alex taylor

Alex Taylor

Alex is The Lawyer’s international editor. He joined in 2017 as a reporter covering litigation and the Bar, leaving in 2019 and returning in 2021.

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 […]

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 […]

Madrid

We love Spain, but not that much

It’s coming ho… No. Stop right there. Don’t say it. Stop thinking it. You know that you were. We’ve been here before. Don’t jinx it. Ollie Watkins gave England football fans a moment to savour on Wednesday night with a touch-and-finish so exquisite that it would not look out of place in any of this […]

Arc de Triomphe, France

Paris consolidation heats up as Mayer Brown hires 30-strong team

Mayer Brown has followed hotly on Paul Hastings’ heels to strengthen significantly in Paris, hiring 30 lawyers from a local firm. The Lawyer understands that Mayer Brown is hiring two-thirds of the total lawyer headcount at French firm Ayache to bolster its transactional team in the French capital. Altogether, The Lawyer understands that seven Ayache corporate/M&A […]

Copenhagen, Denmark

Danish firm cuts roles amid real estate downturn

Danish big five firm Accura has made a handful of redundancies in its real estate team, citing sustained macroeconomic pressures that have supressed deal flow. The firm declined to specify how many lawyers in its team had left the firm, instead calling the move a “minor adjustment of the real estate organisation to the current […]

Stockholm, Sweden

The Passport: Linklaters downsizes in Stockholm

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 the troubles facing Linklaters in Stockholm, the surprisingly positive consequences of Weil Gotshal’s exit from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as recent shake-ups in the Danish real estate market. […]

Most firm leaders are from the right political bloc

Power is largely siloed. When we look at the top 25 firms in The Lawyer’s UK200, partners drawn from the practices most identifiable with the firm’s culture almost always end up in the managing partner spot. There are two exceptions in Slaughters’ Deborah Finkler (disputes) and Pinsents’ Laura Cameron (health/safety), but firms have largely stuck […]

Bech-Bruun loses three partners to Nordic rivals

Bech-Bruun has lost a handful partners to rival firms, with Norwegian-headquartered firm Schjødt and big five rival Gorrissen Federspiel both profiting from the exits. Litigation partners Søren Lundsgaard and Arianne Svardal-Stelmer will join Schjødt in the firm’s most substantial disputes expansion of its 18-month old Copenhagen office. The pair joined Bech-Bruun in a merger between […]

paris

Elections are a nightmare wherever you are

Roughly 40 per cent of the earth’s population have already been through, or are set to go through, general elections in their country at some point this year. We were expecting them in India, the UK and the US, among many others, but France didn’t have anything of the sort booked in. The success of […]

Jan Dernestam

Longstanding Mannheimer MP to stand down in 2026

Mannheimer Swartling has begun the process of naming a new managing partner for the first time in 13 years, as its long-time leader prepares to step aside in 2026. Jan Dernestam has made clear his desire to stand down when his current term ends in April of that year. The Lawyer understands the firm’s election committee […]