Slaughter and May has hired investigations lawyer Wynne Mok in Hong Kong, making her the third partner to join the firm from an external position.

Mok joins Slaughters from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, where she has been director of enforcement since 2016.

Prior to moving in-house, Mok was a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s disputes team, which she joined from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert.

Mok will be the 14th partner in Slaughters’ Hong Kong office, and the second focusing on disputes and investigatory work. She will work alongside Mark Hughes, who advises corporates on investigations across the Asia-Pacific region and in the UK.

Slaughters has been winning multiple mandates on investigations, most recently representing defence and technology group Ultra Electronics as it faces a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The firm was also brought in to advise British American Tobacco last year on its investigation into possible corruption, replacing Linklaters in the role. It was further instructed by Rolls-Royce in 2015 on its SFO probe, working alongside Debevoise & Plimpton.

The majority of Slaughters’ Hong Kong office concentrate on corporate and finance matters, with the office led by Peter Brien.

The only other lateral in Hong Kong is capital markets partner John Moore, who joined the firm from Morrison & Foerster in 2014.

The London office made its first lateral hire in 2017, taking on Herbert Smith Freehills pensions head Daniel Schaffer.

London M&A partner Chris McGaffin relocated to Hong Kong last November, following an uptick of work in the region.

It is expected that McGaffin will spend up to five years in the Hong Kong office, initially supporting Watkins on transactions and then building up his own practice.

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Taylor Wessing has advised Rutland Partners in the sale of Pizza Hut, six years after the private equity group rescued the chain from the brink of collapse.

Corporate partners Emma Danks and Jonny Bethell led the firm’s deal team for Rutland, with finance partner Martin Yells and senior associate Kyle Adams on the banking side.

Taylor Wessing previously acted for Rutland Partners in 2012, when it bought Pizza Hut UK from US fast food company Yum! Brands, investing £60m in the refurbishment of the crumbling caterer.

The business has now been sold back to its management team, under the control of boss Jens Hofma.

Cooley acted for Pizza Hut UK, with private equity partner Stephen Rosen leading, alongside finance partner John Clark and tax partner Natasha Kaye. Rosen previously advised Rutland Partners in Pizza Hut’s 2012 buyout, while still a partner at Olswang.

Financial support for Pizza Hut was provided by Pricoa Capital Group, who was advised on the deal by Morgan Lewis & Bockius. Financial details remained undisclosed, though it is estimated to be valued at £100m.

In the heat of rising pressures within the casual dining sector, Hofma hopes that the 260-store franchise will rise from from the ashes, taking advantage of its revamp and opening new sites.

Taylor Wessing partner Emma Danks stated: “In a market where casual dining is becoming ever more competitive, it is great to see Rutland complete on its fifth successful transaction in the past twelve months, and Taylor Wessing very much enjoyed working with the Rutland team to achieve this exit.”

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Allen & Overy (A&O) is bringing in a second cohort of startups into its tech space Fuse, which launched in London last year.

This will bring the number of tech startups in the Fuse space up to eight: five new companies are joining three of the companies from the first cohort in the space in May.

Bloomsbury AI, Kira Systems, Neota Logic, Regnosys and Signal Media comprise the second Fuse cohort, while Avvoka, Legatics, Nivaura are staying on.

The companies moving out of the space after the six-month round are Corlytics, iManage, Ithaca, Opus 2 and Vable.

Opus 2 International chief commercial officer Oliver McClintock told The Lawyer that they were continuing to work with A&O. “We were due to be cohort one of Fuse from start to finish and that’s come to a close naturally. We were exploring the development and possible use of cases for a new tool in the corporate verification space. We had a really constructive time at Fuse.”

iManage’s document and email management platform, part of the first cohort, has a significant market share already. EMEA general manager Geoff Hornsby told The Lawyer that it’s used by 75 per cent of the top 100 UK firms. iManage acquired RAVN Systems in May 2017, which Hornsby explains works as the engine to iManage’s document management system.

This new cohort includes AI document review platform Kira Systems which also has a significant established client base, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, Mishcon de Reya, Latham & Watkins, and Herbert Smith Freehills. AI media tracker Signal Media also already names Bird & Bird and Simmons & Simmons as clients.

Fuse chairman Jonathan Brayne said in a statement: “This cohort’s focus is very different to that of the first – there’s a strong AI theme here.”

The Fuse selection committee included Alex Wong and Jordan Elsas from Amazon, Robert Kerrigan from Funding Circle, Hannah Seal from Index Ventures and Oli Harris from J.P. Morgan.

Nivaura, staying on from the first cohort, issued over blockchain the first fully-automated cryptocurrency-denominated bond. The firm made an equity investment in the company last year, with London-based debt capital markets partner Phil Smith joining as a non-executive director.

Head of Fuse Shruti Ajitsaria said in a statement that the aim of the second cohort is “to keep abreast of the constantly changing legaltech ecosystem.”

The second phase of the Fuse programme attracted over 80 applications, similar to the 84 applications submitted for the first cohort.

Hot 100 career quiz: Shruti Ajitsaria

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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Kirkland & Ellis are among the firms to have advised on a legal costs dispute between creditors of the Lehman Brothers International collapse.

The full line-up of law firms includes Ropes & Gray, Morrison & Foerster and Michelmores.

Lehman Brothers creditor Wentworth Sons argued that all of the other respondents should be entitled to recoup legal costs from a previous 2016 trial, which identified the issues for creditors deriving from the 2008 collapse.

Wentworth opposed Burlington Loan Management, CVI, Hutchinson Investors and Goldman Sachs’ applications to recover costs from the administration estate, saying that the previous trial counted as “adversarial litigation”.

This is the closing judgment relating to the Waterfall II application, which focused on debts during the administration of the principal trading company for the European operations of the Lehman Brothers Group.

Within his judgment, Mr Justice Hildyard ruled in favour of Wentworth. He stated: “The SCG [Burlington Loan Management, CVI and Hutchinson Investors], which notwithstanding any amorphous expectation must have known that there was nevertheless a costs risk, should pay costs accordingly.”

