A number of firms reported a rise in profit this week although much of this rise could be attributed to cost cutting elsewhere in the business. The most encouraging news of the week came from a Legalweek report on UK top 100 firms recording average fee income rise of 7% for 2011-12. There was a 5.6% rise in fee earner headcount among the top 100 firms with firms ranked between 26 to 50 being the consistently strongest performers at a rate of 9.7% fee increase.
Equality and diversity monitoring in law firms is increasingly under the spotlight. The process is unlikely to get any easier what with the Solicitors Regulation Authority proposing a thematic pilot to obtain data on diversity profiles within the legal profession. The Law Gazette reported that law firms would have to 'report on equality and diversity issues in the annual reporting cycle from 2013. So, as firms grapple with outcomes-focused regulation and annual reporting of breaches of the Handbook and accounts rules, this will be another area where firms will need to collect data and report for the SRA'.
The ultimate aim of the SRA in this issue is to increase diversity in the legal profession to reflect the world that we live in. However, it is not all doom and gloom as a recent Legalweek article suggested that the country's largest firms are pushing forward with measures to boost gender diversity in senior ranks, resulting in an increase of more than a third in female partner promotions across the UK top 10 firms.
Saturday 23th June
- National firm Shoosmiths has announced it is to merge with medium-sized Scottish law firm Archibald Campbell & Harley. This is the fourth in a series of Anglo-Scottish tie-ups announced this year | Law Gazette http://t.co/BbVcIdeq
- Shoosmiths, English legal firm to enter the Scottish market, merger with Archibald Campbell & Harley | Scottish Legal http://t.co/OlCLHsRa
Friday 22nd June
- Shearman & Sterling has overhauled its leadership structure, introducing three regional managing partner positions for EMEA, the Americas and Asia | Legalweek http://t.co/Z29A18gS
- Wragges boosts revenues by 5% after strong disputes showing and international push | Legalweek http://t.co/injygtwo
- Riverview Law set for further expansion to Far East and offshore | Legalweek http://t.co/YfawJOUQ
- Wragge & Co has posted a 5 per cent rise in turnover for the 2011-12 financial year, up from £113m to £118.2m. The firm missed its target for the 2011-12 financial year, which was made at the end of 2010-11 when the deal pipeline was strong | The Lawyer: http://t.co/UttMQTjo
Thursday 21st June
- Canadian firm among .law domain applicants. Merchant Law Group LLP is listed among eight applicants for the suffixes .law or .lawyer in a new list of potential domains issued by the internet’s governing body | Law Gazette http://t.co/in3SOQui
- Mishcon de Reya is on track to smash its three-year budget target after unveiling 20 per cent revenue growth at the 2011-12 year end | The Lawyer: http://t.co/OuraS8O1
- Addleshaw Goddard is cutting around 24 fee-earners across its offices in a bid to combat low attrition as the firm posts a 30 per cent rise in profit | The Lawyer: http://t.co/UFX2vptd
- US firm Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson is quitting real estate in the UK after a fallout between the London group head and New York management over strategy | The Lawyer: http://t.co/v0A40EPl
- Blackstone Chambers has a scrum of barristers involved in a crucial sporting appeal to the Rugby Football Union | The Lawyer: http://t.co/MyVagyu1
- Dundas partners confirm Penley, Wernham as new management team | The Lawyer: http://t.co/mSRa8xyT
- Linklaters’ UK head of real estate Anne Byrne has resigned from the firm, just a month after the departure of three partners in May | The Lawyer: http://t.co/z0O3acGP
- O’Melveny & Myers has announced plans to open an office in Seoul, becoming the latest law firm to target the Korea market | Legalweek http://t.co/0NZdxZh6
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has won a role to advise Ryanair on competition aspects of its latest bid for Irish aviation rival Aer Lingus | Legalweek http://t.co/3wneMXRd
- Linklaters restates commitment to real estate as UK practice chief resigns | Legalweek http://t.co/byjsC7jm
- Addleshaw set to lay off 24 fee earners as partner profits rise 37% | Legalweek http://t.co/uyWlZdrc
- DLA Piper has appointed a new Germany managing partner to replace Ulrich Jüngst, who has been in the role since the practice was launched in 2004 | The Lawyer: http://t.co/Kt9Q8ZF2
- Shoosmiths merges with Edinburgh's Archibald Campbell | The Lawyer: http://t.co/jDahEOi7
- Herbert Smith and Freehills are set for full financial integration if the two firms’ partnerships vote to combine, with the result of the poll widely expected next week | The Lawyer: http://t.co/BEFJGFKv
- Herbert Smith reels as Europe litigation head quits for Dechert | The Lawyer: http://t.co/TrcIOOme
Wednesday 20th June
- Linklaters litigation veteran and former practice chief Christopher Style QC is set to leave the firm to join One Essex Court | The Lawyer: http://t.co/9pVn0Jog
- Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens has confirmed that it has made six lawyers and staff redundant in its private client team in Glasgow | The Lawyer: http://t.co/jXILzGos
