Mishcon de Reya has brought in litigation boutique Davis & Co founder and ex-Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) partner Mark Davis and a three-strong team to boost its dispute resolution practice.

Davis was formerly part of the three-person elected management committee at WFW before leaving in 1996 to establish independent firm Curtis Davis Gerrard with two other partners.

He left in 2003 to establish his own firm that will now assimilate into Mishcon’s business.

All of Davis & Co’s clients will move over to Mishcon with Davis confirming there were no client conflicts between himself and his new firm.

Speaking to The Lawyer, Davis said: “One of the main reasons for me joining the firm was that I was looking for an appropriate platform to service my clients and I think I can do so much more for them from Mishcon’s platform.”

Talks between Davis and Mishcon are understand to have only lasted for a number of weeks before a deal was agreed between the two. He will join the firm’s London office today.

Davis’ clients are thought to be primarily litigation-focused, though he does bring arbitration experience with him. His firm operated largely in the banking, TMT, professional negligence, shipping and energy sectors during its 15-year lifespan.

Mishcon head of dispute resolution Kasra Nouroozi said: “Mark has a proven track record of acting in some major and complex disputes in the UK and a number of foreign jurisdictions. He is a fantastic fit, and we know that he will greatly contribute to our dispute resolution offering.”

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One of Coca-Cola’s largest bottling companies has reduced its panel by 35 per cent, appointing over 100 firms to its roster.

This is the first time Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) has run the process from its head office in Switzerland.

The decision to run the tender at a group level forms part of a long-term project to improve its delivery of legal services.

The “Excellence 2020” initiative includes four main streams focusing on external legal counsel, documentation, legal operations and performance management.

The panel has been reduced from around 200 firms to 130 around the world, equivalent to a 35 per cent reduction.

Some of the large international firms understood to have made the cut include DLA Piper, Herbert Smith Freehills and Norton Rose Fulbright.

US giants Latham & Watkins, Shearman & Sterling, Sullivan & Cromwell and White & Case have also made the list, alongside more domestic players such as Burges Salmon.

With previous panel tenders, individual countries appointed their own panel firms. However, the centralised process has aimed for further consolidation and sharing between different regions.

Many of the large international firms have been appointed to carry out sector-specific work around the world, such as anti-trust issues and M&A.

Domestic firms continue to play an important role in the panel, making up the bulk of appointments. They are intended to support on local law matters rather than practice area specialities.

Coca-Cola HBC is one of the largest bottlers of the drink, with shares on the London Stock Exchange and Athens Stock Exchange. According to The Lawyer‘s FTSE 100 report published last year, the company boasted over 100 qualified lawyers in its in-house team. 

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Today The Lawyer reveals the shortlist for The Lawyer Awards 2018, in association with Travelers, the legal industry’s biggest night of the year.

This year, over 70 judges across private practice, in-house and the Bar debated entries from a record number of law firms and companies to narrow down the shortlist for the 28 categories.

Our panel of judges included Sky UK General Counsel Vicky Sandry, Crown Estate General Counsel Rob Booth, CMS managing partner Penelope Warne, Eversheds Sutherland CEO Lee Ranson, 3 Verulam Buildings’ Adrian Beltrami QC and 11KBW’s Sean Jones QC.

The winners will be announced at a glittering ceremony at Grosvenor House in London on 26 June. Book a table here.

The full shortlist

Corporate team of the year

• Addleshaw Goddard
• Allen & Overy
• Clifford Chance
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• Linklaters
• Pinsent Masons
• Stephenson Harwood
• Travers Smith

Finance team of the year sponsored by Cantab Asset Management

• Hogan Lovells
• Linklaters
• Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
• Mills & Reeve
• Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
• Paul Hastings
• Reed Smith
• White & Case

IP or IT team of the year

• CMS
• Eversheds Sutherland
• Hogan Lovells
• Locke Lord (UK)
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Pinsent Masons
• Powell Gilbert

Real estate team of the year sponsored by First Names Group

• Addleshaw Goddard
• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
• CMS
• Dentons
• Eversheds Sutherland
• Hogan Lovells
• Mayer Brown
• Osborne Clarke

Best collaboration initiative

• Burges Salmon
• Burness Paull
• CMS
• Ignition Law
• Michelmores
• Moore Blatch and Bermans – Escalate
• TrustLaw

Best workplace initiative

• Ashurst
• Burges Salmon
• Fieldfisher
• Macfarlanes
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
• Shakespeare Martineau
• Shire Pharmaceuticals
• Shoosmiths

Excellence in diversity & inclusion

• Barclays Legal
• CMS
• Fieldfisher
• Gowling WLG
• Irwin Mitchell
• Pinsent Masons
• Reed Smith
• Travers Smith

In-house banking & financial services team of the year

• Hyperion Insurance Group
• Kleinwort Hambros
• London Stock Exchange Group
• LV=
• Metro Bank
• Paysafe Group
• The Ardonagh Group

In-house TMT team of the year

• BT Legal (Privacy, Security & Internet Law)
• Informa
• Litigation Team, Sky Legal
• News UK
• Skyscanner
• The Financial Times
• Visa