The Waterfall II insolvency judgment of 2016 stated that there were 854 creditors holding a valid claim in LBIE’s administration, representing approximately £4.4bn of LBIE’s total admitted claims. The administrators estimated that some 543 of these claims arise under English law; and some 310 under New York law.

At the time, Mr Justice Hildyard stated that the statutory interest payable in respect of ISDA claims would be approximately £1.7bn, accruing from 13 September 2008.

“By way of illustration, if claims to interest at (say) 8 per cent or 12 per cent compound were admitted, the entitlement would rise to about £2.1bn or £3.7bn respectively; and at 18 per cent compound the amount would rise to some £6.8bn,” he said.

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The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has opened an investigation into a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) Allen & Overy (A&O)’s for disgraced produced Harvey Weinstein.

SRA chief executive Paul Philip appeared in front of the Women and Equalities Committee today (25 April). The SRA’s  “open investigation” into A&O and the length of time between the initial allegations were published and the launch of a formal investigation meant that he were grilled heavily during the hour-long session.

Philip said that the investigation into A&O’s documentation and relationship would take a “matter of weeks or months” to conclude, though the committee was sceptical as to the SRA’s decision to only now open an investigation into the NDA produced.

The NDA written up by A&O relates to the specifics of a sexual harassment claim logged against Weinstein by former assistant Zelda Perkins.

Speaking at the hearing, Philip said: “We have an open investigation into this matter and we have exercised our statutory powers to seek the relevant documentation from the firm, it is ongoing. If we find that lawyers form the have seriously breached our guidance, we will take action against them.”

A&O litigation partner Mark Mansell  appeared before the committee last month and wrote to it prior to this hearing suggesting that the firm’s compliance officer had met with SRA officials in November 2017.

However, Mansell’s letter said that the SRA had “communicated that they did not intend to take any further action and they did not provide any further information”.

The letter also said that it was only yesterday (24 April) that the SRA had suggested that an investigation was open into A&O’s relationship which Mansell described as “contradictory” to their earlier exchanges.

The SRA has now asked for a copy of the NDA, though Philip no copy was asked for at the first meeting last year.

A&O declined to comment. The SRA was approached for comment.

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Dentons partner Sam Hutchinson is leaving the firm for Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, The Lawyer can reveal.

Her hire is part of an effort to rebuild Cadwalader’s London finance practice following exits to Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and Brown Rudnick earlier this year.

Hutchinson is leaving Dentons after over five years in the finance practice, having joined from Hogan Lovells in 2013 where she was an of counsel for over 13 years. She is the ninth female partner to leave Dentons in London since the start of 2016, and the fourteenth overall. Female partner exits last year included Rosali Pretorious to Simmons & Simmons; Michelle Bradfield to Dechert and Ingrid Silver to Reed Smith.

Hutchinson specialises in advising lenders on a range of financing products across all fund sectors (including private equity and real estate funds, funds of funds and listed funds). She has significant experience in acting for both lenders and sponsors on leveraged restructurings, acquisition and real estate financings.

Earlier this year Cadwalader partner Louisa Watt exited for Brown Rudnick, joining her new firm as a partner and global co-chair of the special situations and debt trading group in London.

Her exit coincided with a mass hire by Milbank, which took Cadwalader co-chair of financial restructuring Yushan Ng, and partners Karen McMaster, Jacqueline Ingram and Sinjini Saha.

Cadwalader was approached for comment.

A Dentons spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Sam Hutchinson will be leaving the firm and are grateful to her for her contribution.”

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Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and White & Case have exited the high-profile Peugeot case just days before it starts, reaching a settlement with the car manufacturer.

Cleary and White & Case represented the primary defendants in the Peugeot S.A. and others v NSK Ltd case, which is featured in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2018.

Cleary and White & Case were both instructing Brick Court Chambers, meaning it has also bowed out. Peugeot’s case for damages from a range of parts suppliers will now be contested in a Competition Appeal Tribunal hearing between Hausfeld-instructed Blackstone Chambers for the claimant and Macfarlanes-instructed Monckton Chambers for the suppliers.

Peugeot S.A. instructed Hausfeld to sue parts suppliers following a European Commission decision identifying cartel behaviour four years ago. Hausfeld partner Anna Morfey has instructed Blackstone Chambers’ Thomas de la Mare QC and Tristan Jones in the case.

Following the exits of Cleary and White & Case, Macfarlanes is now representing the sole defendant – Swedish manufacturer AB SKF. Macfarlanes partner Geoff Steward led for the firm, instructing Monckton Chambers’ Josh Holmes QC and James Bourke.

Cleary advised the principal defendants NSK and NSK Europe, with partner Jonathan Kelly instructing Brick Court’s Daniel Jowell QC and David Bailey.

Japanese manufacturer NTN Corporation was advised by White & Case partner Charles Balmain who instructed Brick Court’s Tony Singla.

Peugeot S.A.’s claims relate to an eight-year period between 2004 and 2011 in which the defendants were found guilty of “collusive behaviour” by the European Commision for the supply of automotive bearings.

The main points of the trial are set to examine how far the suppliers’ collusion resulted in Peugeot being overcharged for the related parts. Confusion also reins over the extent of Peugeot’s loss during this time and whether it was possible to monetise that loss.

The defence claimed that the brunt of any overcharge was borne by Peugeot’s customers, meaning the defendants would not be liable to pay any further damages.

JTEKT Corporation was the fourth-named defendant in the case, turning to Travers Smith for advice. The firm also instructed Brick Court – this time turning to Marie Demetriou QC – before case chairman Mr Justice Green allowed Peugeot to withdraw its claim against the Japanese-based parts supplier in November 2016.

The trial was originally set to begin on 16 April but has been delayed until Friday 27 April to last for an estimated five weeks. It is scheduled to conclude on 25 May.

Peugeot declined to comment. AB SKF was approached for comment.

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Energy company EDF Energy has completed its panel review, cutting its roster down by nearly 50 per cent to eight firms.

Freshly-merged firms Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) and CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang are new additions to the panel, The Lawyer can reveal.

When the wheels of the review were still in rotation, BCLP was still two separate firms, the merger having only been finalised earlier this month.

