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International Edition

Nomura and BarCap confirm job cuts in London in-house legal teams

Nomura and Barclays Capital have both confirmed that they have made a number of redundancies in their UK legal teams. Nomura made between six and eight redundancies in London over the summer in a redundancy consultation overseen by European general counsel Piers Le Marchant.
2 minute read

International Edition

Who's in charge? Too many firms are led by their corporate practices

Since the 1980s, it's been clear who is in charge at large City law firms: corporate and banking partners. The reason is fairly obvious – unlike the US and many foreign markets, City law firms make most of their money from transactional work and their corporate practices have become the dominant power blocs at most top 25 (and a good number of smaller firms). Partnership remuneration may be relatively flat and law firms are supposedly consensus-driven. There's some truth to that, but not all partners are created equal. The direction of most City law firms is set by a relatively small group of partners, the vast majority of whom are drawn from transactional disciplines. When managing partners talk about getting buy-in, getting this group on board is what they mean. That ambitious law firms must lead off their corporate teams has become a cliche so utterly prevalent that it is hardly ever acknowledged, let alone queried.
3 minute read

International Edition

'Oiling the machine' – Freshfields' new City chief bids to modernise gung-ho style

"It's a bit like being a cox in a rowing boat. If everyone is rowing in sync, the boat is going to move much better. My role is part helping set the direction and part getting everyone pointing the same way and oiling the machinery to achieve this," says Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Mark Rawlinson of his new role as London head. Freshfields born and raised, the role is not Rawlinson's first management position at the firm he joined in 1982, following a three-year stint as London corporate head that ended this summer. However, in taking over from his predecessor Tim Jones, Rawlinson, who to date has been better 
known for his transactional 
work than management 
matters, has set himself a bigger 
challenge: transforming the 
office's working culture.
6 minute read

International Edition

Freshfields appoints new Middle East & North Africa managing partner

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed Dubai corporate partner Pervez Akhtar as regional managing partner for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Akhtar took up a three-year term in the role with effect from 1 October, replacing M&A partner Bertrand Pellet.
2 minute read

International Edition

Eversheds adds to international footprint with Romania tie-up

Eversheds is set to launch in Romania through a formal tie-up with local firm Lina & Guia. The four-partner Romanian firm, which has an office in Bucharest, will operate as Eversheds Lina & Guia from 1 October, increasing Eversheds' international reach to 46 offices across 28 countries.
2 minute read

International Edition

Linklaters' Cheyne takes consultant role in post-senior partner move

Outgoing Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne is set to take up a consultant role at the firm when his five-year leadership term comes to an end later this month (30 September). Cheyne, who joined Linklaters in 1972 and made partner in 1980, was elected as senior partner in 2006.
2 minute read

International Edition

Career Clinic: How can I get into a business development role in law?

"I have been married to the legal profession for more than eight years, starting way back when as a paralegal, before eventually moving to a fee earner role in commercial litigation with a national top-tier firm, while at the same time undertaking an LL.M in international business law. "I currently work for a private investor as corporate strategist and business development consultant, but I really want to work in a similar role at a law firm - how does this happen? Am I missing something? How do you get into business development in law, and what are the prospects?
1 minute read

International Edition

How law lost its soul – the epidemic of over-charging clients by City law firms

Over-charging by major City law firms could be as high as £5bn over the last five years. I estimate that the flawed system that lawyers continue to use to produce bills has led to charges that are, on average, 5%-10% higher than they should have been across the board. And I believe that when the fundamentally flawed system finally unravels, it will make the MPs expenses scandal look like children taken a few loose sweets from a corner shop. The background to these comments comes as a result of having compiled what is considered the definitive survey of hourly rates charged by the profession for the last 13 years.
3 minute read

International Edition

Olswang reintroduces COO role for international growth drive

Olswang has appointed a chief operating officer (COO) for the first time in four years in a bid to support the firm's recent international expansion. Simon Glynn, formerly group director of strategy and operations at Management Consulting Group (MCG), will join the firm at the end of the month. He will initially work alongside former COO Kevin Munslow – who stepped down from the role in 2007 to become chief executive and is now a consultant at the firm – while he gets to gripswith the new position.
2 minute read

International Edition

Unique over-selling points - why slick execution usually trumps differentiation

Don't get me wrong – there's a lot of truth to the criticism that law firms aren't good at differentiating themselves. In a fragmented industry, many large firms blur into each other – either because the business has grown in a haphazard fashion or the firm can't stomach the internal politics of selling some parts of the business over others. That said, you still have to wonder if the benefits of a law firm being highly differentiated – even having a unique selling point – are oversold. Fifteen years of covering business makes me suspect so. The world is teeming with famous brands that ran with ideas others came up with, only did it better – Apple is probably the most celebrated current example. And what evidence is there that law firms benefit hugely from being first-movers or unique? A very select handful of legal institutions can be said to have attained that status, and very good for business it is, too. But what can the wider legal market extrapolate from the genesis of Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz? Not much.
3 minute read

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