General Counsel of the year

• Thomas Brown, Director and Head of Legal UK and Ireland, PayPal UK
• Lucy Clarke-Bodicoat, General Counsel & Corporate Services Director, HS1
• Alice Marsden, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Thomas Cook
• Imraan Patel, Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, EG Group
• Hemma Patel, General Counsel and Compliance Officer (EMEA), ASSA ABLOY AB
• Swati Paul, General Counsel, London Luton Airport Operations
• Bjarne P. Tellmann, General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer, Pearson
• Dan Toner, General Counsel and Group Company Secretary, Spire Healthcare Group

Boutique firm of the year

• CANDEY
• ClientEarth
• Fenchurch Law
• Humphries Kerstetter
• Lipman Karas
• LXL
• MJ Hudson
• PCB Litigation

Law firm of the year: the Independents – South and Midlands

• asb law
• BPE Solicitors
• Flint Bishop
• Memery Crystal
• Nelsons Solicitors
• Paris Smith
• Wiggin
• Wright Hassall

Barrister of the year

• Neil Block QC, 39 Essex Chambers
• Marie Demetriou QC, Brick Court Chambers
• Karon Monaghan QC, Matrix Chambers
• Andrew Ritchie QC, 9 Gough Square
• Keith Rowley QC, Radcliffe Chambers
• Julia Smart, Furnival Chambers
• Bankim Thanki QC, Fountain Court Chambers

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Gleiss Lutz has suffered a rare partner exit, losing its co-head of private equity to Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

Jan Bauer will join the US firm’s German office in Frankfurt after 13 years as a partner at Gleiss Lutz.

He spent a year overseas as a foreign associate for Cravath Swaine & Moore in 2002, working in both its New York and London offices.

The news was first reported in German legal magazine Juve.

Gleiss Lutz is not in the habit of losing partners, let alone a corporate one. Exceptions include Ralf Thaeter in 2013 who left to join former alliance partner Herbert Smith Freehills.

Away from corporate, Gleiss also lost employment partner Burkard Göpfert in the same year to Baker McKenzie.

Private equity partner Bauer earlier this year closed a deal for General Atlantic on the acquisition of a stake in media group ProSiebenSat. Other clients include Siris Capital, Blackstone and TSG.

Skadden’s recruitment effort in Germany mirrors similar private equity strategies already launched by Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis and Sidley Austin.

All four have now made high-profile hires in London before moving over to Germany to kickstart their European corporate operations. Skadden last year hired White & Case’s Richard Youle and Katja Butler, along with a team of associates.

Sidley hired Kirkland Munich partner Volker Kullmann in 2017, a year after the raid on the firm’s City office. The German push saw the arrival of seven new partners, adding to the group of six already hired in London.

Kirkland took a team from Hengeler Mueller in 2016, marking the second major corporate hire for the firm in the region in less than a year. It also recruited private equity partner Jörg Kirchner from Latham & Watkins.

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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has scored the top role in CVC Capital Partners’ sale of Sky Betting and Gaming to online gaming operator Stars Group for nearly $5bn.

The record-making transaction will create the world’s largest publicly listed online gaming company.

Freshfields’ corporate partners Tim Wilmot, Valerie Jacob and Christopher Mort, as well as antitrust partner Alastair Chapman, advised CVC in the sale of Sky Bet, which the private equity giant acquired in 2015, through a deal which reportedly valued the company at around $800m.

At the end of June 2017, Sky Bet’s revenue increased to £516m from £374m and earlier this year, CVC began arrangements to IPO the Leeds-based bookmakers.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher spearheaded the deal for Canadian-owned Stars Group, with London-based corporate partner Jonathan Earle, tax partner Nicholas Aleksander and employment partner James Cox, alongside associate Sian Williams.

Blake Cassels & Graydon also acted as co-counsel for Stars Group in Canada.

Herbert Smith Freehills advised longstanding client Sky, a selling shareholder in the deal. The lead partners on the deal were Mark Bardell and John Taylor, as well as competition partner Andre Pretorius and IP partner Joel Smith.

The UK is the largest regulated online gaming market and the acquisition of the major sports-betting player will help Stars Group, which is based in Toronto, strengthen its foothold in Europe. From here, if the market fully opens, it hopes to break out into the US.

Jonathan Earle stated: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to act for The Stars Group, a new client, who we worked opposite on their aborted transaction with William Hill.

“For us as an office, it is very pleasing to work on a client’s bet the farm deal and demonstrates the bench strength and depth we have now at Gibson in London”.

The $4.7bn deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

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Floating a law firm is not all about making a quick killing – Keystone found validation for its New Law model while Gordon Dadds got the cash to grow. In fact, there are many reasons to go public.

Why would you float your law firm? At first glance this would appear to be a question that belongs in a similar bracket as the classic: “So what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?”

Certainly, if you’re a senior equity partner in a profitable firm, an IPO could bring you a handy cash windfall. In that context a better question might be ‘why wouldn’t you float?’ but, of course, this is an oversimplification.

Partners do not make money per se when their firms go public. They give away something in exchange for cash; future income for capital now. So one of the primary drivers for going public is less about exit strategies and more about accessing new sources of capital and investment funds.

Reasons to float a law firm

The most recent UK law firm to float is Keystone, which began trading on AIM on 27 November last year.