The firms that have retained a spot include Baker McKenzie, Eversheds Sutherland and Herbert Smith Freehills. Burges Salmon, Pinsent Masons and Squire Patton Boggs complete the legal line-up.

Clifford Chance, Osborne Clarke and Dentons are among the firms on the previous panel line-up that have since been dropped.

General Counsel Guido Santi, who joined EDF in 2010, oversaw the panel process, and stated that the theme of the panel this year has been “certainty”. He added that this involved giving absolute visibility to the panel as to what their requirements will be.

A large chunk of EDF’s legal spend continues to be focused on Hinkley Point C in Somerset, the UK’s first nuclear reactor since 1995, tipped to be the most expensive power plant in the world. It will begin operating in 2025. They are also looking at the opportunity to construct a new power station at Sizewell -Sizewell C. Other work will involve the maintenance of nuclear reactors and coal stations.

Breixt has also been a crucial issue within the energy sector and was high on the review team’s agenda this year, particularly in understanding how the market is going to evolve with regards to tariffs.

The review was kickstarted at the end of 2017. This followed on from the previous review in 2014, when the energy giant decided to keep its roster for three years, replacing the former two-year cycle.

According to sources, this was due to a longer time scale being required, after 13 firms were cut during the 2012 roster.

The last few years have seen EDF move towards an increasingly trimmer legal spend. The company’s first formal roster in 2010, the year after it acquired UK nuclear generator British Energy, tallied 22 firms. Santi commented that a challenge with a larger roster was keeping “all the firms happy”, and wanted the new panel to be seen as a “long-term partnership”.

Sources have suggested that less emphasis was put on customer debt and litigation work during the tender, although all appointed firms will be expected to carry out work across a range of practice areas. EDF has not yet stipulated as to whether it will add former firms to the current panel to carry out, or outsource the work.

EDF will be sticking with their three-year cycle.

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Barclays is the latest organisation to announce a new legal incubator programme this week. Housed in an old bank building in Notting Hill, 10 to 15 legal tech startups will benefit from the ‘backing’ of a raft of big firms, including Allen & Overy (A&O), Clifford Chance, Simmons & Simmons and Latham & Watkins. PwC, The Law Society and Legal Geek are on board too.

It will involve events, networking, and mentoring, and is forming a wide-ranging collaboration is intended to work as a cultural piece, addressing the need for lawyers to change the way they do business, in order to keep pace with evolving client expectations. But what is the actual tech that is going to enable this change?

For some time now firms have tried to separate the wheat from the chaff, test-trialling tech through their doors to put them ahead in the battle for innovation. Since 2016 a raft of incubator and accelerator tech programmes have entered the tech space. Mishcon de Reya has MDR lab, A&O has Fuse, a ‘tech innovation space’, Dentons has a ‘space camp’, Slaughter and May has ‘Fintech Fast Forward’.

But a market insider told The Lawyer its difficult to figure out what’s working and what’s not, because there are too many startups all getting funding.

“There are a lot of legal tech companies that get seed funding for a great idea. But at the next level of funding investors are going to want to see returns, which means you’ve got to go to sales,” the source said.  In practice, this means lots of small tech companies are going to market with a product they might not have fully fleshed out the use cases for. As the insider explained, “you’re selling something when you’re not actually at the point that you really understand what problem you’re trying to solve”.

Another source confirmed this, saying that partners at their firm “email me all the time saying, ‘my mate Bob has a mousetrap’. But the question they’re not answering is, ‘what problem does it solve? How is it going to do that?'”

The numbers back this up. MDR Lab received 136 applicants. A&O’s Fuse has over 80. Slaughters’ Fintech Fast Forward, working with fintech-specific startups, received over 50.

The source explained to The Lawyer: “They’re pitching as proof of concept and asking for a lot of money so they can develop it. No legal tech company is actually at the point where they know what their product does and how exactly to pitch it. They’re evaluated on investment and not actually focused on how they can transform the legal business.”

An insider in the legal tech market told The Lawyer that the good tech start ups are the ones who are able to articulate their specific use case within the legal workflow: “Lawyers do X, they do it like this now, but we think it could be done better like this,” they said.

Dentons has tacked around this problem with its ‘space camp’ accelerator programme for spacetech startups by cutting out those start ups in the first stages of funding.

“While the usual idea behind an accelerator is to get businesses investment-ready by the end of the process, we’re turning that on its head so the prerequisite to coming onto the course is that you’re investment-ready. We’re looking to accelerate commercialisation,” Justin Hill told The Lawyer earlier this month.

Mishcon has also pushed through, and has now invested in, two alumni from the 2017 MDR Lab cohort. A number of advisers sit on the MDR Lab board, including Kira CEO Noah Weisberg, perhaps lending the valuable insight that comes from running an established legaltech outfit to Mishcon’s Lab programme.

Whether Barclays’ Eagle lab brings anything new to the table remains to be seen. Doors open in June. Let’s hope for the broader cultural shift to the legaltech industry it’s promising to provoke.

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Founded in 2014, mobile data platform Ogury is in an all-important transition phase. It is no longer just a start-up, but the company still needs time to properly bed in its processes, especially those affecting the legal function. That task has fallen to general counsel Tom Luk.

Luk joined Ogury as its first general counsel last year from HR company Fairsail, which had just been bought by Sage for around £10m.

“Fast-growing disruptive start-ups get to a phase where they need a legal head as it often becomes unmanageable for the existing business stakeholders to fill in for legal,” says Luk.

“When you’re building and scaling legal operations, you’ve got to put in place proper processes. But you have a problem if the business is growing too quickly and the processes aren’t able to keep up with that level of growth.”

French foundations

Ogury has been through a period of rapid growth in the past four years, having been founded by two French fintech entrepreneurs. The platform acts as a middle player between mobile app publishers and consumers, using data tools to support advertisers and enhance the user experience. Now operating from 10 offices globally and housing 160 employees, Ogury is the latest ‘disruptive’ company in the marketplace.

The company’s reliance on data means Luk has found himself heavily involved in ensuring Ogury adheres to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which come into force this year.

“We’re a mobile data company so it’s fundamental to what we do. Internally, we’ve created a roadmap to see where we need to improve and we’ve already made tweaks to our privacy notice,” Luk explains.

