Georgina Stanley

July 19, 2012 | Legal Week

"While UK practices are still continuing their developing markets push, behind the scenes attention had already started shifting back to the perpetual elephant in the room: cracking the US market..."

By Georgina Stanley

14 minute read

July 12, 2012 | Legal Week

"Lawyers are good at words, not numbers, so bringing in external people will have a transformative impact," predicts former Dragons' Den star, and chief executive of buyout house Hamilton Bradshaw, James Caan of his investment in Midlands practice Knights Solicitors. The deal, announced in June after months of research by Hamilton Bradshaw, will see Caan sitting on the board of Knights with the expectation that his name, combined with the investment, will catapult Knights into the top 100 UK law firms by revenue within three to five years.

By Georgina Stanley

13 minute read

July 12, 2012 | International Edition

"Lawyers are good at words, not numbers, so bringing in external people will have a transformative impact," predicts former Dragons' Den star, and chief executive of buyout house Hamilton Bradshaw, James Caan of his investment in Midlands practice Knights Solicitors. The deal, announced in June after months of research by Hamilton Bradshaw, will see Caan sitting on the board of Knights with the expectation that his name, combined with the investment, will catapult Knights into the top 100 UK law firms by revenue within three to five years.

By Georgina Stanley

6 minute read

July 05, 2012 | Legal Week

For a firm that has at times appeared near-paralysed by indecision, division and lack of leadership, Herbert Smith is certainly making an emphatic statement with its full financial merger with Freehills. True, the firm procrastinated in Europe to the point where belated attempts to make ground ended in public reversal.

By Georgina Stanley

7 minute read

July 05, 2012 | International Edition

For a firm that has at times appeared near-paralysed by indecision, division and lack of leadership, Herbert Smith is certainly making an emphatic statement with its full financial merger with Freehills. True, the firm procrastinated in Europe to the point where belated attempts to make ground ended in public reversal.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

June 21, 2012 | International Edition

Ruthless restructurings and obsessive performance monitoring means it has been a long time since aspiring lawyers have been able to relax once that elusive partner promotion is landed. Spare a thought in particular for those made up in corporate, though, who face a greater challenge than most. Cheyne, Boardman, Rawlinson, Lawes – a quick glance through Chambers' current rankings of M&A advisers points to a notable trend: the absence of partners under 45 who have yet achieved the kind of stellar reputations that City law firms used to build their brands on. Partly this is the inevitable result of market perception lingering past the point that top corporate advisers are either winding down or grudgingly shouldering more management. But it is more than that.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

June 21, 2012 | Legal Week

Ruthless restructurings and obsessive performance monitoring means it has been a long time since aspiring lawyers have been able to relax once that elusive partner promotion is landed. Spare a thought in particular for those made up in corporate, though, who face a greater challenge than most. Cheyne, Boardman, Rawlinson, Lawes – a quick glance through Chambers' current rankings of M&A advisers points to a notable trend: the absence of partners under 45 who have yet achieved the kind of stellar reputations that City law firms used to build their brands on. Partly this is the inevitable result of market perception lingering past the point that top corporate advisers are either winding down or grudgingly shouldering more management. But it is more than that.

By Georgina Stanley

7 minute read

June 14, 2012 | International Edition

"You know there's a change in the mood when a firm as conservative as Freshfields gets around to shifting its policy. So recent news that the firm has doubled its partner notice period reflects a growing unease among City firms..."

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

June 14, 2012 | Legal Week

"You know there's a change in the mood when a firm as conservative as Freshfields gets around to shifting its policy. So recent news that the firm has doubled its partner notice period reflects a growing unease among City firms..."

By Georgina Stanley

12 minute read

June 07, 2012 | Legal Week

"Even CC's harshest critic would find it hard to dispute that, at a time when M&A activity remains in the doldrums, the firm has managed to secure an impressive run of roles on some of the most high-profile deals of the year..."

By Ben Wheway

13 minute read