Law Firm Partners

DLA Piper hires Mayer Brown JSM Asia finance head in Hong Kong

By Elizabeth Broomhall in Hong Kong | July 4, 2013

DLA Piper has added to its Hong Kong finance team with the hire of Mayer Brown JSM's former head of structured finance for Asia, Ben Standstad. The UK firm, whose Hong Kong office has traditionally been heavily focused on equity capital markets work, is currently looking to strengthen its projects and finance group in Asia whilst regional IPOs remain thin on the ground.

1 minute read

Camerons disputes partner duo join Covington's fast-growing City base

By Alex Newman | July 2, 2013

Covington & Burling has hired two disputes partners from CMS Cameron McKenna, bringing its London partner headcount to 28. Ben Holland and Jeremy Wilson will both practice in Covington's arbitration and commercial litigation practice, focusing on energy-related disputes.

1 minute read

Jones Day grows Hong Kong team with hire of Orrick finance partner

By Elizabeth Broomhall in Hong Kong | July 2, 2013

Jones Day has grown its Hong Kong office with the appointment of banking and finance partner Michelle Taylor from US rival Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. Taylor, who was previously the Asia managing partner for Orrick in Hong Kong before IP partner Xiang Wang took over the role in April, joins Jones Day with one associate, and boosts the total number of partners at the firm's Hong Kong office to 18.

1 minute read

Dentons boost Hong Kong cap markets team with O'Melveny hire

By Elizabeth Broomhall in Hong Kong | June 28, 2013

Dentons has boosted its Hong Kong capital markets practice with the hire of corporate partner Gordon Ng from O'Melveny & Myers. Ng, who is best known for his work on Hong Kong IPOs, will join the firm as head of corporate finance and capital markets for Asia, effective July 1.

1 minute read

Speechly posts steady turnover as firm eyes 25% PEP boost from partnership shake-up

By Anna Reynolds | June 27, 2013

Speechly Bircham has posted flat revenues for 2012-13 following a series of management changes and partner exits that are expected to see the firm's partner profits rise 25% next year. The City firm took in fee income of £57.5m for the last financial year, broadly in line with the 2011-12 figure of £57.6m, while profits per equity partner (PEP) fell 3% from £303,000 to £293,000. Over the last financial year around 17 partners have left the firm – six of which were retirements, with one more to take effect in October. Meanwhile, six partners have been asked to leave, alongside a number of departures to other law firms and moves in-house.

1 minute read

Walker Morris turns to Deloitte for first non-exec board member

By Gerard Starkey | June 25, 2013

Walker Morris has appointed former Deloitte managing partner Stuart Counsell as its first non-executive board director. Counsell joins Walker Morris following more than 30 years at Deloitte, during which time he held a variety of senior management positions including UK managing partner. More recently, Counsell headed up the finance and legal division at the accountancy giant where he was responsible for the financial and legal aspects of a £2 billion professional services business. He was also heavily involved in the firm's continuous systems improvement and acquisition programmes.

1 minute read

DLA Piper gives Edinburgh transfers three-month trial in new home

By Gerard Starkey | June 13, 2013

DLA Piper has taken the unusual step of giving staff transferred to its Edinburgh office three months to decide whether they are happy to make the move permanent or would prefer redundancy. The offer was made after 30 employees and 10 partners were asked to move to Edinburgh after the closure of the firm's Glasgow office at the start of April. The trial ends on 1 July but DLA will subsidise the expenses of both staff and partners as part of the relocation for 12 months. Employees not happy in Edinburgh will be eligible for a redundancy package.

1 minute read

Olswang targets female partner boost with flexi-work push and gender bias training

By Pui-Guan Man | June 13, 2013

Olswang is urging all of its partners to attend unconscious bias training as part of a push to increase its proportion of female partners, as the firm looks to ramp up the use of flexible working. The UK top 30 firm has introduced training sessions to raise awareness of unconscious bias across all of its offices, with the scheme coming as part of a wider overhaul of its flexible working policy, which is now being made more readily available. Currently, 22% of lawyers and staff in its London and Thames Valley offices work flexibly, while internationally the figure is 20%, a quarter of whom are male.