“Users will see a consent notice that comes up as a separate box when they install an app that has partnered with Ogury. It’s super transparent, so we think we’re in a good space.”

Luk (right) has worked in-house virtually all his career, training at regional firm Coffin Mew. He carried out a secondment at one of the firm’s technology clients and it is a sector he has stayed in ever since.

Moving to data storage company Xyratex, Luk found his role changed when the company was taken over by its larger rival, Seagate Technology. The same thing happened later when Luk moved to cloud provider Fairsail as its first general counsel in 2016, with the company acquired by Sage People just a year later.

This makes it the second time Luk has had to build a legal function from scratch. But it gets easier, he says.

“The structure is similar to what it was at Fairsail [now Sage People], because you’re working for a company that is expanding globally and looking at all the contracts and approval processes.

“I’ve now seen both sides of how it’s done: at a large tech company [Seagate] and building an agile process at a disruptive start-up company [Fairsail].

“That early experience has been really helpful.”

Ogury’s main law firm has been Cooley since its inception. The firm’s London office supported it on its $15m (£11m) fundraising round led by Idinvest Partners in 2016, and Cooley is also on the books to handle M&A work and corporate compliance. Ogury further works with Stevens & Bolton on share schemes and calls in Clarke Wilmott on ad hoc matters.

For a company with a legal spend under £500,000, Ogury is in no rush to have a legal panel of advisers. Instead, Luk is looking to expand his team with a paralegal later this year, as well as a data protection officer to lead on GDPR efforts. With any disruptor company, however, growth can be rapid and the legal work will add up.

Ogury profile

Industry: Technology
Size of legal team: One
Legal spend: Under £500,000
Number of employees: 160; up to 50 in UK
Main external firms: Clarke Wilmott, Cooley, Stevens & Bolton

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The law firm network model received one of the most significant vindications of its success in 2015 when Dentons announced it was launching its own referral network, NextLaw, into this competitive market.

The launch of NextLaw certainly raised eyebrows, but for many independent firms it remains business as usual. While some observers remark that global law firms are becoming more like networks, and vice versa, others maintain that only networks can truly marry international coverage with top-quality service. Global firms may try to encroach on the network space, they say, but networks still have vital attributes that set them apart.

Here, our experts – The Lawyer’s European Awards 2018 finalists – discuss what they believe makes their networks special. They reveal how their modus operandi of collaboration is now supported by developments in technology, cross-border training and cultural awareness, and how such advances make them well armed to tackle the challenges of 2018, whatever they may be.

In which areas is the network model helping you capitalise, in contrast to global law firms?

Michael Siebold, chair, Interlaw: The past two years have seen the waters increasingly muddied in terms of large firms adopting the network model, and it’s a trend that will only grow. International law firms are becoming more like networks and networks are becoming more like international law firms, but with one distinct advantage – networks offer better value for money as they do not have the expense of supporting the vast infrastructure
international firms have to maintain because of the independence of our firms.

Consistency of quality and service is cited as the most significant challenge in working with international law firms, and other issues include inconsistent working practices between offices, as well as patchy local insight and understanding of local cultures.

Harry Trueheart, chair, TerraLex: Several recent studies, including the one completed by The Lawyer on behalf of Globality, show the network model is more relevant to clients now than ever. We’ve confirmed this in our own interviews, surveys, and meetings with clients and prospects, who say their preference is to work with leading, locally expert firms in place of global firms, citing better value on fees and better client service as benefits.

In addition, since member firms are not competing for compensation credit – as is often the case when partners in a global firm refer a matter to others in their same firm – clients feel they are being treated like a top client by any member to whom they are referred.

Adam Cooke, executive director, Multilaw: First, in terms of global reach, no global law firm comes close to offering coverage in the number of countries we do. Second, the nimbleness of the network model is a huge advantage. We don’t have the layers of bureaucracy in our network or the expensive global marketing overheads that the global law firms have. Often, we can offer a quick, tailor-made, cost-effective solution to a client’s problem before the global law firms have even got their pitch documents together.

Tanna Moore, CEO, Meritas: Businesses have accepted networks to meet many needs including financial, R&D and legal. Acceptance of disruptive consumer models is thriving, like Uber instead of taxis and Airbnb instead of hotels,. This contributes to the rethinking of age-old models. All kinds of networks serve customer needs while challenging existing cost structures. We believe the ideas of independence and local attention, which are built into global networks, will continue to trend.

Orlando Casares, principal, First Law International (FLI): Our network as a global platform for our members has empowered us to secure mandates in over 60 countries for law firms that otherwise would not have been able to attract the likes of Caterpillar, Ingram Micro, DHL, Medtronic and more companies at the same level. We have been able to introduce our members to such top tier clients who have been impressed by the speed, professionalism, and competitive rates meaning that in many cases, such clients disband their traditional panels and revisit their hiring criteria.

Sam Everatt, executive director, Ius Laboris: We can cherry-pick and build an international practice of top tier firms and practices, making us the obvious choice for employers. Our depth and breadth as a result represent a true differentiator.

Also, as independent firms we are more flexible and can tailor our offering to deliver greater value. Our firms understand each other and the challenges faced in our respective markets.

Neil Sheehy, president, World Law Group: Often, global law firms’ offices are just an extension of their headquarters, and not deeply rooted in the local business scene in terms of expertise, size or local presence. The network model gives law firms access to the best local firms in any jurisdiction. Local firms that are members of our network are established, with strong reputations in their respective markets, and have a deep understanding of local business customs and culture.

What strategic internal reorganisations and changes have taken place at your network over the past year or so and what was the primary reason for these changes?

Siebold: Interlaw conducted a detailed strategic review that resulted in our ‘Interlaw 3.0’ strategy. Together with our members we are putting in place a robust three-year plan, with defined projects and timescales, to create a legal network that embraces innovation, technology and sophisticated marketing and business development processes that can be shared by members to drive business and revenues.

To date, our focus has been on three core areas – growth, strong leadership and digital investment. Looking at growth, 13 firms joined Interlaw in the past year in the world’s largest legal markets – the US and Europe – and important emerging markets including Latin America and Africa. That trend continues in 2018.

