Weekly Update - 30th September 2024
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Moves:
UK & Ireland
Two Linklaters finance partners have joined Hogan Lovells to strengthen its capital markets practice in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. A London-based individual named Alex Parkhouse and í?igo Berrícano, who will be located in Madrid, make up the duo.
Matthew Costard will take over as managing director of Spoor & Fisher's Jersey office. He will take over for leaving managing director Wayne Meiring,
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EMEA
The partner Kolja von Bismarck will reconnect with Andreas Steiger and Patrick Schulz, two other former Sidley partners who left the firm earlier this year to join Clifford Chance.
ENS has hired executives Walter Amoko and Geoffrey Muchiri at its Nairobi, Kenya office. The firm announced that Amoko will be leading its dispute resolution practice.
Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) has hired corporate and commercial partner Alex Muchira at its Nairobi, Kenya office.
Dino Wilkinson, a partner based in Abu Dhabi and head of Baker McKenzie's Middle East data, cyber, and technology practice, was hired. He comes from Clyde & Co., where he headed the Middle East practice for technology, media, and telecommunications and was a partner.
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APAC
The change contrasts with the growing influx into the city-state in recent years, leaving the business with three partners who are exclusively located in Singapore.
The restructuring and insolvency practice of Singaporean law firm Oon & Bazul has expanded with the addition of Lye Yu Min as a partner, who previously worked as a senior associate at Rajah & Tann.
Eunjee Kim, a former partner of Bae, Kim & Lee, has joined Dentons Lee, the company's member firm in South Korea, as a senior attorney, expanding the company's labour and employment expertise.
U.S. law firm Sterlington has hired prominent aviation lawyer Paul Jebely as partner and international vice-chair. Jebely, who is based in Hong Kong, joins from Withers where he was the global head of aviation.
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In house
Since 2000, Sacha Woodward has served as Liberty Media's legal chief after previously working for Bernie Ecclestone.
"My parents started their business by selling skateboard parts at the open market in Sydney, so I have a deep appreciation for eBay's role in empowering businesses of all sizes," Samantha Wellington, the new chief operating officer of eBay, stated.
Coinbase announced on Monday it has hired Ryan VanGrack to serve as its vice president of legal, where he will be overseeing civil litigation, regulatory probes, employment and intellectual property matters.
The operator of campus bookstores experienced a liquidity bottleneck, but Michael Miller had made a series of partnerships that helped alleviate it.
Given his wealth of crisis management expertise, Jason Morris could prove useful should further issues surface from the independent law firm investigation that revealed the CEO and CLO were romantically involved.
After launching the service a year ago, programming pioneer Jonathan Katz declared, "Never underestimate the power of free."
Solicitor Barry Magee is set to be appointed as the next chief legal costs adjudicator.
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The Americas
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld expanded its investment fund practice by adding Kirkland & Ellis partner Shannon Thompson in Dallas.
After working at Paul Hastings for almost 17 years, Zach Hutton joins the company.
As Cooley strives to bolster its data privacy practice and its litigation capabilities in New York, Kristen Mathews joins the company.
Jennifer L. Simons joined Gawthrop Greenwood as an associate attorney in the trusts and estates division of the company.
Three months after Keith Enright left Google, the company revealed that he had been hired.
"After the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, there are a lot more transactions to be had," April Kim stated.
Robert Kaplan, a partner in tax and employee benefits, has joined McCarter & English in its Philadelphia office.
Following roughly 18 months at Paul Hastings, Brian Sakala stated that Akin's career trajectory and the chance to assume the CFO position were what spurred him to relocate.
The incoming partners include Peter Skinner, who joins from Morrison & Foerster, and Andrew Smith, who joins from Holland & Knight. Peter Skinner said, "I quickly realized that, as great a firm that Morrison & Foerster is, the smaller litigation-focused firm definitely just fits my comfort level better."
Keith Enright, the former chief privacy officer of Google, has joined Gibson Dunn & Crutcher to strengthen the company's artificial intelligence (AI) and tech coverage in the United States. Enright becomes a partner at the Palo Alto office of the company, where he will co-chair the AI practice group.
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Team Moves
"For many years, we worked on deals across from one another. Partner John Werner of Jones Walker commented, "We're thrilled to now be on the same side of the table with these lawyers at Jones."
With the addition of partner Shaun Tan and associate Rachel Tan, who are leaving RDS partnership, Malaysian legal company LAW Partnership has grown its dispute resolution practice.
Three executives have been hired by ENS for its three practice groups. Principal analyst Sandya Booluck of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMSEA) Competition Commission joined the firm's Mauritius competition team, while Bowman’s lawyer Diana Burger joined the firm's projects group in South Africa and RSM Mauritius tax director Davina Boodnah also joined the firm.
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Promotions & Appointments:
In other changes to the worldwide firm's senior management, Chicago partner and member of the management committee Neill Jakobe has been appointed vice chair, while Ropes & Gray chair Julie Jones will begin her second term in January.
According to Cody and Scott, the company will become more agile with the appointment of regional executives to a global management council.
领英推荐
Josh Stambaugh, the founding partner of the company, is the first to wear the new title.
Ishan Bhabha has been appointed as the next co-managing partner of Jenner & Block. Bhabha, located in Washington, DC, will assume the position on January 1, 2025, replacing Katya Jestin, who will continue to work for the company.
Webber Wentzel has confirmed that senior partner Christo Els is set to step down from the role after 10 years. The Johannesburg-headquartered firm announced on 20 September that Els will be replaced by corporate and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) partner Gareth Driver on 1st March 2025.