- Former Chairman Steve Davis excluded from Dewey settlement deal | The Lawyer: http://t.co/kosy1M16
- SJ Berwin turnover flatlines after year of "consolidation". Silver circle firm posts revenues of £180m after tough year for corporate work | The Lawyer: http://t.co/eNmDSbR4
- Long-serving Linklaters litigator departs for One Essex Court | Legalweek http://t.co/O2JjgOM1
- Dundas votes in duo as new co-managing partners- Legalweek http://t.co/2XrcGHgR
- SJ Berwin posts static results as turnover and PEP nudge up 1% | Legalweek http://t.co/OSlI3c6Z
- Ex-Dewey partners offered settlement deal to avoid future liability | Legalweek http://t.co/rpWwC7Oi
- Allen & Overy (A&O) and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz are among a line-up of firms advising on Walgreen’s $6.7bn (£4.3bn) acquisition of a 45% stake in Alliance Boots, a tie-up that will create a global pharmacy giant with more than 11,000 stores in 12 countries | Legalweek http://t.co/bzDnedkW
Tuesday 19th June
- SNR Denton makes up three to partner in the UK | The Lawyer: http://t.co/ddA8ozSg
- Maclay Murray confirms six job cuts after redundancy round closes | Legalweek http://t.co/MlEQj0si
- Allen & Overy in talks to extend Saudi association | Legalweek http://t.co/8SKluRkH
- Herbert Smith, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Clifford Chance (CC) and Nabarro have all taken roles on Hammerson’s £518m sale of its London commercial property portfolio to Canadian investor Brookfield | Legalweek http://t.co/EtU4qduC
- SNR Denton makes up trio of of UK lawyers after 17 promoted in the US | Legalweek http://t.co/8tzUmos2
- Corporate collapse specialist Brett Israel has been brought in to lead Lawrence Graham’s (LG) international restructuring and insolvency team as the firm flexes its financial muscles ahead of a potential merger | The Lawyer: http://t.co/Y2ItxFq5
- SNR Denton’s Hall quits as Middle East managing partner | The Lawyer: http://t.co/FKayydA9
- Allen & Overy considers future in Saudi as local firm deal ends | The Lawyer: http://t.co/skqI1B9r
- SNR Denton revenue falls as PEP rises by 51 per cent | The Lawyer: http://t.co/jdA6BU1d
Monday 18th June
- Two Shanghai partners who left Salans earlier this month have resurfaced at the firm’s former alliance partner Pinsent Masons | The Lawyer: http://t.co/kt1kE2sS
- Eversheds turnover inches up after three years of static revenues. Net profit leaps 10 per cent as revenues rise to £366m | The Lawyer: http://t.co/8Ddn76ly
- The re-opening of the Information Commissioner Office’s (ICO) investigation into Google Street View’s data collection practices will mean further instruction for Bristows | The Lawyer: http://t.co/G0dNubT1
- Details have emerged that King & Wood Mallesons is looking beyond the UK and US to broaden its global footprint, with Singapore and Canada being two key locations it is considering opening in | The Lawyer: http://t.co/i4nsTrQj
- Scotland-headquartered Dundas & Wilson has launched a probe into a sector head who obtained confidential information about a client that prejudiced a tender process | The Lawyer: http://t.co/2Qd9ANvY
A synopsis of the the movers and shakers in law firms as featured in Law Society Gazette:
- Christel Alberti is now partner at Scemla Loizon Veverka & de Fontmichel. Alberti was previously senior associate at White & Case.
- Annelie Carver and Philip Ryley are now Partner at Michelmores. Carver works in the corporate and commercial department and is Head of the firm’s Leisure & Tourism Group. Ryley heads the Financial Services & Markets Practice, which specialises in trouble-shooting FSA regulatory issues that affect financial services product providers, distributors and intermediaries in their day to day business.
- Kate Archer is now Partner at Mills & Reeve. Archer joins from DAC Beachcroft and specialises in catastrophic injury work, and has wide experience in a range of casualty work.
- Sue Gold is now Data Privacy Partner at Osborne Clarke. Gold was previously Principal Counsel, EMEA at Walt Disney Corporation. She has over 15 years’ Data Protection experience.
- Amanda Trewhella is now Solicitor at Fisher Meredith LLP. Trewhella was previously at leading Thames Valley law firm Pitmans LLP. She joins the firm as an employment law solicitor.
- Rob McInally is now Head of Marketing and Business Development at Davidson Chalmers. McInally was previously Director of Marketing at Biggart Baillie.
- Tara Deegan is now Solicitor at Russell Jones & Walker part of Slater & Gordon Lawyers. Deegan was previously Head of Family Law department at J Garrard and Allen.
- Sam Coulthard is now Partner at SNR Denton. Coulthard was previously a Lawyer at the same firm.
- Birketts solicitors has invited corporate law specialist Adam Jones, based at Birketts’ Chelmsford office, to become a partner in the firm.
- Steven Bate is now Partner at Irwin Mitchell. Bate was previously Partner at DWF.
We would like to thank all the publications cited in this week's 'Law firm news'. Direct links to the law firms have been included where firms had been mentioned. Please notify via @SundayLawReview Twitter handle of any errors or omissions.