The waters are becoming muddied in terms of large firms adopting the network model, and that’s a trend that will only grow”
Michael Siebold, Interlaw

Trueheart: TerraLex has hired Terri Pepper Gavulic as executive director. Besides having operations expertise, Terri has almost 30 years’ marketing, business development and client relationship development experience in the legal industry. Following my decision to step down after my seventh term as chair, TerraLex’s board of directors elected Tim Brown of RPC in England as chair-elect. In October Tim will take over the TerraLex leadership.

Cooke: We have recently formed a board-level referrals taskforce. Referrals are the lifeblood of the network and this taskforce was formed to ensure that the cross-border work our member firms are involved in remains as far possible within the network. We are aware that our member firms increasingly have other alternatives open to them when looking to service the international needs of their clients and the referrals taskforce has been formed to ensure that Multilaw continues to be the first choice when it comes to cross-border matters.

Moore: Meritas now has regional representation worldwide. Regional directors work directly with Meritas member firms within their markets across seven regions: the US and Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and Asia. Directors are accountable for the implementation of Meritas initiatives within the region, such as referrals, reporting, marketing and member engagement, while ensuring alignment with the unique characteristics and needs of the market.

Casares: Unlike most other traditional networks which are primarily US-centric, we are not selling memberships all over the map. This means we have only grown in areas where our clients truly require cross-border legal support.

By avoiding the temptation to succumb to a model like the other networks based on a bureaucratic administration centre requiring funding from members, we have been able to preserve our philosophical direction to be a true partner with our members. We have done this by creating opportunities for client mandates and business development to bond ‘FLI NET’ members together, which has resulted in a family-type atmosphere, whereby members feel integrated and empowered to grow.

Everatt: We have moved away from a committee structure to a team project-based structure whereby teams grow organically for the duration of an initiative then disband at the end. Committees were great when we needed to strengthen our internal networks, but because the market is now developing more quickly, we need to move more quickly too.

Sheehy: As a result of our growth and the related increase in member-service needs and the organisation’s expanding programmes, services and events, we reviewed staffing needs at the end of 2016. This resulted in a reorganisation of our management team.

We have also made some structural changes to the leadership of our 11 practice and industry groups. We wanted to be sure all regions were well represented in group leaders, and that the groups that were not as active as they could be were reinvigorated.

After taking a close look at the leadership in each of those groups, we put in place a three-pronged leadership structure comprising a co-chair from each of our three regions for each group. We are still in the process of identifying the appropriate leaders for each group, but have made quite a bit of headway on this in the past few months.

We create opportunities for client mandates and business development to bond our members together”
Orlando Casares, FLI

What kind of training are you providing for your lawyers and why? Does your training programme fit with a wider strategy you are developing?

Siebold: We host a varied and engaging programme of events throughout the year, with a focus on bringing member firms’ clients to meet, develop business opportunities and network with Interlaw lawyers from around the world. We are aligning our event programmes and the training we provide to our Interlaw 3.0 strategy and the implementation of that strategy, themed seminars and meetings over a 12-month period to support member firms and help them deliver our overall strategy, in topics such as ‘Winning international pitches’ or ‘Legal project management’.

We also used our 2017 events to collect data and input from our members to promote our Interlaw 3.0 strategy. For example, at our EMEA regional meeting in Romania in June, we held a successful teambuilding day during which members worked together to produce s book” that informed the development of our Interlaw 3.0 strategy for growing the network and engaging with clients.

Trueheart: We have launched a programme in which senior TerraLex team members visit member firms and their clients, with over 35 visits completed in 2017. During these visits we present information about how to maximise TerraLex advantages to a variety of constituents so the content is relevant. For example, on a given visit we might present separate programmes to partners, associates, and marketing or business development professionals. This helps members better understand how to leverage their network affiliation for business development and client relationship success.

Cooke: We deliver a series of webinars each year that are available to all lawyers of our member firms, and their clients where appropriate. These typically cover a topical legal issue such as GDPR and feature experts from our firms as well as external speakers. We also feature practice management webinars for those who participate in the running of our member firms.

For lawyers coming up through our ranks we have our annual Multilaw Academy. The Academy is an intensive six-day residential training programme that covers all aspects of being a cross-border lawyer and includes more than 35 hours’ formal instruction and discussion, and numerous hours of informal interaction. The 2018 Multilaw Academy will take place in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Finally, we have our contact partner induction programme. This is run just before our annual global meeting to equip Multilaw contact partners at firms who have just joined with everything they need to get the most out of the network.

Moore: We provide a wide variety of training to members – from firm management and marketing to leadership development and industry trends, to topics affecting the profession, such as cyber security.

The Meritas cyber security training fits within a wider strategy the network is developing to address this hot topic. Meritas has created a cyber security strategy against which all Meritas firms will be evaluated. The standards, which Meritas expects to unveil later this year, will become part of the network’s rigorous quality programme. The quality programme is what distinguishes the Meritas network. The highest standards are used to evaluate incoming members and for benchmark evaluations to retain membership. Meritas cyber security standards will be incorporated into its firm evaluation process.

Casares: Training is a characteristic of the FLI network. Every six months we sponsor a major event. The spring conference brings together between 45 and 60 countries; the fall conference is regionally based in Asia Pacific; and in between these two major events we stage a number of cross-border roadshows (such as Balkans and SEE, LatAm and AsiaPac).

During all our sponsored events we take the opportunity to conduct training among partners and clients. This is done through panel presentations, practice group clusters and subject matter breakout sessions.

One particular area that has further defined FLI membership is our compulsory anti-corruption compliance certification training which every member has to undergo. The aim is to bring every member up to the same level of proficiency in such an area of growing concern to in-house
legal teams.

We’ve moved to a project-based structure whereby teams grow just for the duration of an initiative – the market is now developing more quickly so we need to move more quickly too
Sam Everatt, Ius Laboris

Everatt: Training has for a long time been part of the glue in Ius Laboris. Over the years our training has evolved and we now have a comprehensive programme for the associates in our alliance on project management, business skills and topical labour and employment legal issues. We have always believed that the value of face-to-face training far outweighs the time and cost involved, as the learning experience is deeper and the strength of relationships will stand us in good stead for the future.