Keystone founder and managing director James Knight says there were a number of reasons for his firm’s IPO but, contrary to received wisdom, the additional transparency that comes with listing was high up the list. And lining his own pockets was not a major consideration, he insists.

“Clients put a lot of trust in us and now we’re public I can say ‘It’s all here’,” says Knight. “The question I’m asked most is ‘why did you float – what were the motivating factors?’ In reality there are half a dozen reasons but at the end of the day you make a decision based on instinct.”

“Clients put a lot of trust in us and now we’re public I can say ‘It’s all here” James Knight, Keystone

One of those reasons is particularly germane for Keystone, a New Law model that is still only 15 years old. Going public provides third-party, institutional investor endorsement of a firm’s business model. If that model is a relatively new concept, this is particularly important.

Law firm IPOs for 2018

Several sources close to the burgeoning market of publicly listed law firms insist that 2018 will see more deals suggesting that, for a certain type of firm at least, tapping the public markets is more attractive than ever.

“This year there will be another two or three IPOs at least,” insists John Llewellyn-Lloyd of Arden Partners, which advised on the IPO of Gordon Dadds last year.

“What the Keystone and Gordon Dadds deals – and their relatively strong performance post-IPO – prove is that there’s a lot of institutional support. Investors see the legal market as an interesting space in which there will be disruption, winners and losers. So there’s an opportunity for investors to achieve a decent yield. That’s the key to a good investment proposition.”

Already this prediction is coming true. This morning litigation outfit Rosenblatt announced plans to list on the London Stock Exchange.

Gordon Dadds, once a £3m Mayfair boutique and now a listed business worth more than £40m, provides ample evidence of what can happen when a company is fleet of foot and armed with cash. Its growth and transformation over the past three years has been little short of astonishing, while it has already acquired three smaller firms since its IPO last year (Bristol-based Metcalfes Solicitors for £2m, Cardiff’s Thomas Simon for £1.9m and London- and Oxford-based technology specialist White & Black for £3m).

Unlike Keystone, which is looking to raise its profile to attract more laterals and teams, Gordon Dadds makes no bones about the fact that it raised its funds to go on an acquisition spree, targeting firms that may be in need of a deep-pocketed white knight.

IPOs are changing the traditional law firm business model

Inevitably, there will be speculation about which firm will next go public. Personal injury giant Irwin Mitchell has long been seen as a candidate, while brand-savvy Mishcon de Reya is said in some circles to have at least considered an IPO last year. Highly profitable litigation boutique Stewarts could also make sense.

What is notable with the trio of deals so far in the UK is that the firms have different reasons for going public, highlighting the fact that each is a different type of firm. And while Gateley, which floated in 2015, is at the more traditional end of the market (IPO notwithstanding), the latter two deals underline the extent to which the market is reshaping. Indeed, it is the shape of the new breed of firms that might offer clues as to where the next IPO will come from.

The firms have different reasons for going public, highlighting the fact that each is a different type of firm

“Technology is changing the way firms process documents or assess risk, and is therefore increasing the pace of change,” says Llewellyn-Lloyd. “It’s having a big impact on the traditional law firm pyramid structure, with some moving to more of a diamond structure where you don’t need many more people at the bottom than at the top. Where the diamond bulges you find investment in areas like BD, marketing, technology and other business services roles.”

This year’s UK 200: Business Services report highlights the investments several firms are already making in these areas, while the UK 200: the Independents reveals the business models of 100 firms, several of which look 100 per cent suitable for an IPO. These include those that handle profitable, predictable volume work and are owned by a handful of people, with hundreds of staff and fee-earners processing the matters.

Potentials, judging solely on the metrics, include Bott & Co (which had an average revenue per lawyer last year of £1.64m), drydensfairfax (£1.62m) and Fletchers (£3.2m).

Llewellyn-Lloyd believes the most likely candidates for the next IPO will be from the consumer law space.

“The market has proved there’s an opportunity for anybody with a proven record of delivering profitable growth,” he says.

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Litigation outfit Rosenblatt Solicitors looks set to follow in the footsteps of Gateley, Keystone and Gordon Dadds, announcing plans today to list on the London Stock Exchange.

The firm, which has long signalled its intention to go public, has not yet offered any clues as to the funds it expects to raise through the listing or the price of each individual share in its first official listing document.

The significant shareholders of the company before and after listing include founder Ian Rosenblatt and dispute resolution head Tania MacLeod.

According to The Lawyer’s UK 200 2017, Rosenblatt has a total of 80 staff, 54 fee-earners The firm posted revenues of £16m in the 2016/17 financial year,  a drop of 9 per cent on the previous year.

In 2016, Rosenblatt incorporated a company in February and hired its first chief executive, Nicola Foulston, as its first CEO.

Experts predicted further IPOs in 2018 in an article from The Lawyer’s senior issue, arguing that transparency before clients and a financial performance boost for those that took the plunge was enough to push other firms to follow.

This year’s UK 200: Business Services report highlights the investments several firms are already making in these areas, while the UK 200: the Independents reveals the business models of 100 firms, several of which look 100 per cent suitable for an IPO. These include those that handle profitable, predictable volume work and are owned by a handful of people, with hundreds of staff and fee-earners processing the matters.

