Leading the high-profile moves this week, Paul Weiss hired Akin restructuring partner Liz Osborne in London for its much-anticipated European practice launch. Leaving Akin after almost a decade at the US firm, Osborne will join Paul Weiss as the head of European restructuring.  Recognised as a leading individual in the Legal 500 for corporate restructuring … The post Revolving Doors: Paul Weiss makes European restructuring bow as Dentons hires in new global CEO appeared first on Legal Business ..read more

Latham & Watkins, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and A&O Shearman are among the most-nominated firms at the 27th annual Legal Business Awards, the shortlist for which has been unveiled today (click here for the full list of nominees). The trio, which have a total of 18 nominations between them, are all up for the prestigious Law Firm … The post Latham, Freshfields and A&O Shearman top the nominations for Legal Business Awards 2024 appeared first on Legal Business ..read more

McDermott Will & Emery has become the latest firm to increase pay for London associates, raising salaries for newly qualified (NQ) associates to $225,000 as competition for talent among firms in the City intensifies.  Effective from 1 January, the Chicago-headquartered firm will raise London associate pay from the current rate of £147,500 ($190,000), matching the … The post ‘At the top of UK associate compensation’ – McDermott hikes London NQ pay to $225k appeared first on Legal Business ..read more

Shopping centre owners have weathered a difficult few years, with the rise of e-commerce, Covid and the cost of living crisis causing much grief for those with stakes in bricks and mortar retail. There is cause for optimism, however, with private equity firm L Catterton’s acquisition of Hammerson’s £1.5bn stake in Value Retail – owner of the Bicester Collection – emblematic of increasing confidence in the sector, and raising hopes of a continued recovery in deal activity. Slaughter and May advised Hammerson on the transaction, which generated approximately £600m in cash proceeds for the prope ..read more

Simmons & Simmons and Bird & Bird have both posted revenue growth of 10%, as major UK firms continue to report healthy results for the last financial year. Simmons saw revenue rise to £574m, up from last year’s £521m. Profit, meanwhile, increased by 8% to a total of £204m, while profit per equity partner (PEP) rose 7% to £1.076m after a year in which the firm added 24 lateral partners globally. Managing partner Jeremy Hoyland told Legal Business: ‘I’m very pleased. Being able to translate our strong revenue growth into profit is really good, especially with inflation and cost increase ..read more

Macfarlanes posts 24% increase in PEP to  £2.6m for 2023-24 as turnover climbs nearly 14% Macfarlanes has released its latest financial results, reporting revenue of £309.1m and operating profit of £174m for an 11-month period ending 31 March 2024. Annualised results show turnover increased 13.7%, while operating profit climbed 23% on the previous financial year. Profit per equity partner, which was worked out for a comparative 11-month period, soared 23.8% to £2.6 million –  a new high for Macfarlanes and a result that comes after the firm last year reported a 16% decline ..read more

Clifford Chance (CC) has become the third magic circle to reveal its financial results for 2023-24, posting global revenue growth of 9% to £2.3bn, up from 5% last year.  Profit, meanwhile, saw double-digit growth of 10%, up to £856m.  Profit per equity partner (PEP) was up slightly from £2m to £2.04m, back to the figure reported in 2021-22 after a slight dip last year.  Commenting on the results, global managing partner Charles Adams said: ‘In another year of very strong performance, our record profits have enabled us to make substantial investments in our global team ..read more

Taylor Wessing has become the latest firm to announce solid results for 2023-24, revealing a 9.5% increase in global revenue to £480.7m.  The firm has grown more rapidly this year than the previous, when revenues rose 4%. UK revenue increased by 8.6% to £246.6m, up from of £227.1m.  UK profit also saw a 12.2% rise to £91.7m, up from last year’s £87.1m. While the firm did not disclose certain figures, PEP is estimated to be around £915,000, a 13.2% increase from £809,000.  Managing partner Shane Gleghorn (pictured) told Legal Business: ‘We’re very please ..read more

Cooley’s London managing partner Justin Stock has left the firm to join Akin as international technology practice head, along with two other partners. Akin has hired three partners from Cooley into its London office. Cooley London managing partner Justin Stock will move to the firm alongside Stephen Rosen, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for mid-market private equity transactions who headed Cooley’s London corporate practice, and technology transactions partner David Bresnick. Stock will join Akin as international technology practice head, and will work with Rosen and Bresnick to deepen A ..read more

Kirkland & Ellis is overhauling its equity partner exit terms – ushering in new policies to withhold compensation for departing partners, as well as slashing notice periods and speeding up the time it takes those leaving to be repaid their capital. Partners are understood to have unanimously approved the changes earlier this week (16 July), with the move, first revealed by Financial News, meaning equity partners leaving the firm could potentially see millions in accrued compensation withheld by Kirkland, where average PEP stands at nearly $8m and stars are paid significantly more. Until n ..read more