Sheehy: In 2015 we launched our ‘International Exchange Program’ in which clusters of member firms exchange younger lawyers for three weeks. This involves a customised professional development programme on local law, business development and client service, meetings with local partners/practice groups, and much more. This provides participants with a great introduction to other member firms. Since the programme launched in 2015 we have had 39 interns participate.

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Ropes & Gray is continuing to refresh its leadership team, naming real estate transactions head David Djaha as the firm’s next global managing partner.

The appointment comes ahead of David Chapin’s retirement from the firm, who will stand down from the role after seven years in charge.

Djaha’s tenure will begin on the 1 January 2020, heralding a completely new top-line at the firm.

The US firm named private equity partner Julie Jones as its first female global chair last year, who will also take on the reins at the start of 2020.

Djaha is based in New York and leads the firm’s real estate investments and transactions group.

He joined Ropes in 2009 from Clifford Chance’s New York office, where he led the magic circle firm’s real estate group in the Americas. He was at Clifford Chance for over 15 years.

Ropes has been subject to multiple leadership announcements in the past six months. Closer to home, the firm appointed a new co-managing partner for its London office to work alongside longstanding City head Mike Goetz.

International practice co-head and private equity partner Will Rosen has taken the reins with Goetz, who has been acting as sole London head since the departure of senior partner Maurice Allen to DLA Piper at the start of last year.

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The legal profession is facing an unprecedented level of change, bringing forth a lot of challenges but also opportunities for those open to grasping them, managing partners claim.

Ahead of The Lawyer‘s annual Managing Partners Dinner (ask for more information here) we asked a few of the attending managing partners to share what they consider the biggest challenge facing law firms today.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer managing partner Stephan Eilers: The fragmentation of the legal market and the decline of the institutional relationship. As clients become more cost- and value-conscious many are pursuing ‘best of breed’ strategies, building ties with individual partners or practice areas rather than with firms as a whole. Add the rise of the disruptors like Axiom and Riverview and it’s no longer unusual to find three or four providers performing roles on the same side of a large M&A mandate.

This is challenging the models of the bigger firms, who for 20 years have offered clients multi-disciplinary (and multi-jurisdictional) solutions under one roof and built their businesses around the associated economic synergies. These firms are likely to pursue a range of strategies to compensate – some will merge, some will continue to expand internationally, some will shrink and some will specialise.

The firms that succeed will be those best able to differentiate their offering and digitally transform their operations to ensure they are using people, processes and technology to deliver the best client experience. The fact that the fragmentation process is eroding institutional knowledge makes this a doubly difficult task, making it vital to build the deepest relationships at every client touchpoint.

Winston & Strawn managing partner for London office Peter Crowther: Unprecedented competition, in its many dimensions. A law firm is ultimately a group of people that collectively serve certain kinds of clients/matters, and there is unprecedented competition to attract and retain the highest quality diverse lawyers and professional staff.

Technology continues to drive competition in service delivery as well as in sophisticated pricing of legal services. The reshaping of many law firms that are jettisoning non-strategic practices is driving competition from increasingly specialised groups of lawyers.

Total near-flat demand in the legal industry means that meaningful growth can only be achieved at the expense of other law firms, which intensifies the competitive environment. A highly competitive market itself means that only the most efficient, focused, and financially secure law firms will ultimately prosper in their segment of the market.

DLA Piper global co-chief executive officer & managing partner Simon Levine: The world is a very interesting place right now. We are seeing rapid change as a result of the increasing globalisation of a technology based world combined with unprecedented geopolitical and economic turbulence. The regulatory landscape is also changing rapidly as a result. Staying at the forefront of that regulatory landscape creates both a significant challenge and opportunity for law firms.

The challenge for a global firm like ours is to operate adeptly within this climate and seize the opportunity it presents for the benefit of our clients, while continuing to deliver legal services of the highest quality for clients that increasingly want ‘more’ and ‘better’ for ‘less’.

Osborne Clarke managing partner Ray Berg: I think law firms have a huge opportunity to recognise the benefits of diversity. We need to challenge stereotypes and breakdown preconceived notions of the sector to ensure everyone can thrive and reach their true potential. 

At Osborne Clarke we want people to feel they are supported, so we’ve looked at how we can ensure that everyone, regardless of their background or characteristics, feels that they have the same opportunity to meet and exceed their potential in an inclusive environment.

TLT managing partner David Pester: Having the investment capacity to innovate and compete in an increasingly diverse legal market place is perhaps the core challenge facing law firms today. The traditional law firm partnership structure doesn’t lend itself to long term investment decisions at the scale needed to attract the right talent, grasp the opportunities of technological advances like AI and compete effectively with new market entrants.

The law firms that succeed will be those who tackle this challenge head on, whether that is by changing the way they fund their business or in how they find ways to creatively adapt their business and collaborate to deliver.

Travers Smith managing partner David Patient: For City firms, in particular, it’s the confluence of the “holy trinity” of people, space and technology issues. How to attract and retain the best talent? Where and how do they work – what’s the best property strategy for the 2020’s and beyond? And what impact will technology have on all of this in terms of the numbers of people we employ, their roles, and how much space we need for them?

Paul Hastings chair of the London office Ronan O’Sullivan: The fundamental challenge for the leading firms in the world is to continue to forge a path to growth in an environment of heightened competition for the premium work, where overall market demand remains flat in the face of an ever-increasing pressure to attract the finest talent at all levels.

DAC Beachcroft managing partner David Pollitt: There are many challenges facing law firms today, a number of which have been in play for some time. I would like to highlight one that may not be seen to be the biggest challenge today but could, if it develops, certainly become one very quickly. In short, it relates to the ability of our profession to remain attractive to young, talented people. In many respects, the profession has modernised significantly in recent years, but its approach to resourcing has not kept pace. It is still (largely) a traditional model and indeed, if the profession is honest, is one that survives on people working harder/longer than we contract for.