Other potentials, judging solely on the metrics, include Bott & Co (which had an average revenue per lawyer last year of £1.64m), drydensfairfax (£1.62m) and Fletchers (£3.2m).

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Eversheds Sutherland‘s Asia head of technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) has left the firm’s Hong Kong office for K&L Gates.

Nigel Stamp is joining the US firm as a partner after nearly seven years at Eversheds.

He previously headed Morrison & Foerster’s China TMT practice, which he joined in 2006 from Clifford Chance.

At K&L Gates, Stamp will advise clients on commercial contracts issues, as well as outsourcing projects, transactions and procurement projects.

He has also advised on internet projects, such as e-commerce matters for retailer, media companies and telecommunications providers.

Stamp is the third new partner to join K&L Gates’ Asian offices in less than a month, following the additions of KPMG energy partner Owen Chio in Taipei and corporate partner Dooyong Kang in Tokyo, from Jones Day.

The firm made up seven new partners in the Asia-Pacific region earlier this year, although there were no promotions in Hong Kong.

There were just three new members in London and seven across Continental Europe.

Meanwhile the loss for Eversheds comes nearly a year after its managing partner in Singapore, Oommen Mathew, departed for DWF.

Mathew has taken a three-strong team with him: Asia head of construction, infrastructure and energy Iain Black and associates Charis Tan and Kate Lan. Following these exits, the Singapore office now has 29 partners.

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Addleshaw Goddard has kickstarted a new three-year strategy for its Middle Eastern arm, aiming to have 70 staff across the region as well as breaking into Saudi Arabia.

Led by its head of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Andrew Greaves, the firm will now look to build out of its three existing offices having launched in the region in 2012.

Greaves confirmed that Addleshaws had entered into discussions with “one or two” Saudi Arabian firms with a view to formalising an association, saying the time was now right to build from its established platform.

Greaves said: “Saudi Arabia certainly features in our plan, though at this time we have no formal associations. What we do have are very good relationships with two key firms on a referral basis.

“We haven’t gone into Saudi Arabia at the moment and that is down to the fact that we didn’t have the bandwidth to aggressively go into the market in the way we would want to.

“We’re now well-placed to move into that market and we’re in the process of talking to one or two firms with the potential of exploring a formalised relationship.”

The firm is actively hiring in the region, as evidenced by its hire of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman Dubai managing partner Ahmad Anani to head up its office in Doha. Anani replaces the retiring Martin Brown and Greaves said the firm will look to build a large portion of its corporate and private equity work in the region around him.

Its hiring policy has caused the firm to assess its office space in Oman, which could lead it to search for new premises. Similarly, Greaves described the Dubai location as “fit to burst” and a relocation in the city is likely with the firm having a year left to run on its lease.

Greaves said: “We ideally want two partners in each key service area. There’s no reason why we can’t be up to 70 people in the next three years. It’s important to remember that it isn’t just about getting bums on seats, though.”

“We’ve made a few mistakes in the past, so has everybody, and now we’re really starting to attract some excellent candidates into our business.”

Addleshaws has already been on a concerted expansion drive in 2018, though the majority of this has been UK-focused.

Hires from DWF and Irwin Mitchell have boasted its construction and real estate capabilities in the North West, while it strengthened in financial regulations with a two-partner hire in February.

Its most notable hire of the year comes in the form of legacy Berwin Leighton Paisner head of Asia Bob Charlton to lead its Asia Pacific practice.

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Shearman & Sterling is edging towards a launch in South Korea with plans to open in Seoul by the end of the year, The Lawyer understands.

The US firm is understood to be awaiting regulatory approval to launch in the region, which could take up to several months.

The office would be the third to be launched by the firm this year after two openings in Texas; the first in Austin following the arrival of a seven-partner team from Andrews Kurth Kenyon, which is due to merge with Hunton & Williams; the second in Houston to focus on oil, gas and projects work.

Shearman already has five offices in the Asia Pacific region in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.

There were partner promotions in two of those offices last year in Singapore and Tokyo.

Fellow US firm Latham & Watkins also entered Seoul in 2016, making it its sixth office in Asia. The operation is small, consisting of just three partners and one counsel who split their time between South Korea and Hong Kong.

Shearman is slightly late to the party in South Korea, with a raft of firms opening up in 2015 and 2014.

These included Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, Stephenson Harwood and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

The licence would see Shearman open a foreign legal consultant office in the city, with a focus on finance, banking and corporate work.

In 2017, Shearman & Sterling boosted its average profit per equity partner (PEP) by 7 per cent, while revenue nudged up by $5m.

The $1bn turnover milestone continues to elude Shearman, however. Revenue crept up from $912m to $917.5m over 2017.

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As our lifespans extend inexorably from threescore years and 10 to fourscore and more, our working lives are growing longer too. A good deal of focus has been on the pensions gap – the shortfall in workers’ savings that is forcing them to retire later – but the legal profession has a problem even earlier down the line.

The natural consequence of the population living longer and partners retiring later is that new blood has to wait to get a look in. The partner track has lengthened… and lengthened.

