Anna Reynolds

October 02, 2013 | International Edition

Fountain Court Chambers has elected Stephen Moriarty QC as head of chambers, succeeding Tim Dutton QC who has completed his five-year term. Dutton (pictured) will continue in full time practice at Fountain Court.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

September 30, 2013 | International Edition

Berwin Leighton Paisner has confirmed its average profit per equity partner (PEP) figure for 2012/13 has dropped by nearly 40%, as previously reported by Legal Week in its UK Top 50 Following months of speculation about the scale of its profit decline BLP has revealed that this year's PEP figure stands at £401,000, down 39% from £660,000 in 2011/12. In addition net profit dropped 38% to £39.4m, from £63.6m last year.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

September 30, 2013 | International Edition

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer managing partner Ted Burke will leave the firm next year to become general counsel and chief operating officer at US private equity firm Arclight Capital.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

September 26, 2013 | International Edition

Ashurst and Norton Rose Fulbright have landed key roles on the creation of the world's largest solar power plant, which is under construction in Ouarzazate, Morocco. Ashurst advised the project company ACWA Power on the development and financing of the first phase of the programme, with a team led by energy partner David Wadham and finance partner James Coiley. ACWA Power will sell the plant's output to the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) under a 25-year power purchase agreement. Masen currently owns 25% of ACWA Power. Norton Rose Fulbright advised Masen, with global head of energy Simon Currie taking the lead role.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

September 26, 2013 | International Edition

Lawrence Graham has agreed terms for a formal referral arrangement with Indian law firm Naik Naik & Company. The firm has had an informal relationship with Naik Naik since 2010 and has a number of common clients. The non-exclusive agreement will focus on strengthening the referral arrangements between the firms as well as developing new opportunities for referrals across both firms' corporate, commercial, litigation and real estate groups.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

September 26, 2013 | International Edition

Herbert Smith Freehills is set to introduce a merit-based element to partner pay as part of its post-merger restructuring, in a clear departure from legacy Herbert Smith's rigid eight-year lockstep. The system will take into account a number of factors including financial performance and business development, engagement with staff, client servicing and contribution to the success of others, bringing the firm closer to merger partner Freehills' system, which is more heavily linked to individual performance. The new 'balanced scorecard' system has been given the go-ahead by management and comes as proposals on the wider remuneration structure are due to be put to partners.

By Anna Reynolds

4 minute read

September 26, 2013 | International Edition

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is mulling the use of a new legal project management service being piloted by Lawyers on Demand (LoD) as an alternative to launching its own outsourced process centre. LoD – BLP's flexible working business – is launching a trial of a new service that will see it provide full teams of lawyers to take over the routine work on larger projects, with LoD acting as the project manager. The LoD service currently provides individual lawyers to clients either on a secondment basis or a pay-as-you-go service dubbed LoD On Call, giving clients access to legal help remotely to manage surges in workload.

By Anna Reynolds

3 minute read

September 26, 2013 | International Edition

Lord Justice Leveson, best known for his inquiry into the media's phone hacking scandal, has been appointed president of the Queen's Bench Division. Sir Brian Leveson will take up the position on 1 October 2013 and replace Sir John Thomas, who -succeeds Lord Justice Judge as Lord Chief Justice.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

September 26, 2013 | International Edition

The full financial integration of Ashurst and its Australian arm has been approved by both partnerships and will take effect on 1 November 2013. The vote – which opened on 10 September for Ashurst partners – closed this morning and required a 75% majority for the combination to go ahead.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read

September 24, 2013 | International Edition

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has kicked off the process to appoint new leadership with current joint CEOs David Willis and Gavin Bell retiring from the firm. Willis and Bell, who have been in the roles since the legacy firms Herbert Smith and Freehills merged in October 2012, will step down in April 2014. The Herbert Smith Freehills Global Council - the firm's governance body - will decide whether the dual role will be replaced by a single CEO or whether the role will continue to be undertaken jointly, with the appointments process expected to be completed by the end of the year. Before merger talks between Herbert Smith and Freehills began, Willis' term as managing partner of Herbert Smith had been due to end in April 2013. He agreed to a 1-year extension because of the merger.

By Anna Reynolds

2 minute read