UK’s top 100 law firms report strong year despite final quarter slump July 1, 2019 The UK’s top 100 law firms grew fee income seven per cent in the year to 30 April, according to data published today. The strong performance is a slight dip on last year’s average fee income increase of 7.7 per cent, according to audit firm Deloitte’s quarterly legal sector survey. Jeremy Black, partner in Deloitte’s [...]
Staffline seeks to raise £41m to ease debt fears June 27, 2019 Recruitment firm Staffline has this morning announced plans to raise up to £41m by selling off shares to private investors and current shareholders. The UK-based company is seeking to make £34m through a placing, with a further £7m to come from an open offer. Read more: PwC fined £4.5m for ‘lack of competence’ in Redcentric [...]
Through the smoke: The legal path to Britain’s cannabis market June 26, 2019 The great and the good of the global cannabis industry (which, for those behind the curve on such things, is no longer a contradiction in terms), are assembling in London for a dazzling set of events under the banner of European Cannabis Week. Even those who follow the headlines about the industry’s rapidly escalating size [...]
How worried should you be about deepfakes? June 21, 2019 Mark Zuckerberg recently became the latest high-profile subject of a “deepfake” hoax. A manipulated video circulating on Instagram appears to show him boasting about having “billions of people’s stolen data” and thanking a Sheffield art installation for his success. Squint, and you could mistake the fake video produced using artificial intelligence software for the real [...]
Slaughter and May boosts pay packet for newly qualified solicitors to £100,000 as Magic Circle pay war rages June 20, 2019 Slaughter and May today said it is increasing its pay package for newly qualified (NQ) solicitors to over £100,000. The City stalwart said basic salary for NQs was going up to £92,000 from £83,000. Factoring in a discretionary bonus, which last year was 8.2 per cent, NQ lawyers stand to receive over £100,000 a year [...]
It’s high time Britain’s fledgling cannabis industry got serious about protecting its IP June 20, 2019 Already a $10bn-plus industry, the legal cannabis business is rapidly going mainstream – and not just in Canada and the US. You might not know it, but the UK has been steadily growing its own cannabis infrastructure for some years, with London increasingly becoming a hub for advisers and entrepreneurs looking to get on board [...]
UK top 50 law firms vulnerable to no-deal Brexit, say accountants June 19, 2019 The UK’s top 50 law firms hold on average cash for just three week’s wages, leaving them vulnerable in the case of economic shocks. Analysis of the accounts of the top 50 law firms by accountancy firm Smith & Williamson and website Legal Week found the monthly payroll was on average £610m, but firms had [...]
Freshfields partner to face tribunal after sexual misconduct allegations June 19, 2019 The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has rejected an attempt by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Ryan Beckwith to have a sexual misconduct case against him thrown out. A junior lawyer at the firm alleged Beckwith had sex with her after a work event when she was heavily intoxicated and her decision making was impaired. Beckwith will [...]
Former DLA Piper senior partner Juan Picon dies June 19, 2019 Former DLA Piper senior partner Juan Picon has died aged 54, his current firm Latham & Watkins confirmed today. Picon joined US firm Latham & Watkins in 2017 where he was chair of the Madrid office and co-chair of the firm’s Latin America practice. His move to Latham shocked the legal market, coming just 18 [...]
Justice Committee blames government failures for magistrate shortages June 18, 2019 Failures in government planning have left England and Wales short of magistrates, according to a Justice Committee report published today. The shortfall in magistrate numbers is “as frustrating as it was foreseeable” and it has taken a near-crisis to prompt government action, the report said. It is calling on the government to develop an overarching [...]