Global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) have appointed partner Martin Kavanagh as their new Africa chair – with partners Jean Meijer and Paul Morton becoming co-heads of the firm’s Africa group.
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Financials:
Following a year in which there was a minor decline in some important compensation indicators in Pennsylvania, things started to improve in 2023. The highest-paid general contractors in the state reported significant profits.
Around half of the Am Law 50 firms are expected to have third-year associate rates over $1,000 by 2025, according to Valeo Partners. Currently, about sixteen companies have associates in this category earning over $1,000 annually.
Firm revenue is projected to be up more than 48% relative to 2020 by end of the year, meaning a little more than $660.5 million in 2024.
Stuart Levey was referred to be "one of the sharpest legal minds in the country" by CEO Safra Catz upon Levey's hiring two years ago. He is being paid appropriately by the corporation.
The latest company to boost the pay of its recently qualified colleagues is Addleshaw Goddard; London-based associates will now earn ￡100,000 annually. Leeds and Manchester's newly trained attorneys will now get ￡65k, while those in Scotland will now make ￡61k.
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Diversity & Inclusion:
Tell us about the achievements of female lawyers working at a government agency, public interest group, law firm, in-house legal department, or somewhere else. Don't wait; nominations are due soon.
According to the IBA's 9th global report on gender disparity in the law, women make up 39% of lawyers at law firms in Mexico, with just 17% holding senior roles—the lowest ratio in the public and private sectors of the nation.
Yan Liu has been promoted to general counsel by the International Monetary Fund, taking Rhoda Weeks-Brown's place, who announced her impending departure last month.
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Office Openings & Closing:
Solomon, Cooperman, Recondo & Weiss's two partners split out to form a boutique that aims to attract talent by providing flexibility, particularly with regard to billing rates, which may enable younger lawyers to establish their practices more quickly.
As part of its global expansion goal to have 100 overseas offices by 2026, Beijing-based Yingke Law Firm opened a new office in London.
With a new office in Hong Kong, the London-based insurance-focused legal firm DAC Beachcroft has increased its footprint in Asia. It will collaborate with the recently established local company CK Lee & Co.
In a major shake-up in the chancery set community of London, 9 Stone Buildings has been dissolved. Earlier this week, all of its members joined Tanfield Chambers and Selborne Chambers, two other well-established chambers.
In the upcoming months, Hogan Lovells, a law firm with offices in London and Washington, DC, will close those in Johannesburg, Sydney, and Warsaw. This will have an impact on about 65 attorneys, including 11 partners. There will be an additional 58 support employees affected.
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Mergers & Alliances:
An increasing number of businesses are looking for merger partners in the Western half of the United States due to a combination of favourable rate structures in secondary markets, population growth, and specific client industries.
The newest in a line of recent significant US law firm mergers will see regional player Sherman & Howard of Denver merge with Am Law 100 company Taft. When the united firm launches on January 1, 2025, it will have over a thousand lawyers and is expected to generate $810 million in revenue.
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Technology & Innovation:
Attorneys specializing in data privacy and digital regulation, according to Tyler Thompson, Reed Smith's newest emerging technologies partner, "going to always need to be learning" because of how quickly regulations are changing.
This year, Qura is just the most recent in a long line of EU-based legal research businesses to announce funding.
Approximately 40 Dentons attorneys in the central European market are the only users of the bot at the moment, but eventually, the platform should be accessible to a larger geographic audience.
The former Harvard students who launched the legal-tech business received funding from several sources, one of whom was a part of Open AI's Applied AI team.
Legal practitioners in the regulatory field can benefit from improved search and summarizing skills using Wolters Kluwer's VitalLaw AI.
"Law has such an ingrained reputation for being the last to embrace new tech, so it was a welcome surprise to be trained in using AI for legal work from day one here," a summer associate commented.
Michael Gerstenzang, the firm's leader, discusses with Law.com how the company works closely with generative AI suppliers to build their offerings and how clients are increasingly interested in using AI for themselves.
The majority of UK adults, according to the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (formerly called the Responsible Technology Adoption Unit), think that artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance public services like healthcare, education, and law enforcement. However, worries about possible AI abuse continue to be a major obstacle to realizing that the advantages of this relatively new technology outweigh the drawbacks.
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Market Commentary:
The company will officially change its name, and the new brand will be introduced in October.
Employees who are refused adjustments they are requesting—like less hours, working from home, or taking sporadic or prolonged leaves of absence—file disability discrimination lawsuits.
"From 2017 through 2023, IPR filings have been trending downwards, with 86 fewer petitions filed each year on average over that period," says Rob Maier.
Foreign Law Firms in Hong Kong Cut Head Counts; the 20 Largest Firms Trim 5% of Lawyers in 12 Months
As deal business dries up, capital markets and M&A teams have also been reduced, and senior partners have been urged to leave early. The extent of those layoffs over the past year has been made clear by a Law.com study of data from the Hong Kong Law Society.
One law firm leader noted that companies are now more focused on getting the 'best' in each area of the law. Firm A for M&A, Firm B for IP work, Firm C for securities litigation, for example".
A recent wave of international deals seems to be helping law firms with sizable groups of dealmakers both inside and outside the United States.
By focusing on the industry, developing systems and processes around the pitch/proposal process, looking backwards for strengths, utilizing social media, and optimizing their digital footprint, smaller law firms can greatly boost their chances of competing with larger "Goliaths".