NEXT
Sign in to follow

International Edition

Partner profits down 15% at Hill Dicks as revenue creeps up

Hill Dickinson saw its profits per equity partner (PEP) slip by 15% over the 2012-13 financial year despite a slight increase in turnover. The firm posted income of £112.8m for the 12-month period ending 30 April, 2% up on the previous year's figure of £110.1m. However, Hill Dickinson's profits took a knock with PEP down to £264,000 from £312,000. The firm's managing partner Peter Jackson attributing this decrease to an increase in overheads and international expansion.
2 minute read

International Edition

CC retains top spot as biggest magic circle firm despite 2.5% revenue dip

Clifford Chance (CC) has seen revenues fall 2.5% and profits per equity partner (PEP) dip 9%, as the firm becomes the last of the UK's four biggest magic circle firms to announce its financial results for 2012-13. The firm saw revenues fall to £1.271bn, down from £1.303bn last year, while PEP now stands at £1m, after average equity partner count rose from 400 to 411 over the year.
3 minute read

International Edition

University of Law to launch in Leeds with York base relocation

The University of Law is to relocate its York branch to Leeds in September 2014, in order to be based in "the UK's newest legal hub". The University hopes to increase enrolment to around 600 students in Leeds in the next three years, according to president and provost Nigel Savage. There are currently 368 full and part-time students based in York.
3 minute read

International Edition

BLP, Hogan Lovells act on M&G UK real estate property strategy

Hogan Lovells and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have advised real estate investor M&G Real Estate on the restructuring of its £580m UK pooled pension property fund. M&G Real Estate is the real estate investment arm of M&G Investments, part of the Prudential Group, and was until recently known as PRUPIM.
2 minute read

International Edition

Freshfields and Linklaters among firms on board Thameslink £1.8bn rolling stock project

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters are among a host of firms to have played a role on the Government's Thameslink Rolling Stock Procurement Project (TRSP). The scheme is the largest rail procurement to date, with £1.8bn funding, of which £1.6bn will be met through senior debt.
2 minute read

International Edition

Morrison & Foerster advises BBC on first direct bond worth £170m

Morrison & Foerster has advised the BBC on its first-ever direct bond issue, which raised £170m in a private placement in the US. The placement, on behalf of BBC Commercial Holdings (BBCH), has a seven-year term set at a 2.71% US dollar interest rate, and will be used to refinance existing debt within the BBC's commercial business.
2 minute read

International Edition

Legal training review meets mixed reception with wait for real reform set to continue

Did it live up to the hype? "An important milestone, rather than the last word" was the verdict of Legal Services Board chair David Edmonds. The view neatly sums up the subdued response to the publication of the much-delayed report by the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR), billed as the most fundamental examination of the sector since the Ormrod report of 1971. "The response from the legal education sector has been terribly quiet and rather muted," says Diane Burleigh, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX). "I think that's tied up with the very large amount of information in the report – it's very tempting to just scan through the recommendations.
5 minute read

International Edition

Waiting for the tide – will the expected flood of financial crisis negligence claims ever surface?

In the wake of the global credit crisis of 2007 and 2008, there was an expectation among some lawyers that a 'tsunami' of professional negligence work was bound to follow. Their hope was based on the theory that during boom times, companies make more use of professional advice to secure property deals, plan construction projects, and launch mergers and acquisitions, while claims for negligence become far less common. But when the economy flatlines and companies and individuals see the value of portfolios nose dive – thanks to falling or stagnating property prices and market values – they 'reappraise' the quality of that expert advice and seek to claw back their money in the courts.
11 minute read

International Edition

Tomorrow's world – own-office low-cost centres may prove futurists right

Futurology by its very definition is a bit of a hit-and-miss art. Back in 1914, HG Wells' fantasia The World Set Free, predicting the existence of the atomic bomb, probably felt like scaremongering. And Arthur C Clarke's 1945 proposal for the satellite certainly wasn't taken seriously at the time. But Google's recent appointment of futurist Ray Kurzweil – best known for his theories about the moment technology will outsmart humans on its own – as director of engineering is evidence of how seriously these 'strategic thinkers' can be taken. In the legal sphere Richard Susskind has been foretelling the demise of law firms' dependence on high-cost lawyers for low-value repetitious work for years. But despite numerous calls from influential clients – not least Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland – it seems law firms have until recently paid little heed.
3 minute read

International Edition

Branching out - how top law firms are going beyond the City to cut costs

Deutsche Bank's global head of compliance, Simon Dodds, is one of many senior in-house lawyers to have called on City-based law firms to farm out straightforward legal work to low-cost centres. "Magic circle law firms in particular have a problem with their model. [They have] commoditised to some extent but lawyers are sitting in London – the most expensive place in the world," he told a Legal Week conference.
19 minute read

More from ALM

More from ALM

Legal Speak is a weekly podcast that makes sense of what’s happening in the legal industry.

Resources

  • Aligning Client Needs with Lawyer Growth and Profitability

    Brought to you by BigHand

    Download Now

  • Technology to Make E-Discovery Smarter, Not Harder

    Brought to you by Nuix

    Download Now

  • Does Generative AI Have the Power to Transform Legal Services?

    Brought to you by HaystackID

    Download Now

  • International Export and Trade Assistance State Law Survey

    Brought to you by LexisNexis®

    Download Now