The workforce is changing rapidly and law firms need to adapt in order to remain attractive to young professionals. The partnership model does not have the allure that it had ten or 15 years ago. The profession needs to be flexible and be prepared to change fundamentally its approach to resourcing. This is going to be really challenging and it will be law firms that can adapt quickly enough that will be the winners. We must be careful, though, not to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are many talented lawyers who want to get to the top of their profession.

Increasingly, we are seeing a change in attitude towards long term professional service. Law firms can adapt and, in doing so, can set themselves apart by embracing a changing workforce – one that promotes flexibility.

Reed Smith managing partner EME Tamara Box: The biggest challenge for law firms today is nominally “efficiency”. How do we maintain the quality of our client service while continually striving to do more for less? It’s a question we’ve been asking ourselves for some time. At Reed Smith, we have just announced the opening of Reed Smith Global Solutions, a Leeds hub that will eventually house up to 100 staff and fee-earners primarily supporting clients and partners in Europe and the Middle East. Mirroring the services provided by its US sister hub in Pittsburgh, this hub represents our commitment to the evolution of our working practices. At the hub, we plan to use an open plan layout and an intra-department structure to allow individuals with different skillsets and experiences to work alongside each other to find new approaches to problem solving.

By locating these functions outside London, we are not only tapping into a rich seam of talent – 38,900 graduates annually to put a figure on it – but we are also able to continue to service highly valued clients on their day-to-day matters at a rate which works for us, and more importantly, for them. Technology also has a role to play in our new hub and in due course, our lawyers will have access to the vibrant tech industry in Leeds to develop new tools to improve client service. We are truly making more for less possible.

Eversheds Sutherland international managing partner Keith Froud: If you really wanted to, you could produce a list of challenges as long as your arm – technology, new entrants, market and geopolitical risks, the war for talent, prioritising investment, controlling the cost base, increased regulatory burden to name just a few.

But pulling all the threads together, it’s about attitude to change. In many ways the legal sector is as successful as it has ever been, and often not given the credit it deserves for adapting more than people think. But rapid change is coming which needs to be embraced by a combination of existing management and leaders of the future. The strategic priorities and values which firms adopt and implement need to take this into account.

And by the way, there are plenty of opportunities too.

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Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has signed for a new 125,000 sq ft office as one of its first first post-merger moves, announcing that it will take the entirety of the previously vacant Governor’s House.

The site, near London’s Cannon Street station, was Prudential’s UK headquarters prior to its demolition and rebuild. BCLP has now signed an agreement for lease, although it has not stated when any potential move from its home of 38 years will take place.

The move marks BCLP’s third major office development of 2018 as the firm revealed that it would be launching in Southampton later this year with a two-partner hire from Womble Bond Dickinson. BCLP was keen to state that Southampton would act as a “hub”, complimenting its work in Manchester and London.

While the firm has expanded in the UK, it also announced the closure of its Myanmar operation owing to a lack of work in February.

That sentiment has been echoed with this announcement with a spokesperson for BCLP saying that it the move to Governor’s House “represents a significant commitment by the firm to a modern, flexible working space, encouraging of collaborative working”.

Data gathered for The Lawyer UK 200: Workspace Trends 2017 report shows the firm’s new EC4 postcode to be the seventh most expensive in London at an average cost of £73.81. Based on this, BCLP’s new office will cost £9.2m per year for the firm.

Even excluding its Manchester and Southampton offices, at that price the new London site alone would be enough to rank BCLP at eighth in the list of highest annual floorspace costs of any firm with UK offices.

The firm is expected to announce the closures of legacy Bryan Cave offices in Frankfurt, Hong Kong and London owing to office overlay in due course. Global co-chairs Lisa Mayhew and Terry Pritchard confirmed that partners from the legacy US firm would be moving over into legacy BLP’s offices in the three cities.

BCLP has been live for less than month after the merger bringing Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bryan Cave together launched on 1 April.

Talks between the two were first revealed by The Lawyer in October with partners from both firms voting in favour of merging earlier this year.

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Kirkland & Ellis partner David Higgins has made his lineup debut at his new firm, supporting the team on a deal opposite his old shop Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The deal saw Kirkland act for private equity house Pamplona on its sale of European pet food manufacturer Partner in Pet Food (PPF) to Cinven.

Kirkland led for Pamplona, with partners Gavin Gordon and Andrej Wolf winning the deal. Higgins joined the team in the final stages of the transaction, having joined Kirkland just under a month ago.

The US firm acted opposite Higgins’ old firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which advised longstanding client Cinven.

Freshfields’ team was made up of partners Adrian Maguire, Victoria Sigeti and Christopher Davis. The magic circle firm acted alongside CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, owing to its extensive coverage in CEE. The team was led by the firm’s head of private equity James Grimwood in London.

PPF is a pet food manufacturer, headquartered in Hungary. It partnered with Pamplona three years ago, a deal that saw Kirkland win the top role on the acquisition. Gordon and Wolf both both advised on the €315m purchase in 2015.

The transaction put Higgins on the other side of longstanding Freshfields client Cinven; a company he has advised on many deals. At Freshfields, Higgins advised Cinven on its disposal of CPA Global and Host Europe Group, as well as acquisition of Hotelbeds.

Maguire and Sigeti also advised Cinven on its acquisition of Kurt Geiger at the end of 2015.

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The hunt for David Green QC’s replacement as director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has come to an end, with former FBI deputy general counsel Lisa Osofsky set to take charge, The Lawyer understands.

Osofsky is currently the EMEA investigations head at governance and compliance organisation Exiger.

Green’s tenure came to an end on 20 April with chief operating officer Mark Thompson stepping in to fill the role on an interim basis.

Osofsky has worked in a number of white-collar and investigatory roles during her career, including acting as the deputy general counsel for the FBI in her native US.

A source told The Lawyer: “It would be good news because it would shake up the SFO. She is likely to be more aggressive and more focused on surveillance and tech.”

As Green’s fixed term neared an end, several names emerged as frontrunners to replace him. Among them, 6KBW’s Sasha Wass QC and Mishcon de Reya’s Alison Levitt QC. SFO general counsel Alun Milford emerged as a strong contender, though the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) confirmed that Green’s replacement had been named and was an external candidate.

Green’s next move has yet to be confirmed.

