All articles by James Dean – Page 27
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Busy time for Lord Hunt with new review
Lord Hunt of Wirral must be a workaholic. He is already leading the mammoth Law Society-commissioned review of legal regulation, but one review at a time is not enough, it seems. Yesterday, Hunt’s firm, Beachcroft, announced that their peer partner has kicked off a ‘strategic review of banking in Guernsey’.
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India’s fastest emerging cities targeted for investment
The UK government has drawn up a list of emerging Indian cities that it will target for British investment, opening the door for City lawyers to advise British businesses heading to these locations. A report by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), a government-sponsored trade organisation, ...
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Equity partners’ earnings plummet
Equity partners at top law firms will earn £110,000 less on average this year, early figures have suggested at the outset of the City’s reporting season. To date, the three major firms that have released a figure for profit per equity partner (PEP) have seen a combined average fall of ...
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SRA appoints 16-strong panel to work on its actions
The Solicitors Regulation Authority today appointed 16 law firms and solicitor-advocates to work on its disciplinary and regulatory actions.
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Revenues tumble at City giant Ashurst
Ashurst became the latest major firm to register the impact of the recession on its finances today, reporting a 7% fall in revenues to £301m for the year to April 30. The top 10 City firm did not release information on total profits or profit per ...
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Indian competition watchdog enters uncharted territory
A shortage of competition case law and competition lawyers, and a ‘highly politicised’ appointments process, could stall India’s progress towards liberalisation of professional services – despite the establishment of its first competition watchdog, an expert on the Indian legal market has warned. Warsha Kalé, associate director ...
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Lovells reports decline in partner profit take
City firm Lovells has become the latest major firm to report a fall in profit per equity partner (PEP). The 11% dip, to £585,000 in 2008/09 from £661,000 in the previous 12 months, came after national firm Eversheds reported a 27% fall in PEP ...
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The reporting season has started - but only up to a point
At the dawn of this year’s financial reporting season, it appears that the UK’s top corporate law firms have become a little coy. Of the four major firms that have announced results so far, not one has released figures for all three key financial performance indicators: revenue, profit, and profit ...
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Eversheds reports 27% dip in equity partner profit
National firm Eversheds today became the second leading law firm to post financial results for 2008/09, reporting a 27% fall in average profits per equity partner (PEP) to £404,000. City firm CMS Cameron McKenna, the other firm to release results so far, also reported a fall in PEP. ...
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Universities ask City to plug gaps in law faculty funding
Top university law faculties have begun talks with City law firms asking for fresh injections of cash to plug funding gaps, the Gazette has learned. It is understood that law faculties are making special requests for donations beyond firms’ usual contributions.
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Drive to put lawyers on governing board of every school
International law firms will no longer be able to pump new lawyers into booming practice areas and expanding international offices, even after the recession ends, according to the head of one of the world’s biggest firms. ‘You will see less of the crazy, untamed growth ...
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Drive to put lawyers on governing board of every school
Lawyers could take a seat on every school governing board under a project aimed at encouraging children from a wider range of backgrounds to enter the legal profession. The Law Society-backed project, ALLIES, will help lawyers to apply to become governors, and bring together ...
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Profits fall at CMS Cameron McKenna
City firm CMS Cameron McKenna reported a 14% fall in profits as it became the first big commercial law firm to release its financial results this year. The decline in profits, from £84m in 2007/08 to £72m for the year to 30 April 2008/09, came as ...
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Who’s calling the regulation shots now? The Legal Services Board
In setting out its views on the regulation of alternative business structures (ABSs) yesterday, the Legal Services Board signalled its willingness to override approved regulators if they don’t get their act together quickly.
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LSB consults on regulation of new business structures
The Legal Services Board today stressed its determination to sanction alternative business structures by mid-2011, as it launched a discussion paper on how they will be regulated. The board said it will directly license ABSs if the approved regulators do not seek to become licensing authorities. ...
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Jackson proposes Commercial Court cost reforms
Costs rules for high-value complex commercial cases could be amended after the judge in charge of a wide-ranging review of civil litigation costs opened the door for reforms. Despite opposition from the Commercial Court Users Committee (CCUC), which is carrying out its own review of ...
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Straw drops secret inquest plans
Plans to hold secret inquests without juries have been dropped by the government, justice secretary Jack Straw told parliament today. Straw said in a written statement that the move to introduce non-jury inquests on national security issues did not garner enough support among the parties. Clauses ...
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Madoff fraud prompts rush of securities lawsuits
Convicted tycoon Bernard Madoff’s ponzi fraud spawned 30% of securities lawsuits worldwide in the first quarter of 2009, research has indicated. Of the 169 new securities lawsuits filed in Q1 this year, 50 related to the Madoff fraud, according to business data company Advisen. ...
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FSA says it will target City professionals in insider dealing fight
City professionals are a priority target for the Financial Services Authority in its battle against insider dealing, the watchdog said this week. The FSA has begun insider dealing prosecutions against two lawyers who had worked in the London offices of US law firms. According to court papers, Andrew Rimmington, formerly ...
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Spreading ‘good news’ about the profession
The legal profession ‘is in good shape,’ according to one of HM Treasury’s top dogs. Launching a report on the future of UK financial services at a Whitehall press briefing this morning, Paul Myners, financial services secretary to the Treasury, painted a bright picture of the state of all the ...