Legal Week

February 19, 2009 | International Edition

It's starting to look like we have entered the realms of competitive restructuring. Clifford Chance starts with a redundancy and capital call, Linklaters throws a partnership restructuring into the mix and then Freshfields comes up with a salary freeze. So Allen & Overy's (A&O's) options to go one better looked somewhat limited, but they managed it by matching all of the above and raising it with a freeze in billing rates at 2008 levels (we'll get to that later), hiving off private client and reviewing the positions of 35 equity partners. Short of shutting the banking practice, there wasn't much left on the table.

By Legal Week

4 minute read

February 19, 2009 | International Edition

A raft of regional law firms have joined a new national network designed to take advantage of changes set to be ushered in by the Legal Services Act (LSA). The Legal Alliance (TLA) will focus on marketing a range of legal services provided by the member firms using a single unified brand.The group will work closely with major companies offer post-LSA legal services to both customers and employees.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

February 18, 2009 | International Edition

You have to give the QC system credit - no matter how many times it's predicted to be on the way out, just like the Terminator, it keeps coming back for more. And the current round, announced today, appears to be winning more support at the Bar after the two earlier rounds of the relaunched QC kitemark were met with criticism for an unwieldy and expensive applications process. By general consent, the revised and slimmed-down version has been an improvement, even if the new version has come at a considerable cost – around £6,000 for successful applicants.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

February 16, 2009 | International Edition

After the cut comes the job hunt. There was a time when the partners due to be shown the exit from the likes of Ashurst, Clifford Chance and Linklaters would have gravitated naturally to one of the legions of US firms looking to aggressively grow their business in London. In the current climate, such moves look far less assured. If they're not seeing them already, recruiters soon will notice partner CVs fluttering around the City like confetti. Despite the economic conditions, there are still a number of US firms eager to grow their London outposts, although there are far more caveats now.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

February 11, 2009 | International Edition

In an economic climate in which public confidence in competitive markets appears to have been dented, 2009 looks set to be a challenging year for those engaged in enforcing and applying competition law and policy. "Micro-surgery rather than drastic amputation" is how John Fingleton, chief executive officer of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has characterised his desire for an appropriate policy response to the credit crunch and recession, with competition authorities needing to be "both pragmatic and flexible in their application of competition policy" and yet recognising the benefits that effective competition enforcement brings.

By Legal Week

7 minute read

February 03, 2009 | International Edition

Now in its 6th year this report will concentrate on associates and partners in the UK top 50 and the 10 largest international/US firms in London. They…

By Legal Week

2 minute read

January 28, 2009 | International Edition

Slaughters' Charles Randell on naval dreams, moral dilemmas and keeping sight of the big picture

By Legal Week

4 minute read

January 15, 2009 | International Edition

City firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) has signed an exclusive deal with BPPlaw school. The agreement will see all of RPC's future trainees studying the Legal Practice Course (LPC) with BPP from September this year. The course will be specifically tailored to RPC's needs. The deal makes RPC the latest in a stream of firms to sign exclusive training agreements with individual law schools, with BPP running programmes for 12 firms. Last September, the City LPC consortium of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Lovells, Norton Rose, and Slaughter and May extended their relationship with BPP by agreeing to send all their Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) students to the school.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

January 12, 2009 | International Edition

DWF has re-elected current managing partner Andrew Leaitherland to a second three-year term. Leaitherland, who was elected unopposed, will lead the firm until 2012 after being originally appointed as the firm's first managing partner in January 2006.Leaitherland (pictured) said: "We have a strategy in place to become a top 30 firm by 2010 and our clear focus will be to try to deliver on that and are hoping to push our turnover to around £62m in the coming year."

By Legal Week

2 minute read

January 12, 2009 | International Edition

I qualified in February last year into corporate law and have recently been made redundant. I have been looking for NQ positions for some time now, but have so far not had any success. I am now wondering whether I should broaden my search to paralegal roles given the current economic situation. I'm afraid that, as a qualified lawyer, working as a paralegal may not look good on my CV. I'm in two minds - do I continue searching for a qualified role and waste valuable time or do I try and gain some experience as a paralegal?

By Legal Week

1 minute read