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International Edition

Moving with the times – outsourcing: why GCs can't have their cake and eat it

If someone were to set out now to create a new elite City law firm from scratch, chances are it would bear little resemblance to the form most leading UK firms currently take. Junior staffing levels, remuneration systems and equity partner numbers would all be very different to those commonly in place today.
3 minute read

International Edition

Pinsents and Walker Morris lead as Portsmouth FC saved from administration

Pinsent Masons and Walker Morris have played key roles in pushing through an out-of-court settlement that has seen Portsmouth Football Club rescued from administration by a group of its supporters. An agreement has been reached between administrators BDO and creditors Portpin ahead of a High Court dispute over the valuation of the club's Fratton Park home ground. Portpin, led by former Portsmouth FC chairman Balram Chainrai, had claimed it was owed £12m by the club and held the stadium as security. The Pompey Supporters' Trust (PST) will now pay a reported £3m plus add-ons to take control of the club and gain ownership of Fratton Park, making it the biggest fan-owned club in the country. The deal is subject to Football League approval.
2 minute read

International Edition

The way to Westminster – making the transition from law to politics

Law and politics may be a potent mix, but it is surprising just how many lawyers have successfully made the transition to elected representative. According to research by strategic communications consultancy the Madano Partnership, 12% of the elected new MPs at the 2010 general election have a legal background. Jonathan Reynolds, Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, was formerly a corporate lawyer at Addleshaw Goddard in Manchester. He believes there are a lot of "natural synergies" between the two professions. "Lawyers are skilled at absorbing large quantities of data and they can get to the crux of the argument very quickly," he says. "They also know how to critically analyse complex data and documents. All these skills are required of MPs."
19 minute read

International Edition

LawVest reports £3.2m loss since 2011 launch as CEO predicts 'dramatic' sales increase next year

Fixed-fee legal venture LawVest has posted a loss of £3.2m for its first 16 months of trading, as the DLA Piper-backed business gears up to convert a "multi-million pound sales pipeline". The accounts, which cover the period from the company's launch in February 2011 to 30 September 2012, show the firm took in revenues of £170,036 against costs of £431,986, with £1.2m spent on sales and marketing and £1.7m on administrative expenses.
3 minute read

International Edition

Osborne Clarke turns to Bird & Bird for seventh City partner hire of 2013

Osborne Clarke (OC) has continued its growth in London after adding Bird & Bird IP litigation partner Lorna Brazell to its City ranks, making it the seventh partner to join the office in 2013. Brazell, who joins OC in early May, spent 19 years at Bird & Bird specialising in patent disputes, designs and software copyright matters for high technology clients around the world. She made partner in 2001.
2 minute read

International Edition

Norton Rose boosts trainee retention to 89% of May qualifiers

Norton Rose has posted a sharp increase in its trainee retention rate by keeping on 89% of its May 2013 intake of qualifiers. The top 10 firm offered newly qualified (NQ) solicitor roles to 18 of its 19-strong trainee intake, with 17 acceptances.
2 minute read

International Edition

Reed Smith boosts City finance team with Clifford Chance hire

Reed Smith is to boost its City finance practice with the hire of Clifford Chance (CC) banking and finance partner Claude Brown. News of the move, which has not been confirmed by Reed Smith, comes days after it emerged that CC's global head of private equity David Walker, had resigned to join Latham & Watkins in London.
2 minute read

International Edition

Mills & Reeve and George Davies gear up for merger vote

Mills & Reeve and Manchester law firm George Davies are set to vote on a potential merger later this month, paving the way for a combination that would create a firm worth £77m. After months of talks, management at both firms are putting together a formal business case for the union, which they plan to present to their partners at the end of April.
2 minute read

International Edition

Linklaters and CC lead on £1.3bn shopping centre refinancing

Linklaters and Clifford Chance (CC) have taken lead roles on the £1.3bn refinancing of four major UK shopping centres including the Lakeside centre in Essex. The refinancing for Intu Properties – which was until recently known as Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSC) – covers four newly rebranded shopping centres: Intu Lakeside, Intu Watford, Intu Braehead in Glasgow and Intu Victoria Centre in Nottingham.
2 minute read

International Edition

A conscious bias – why a little positive discrimination is no bad thing

A reader questioned last month why we had chosen to highlight the fact that all of newly merged Dentons' recent EMEA partner promotions were female. Why was their gender relevant to their promotion, they asked – would we have raised the issue if all four of the new partners were male? And of course, he (or she) has a point. With so few women making partner – despite more of them than men joining the profession at entry level and various initiatives by firms to boost female retention – there is inevitably a bias towards reporting the few that do make the grade.
3 minute read

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