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International Edition

Ashurst brings in female quota for management roles in diversity push

Ashurst has become the first leading UK law firm to introduce a quota for the number of women it wants to employ in management positions, with the City firm aiming to have one quarter of its management posts filled by women within the 
next three years. The target has been introduced by the Ashurst Committee, which was created at the start of 2011 by senior partner Charlie Geffen and global head of corporate Stephen Lloyd with the intention of improving the retention of female lawyers.
3 minute read

International Edition

Field Fisher votes in regulatory chief as new managing partner

Field Fisher Waterhouse has elected a new managing partner, with the firm's head of regulatory Matthew Lohn replacing Moira Gilmour in the role. Lohn was elected to the role following a contested vote that also saw technology and outsourcing head Michael Chissick put himself forward.
2 minute read

International Edition

The client is king - Linklaters' new senior partner aims for a more responsive style

Linklaters' new senior partner Robert Elliott has spent much of his first weeks in office courting general counsel. Since formally succeeding David Cheyne in the role at the start of this month, Elliott has paid a visit to most of the firm's top 50 clients, which include the likes of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and BP. The number of meetings represents something of a shift for Linklaters, demonstrating its recognition of the growing power of in-house counsel and the way the firm needs to change its service accordingly.
6 minute read

International Edition

Why the irregularities in calculating PEP make it an inadequate indicator of success

When times are good, most partners are content with their lot. However, over the last three years, legal practices have been hit with an onslaught of lower demand for services, increased competition, higher tax rates, regulatory change and the disappearance of traditional funding. Partner expectations should therefore have also changed. However, a managing partner at a significant-sized law firm was recently heard to say: "We know that our performance has suffered in the recession and we can live with that as a partner group, as long as we are not suffering more than the competition." You can understand his concern. When partners feel squeezed, they tend to be more likely to look at opportunities elsewhere.
5 minute read

International Edition

Nomura and BarCap confirm job cuts in London in-house legal teams

Nomura and Barclays Capital have both confirmed that they have made a number of redundancies in their UK legal teams. Nomura made between six and eight redundancies in London over the summer in a redundancy consultation overseen by European general counsel Piers Le Marchant.
2 minute read

International Edition

Who's in charge? Too many firms are led by their corporate practices

Since the 1980s, it's been clear who is in charge at large City law firms: corporate and banking partners. The reason is fairly obvious – unlike the US and many foreign markets, City law firms make most of their money from transactional work and their corporate practices have become the dominant power blocs at most top 25 (and a good number of smaller firms). Partnership remuneration may be relatively flat and law firms are supposedly consensus-driven. There's some truth to that, but not all partners are created equal. The direction of most City law firms is set by a relatively small group of partners, the vast majority of whom are drawn from transactional disciplines. When managing partners talk about getting buy-in, getting this group on board is what they mean. That ambitious law firms must lead off their corporate teams has become a cliche so utterly prevalent that it is hardly ever acknowledged, let alone queried.
3 minute read

International Edition

'Oiling the machine' – Freshfields' new City chief bids to modernise gung-ho style

"It's a bit like being a cox in a rowing boat. If everyone is rowing in sync, the boat is going to move much better. My role is part helping set the direction and part getting everyone pointing the same way and oiling the machinery to achieve this," says Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Mark Rawlinson of his new role as London head. Freshfields born and raised, the role is not Rawlinson's first management position at the firm he joined in 1982, following a three-year stint as London corporate head that ended this summer. However, in taking over from his predecessor Tim Jones, Rawlinson, who to date has been better 
known for his transactional 
work than management 
matters, has set himself a bigger 
challenge: transforming the 
office's working culture.
6 minute read

International Edition

Freshfields appoints new Middle East & North Africa managing partner

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed Dubai corporate partner Pervez Akhtar as regional managing partner for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Akhtar took up a three-year term in the role with effect from 1 October, replacing M&A partner Bertrand Pellet.
2 minute read

International Edition

Eversheds adds to international footprint with Romania tie-up

Eversheds is set to launch in Romania through a formal tie-up with local firm Lina & Guia. The four-partner Romanian firm, which has an office in Bucharest, will operate as Eversheds Lina & Guia from 1 October, increasing Eversheds' international reach to 46 offices across 28 countries.
2 minute read

International Edition

Linklaters' Cheyne takes consultant role in post-senior partner move

Outgoing Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne is set to take up a consultant role at the firm when his five-year leadership term comes to an end later this month (30 September). Cheyne, who joined Linklaters in 1972 and made partner in 1980, was elected as senior partner in 2006.
2 minute read

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