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Phone vs Whatsapp: UK200 firm assesses lawyer-client communication

Junior lawyers at regional outfit Howes Percival are being encouraged to adopt a greater range of communication methods with clients, as firms seek to address generational differences between associates and partners. The firm, with locations across Cambridge, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Norwich and Oxford, said it is responding to changing behaviours in both clients and associates. It is encouraging its […]

Six make the grade in Travers promotions

Travers Smith has revealed a cohort of six partner promotions in its latest round. This round marks an increase of one from last year’s five, after a drop of nearly half compared to Travers’ largest partner cohort to date of 11 in 2022. The promotions cover a broad range of practice areas including Ingrid Hodgskiss […]

Linklaters

Linklaters partners to ditch cessation payments

After lengthy proposals set out by Linklaters’ management team, partners have voted to end the firm’s longstanding system of cessation payments. The Lawyer revealed at the start of the year that Linklaters had been taking soundings on several proposals that aimed to trim payouts to departing members and reduce the overall cost to the firm. The […]

Latest News

BDB Pitmans drops merger hunt for CMS-type network

BDB Pitmans partners have voted through proposals that will see the firm transition to a CMS-style network model, having called off merger talks with Womble Bond Dickinson in 2023. The firm has signed a letter of intent with Alvarez & Marsal Legal Services (AMLS) to help internationalise the business. Both BDB Pitmans and AMLS issued […]

The Passport: It’s finally happened – Dentons has been dethroned

Welcome to The Passport, your regular round-up of the most important stories to come from the European legal market. In this edition, we look at how CMS zoomed past Dentons in the Polish lawyer headcount stakes; why you might have to get used to the idea of three firms with ‘Snellman’ in their name; and […]

Cooley’s London boss leads three-partner move to Akin

Akin Gump has recruited three of Cooley’s London partners, including its City managing partner Justin Stock. Stock moves to Akin along with Stephen Rosen and David Bresnick. The three focus on transactions with a life sciences and technology element. At Akin, Stock will become the firm’s international head of technology. Both Stock and Bresnick joined […]

CC

City talk: Clifford Chance’s corporate strategy still relies on its banking roots

For elite firms with ties to big banks, the first half of 2024 has been fruitful for corporate transactions. Sainsbury’s banking business was sold to NatWest Group last month, with Linklaters and A&O Shearman advising, while Addleshaw Goddard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Paul Hastings led on Co-operative Bank’s sale to Coventry Building Society in an […]

Mills & Reeve staff set to share in £3m bonus pot

Mills & Reeve’s turnover rose by double digits in 2023/24 to a new record high that has resulted in the firm’s highest-ever all-staff bonus pool of £3m. The firm’s turnover rose by 14.1 per cent to £168m, beating its 2025 strategic target of £150m a year ahead of schedule. The firm has not yet revealed […]

Signal Research Reports

Litigation Tracker: Q2 2024 (Judgments)

This dashboard: contains an overview of the judgments at a selection of courts in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai during Q2of 2024. allows you to compare activity at the courts in Q2 2024 against Q1 2023.

UK Top 50 partner promotions

This report includes: analysis of partner promotions at the UK Top 50 firms since 2020 insight into regional promotion trends a look at the progress towards gender parity in partner promotions data on the practice areas experiencing the highest number of promotions.

Cleary Gottlieb: Under the skin of a firm playing catch-up

This report contains: an analysis of the reality of Cleary Gottlieb’s growth trajectory in London since 2014 an overview of challenges faced by the top global firms which are pursuing similar growth strategies a discussion on Cleary’s distinctive practice area mix, highlighting its substantial focus on antitrust cases.

The Nordic 50 2024

This report contains: ranking of the Nordic 50 firms on a headcount basis headcount analysis of the largest firms split into three groups financial and market analysis of the four jurisdictions in the region firm specific data profiles

Litigation team of the year

This report includes: a breakdown of the eight firms shortlisted for the Litigation Team of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2024 an overview of the case they have been nominated for an analysis of the firms’ larger litigation team

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Horizon

Kirkland’s beaten Linklaters again

Does anyone need any confirmation of the gradual takeover of the City by rampaging US law firms? No, thought not. If, however, your answer is yes, then more evidence of the Americanisation of London can be found in the upcoming edition of the UK Corporate 50. Much of the focus in this year’s report is […]

Barcelona Spain

We’re entering a new era in Spain’s most expansionist firm

Mexico is set to welcome thousands of lawyers later this year when the capital city plays host to the International Bar Association’s (IBA) showpiece event. Partners and support staff will mingle from dawn until way after dusk, discuss strategies and scan way off into the horizon. However, Mexico’s been high on the interest list for […]

Clydes needed BLM as much as BLM needed Clydes

At times, Clyde & Co appeared dangerously close to squandering the growth opportunities presented by its July 2022 acquisition of BLM. The firm’s most recent financials, however, suggest BLM was the fuel Clydes needed to grow in the UK. Not that it has been without casualties, with a significant proportion of former BLM partners having […]

Global network

These are the M&A winners so far this year

The M&A rankings for the first half of 2024 confirmed one thing we already felt was true: that Linklaters and Slaughter and May have had a lot of acquisitive or targeted clients this year. According to data provided by the London Stock Exchange Group, the pair rank first and second respectively in terms of the […]

hour glass, running out of time, late

Stephenson Harwood is playing the long game

When Stephenson Harwood chief executive Eifion Morris set a target for doubling revenue to £400m by 2027, he knew it would be a tough challenge. “A profitable growth strategy will probably take more than individual lateral joiners and internal promotions to achieve,” he told The Lawyer back in 2021. This protective view came as the […]

Recent news

BDB Pitmans drops merger hunt for CMS-type network

BDB Pitmans partners have voted through proposals that will see the firm transition to a CMS-style network model, having called off merger talks with Womble Bond Dickinson in 2023. The firm has signed a letter of intent with Alvarez & Marsal Legal Services (AMLS) to help internationalise the business. Both BDB Pitmans and AMLS issued […]

The Passport: It’s finally happened – Dentons has been dethroned

Welcome to The Passport, your regular round-up of the most important stories to come from the European legal market. In this edition, we look at how CMS zoomed past Dentons in the Polish lawyer headcount stakes; why you might have to get used to the idea of three firms with ‘Snellman’ in their name; and […]

Cooley’s London boss leads three-partner move to Akin

Akin Gump has recruited three of Cooley’s London partners, including its City managing partner Justin Stock. Stock moves to Akin along with Stephen Rosen and David Bresnick. The three focus on transactions with a life sciences and technology element. At Akin, Stock will become the firm’s international head of technology. Both Stock and Bresnick joined […]

CC

City talk: Clifford Chance’s corporate strategy still relies on its banking roots

For elite firms with ties to big banks, the first half of 2024 has been fruitful for corporate transactions. Sainsbury’s banking business was sold to NatWest Group last month, with Linklaters and A&O Shearman advising, while Addleshaw Goddard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Paul Hastings led on Co-operative Bank’s sale to Coventry Building Society in an […]

Mills & Reeve staff set to share in £3m bonus pot

Mills & Reeve’s turnover rose by double digits in 2023/24 to a new record high that has resulted in the firm’s highest-ever all-staff bonus pool of £3m. The firm’s turnover rose by 14.1 per cent to £168m, beating its 2025 strategic target of £150m a year ahead of schedule. The firm has not yet revealed […]