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International Edition

DLA chairman Angel to be replaced by Knowles in management shake-up

DLA Piper's co-chairman Tony Angel is to step down from his role next year, as part of a major shake-up of senior leadership which will see co-CEO Sir Nigel Knowles take over the chairman position.
4 minute read

International Edition

Allen & Overy launches in Barcelona with Freshfields partner hire

Allen & Overy (A&O) has poached Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate partner Toni Valverde to lead its newly launched Barcelona office, the magic circle firm's second Spanish base.
2 minute read

International Edition

Stephenson Harwood's London secretaries to face redundancy round

Stephenson Harwood is to conduct a redundancy round for support staff in its London office, following a review of its secretarial and document production functions.
2 minute read

International Edition

CC - change ninjas? How the magic circle firm is shaking up its work processes

'Applying Continuous Improvement to high-end legal services' is Clifford Chance's (CC's) white paper on the application of lean and Six Sigma techniques to their business. Black belt naffery aside (yikes, the Six Sigma ninjas will be out to improve me), it's an interesting introduction to continuous improvement ideas and there are one or two interesting examples.
5 minute read

International Edition

Ashurst appoints final board member as Beddow stands down

Ashurst has finalised its global management team with the election of disputes partner Angela Pearson to the board. Pearson's three-year term began on 31 January with the appointment bringing the total number of board members to 14.
1 minute read

International Edition

Is Weil's partner exodus a sign trouble is brewing at the firm's London office?

When Weil Gotshal & Manges last year announced 170 redundancies across its associate and support staff ranks, the market was shocked but viewed it as a difficult but necessary decision. A drop in high-profile restructuring and litigation work had contributed to flat global revenues for 2012 against a nearly 9% fall in profits. Executive partner Barry Wolf admitted at the time of announcing the cuts that some partners may decide to leave as a result of "meaningful compensation adjustments for certain partners" due to the changes in the economy, but no numbers were referenced. Since then more than 30 partners – equating to around a tenth of the global partnership – have left. This included at least 17 partners packing up in Houston and Dallas, as well as several senior partners from the firm's east coast bases. Market sentiment suggests at least some of the senior departures represent collateral damage.
5 minute read

International Edition

The compass points south – how do in-house legal teams in Africa rate their external advisers?

Ian Isdale, group company secretary and general counsel of leading African food and consumer goods company Tiger Brands and immediate past president of the Corporate Lawyers Association of South Africa, is putting it mildly when he says: "There has been a heightened interest in Africa and in the next five years I don't see that interest waning." Recent years have seen a host of UK and US law firms – ranging from Norton Rose Fulbright and Linklaters to Hogan Lovells and even Slaughter and May – attempting to come up with ways to penetrate a market where activity levels have remained buoyant, despite economic challenges elsewhere in the world. So with law firms and corporates increasingly turning their attention south, Legal Week Intelligence has, for the first time, extended its flagship Client Satisfaction Report to Africa, to uncover the key trends affecting in-house legal teams in the continent and their satisfaction with external legal advisers
15 minute read

Legal Week

Leaner, faster, stronger – the importance of getting the basics right

Not being the sexiest of topics, Clifford Chance's (CC) publication last week of a white paper on 'continuous improvement in the legal sector' probably escaped most people's notice. But before you switch off completely, it is worth considering that the magic circle firm's five-year efficiency drive has cut client bills or the amount CC writes off by 15% – more in some cases. The paper, which summarises what CC has learned over the course of the programme, also claims the firm has sped up some projects and processes by 50%. These are the kind of numbers that grab the attention of cash-strapped clients.
6 minute read

International Edition

Leaner, faster, stronger – the importance of getting the basics right

Not being the sexiest of topics, Clifford Chance's (CC) publication last week of a white paper on 'continuous improvement in the legal sector' probably escaped most people's notice. But before you switch off completely, it is worth considering that the magic circle firm's five-year efficiency drive has cut client bills or the amount CC writes off by 15% – more in some cases. The paper, which summarises what CC has learned over the course of the programme, also claims the firm has sped up some projects and processes by 50%. These are the kind of numbers that grab the attention of cash-strapped clients.
3 minute read

International Edition

Should cyber security standards be imposed by regulation or left to discretion?

Late last year London's largest financial institutions stress-tested their cyber security resilience with a series of 'war games' co-ordinated by financial regulators and Government officials. Bank staff had to respond to several simulated cyber incident scenarios, which included challenges such as the availability of cash from ATMs and coping with a liquidity freeze in the wholesale market. Dubbed 'Operation Waking Shark II', the simulation – one of the largest ever conducted – emphasises the potential severity of cyber attacks affecting the financial markets. Along with a similar exercise carried out in New York – and plans for 200 US banks to participate in what amounts to a competition over which is best prepared to handle an attack – it signifies a growing awareness of cyber risk among Government, regulators and corporations.
6 minute read

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