Needless to say, lawyer longevity is not the only reason for this trend. The changing make-up of the profession has played its part too.

“There was a trend among firms to move back towards real all-equity partnerships. It made sense at a time when there were no profits” Jonathan Haley, Farrer & Co

In 1980, when a young lawyer could expect to achieve partnership in four or five years, the UK was home to about 38,000 practising solicitors.

The Law Society’s most recent count produced a figure of 139,797, up more than 260 per cent. But the number of UK law firms has shown no such dramatic increase.

The global financial crisis has also had an impact.

“Around the time of the recession, there was a trend among firms to move back towards real all-equity partnerships,” says Farrer & Co partner Jonathan Haley.

“It made sense to have a partnership of that sort at a time when there were no profits, rather than having a salaried partner band and having to pay out the high wages that London lawyers demand. Partnership became harder to attain and I haven’t noticed any trend reversing that.”

Addleshaw Goddard partnership expert Aster Crawshaw agrees.

“When I qualified in 2000 the track was between six and eight years but now, with some notable exceptions, it’s anywhere between eight and 14 years,” he says. “To many fee-earners, that just feels too long, particularly given the increasing appeal of in-house positions.”

Average PQE when making partner

It’s not just a feeling – the stats bear out the truth of the matter. In the past 10 years, the average PQE of a new partner at every one of the four big magic circle firms has risen. Across the four a new partner in 2008 was, on average, 9PQE. In 2017, the average was 10.4PQE.

Because lawyers are highly valued at the senior associate stage, and ambitious associates are likely to be thinking about a wider range of career options, firms are being forced to think about how to hold on to them and behind the scenes, questions are being asked.

“All firms are having these sorts of discussions, even if they are not talking about it openly,” says a partner at one US firm. “The model needs to be thought about, because it is getting harder for firms to keep hold of the best people.”

Alternative partner promotion models

There are exceptions to every rule and the path to partnership is no exception. Kirkland & Ellis famously promotes most of its people at 6PQE and from there, it’s up or out – mainly out, with the bulk of those made up exiting the firm within two or three years.

However, the data suggests that being made up early at Kirkland doesn’t do lawyers any harm, even if they do leave. Many go on to be a partner at one of the other top US firms – Sidley Austin’s London office is peppered with Kirkland alum, for example.

While it’s probably fair to say that most firms wouldn’t want to copy the Kirkland model, other firms exist that still promote relatively early.

An example is Travers Smith. Seven years PQE is the level at which a lawyer at the firm may first be considered for promotion and over the past decade, the average has remained remarkably steady at around 9PQE. (The exception was 2017, an unusual year for Travers in which all four of those promoted were women, and three of them had previously been senior counsel.)

“Our philosophy is to keep things simple. Provided there is a business case, we trust the partners who are putting forward a candidate” David Patient, Travers Smith

“We pride ourselves on promoting our most talented people as soon as we can, because we think the badge of partnership is extremely important for the development of one’s business,” says the firm’s managing partner, David Patient.

“Our philosophy is to keep things simple, wherever possible, and the same applies to our partner promotion process. Provided there is a business case, we trust the partners in the team who are putting forward a candidate.”

Compensation, motivation and retention

Like Kirkland, Travers has its own particular culture, not easily replicated. So is there a solution?

“Retention is complex,” says Shearman & Sterling London managing partner Nick Buckworth. “There is a tendency to just say, ‘We’ll pay them more’ or ‘we’ll have a better package’ or ‘we’ll give them good bonuses’.

“The problem with compensation is that it is simply an earned and deserved reward for what people have done – it’s not motivation. People are realising that money is something you’ve earned, not something that motivates and drives you. It doesn’t make you feel more committed.”

Different types of law firm ‘partner’

A rethink of the title of partner is a possible solution, says Crawshaw at Addleshaw Goddard. “The partner title has real cachet in the market and some firms are thinking hard about being more generous with it.

“That might mean extending time spent as a fixed-share partner from two or three years to four or five before someone is considered for equity.”

Equally, he adds, “some law firms are considering the creation of a third tier of partner. As well as having fixed-share and equity, they could have salaried partners, or some other junior tier which gives a lawyer the title but does not necessarily put them on the track to senior partner status or carry the same internal governance rights.”

This, of course, raises the question of whether a partner who is not a member of the equity is a ‘true’ partner at all. Farrer’s Haley warns against the dilution of the term.

“My personal view is that ‘partner’ should remain an aspirational position – it shouldn’t be dumbed down and available to all,” he says.

“That being the case, the solution is to make some of the alternatives attractive positions as well.

Upgrade the ‘of counsel’ job title

“Rather than the ‘of counsel’ position being a shelf to put people who aren’t going to make partner on, such titles need to be respected within law firms as goals and positions to aspire to in their own right.”

That is yet another issue. The ‘of counsel’ title and its various equivalents have now been around for more than a decade, with the likes of Allen & Overy, Herbert Smith Freehills and Vinson & Elkins all introducing the role in 2006 – largely to stem associate attrition.

As legacy Herbert Smith’s then chief operating officer, Norman Green, remarked at the time: “We were finding the only alternative for associates who don’t want to become partners was to leave.”

