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International Edition

Hogan Lovells recruits six-strong team for Luxembourg launch

Hogan Lovells has recruited a two-partner team from Benelux firm NautaDutilh to launch its new Luxembourg office. Investment funds partner Pierre Reuter, and corporate partner Jean-Michel Schmit - both of whom formerly worked at Linklaters - are joining Hogan Lovells along with four Nauta associates.
2 minute read

International Edition

Osborne Clarke opens 15th international office with Paris launch

Osborne Clarke (OC) has today (22 July) opened its long-mooted Paris office after securing the services of partner Béatrice Delmas-Linel from local firm De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés to head up the base. The Paris office becomes the firm's 15th in total and comes after the firm broke off its alliance with French outfit Stehlin & Associes in March 2012. The firm has stated its intention to make further hires to support IT and IP lawyer Delmas-Linel, who previously held several senior roles in the legal team at Microsoft and was managing partner of Paris head-quartered law firm August & Debouzy.
2 minute read

International Edition

King & Wood Mallesons partners to vote on SJ Berwin merger this month

Partners at King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) are set to vote on the proposed merger with SJ Berwin this month, as their counterparts at the UK firm gear up to begin their own vote this week. Partners across KWM's offices in China, Hong Kong and Australia are set to vote on the potential tie-up before the end of July, with 75% approval required in order for the merger to progress.
2 minute read

International Edition

Partners favour accuracy of hourly rate as fixed-fee billing presents value challenge

The majority of law firm partners favour the traditional hourly rate model as a more accurate way of billing, despite a continued push from clients to use fixed fees and other alternative billing methods, according to Legal Week research. The results of the latest Big Question survey show that while 63% of respondents find it 'quite easy' or 'very easy' to place an accurate value on work delivered when using hourly billing, 80% described such valuations as either 'quite hard' or 'very hard' when using fixed fees.
5 minute read

International Edition

Minters eyes Singapore launch as Aussie firm sees revenues dip 1%

Minter Ellison – one of the two remaining independent law firms among Australia's 'big six' – has set its sights on revenue growth from its Asian offices as it reveals a 1% dip in revenue to A$416m (£252m). The Sydney-based firm is also considering opening an office in Singapore as part of a strategy to boost its international work in response to a sharp slowdown in domestic M&A activity. Minter Ellison currently has overseas offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and says around 25% of its revenue is generated by offshore work.
3 minute read

International Edition

CC recruits efficiency 'black belts' for firmwide push to streamline work

Clifford Chance (CC) has rolled out an ambitious firmwide initiative to improve lawyers' efficiency alongside a drive to more effectively allocate its fee earners' workloads. The magic circle firm has recruited three external coaches, known as 'black belts' in efficiency, to lead training workshops to help the firm's lawyers identify inefficiencies in the way they work, mimicking cost-cutting initiatives developed for the manufacturing industry. The training, which forms part of CC's existing 'Continuous Improvement' programme, has been adapted from 'lean' and 'six sigma' techniques used in the manufacturing sector, with the initiative stemming from a meeting CC managing partner David Childs had with logistics and manufacturing company Unipart.
2 minute read

International Edition

SJ Berwin vote on King & Wood Mallesons merger to open next week

SJ Berwin's partners will begin voting on a proposed merger with King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) next week, as the UK firm pushes forward with plans to tie up with the Sino-Australian giant. SJ Berwin held a partner meeting this morning (17 July), at which seven days' notice was given ahead of the opening of the vote, which will close by the end of July.
2 minute read

International Edition

DAC Beachcroft cuts five fee earner jobs in latest law firm layoffs

DAC Beachcroft has cut five City fee-earning roles, the latest in a series of redundancy rounds at UK law firms. The DAC reductions are part of a restructuring of its London employment and pensions practice, after a review concluded that the team was overstaffed at a senior level.
2 minute read

International Edition

Akin Gump set for capital injection as firm moves to all-equity partnership

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is shifting its firm-wide partnership to an all-equity structure from January 2014, following an extensive canvassing of partners' opinion. The New York-based firm - which counts 21 partners in its London office - is giving all income partners an opportunity to make a capital investment.
2 minute read

International Edition

Matrix Chambers goes international with Geneva launch

Gray's Inn set Matrix Chambers has opened a new office in Geneva, marking the first step of its international strategy. Matrix is launching a sister brand – Matrix International – in the autumn, which will consolidate the range of international work it already carries out across various jurisdictions.
2 minute read

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