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International Edition

BLP's Lawyers on Demand posts 28% turnover increase to reach £9m

Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) flexible working business Lawyers on Demand (LoD) has posted turnover of £9m for the 2012-13 financial year, following strong growth since its 2007 launch. The venture - which now boasts a roster of 120 lawyers - has seen a steady increase in turnover since launch, from £1m in 2008-09 to more than £5m in 2010-11, before reaching £7m last year.
2 minute read

International Edition

Hill Dickinson offloads four-partner Chester office to Knights

Hill Dickinson has sold its Chester office to Knights Solicitors for an undisclosed fee following a review of its UK-wide business. The move, which will see the transfer of four partners and 20 staff, is the first acquisition by the Knights since the James Caan-led private equity house Hamilton Bradshaw bought a stake in the firm in June 2012.
2 minute read

International Edition

Taylor Wessing cuts 22 secretary jobs in support team overhaul

Taylor Wessing has confirmed the result of its secretarial redundancy consultation, as the firm introduces a new secretarial support model. The firm has laid off 22 City support roles after placing 96 secretarial jobs in London under consultation, in which 26 were originally expected to be made redundant.
2 minute read

International Edition

Irwin Mitchell breaks through £200m turnover milestone

Irwin Mitchell has posted a 5.3% increase in revenue which has seen the firm breakthrough the £200m turnover milestone for the first time. For the 12-month period to 30 April, the firm saw revenues increase to £200.2m compared to £191.1m the previous year, while profits rose 3% to £19.1m. The boost in turnover and profits comes in a year which the firm converted to an alternative business structure (ABS). The firm also recently switched to reporting results on an accrual basis rather than cash in hand, to mirror its LLP filings with Companies House.
2 minute read

International Edition

Eversheds advises on Citibank move into Iraq

Eversheds has taken a central role for Citibank on its move to become the first US bank to expand into Iraq. Citibank opened a base in Baghdad at the end of June after being granted approval by the Central Bank of Iraq, and now plans to open further offices in Erbil and Basra. An Eversheds team led by Iraq managing partner Tawfiq Tabbaa advised Citibank on all aspects of project, while the Central Bank of Iraq used in-house counsel.
2 minute read

International Edition

Norton Rose Fulbright and Mayer Brown lead as China insurer buys Lloyd's building

Norton Rose Fulbright and Mayer Brown have taken the lead roles on Commerz Real's high-profile sale of London's iconic Lloyd's building to Chinese insurance giant Ping An. The One Lime Street landmark, the headquarters of insurance market Lloyd's of London, has been sold for £260m in a deal that closed earlier this month. Norton Rose Fulbright's real estate practice advised a fund managed by longstanding client Commerz Real on all legal aspects of the sale, with a team led by City real estate partner David Hawkins. Frankfurt partner Oliver Sutter provided support on German law matters.
2 minute read

International Edition

What's in a name – could Messrs King and Wood trump Stanley Berwin?

To date, UK law firms have been somewhat more restrained than their US counterparts when it comes to the question of names. Getting your name on the letterhead is of course a nice benefit of establishing your own partnership, and eponymous partnerships are a legal requirement for the most part in the US, but the resulting firm names hardly trip off the tongue – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, to name but a few. In the UK at least, law firms have not been required to use the names of founding partners for many years, and the main reason law firm naming convention has continued in this fashion appears to be tradition, as well as a degree of inertia. This said, the advent of the Legal Services Act and related regulatory changes have allowed a little outside influence to filter through, with distinctly less traditional brands such as Brilliant Law, Thinking Legal and QualitySolicitors emerging. If some of the new law firm names lack the gravitas of their more longstanding peers, you can at least argue their line of business is obvious.
3 minute read

International Edition

Food for thought – one lawyer's charitable initiative to put food waste to good use

Every week thousands of tonnes of food are thrown away by retailers in the UK. At the same time, many thousands of people cannot afford even basic groceries. I became aware of the scale of the problem in late 2012, partly through a great documentary called Britain's Hidden Hungry. Although food banks around the country were taking non-perishable donations and redistributing them to those in need, I felt that a much better solution would be to take the mountains of surplus food sent every day to landfill sites or composted and redirect that as groceries to families in acute financial need. In November, Olswang let me move to a part-time role as a construction litigation associate, which gave me the time to set up an initiative to address the problem.
7 minute read

International Edition

Wiggin, Stevens & Bolton make up numbers on sale of sports stats business Opta

Media firm Wiggin and Guilford's Stevens & Bolton have both scored roles on the £40m purchase of sports data company Opta by digital rights business Perform Group. The acquisition of Opta, well-known as a statistics provider for the Barclays Premier League, will see Perform strengthen its position as a provider of sports content to the media and betting sectors.
2 minute read

International Edition

A&O partner takes up two-year secondment to Takeover Panel

Allen & Overy corporate partner Seth Jones has been appointed as secretary of the Takeover Panel, becoming the latest City partner to take up a secondment at the regulator. Jones will take up a two year placement in September, replacing Ashurst corporate partner Tom Mercer in the role, who is now returning to the firm. Jones will be the fifth A&O partner to be appointed, the two most recent being Richard Hough in 2000 and Mark Gearing in 1992. He has advised on a wide range of corporate transactions including public and private M&A and joint ventures. He also has a broad international experience, having spent three years in Allen & Overy's Dubai office.
2 minute read

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