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International Edition

The rocky road to riches – partners' struggle to equity is bad news for juniors

You know the outlook is bleak when even the most genial of law firm managers privately suggests they probably wouldn't encourage today's university students to pursue a career in the law. Or at least a career as a partner in a City law firm. Ever-more demanding clients and growing pressure on firms to maintain profits despite stagnating or even falling revenues means that, for most, the path from junior lawyer to the heady heights of partnership is long, and getting longer. And for the exclusive few who do make it there, the view from the top is decidedly more precarious than it used to be, with annual pruning now the norm rather than the exception.
3 minute read

International Edition

Olswang boosts revenues 3% while PEP sees 4% decline

Olswang has announced its 2012-13 financial results, with the firm posting a 3% rise in revenue, taking it to £111.3m, up from £108m last year. Meanwhile, profits per equity partner (PEP) has fallen 4% from £530,000 in 2011-12 to £510,000 this year, although the firm's profit pool is expected to be the same size as last year. Last year the firm announced an impressive 17% rise in revenue, taking it over the £100m mark to £108.1m, up from £92.6m in 2010-11. PEP was also up by 22% on the previous year's figure of £435,000, to £530,000.
2 minute read

International Edition

Department of Health appoints 14-strong cross-department roster

The Department of Health and the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) have appointed a new panel to provide legal advice to 16 health organisations. In total, 14 firms have won places on the panel, which replaces the previous roster which advised the NHSLA alone. The panel is sub-divided into clinical liability, non-clinical liability and regulatory, health and disciplinary. Eleven firms will advise on the clinical negligence roster, while six firms have taken places on the non-clinical panel. Meanwhile, 11 firms have taken places on the newly created regulatory, health and disciplinary panel.
3 minute read

International Edition

Five ways businesses can maximise their IP value

Intellectual property is a valuable asset for many businesses, but often this value is not recognised. Simon Crossley and Ben Jones of Eversheds explain how companies can make the most of their IP credentials...
3 minute read

International Edition

Dealmaker: Martin Wright

The Mayer Brown partner on regenerating Stratford, his DIY ineptitude and the potential lure of farming
4 minute read

International Edition

SJ Berwin leads as British Land lets landmark City building to insurer

SJ Berwin has advised longstanding client British Land and its joint venture partner Oxford Properties on the letting of City landmark the Leadenhall Building to insurance group Amlin. The lease is for 111,000 sq ft of office space in the 47-storey building, with the option to take up further space of up to 36,760 sq ft. The annual rental price for the space is around £7m. The SJ Berwin team was led by the firm's international real estate head Bryan Pickup and fellow real estate partner Pat Jones, while Clyde & Co acted for Amlin with real estate partner Malcolm Rogerson in the lead role.
2 minute read

International Edition

The fight for fairness – what are law firms doing to tackle the gender pay gap?

Lawyers have a problem with equal pay – and it's a big one. More than 40 years on from the Equal Pay Act, women in private practice are paid a startling 26.7% less than their male counterparts. The finding, from a new Law Society study of solicitors' salaries in 2012, compares badly with the national picture: the law's gender pay gap is well over double the 9.6% difference between men and women's pay across the UK as a whole, as reported by the Office for National Statistics.
10 minute read

International Edition

Associates face long road to the top as partnership track lengthens

The track to partnership at the country's largest law firms is continuing to lengthen, with the average level of experience held by new UK partners now standing at more than 10 years, according to research by Legal Week. Figures compiled from the UK top 20 firms' 2013 partner promotions show the average length of time taken for UK lawyers to reach partnership from qualification reached 10.5 years, up from last year's figure of 10.3. When focusing solely on the top 10, the figure rises further to an average of 10.6 years, up from 10.4 last year. These figures are significantly higher than those seen before the onset of the credit crunch in 2008, when the average post-qualification experience (PQE) for new partners at top 10 firms stood at 8.8 years.
3 minute read

International Edition

A changing landscape – exploring the new IP and copyright legislation

UK intellectual property legislation is changing. First, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA), which received Royal Assent on 25 April, has been published, modifying UK copyright law, though not as drastically as some would have liked. Secondly, the Government announced in the Queen's Speech that it will introduce an Intellectual Property Bill to make changes to the law of design and patents. Copyright provisions ERRA includes, among other things, significant copyright-related provisions. It repeals section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This provision previously limited the duration of copyright in artistic works exploited by an industrial process to make articles, to just 25 years. The new ERRA provision extends the copyright protection afforded to such works to the usual period for most copyright works, of the life of the author plus 70 years.
4 minute read

International Edition

How effective new social mobility schemes can inspire students and law firms alike

Many law firms have a tradition of supporting young people at local schools and colleges to access the world of work – and Simmons & Simmons is no different. Indeed, in recent years we have achieved some good results, but employee engagement has often been irregular, and working with several colleges has made it difficult to measure the impact of our programmes. We therefore decided 12 months ago to try to weave our social mobility programmes much more deeply into the firm's culture, aiming to inspire more volunteers to participate on an ongoing basis, but also to create a programme where we felt we were really making a small difference. Underpinning this aim was a wish to develop a longer-term relationship with the students and the schools we work with, and a new approach to school partnering. Teaming up with the Twist Partnership, we have begun an ambitious new programme with Frederick Bremer School in Walthamstow. This is a mixed, multi-faith school, with significantly above regional average numbers of students eligible for free school meals. It is also – deliberately – a school that is located in a London borough outside the usual catchment area for City businesses.
5 minute read

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