation within its London legal services centre into the allegations after Ali Hussain, who joined Linklaters on a temporary paralegal contract in 2009 and was offered a fixed term position in May 2011, claimed former manager Hasan Bayat was fraudulently billing for time when he was not working.

By Anna Reynolds

3 minute read

June 10, 2013 | International Edition

Linklaters is today (10 June) facing an employment tribunal claim brought against the firm by a former paralegal. The hearing, which is taking place in the London Central tribunal, has been brought against the firm by former paralegal Ali Hussain.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

June 06, 2013 | International Edition

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and SJ Berwin have tucked into roles on the bidding for burger chain Byron, which has seen the owner of YO! Sushi emerge as a potential acquirer. Byron's parent company Gondola Holdings, which is owned by private equity giant Cinven, has teamed up with DC Advisory Partners to sell the fast-growing burger business, which is reportedly valued at £100m. Freshfields is acting for longstanding client Cinven, led by corporate partner Adrian Maguire.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

June 06, 2013 | International Edition

Real estate is set to be heavily affected by Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP's) recently announced redundancy plans, with one third of the planned lawyer cuts set to hit the firm's property and planning teams. The UK top 15 firm last month put around 100 jobs at risk of redundancy, including 58 legal roles. It has now emerged that roughly 17 of the lawyer positions are in the real estate team, with a further three roles at risk in the planning department. It is understood that the firm may try to move some of the lawyers at risk of redundancy into its Lawyers On Demand service. Meanwhile, partners have said profits per equity partner (PEP) could be down by as much as 50% this year, against broadly static revenues. This could take PEP down to around £330,000, compared with a figure of £660,000 in 2011-12, when profits fell by 7%.

By Anna Reynolds

3 minute read

June 06, 2013 | International Edition

The UK's top 100 law firms saw revenue growth in 2012-13 fall to less than half of that seen last year, with fee income across the group climbing by just 2.6%, as confirmation of the first formal financial results begins to trickle out from the country's top firms. Deloitte's latest quarterly law firm survey found the UK top 100 concluded 2012-13 with a year-on-year Q4 turnover increase of 2.4% – the slowest quarterly growth since October 2010. The average fee income increase of 2.6% across the group for the full financial year – which compares with growth of 6.6% last year – masks a host of disparities between firms. Notably, those in the top 10 saw revenues climb by only 1.5%, compared with 4% in the 11-25 category and 2% in the 26-50 group.

By Anna Reynolds

5 minute read

June 06, 2013 | International Edition

Travers Smith has reached a financial settlement with a former trainee who successfully brought a case against the firm after she was denied a permanent role when she fell pregnant during her final seat. Katie Tantum instructed law firm Leigh Day to launch her case in February after failing to gain a newly-qualified position in Travers' real estate department.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read