But 12 years on, while alternative to partner titles are more common, it is difficult to argue that they have been a unqualified success.

“I could show you firms where they have got the ‘of counsel’ role right,” says one senior market source. “Equally, I could show you plenty of firms where they have got it very, very wrong.”

Crawshaw agrees that diluting the role of partner too much is something to be wary of, but overall he takes a bolder view: if someone is good enough to be a partner equivalent, why not give them the title too?

“There are instances where there isn’t a business case for someone to be made up, but you would be happy to hold them out as a partner. In those cases, titles such as consultant, of counsel and legal director are in use” Aster Crawshaw, Addleshaws

“There are many instances where there isn’t quite a business case for someone to be made up, but you would be happy to hold them out as a partner,” he says. “A number of equivalent titles are already in use, such as consultant, of counsel and legal director.

“The internal status of a junior tier is something that would have to be considered, and you don’t want to devalue the commodity too much, but for the right people, risk should not be an obstacle.”

He adds: “The partner title is not a magic bullet, but some firms will see it as part of a package that may allow them to hold on to talented lawyers until the right ‘full’ partner opportunity comes up.

“My personal view is that we will see more of it in the market. There are bound to be other issues on a managing partner’s to-do list that seem more pressing, but in many firms, these kind of HR issues need more focus.”

Nurture the individual

Whatever measures firms take to address the attrition issue, there will always be more to do. As Shearman & Sterling’s Buckworth acknowledges: “The real challenge when it comes to retention is not the set pieces. It is the day-to-day nurturing of individuals – the ‘How was your weekend?’ conversations, noticing people who are having a bad day.

“The pressure upon all partners is so intense that it is easy to sit in your office and do your work. It isn’t enough.

“The responsibility of the partnership is to encourage, lead, nurture and mentor and one of the keys to retention is to develop the culture so that the partnership really delivers on that.”

• Read more careers insight here

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Barclays is launching a legal technology incubator programme in collaboration with law firms including Allen & Overy (A&O), Clifford Chance, Clyde & Co and Simmons & Simmons, as well as PwC, The Law Society and Legal Geek.

Participants of the programme will get access to a hundred-seat co-working space, mentoring, and workshops. Barclays general counsel Stephanie Pagni predicts the space will house 10 to 15 start-ups at a time.

Law firms will provide mentoring and advice, while The Law Society and Legal Geek will run events and workshops as part of Barclays’ intention to drive the programme across the legal industry.

Pagni said that she started talking to Barclays’ panel firms at the beginning of 2017 about a legal tech incubator programme, provoked by the Serious Fraud Office’s landmark use of tech in the Rolls Royce case.

A Clydes spokesperson said: “We’d been talking to Barclays for quite a while. Our involvement will be in providing testing ground for the tech companies. They might ask how the payment system work at a law firm, or how the disputes process works in insurance, for example. We provide a petri dish of information to allow them to test their tech out.”

Beyond providing the facilities, Pagni says that Barclays isn’t investing in the participating startups, but will facilitate funding connections. “We wont be investing ourselves, but in common with all our labs we want to create an ecosystem,” she said. “Law firms with large corporate clients will be able to make introductions. We’ll introduce venture capitalists from time to time, where we see fit to make an introduction.”

The firms involved in this programme are those likely to retain relationships with the bank after it scrapped panels and moved to a continuous review system.

The Law Society’s objective is to get students involved in the in the programme too. Pagni said: “Historically, tech its not the first thing you think about when you’re training as a lawyer. The Law Society is trying to bring on side the entirety of the legal community here. They might host specific events we host, or a particular start-up with a specific focused event to bring along law students and solicitors.

Clydes corporate partner Richard Elks claims that his firm’s involvement is not in order to buy emerging tech. “It’s to be part of the ecosystem. We’ve got a couple of other initiatives, such as Clyde Code, and an internal data analytics programme. So this is a much broader play for us.”

Mishcon de Reya runs an incubator programme called MDR Lab and Dentons announced a spacetech programme at the beginning of April.

The legaltech ‘Eagle Lab’ will be based in Notting Hill in a space that was converted from a bank branch. The legal tech lab is the latest in a UK-wide network of ‘Eagle Labs’. Many labs have specific industry focus on technology areas, such as the artificial intelligence lab based in Cambridge.

Legal Geek founder Jimmy Vestbirk said in a statement that the initiative is an attempt to replicate the success of the fintech industry in the London market. “London is emerging as a global leader in law-tech, with an increasing number of high growth international legal start-ups choosing the city as their second market,” he said.

Pagni said that the programme had already received an undisclosed number of applications, and that there are some already under consideration.

The programme is due to start in June. “It wont be the only site we’re going to open a legaltech lab in London,” Pagni added.

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What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee?

I absolutely loved being a trainee. I was involved in some very interesting deals and made some incredibly close friends, both in London and while on secondment in Paris. 

My most vivid memories, however, revolve around the Allen & Overy bar in our old building in One New Change; it was situated at the exit of the building and I thoroughly enjoyed the tradition of starting the weekend with a few Friday night drinks with friends from my trainee intake and department.

Who has been the most influential person in your career? Why, and how have they helped you?