Osborne Clarke business crime head Jeremy Summers said: “She will certainly bring an international element and an American perspective to the role. She may also bring an ability to liaise more closely with US enforcement agencies. If I had a concern, though, it would be that coming from an American background there is a tendency to ‘do a deal’ rather than to prosecute. To that extent, Green has tried to reverse that from the [Richard] Alderman era.

“Maybe another backdrop to this is the government being mindful that business is currently uncertain as to the future post-Brexit. Though they’d never say so out loud, an overly aggressive corporate enforcement arm may not be top of the Government’s priority list.”

One area of consternation around Osofsky’s appointment has emerged over her sympathies towards the Conservative government’s notion of merging the SFO and the National Crime Agency (NCA) into one department. When the idea was floated last year, it caused unrest across the legal sphere, forcing the government to backtrack on its proposals.

A source told The Lawyer: “I think for the SFO to have any chance of continuing the success it has had, it’s got to be a focused, specialist and motivated organisation which is reasonably well-sized, but not part of a massive government department.

“It needs to have a clearly defined role and career structure in order to continue attracting the good people it has been.”

Should Osofsky take the role, she will become only the third female director of the SFO since its inception in 1988. Barbara Mills was the first female SFO director, taking the post for two years between 1990 and 1992. Rosamind Wright was named to the role five years later before stepping down in 2002.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said: “An announcement on the recruitment of a new Director of the Serious Fraud Office will be made in due course.”

The SFO declined to comment. No one was available to comment at Exiger.

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

Around about the second day of my articles the partner I was working to asked me to go to the EAT and sit behind Counsel. I was pretty terrified and met up with counsel knowing nothing about the case. 

Counsel was in a fairly old, fairly shiny suit, carrying a battered school type case/satchel and when he opened it the papers seemed a bit disorganised. I was more worried by now.

Counsel was called on to present his case and from the moment he opened his mouth until the moment he sat down I was completely stunned. The eloquence, the clarity of thought, everything really. 

It was “don’t judge a book by its cover” made real and taught me a very valuable lesson about underestimating people and being personally underestimated. I’ve carved out a bit of a career due to the latter. 

Counsel later became a VERY senior judge. 

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

The two greatest influences have been Diana Kloss and Hazel Carty, both lecturers at Manchester University.

I was pursuing a postgrad there but was able to take some undergraduate courses in legal method and labour law. This was the first time I had learnt any law.

Their courses were the reason I took the conversion course to law and opted to specialise in employment law (at that time a tiny specialism that meant I had to come to London). Everything that has happened in my legal career has flowed from being taught by them.

I got to see Diana for the first time in many years at the ILS conference in September and was able to tell her what I’ve been up to. I think she was pleased. 

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

Joining UNISON for six weeks in 1993 as a locum solicitor and deciding to stay.  Many reasons why but 2017 would be enough alone.

After four years of being roundly slaughtered at every legal level we got a hearing for our ET fees case in the Supreme Court. We were challenging the legality of the fees being levied for bringing ET cases on the basis that they discriminated against women in particular and that the dramatic collapse in cases was an obstruction of access to justice. 

Everyone said we were wasting our time bringing the case to the Supreme Court. 

We won by 7-0 and the case has become one of the most important constitutional cases ever including a stellar judgment written by Lord Reed. The case is now referred to as the UNISON case, the rise in ET cases is known as the UNISON effect.

We had no idea things would end up that way. We were simply convinced that the ET fees were just “wrong” and that was honestly the starting point for our case. We built everything around that gut feeling. It drove us all the way to the Supreme Court. Sometimes you just have to follow your instincts!    

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

That’s a tricky one as there aren’t many such jobs – but obviously applying to work in a union legal department when a vacancy comes up would help.

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

I’d have been interested in being a part time Employment Tribunal Judge but it would have been tricky to commit to. Perhaps as I get older although I suspect I would not be the MOJ’s first choice. 

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Clifford Chance has won a first time instruction from Elliott Advisors on its purchase of UK bookshop Waterstones.

This is the first time Elliott has completed a private equity deal in Europe, seeking counsel from magic circle partners Chris Sullivan and Spencer Baylin.

The deal sees investment group Elliott purchase the bookstore operator for an undisclosed amount. Waterstones has been owned by Russian businessman Alexander Mamut’s company Lynwood Investments since 2011.

Mumut and Lynwood were represented by Hogan Lovells corporate duo Robert Darwin and Sarah Shaw, who joined Hogan Lovells in January from Allen & Overy where she was a senior associate.

Lynwood is a longstanding client of Hogan Lovells, with the relationship led by Moscow office managing partner Oxana Balayan.

Waterstones’ management team, namely CEO James Daunt, was advised by Goodwin Procter partner Mark Soundy. The private equity partner joined the US firm from Shearman & Sterling at the end of 2016.

Waterstones has been passed through several hands since its inception in the 1980s, with sales to WHSmith, HMV and finally Lynwood in 2011.

It is understood that Lynwood will continue as a minority shareholder, while Daunt will remain in a leadership role.

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White & Case regulatory partner James Greig is moving back in-house after just two years at the US firm.

Greig joined White & Case in 2016 from BNY Mellon, where he was EMEA regulatory counsel and head of the office of public policy and regulatory affairs.

His last stint in private practice was between 2002 and 2009 when he was a partner at WilmerHale.

Greig is moving in-house to Barclays, where he will become of head of regulatory relations. Barclays is a White & Case client, with the bank currently embroiled in its last-ever formal panel review.

White & Case’s financial institutions head Patrick Sarch said: “We fully understand and support the decision James has made to take this senior role.

“He has made a considerable contribution to the firm and our clients since joining in 2016, and we wish James every success and look forward to continuing to work with him in the future.”

Greig joined White & Case during the firm’s significant hiring spree in 2016/17. The firm recruited Ropes & Gray finance partner Chris McGarry, Macfarlanes competition partner Marc Israel, Clifford Chance M&A partner Patrick Sarch and Ashurst litigation partner Mark Clarke in September 2016.

To the disputes team, White & Case also added Weil Gotshal & Manges’ former co-head of dispute resolution Hannah Field-Lowes at the start of this year.

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