⭐ Trainee retention 2023: live
All the latest from the 2023 retention rounds. For our 2022 live blog go here
Obituary: Fred Banning
Fred Banning, one of the legal sector’s most popular communications professionals, has died after a lengthy battle with illness. He passed away on the evening of Friday 19 May, leaving behind his wife Lesley and his sons Ollie and Charlie, to whom he was a loving husband and father. Diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer […]
K&E’s star debt finance team leaves firm
A debt finance team of four City partners, led by Neel Sachdev, are exiting Kirkland & Ellis. It is understood that the four are moving to Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, less than two weeks since news broke that Paul Weiss’s London managing partner Alvaro Membrillera would move in the other direction to K&E. Sachdev […]
Suspended Axiom Ince partner files claim against SRA
A suspended partner from Axiom Ince has filed a lawsuit against the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and its intervention agent, Gordons. Shyam Mistry was one of three partners who was suspended from Axiom Ince earlier this month as he was accused of failing “to comply with the rules made under sections 31 and 32” of […]
Litigation funding in disarray: Apple claimants fail to strike new deal in time
⭐ Trainee retention 2023: live
All the latest from the 2023 retention rounds. For our 2022 live blog go here
Obituary: Fred Banning
Fred Banning, one of the legal sector’s most popular communications professionals, has died after a lengthy battle with illness. He passed away on the evening of Friday 19 May, leaving behind his wife Lesley and his sons Ollie and Charlie, to whom he was a loving husband and father. Diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer […]
K&E’s star debt finance team leaves firm
A debt finance team of four City partners, led by Neel Sachdev, are exiting Kirkland & Ellis. It is understood that the four are moving to Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, less than two weeks since news broke that Paul Weiss’s London managing partner Alvaro Membrillera would move in the other direction to K&E. Sachdev […]
Suspended Axiom Ince partner files claim against SRA
A suspended partner from Axiom Ince has filed a lawsuit against the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and its intervention agent, Gordons. Shyam Mistry was one of three partners who was suspended from Axiom Ince earlier this month as he was accused of failing “to comply with the rules made under sections 31 and 32” of […]
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Trainee and newly qualified solicitor salaries
The Lawyer has compiled trainee solicitor salaries and newly-qualified (NQ) solicitor salaries from the UK’s largest law firms. Last full update: 3 November 2023 Last minor update: 1 May 2024 The latest salary figures are a reflection of the influence of American firms on the UK market. When Bingham McCutchen became the first firm to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]