I can’t choose between two, both from my family. First, my husband’s ethos of treating his career as an integral part of his life and his firm belief in the importance of truly enjoying your job has always resonated with me.

Second, is my 7-year-old daughter, who learnt at school that you should never be afraid to try new things and that you should always try your hardest. I carry these three principles around with me in my daily working life and they have helped to guide the decisions that I make.

What was the best career decision you ever made, and why?

My best career decision was to qualify into A&O’s derivatives group. I have a genuine passion for the products and market, really enjoyed working with some fantastic clients and the department is full of like-minded, driven, interesting and fun colleagues.

From a personal perspective, it enabled me to work with David Benton for many years.  He is a brilliant lawyer and one of the authorities on the derivatives market globally, but more importantly, I have always valued his honesty, humour and friendship. DAVID – DON’T GET A BIG HEAD…

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get to where you are/do the job you do?

I would always encourage people to try and make time for their interests outside of law; you never know where they might lead. My involvement in Fuse was sparked (excuse the pun) by the angel investing I do on Sunday evenings, and the start-up school program I completed at Google Campus during my maternity leave.

What work or career-related project or activity would you really like to do, but don’t have time for?

I always have several ideas on the go at any given time, but top of the list at the moment, is to use knowledge gained from completing the FT Diploma in Non-Executive Directorships, possibly by taking on a NED position.

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Homes England (formerly known as the Homes and Communities Agency) has completed its panel review, adding five firms to its £30m roster.

A total of thirteen firms have been appointed the Government housing investment authority’s panel, with firms allocated into two lots.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Eversheds Sutherland and Pinsent Masons, which have been on the panel since it was first formally launched in 2010, are in lot 2, which will deal with larger and more complex work. Womble Bond Dickinson, which was last on the panel in 2013, has been added again, while Devonshires has been replaced by Mills & Reeve.

Lot 2 will focus on property finance, major infrastructure and regeneration, assisting Homes England in its aim of delivering 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s.

DWF and Hewitsons have been reappointed and will join the seven-strong lot 1 panel, which will cover real estate matters including estate management, landlord and tenants, plot sales and planning and environment. Ashfords, which last year made to stage two of the three-stage process but was ultimately dropped, has been picked up again for this year’s panel.

The contract, which begins on 1 May, will run for two years until May 2020, when the agency can decide to renew it for another two years. The last review was in Spring 2014 when the former Homes & Communities Agency slashed their panel from 14 to nine advisers. 

As well as cutting costs, the cuts were carried out in order to share work out more evenly across firms, after complaints that some regional firms were not being offered enough to do. This is the agency’s second review in its current two “lot” framework, with the £30m equally split between both lots. Previously, Homes England hosted one national panel, supported by three sub-panels divided into regional geographies.

Under its rebranding, Home England’s legal panel will no longer be required to provide support to the Regulator of Social Housing, which has been separated from the agency and established as a standalone organisation. As Home England’s £30m panel spend has not been increased since 2014, this leaves more time and money for the firms to focus on other sectors in their remit.

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White & Case has won the top role advising a group of private equity investors in the proposed acquisition of telecoms company CityFibre.

Under the terms of the deal, CityFibre will be sold to Antin Infrastructure Partners and West Street, an infrastructure fund backed by Goldman Sachs.

White & Case partner Caroline Sherrell led the team advising Antin and West Street, alongside partner Patrick Sarch.

They were supported by partner Guy Potel on public law M&A aspects of the deal, while the firm also fielded a group in London to advise on employment, antitrust and tax matters.

White & Case worked opposite CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang partner Paul Blackmore, who advised the target CityFibre.

The telecoms company has long turned to Blackmore for counsel, listing his former firm Olswang as its key legal adviser.

Previous mandates for Blackmore include advising CityFibre on its AIM listing, as well as the acquisition of assets from KCOM Group for £90m. He further represented the company on its joint venture with Sky and TalkTalk to bring fibre to homes in York.

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom also played a role on the cash confirmation side of the deal; partner Scott Hopkins led for the US firm.

The deal plays into the trend of private equity buyers looking around for infrastructure assets in which to invest.

White & Case partner Caroline Sherrell told The Lawyer: “There’s a huge amount of capital out there so people are looking to invest in this space at the moment.

“Doing a public takeover like this is not the easiest way to buy an asset by any means. But private equity buyers are trying to look outside the box and looking for different opportunities open to them.”

The acquisition values CityFibre at just under £540m, with the deal expected to close in the last quarter of this year.

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BT has put its global legal panel on hold yet again, in a move that looks likely to put it over a year behind schedule, The Lawyer has learned.

A major reason behind the decision to delay was the appointment of new general counsel Sabine Chalmers, who came in to lead the FTSE 100 company’s legal team in April 2018.

The move has resulted in a full-scale rethink as to how legal work is carried out by the FTSE 100 company, with any urgent changes in panel arrangements occurring on a region-by-region basis.

As it stands, BT’s legal team is expected to review the global situation later on this year.

The telecoms provider planned to complete its worldwide roster at the end of 2017, before revealing that a finish date in the first half of 2018 looked more likely.

The legal team and procurement function will work closely with general counsel Liz Walker, who leads BT global services’ in-house team. She sits under Chalmers, who is responsible for the entire BT group.