1 minute read

US firm Seyfarth Shaw launches in Australia with eight partner hires from HSF, Ashurst

By Elizabeth Broomhall in Hong Kong | June 13, 2013

Chicago employment firm Seyfarth Shaw has launched in Australia this week with the hire of eight partners from three firms. The US outfit took five partners from Herbert Smith Freehills, two from Ashurst and one from Arnold Bloch Leibler, for the opening of offices in Sydney and Melbourne.

1 minute read

Off track – why associates face a long wait to break into the top ranks of UK law firms

By Gerard Starkey | June 6, 2013

Junior lawyers may not be under any illusions about the challenges facing them on the track to partnership – but the size and scale of that challenge has been starkly illustrated by new Legal Week research that plainly sets out the increasing length of time UK associates are now required to put in before making partner. Analysis of this year's partnership data shows the average post-qualification experience (PQE) held by newly qualified UK partners at top 10 firms this year stands at 10.6 years – an increase of almost 30% on the equivalent figure of 8.2 in 2006. And the standard set by the country's largest firms has been broadly replicated by their smaller contemporaries, with the average partner track across the top 50 now standing at 10.5 years. One senior partner at a top 10 law firm commented: "It is undoubtedly taking people longer to make partner and I suspect it is the case at all firms. We need to keep promoting the best people to partnership, but law firms are changing after years of double-digit growth – fewer people are now getting through."

1 minute read

Law.com

Freshfields Partner Avoids Disbarment in Disciplinary Hearing

By Krishnan Nair | October 10, 2019

The lawyer who stood accused of sexual misconduct, has been fined.

1 minute read

Litigation Daily

Facing Prison, What's Next For Gordon Caplan?

By Jack Newsham | October 10, 2019

Gordon Caplan was a co-chair of the firm, and said to be a rainmaker, before he was arrested in March. What does the future hold for a man who lost it all and the firm he left behind?

1 minute read

The American Lawyer

What's Next for Gordon Caplan?

By Jack Newsham | October 10, 2019

Even if people aren't rushing for the exits at Willkie, some say Caplan's presence there will be missed. He was known for helping push the firm away from a seniority-based model and toward a system that rewards lawyers who generate business.

1 minute read

Litigation Daily

For Libby Locke, New Matt Lauer Accusations Are Latest Test

By David Thomas | October 9, 2019

The Clare Locke founder and former Kirkland partner is in the midst of her most high-profile representation yet.

1 minute read

National Law Journal

New Matt Lauer Accusations Are Latest Test for Libby Locke

By David Thomas | October 9, 2019

The Clare Locke founder and former Kirkland partner is in the midst of her most high-profile representation yet.

1 minute read

Pro Mid Market

Midsize Moves: East Coast Mergers and a Texas Senior Counsel

By Aleeza Furman | October 9, 2019

Rawle & Henderson and Shipman & Goodwin expand by absorbing smaller firms, Kean Miller adds a senior counsel to its office in The Woodlands, Texas, and other midsize moves.

1 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

With Latest Construction Practice Hires, Cozen O'Connor Continues to Target DC for Growth

By Samantha Stokes | October 9, 2019

The firm sees Washington and New York as key targets for expansion, and its eyeing more D.C. hires in its corporate, employment and regulatory practices.

1 minute read

National Law Journal

Cozen O'Connor Builds on DC Growth With Construction Practice Hires

By Samantha Stokes | October 9, 2019

The firm sees Washington and New York as key targets for expansion, and its eyeing more D.C. hires in its corporate, employment and regulatory practices.

1 minute read

The American Lawyer

Practically Invisible: Kirkland & Ellis' New Black Partners

By Vivia Chen | October 9, 2019

The law firm made a jaw-dropping number of partners this year—141 to be exact. But here's the flip side: Only three black lawyers appeared among that sea of faces.

1 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Three Challenges Faced by Newly Hired Law School Graduates

By Schnader's YL Q&A Panelists | October 9, 2019

This month's Q&A focuses on three challenges faced by newly hired graduates: curiosity about partner compensation, weak organizational skills and developing relationships as an introvert.

1 minute read