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International Edition

Legal Week and Brook Intelligence launch insurance tracker

Legal Week has teamed up with Brook Intelligence Centre to launch a quarterly sector report service covering the insurance market. The Insurance Industry Tracker is designed to help law firms keep abreast of key developments and trends within the UK insurance sector so they can spot opportunities and track the fortunes of their clients and potential clients.
2 minute read

International Edition

Sir John Thomas confirmed as new Lord Chief Justice

Sir John Thomas has been appointed as the new Lord Chief Justice (LCJ) following the retirement of Lord Judge. Thomas – who will take up the role from 1 October – was called to the bar by Gray's Inn in 1969. He was appointed a Judge of the High Court of England and Wales in 1996 and was assigned to the Queen's Bench Division and to the Commercial Court.
3 minute read

International Edition

DAC's revenue edges up 3% but partner profits down following merger

DAC Beachcroft has posted a 3% increase in like-for-like turnover and a 12% dip in profits per equity partner (PEP) for the 2012-13 financial year. Income for the 12-month period amounted to £188.2m, up on the combined turnover of £182.2m the previous year in what was firm's first full year trading since the merger between legacy firms Davies Arnold Cooper and Beachcroft in October 2011. Despite the top line increase, PEP is down from £321,000 to £284,000 although the firm states net profit rose to £31.8m from its 2012-11 audited figure of £22.4m.
2 minute read

International Edition

Vinson hires top Dentons arbitration partner for London office

Dentons arbitration partner George Burn, the former head of Salans' UK international arbitration practice, has joined Vinson & Elkins in a key hire for the US firm's London base. Burn, who advises on disputes relating to the energy, construction, transport and financial sectors, is an experienced counsel and arbitrator who joined Salans in 2007 from Denton Wilde Sapte - both of which subsequently formed part of the global merger which this year created Dentons.
2 minute read

International Edition

Stephenson Harwood posts 2% revenue growth for 2012-13

Stephenson Harwood has announced its financial results for the 2012-13 financial year, confirming 2% growth in revenues. The firm reported revenue figures of £112.3m, up on £110.2m in the previous year. It has not confirmed its profits per equity partner (PEP) results.
2 minute read

International Edition

Direct Line to launch legal services venture in partnership with Parabis

Direct Line Group (DLG) has submitted an application to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to set up an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) in partnership with Parabis Law. DLG Legal Services - the proposed firm name - will provide DLG customers with legal advice for personal injury and non-injury claims, including debt recovery, employment and contract matters.
3 minute read

International Edition

Addleshaws, Linklaters and Olswang advise on Sainsbury's-Vodafone mobile network deal

Addleshaw Goddard, Linklaters and Olswang have advised on a joint venture (JV) between Sainsbury's and Vodafone to create a new mobile phone network, 'Mobile by Sainsbury's'. Addleshaws advised Sainsbury's, with a team led by technology, media and intellectual property partner James Whittaker and corporate finance partner Andrew Rosling. Linklaters and Olswang acted for Vodafone, with Linklaters' global competition head Gerwin Van Gerven advising on competition clearance alongside Raj Roy from Vodafone's in-house legal team. Olswang partner Louis Glass handled corporate advice.
2 minute read

International Edition

Field Fisher mulls near-shoring Manchester move to cut costs

Field Fisher Waterhouse is considering shifting support functions out of its London headquarters to its Manchester base in a bid to reduce its overheads. The firm is understood to be mulling the transfer of some non-legal roles, potentially covering functions such as IT and secretarial, to its seven-lawyer Manchester office following a strategic review of the business. Discussions on how many and which roles will be relocated are still at an early stage, with any move unlikely to happen this year.
2 minute read

International Edition

Employee Satisfaction Report 2013 – costs not careers take priority

Assistants at top law firms are still receiving a high level of professional satisfaction from the quality of their work and their access to the best clients, according to the 2013 Legal Week Employee Satisfaction Survey. On the flip side, lawyers are generally feeling less engaged on a personal level. This may well be the year when law firms accept that the way they manage their human resources is driven much more by the need to reduce client fees than providing a coherent career structure for junior lawyers. The scores for the professional elements of the survey – from quality of work and prestige of the firm to client quality and international opportunities – are all higher this year as more junior lawyers are given a greater opportunity to shine. But the picture is less rosy in the personal section, where lawyers consider their engagement in terms of being valued or their treatment by partners. Assistants are happy with the work but find they are being treated less well in softer HR areas such as work/life balance, recognition and praise.
3 minute read

International Edition

What lies beneath – the politics of law firm financial transparency

When K&L Gates published comprehensive financial results on its website back in February it marked a rare bid for transparency by a major US law firm. Without the disclosure requirements foisted on their UK counterparts by regulations governing limited liability partnerships, financial information about US firms to date has been fairly limited and available on their own terms. That is not to say that UK firms have been a beacon of transparency. While we aim to shed light on the performance of the leading firms in the form of our UK top 50, and most do co-operate – thank you – it seems each year there are new and varied excuses as to why certain figures are not available (although Allen & Overy deserves credit for its efforts at financial disclosure, being one of the few firms to produce detailed – and audited – figures at this stage). Several others have been far more opaque, with much jiggery-pokery around exchange rates and the exact definition of an equity partner, while the way in which profits per equity partner are calculated varies wildly from firm to firm.
3 minute read

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