Delays have been a common feature of BT’s panel process; a fact that many of its firms are unlikely to complain over.

The separate UK and Ireland panel was also put on hold several times, completing early in 2017 when 37 firms made it onto the roster.

The process began two years before but was put aside when BT acquired EE at the start of 2016.

BT has the fifth largest legal team in the FTSE 100, according to The Lawyer’s report on the UK’s largest companies. It has 152 English-qualified lawyers, coming behind the banks Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds.

As such, BT is also one of the most prone to change and transformation. The EE acquisition sparked a series of role changes in the group; EE general counsel James Blendis left earlier this year while Russell Johnstone was promoted to lead the legal teams across BT’s consumer business including EE and Plusnet.

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Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich is facing an expedited legal battle against two other Russian oligarchs, which is set to hit English courts this year.

Brick Court’s Danny Jowell, Alan Roxburgh and Richard Eschwege are representing Abramovich, instructed by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

The dispute is over the Chelsea owner’s intention to sell his $1.5bn stake in the largest aluminium producers in the world, Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel), to a company associated with fellow oligarch Vladimir Potanin.

Potanin, who is a majority shareholder in the aluminium producer through his company Interros Holding, is embroiled in a long-running fight against Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska to control the company.

According to reporting by Reuters, both parties enjoyed a five-year peace deal brokered by the Kremlin involving a shares lock-in that ended in December 2017. The legal battle, which started when Abramovich moved to shed his shares earlier this year, intensified when he struck a deal to sell a 2 per cent stake to Potanin and grow its share to 32.9 per cent.

This shares sale could be revoked should Deripaska, represented through his aluminium company Rusal, succeed in court. Deripaska’s Rusal is being advised by Maitland Chambers’ Christopher Pymont QC, Thomas Munby and James Kinman, instructed by Macfarlanes partner Ian Mackie.

Potanin is represented in the case through his company Whiteleave Holdings. One Essex Court’s Daniel Toledano QC and David Davies are acting on behalf of the company, instructed by Debevoise & Plimpton‘s Lord Goldsmith QC.

The first trial has been expedited, and will be heard on 14 May for six days. The second trial, which will focus on a sanctions point, will be heard in Q3 2018.

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Clyde & Co‘s star magic circle hire in China, Beijing managing partner Patrick Zheng, has left after four years to join independent firm Llinks Law.

Zheng will be a partner in Llinks’ cross-border dispute resolution practice. In his new firm, Zhang will join co-founder Charles Qin, as well as partner Peiming Yang, in leading the firm’s dispute resolution practice.

Zheng, a Chinese national specialising in international arbitration, joined Clyde & Co in 2014 from Clifford Chance, where he was head of litigation and arbitration.The Beijing office had opened the previous year and was Clyde & Co’s third office in Greater China, with a focus on outbound investment in the natural resources, energy and infrastructure sectors.

In recent years, Clyde & Co has worked towards advancing its offering in China. In 2013, it became the first international firm to have a presence in south west China, establishing a joint venture with domestic firm West Link Partnership in Chongqing, one of the country’s largest cities.

According to The Lawyer’s China Top 30 2017 report, Llinks was ranked 26th, with an annual turnover of RMB268m (£30.4m) in 2016. Dispute resolution made up 12 per cent of this revenue, totalling at RBM32.2m (£3.7m).

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Keystone Law has revealed its first set of financial results since its IPO, posting a 24 per cent uplift in revenue to £31.6m for the 2017 financial year.

The increase from £25.6m marks yet another year of double-digit growth for the firm, which has seen its turnover nearly triple since 2012/13 when it reported gains of £12.3m.

Operating profit rose by 43 per cent from £2.3m to £3.3m, while fee-earner headcount also grew from 228 to 266.

Keystone became the third UK firm to list on the London Stock Exchange last November, following Gordon Dadds and Gateley.

It listed on the alternative investment market (AIM), raising gross proceeds of £15m.

Chief executive officer James Knight admitted to The Lawyer that the IPO has not made a significant impact on these results, with the 2017 financial year closing just a month after the listing.

However, he said: “That doesn’t mean we’ve not seen an upside since November. There’s a feeling that certain things wouldn’t have come to fruition were it not for the IPO. There’s a sense of confidence flows from that public status.”

In 2018, Keystone has added former Bird & Bird partner Joanne Wheeler to its new space industries team, as well as ex-Clifford Chance partner Iain Roxborough in dispute resolution and Seddons litigation partner Susan Monty,

“We’re having conversations with potential lawyers, who may not have heard of Keystone,” Knight added. “The IPO is an extra tool of reassurance and brings the potential to add more sophisticated clients and lawyers who are leaders in their field.”

Keystone’s non-conventional model sees its self-employed lawyers work from their own offices, supported by the firm’s central office of approximately 40 employees.

Profits are calculated after each of the firm’s lawyers have taken 75 per cent of their billings as remuneration. The firm operates a merit-based remuneration structure.

The results come just days after Rosenblatt launched its bid to become the fourth law firm to go public.

The firm, which has long signalled its intention to go public, has not yet offered any clues as to the funds it expects to raise through the listing or the price of each individual share in its first official listing document.

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