Legal Week

June 10, 2009 | International Edition

Japanese banking giant Nomura has completed an overhaul of its in-house legal team following last year's takeover of Lehman Brothers' European and Middle Eastern equities and investment banking businesses. The combined legal department is to be overseen by European general counsels Mark Chapman and Piers Le Marchant, who was previously managing director of legal at Lehman.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

June 10, 2009 | International Edition

Wragge & Co has unveiled its 2008-09 financial results and announced a second redundancy round set to affect up to 85 people. The national firm has reported a 17% drop in turnover for the last financial year, with revenues falling from £125m in 2007-08 to £104.3m. The firm is yet to finalise its average profits per equity partner. Wragges has also launched a redundancy consultation, as well as announcing a range of cost-saving measures. Up to 85 people could lose their jobs as a result of the 30-day consultation, including fee earners, support staff and secretaries. Those that remain with the firm will see their salaries frozen.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

June 10, 2009 | International Edition

Reed Smith's veteran chief, Greg Jordan, has defeated a leadership challenge that threatened to end his nine-year run at the helm of the top 25 US law firm. Philadelphia-based employment partner John DiNome has decided he will no longer run against Jordan to serve as the firm's global managing partner and chairman of its executive team.

By Legal Week

4 minute read

June 10, 2009 | International Edition

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has temporarily reduced pay for some associates and counsel based on productivity levels, in the latest sign that big firms are questioning their traditional compensation models, writes The Recorder. The firm would not confirm how many of its 200 associates have been affected, or by how much their pay was reduced. Some reports have suggested pay has been cut by 10%-20%; however, the firm said these figures were "not entirely correct".

By Legal Week

2 minute read

June 09, 2009 | International Edition

Regular readers will have noticed legalweek.com has gone through a substantial upgrade this week, its second since its groundbreaking relaunch in 2007. I'll spare you most of the back-room jargon beyond saying that the primary reason was to move our web operating system to a new and much-improved platform, but the switch has allowed us to review a number of elements of the site.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

June 07, 2009 | International Edition

Among international law firms in China, 'outbound' work - representing Chinese companies looking abroad for investments and acquisitions as opposed to multinationals entering the Chinese market - has long been hailed as the next big thing. But the rejection this week of the largest such outbound China deal yet highlights continuing challenges to growth in the practice.

By Legal Week

4 minute read

June 03, 2009 | International Edition

Should clients get used to paying more for a partner's time? It seems a bizarre idea in this market, but it sprung to mind recently while taking one of my periodic online bashings from readers angry that I encouraged their employing law firms to freeze salaries. The background is this: clients quite often resent the salaries paid to assistants, generally for two reasons. Firstly, during booms they have seen assistant salaries rise sharply at the same time as their own bills have risen, so they think they're footing the bill. Secondly, they reckon they are paying a lot of money for relatively inexperienced novices.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

June 02, 2009 | International Edition

Are you fighting for survival at your firm? The recession has brought about a lot of changes to the legal sector - and led to a myriad of internal battles in many law firms. The big picture is that firms have been forced to reconsider their structures, pricing and business development strategies in order to get through the difficult times. The smaller picture is internal conflicts fuelled by insufficient volumes of work (which do not allow everyone to achieve even the most modest targets), variable quality of work and, more generally, a deep-set insecurity about the future. Office battles, unlike street fights, are of a covert nature. But they are no less bloody. They have affected lawyers of various levels of experience - from trainees to senior associates and partners. In some instances they have gone way beyond what can be described as 'healthy competition'.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

May 27, 2009 | International Edition

If anyone doubted Legal Week's recent assertion that law firms would this year be concerned with managing client expectations over the awkward level of their profits, one only has to glance at the official statements from Lovells and Eversheds this week accompanying their 2008-09 results.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

May 26, 2009 | International Edition

There's a lot of pontificating about how lawyers should get those all-important client relationships right (or at least a little less wrong than they often manage). Personally, I suspect the main ingredients are mutual respect, good communication and an understanding that a relationship is a two-way thing. But the purpose of this blog is not for me to come up with an answer. Instead, I'd like to flag up the answer of someone more qualified at a recent industry debate I attended on the future of the profession. These things are usually pretty turgid, but I thought it turned out pretty well in this case. And the standout comment came when a senior lawyer with a major UK bank was asked how external advisers get the relationship right. I thought his response was one of the best answers to that familiar question I've heard. So here it is:

By Legal Week

3 minute read