Clifford Chance's revenue and profits climb, Polsinelli recruits Holland & Knight's 20-partner team, Legal tech startup Harvey raises $100 mln ?
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?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here is the rundown of today's top legal news:
??Law firm Clifford Chance reports record revenue with US boost
London-founded law firm Clifford Chance reported an increase in revenue and profits, citing particular growth in the U.S. market.
The global firm said partnership profit grew by 10% to $856 million pounds ($856 million), and profit per equity partner hit 2.04 million pounds ($2.63 million), in its financial year that ended April 30.
It increased overall revenue over the prior year by 9% to 2.3 billion pounds ($2.97 billion).
In the United States, where Clifford Chance and other major UK-founded law firms have increasingly pushed to expand, the firm said it achieved 28% revenue growth.
"We are making great progress everywhere but fastest in the US," Charles Adams, global managing partner of Clifford Chance, said in a statement.
The firm opened a Houston office in June 2023 to expand its global energy and infrastructure work, with hires from rival U.S. law firms.
Other big UK law firms have reported financial results this month, under a requirement to file accounts with the UK government. Several of them have also pointed to U.S. growth in reporting positive results overall.
??20-partner team leaves Holland & Knight for rival US law firm Polsinelli
U.S. law firm Polsinelli said on July 23 that it has opened an office in Philadelphia with a group of at least 20 partners from Holland & Knight.
The new office is the third that Kansas City, Missouri-founded Polsinelli has launched since June. Last month it opened offices in Fort Worth, Texas and Park City, Utah.
Polsinelli did not identify the Holland & Knight lawyers joining the firm by name. It said the new hires would complement its executive compensation and employee stock ownership plan practices, among others.
"Philadelphia was a missing piece in our platform as one of the largest full-service U.S.-only firms," Polsinelli chairman and CEO Chase Simmons said in a statement.
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??Legal AI firm Harvey raises $100 mln in new funding round
Legal artificial intelligence startup Harvey said on July 23 that it has raised $100 million in an investment round led by Alphabet-backed venture capital firm GV.
Harvey said the Series C funding round, which included investors OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil and SV Angel, values the company at $1.5 billion.
Harvey has been among several companies to capitalize on growing interest in artificial intelligence tools for legal work. The firm's website said it offers products to help lawyers draft and analyze legal documents and answer research questions across legal, regulatory and tax areas.
The Information reported earlier this month that Harvey was expected to raise about $100 million, after reporting in June that the company had looked to raise $600 million at a valuation of at least $2 billion, citing anonymous sources.
Law firm Cooley said it advised Harvey on the funding round. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether it is a customer of Harvey.
??Shuttered Philadelphia firm must face ex-partner’s lawsuit over pension plan
A U.S. judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing a defunct Philadelphia-based law firm of unlawfully using pension contributions to help run the firm, before it shuttered last year after nearly 90 years in business.
In a ruling, on July 23, U.S. District Judge John Younge in Philadelphia said former partner Jo Bennett’s lawsuit against Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis plausibly alleged violations of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act and can move forward for now.
Employee contributions were improperly used to fund law firm operations and to make payment distributions to equity partners as the firm faltered, Bennett’s lawsuit alleged.
Schnader Harrison said in its bid seeking dismissal, that the plan contributions at issue were discretionary employer funds, not employee contributions.
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