Gunnercooke becomes first UK law firm to take payments in cryptocurrency February 21, 2022 London law firm Gunnercooke has become the first major UK headquartered law firm to accept payments in the form of cryptocurrency. In a statement, the City of London litigator said it had partnered with British cryptocurrency exchange Coinpass, to accept payments in the form of both Bitcoin and Ether. Gunnercooke’s decision to begin accepting payments [...]
Law firms match investment banks in handing out UK’s highest graduate salaries February 21, 2022 The City of London’s law firms are now the UK’s highest paying graduate employers, according to new figures from High Fliers, which show UK law firms have now matched investment banks in offering graduates average salaries of £50,000 a year. The graduate salaries paid out by Britain’s major law firms are now on par with [...]
Dechert and Fried Frank up new lawyers pay as salary battle rages on February 21, 2022 Dechert and Fried Frank have both upped the salaries they pay out to newly qualified lawyers, as the pay battle continues. Dechert confirmed to City A.M. that it has increased pay for newly qualified associates in its London office from £125,000 to £140,000. The Philadelphia firm’s 12 per cent pay rise for newly qualified associates [...]
Hogan Lovells to leave its London HQ for new development opposite its current premises February 21, 2022 British-American law firm Hogan Lovells has said it will leave its City of London headquarters, to move to new premises opposite its current building, after London firm PLP Architecture got the go ahead for plans to build 36,000 square metres of office space on Holborn Viaduct. Hogan Lovells said it will move to other side [...]
Hogan Lovells poaches two of Linklaters M&A lawyers as M&A boom continues February 17, 2022 City of London law firm Hogan Lovells has poached two of Linklaters’ M&A lawyers, as the surge in M&A activity continues. Anglo-American law firm Hogan Lovells, which has headquarters in London and Washington, D.C., said it has hired Peter Cohen-Millstein and Megan Ridley-Kaye to join its New York M&A practice, as it pushes forwards with [...]
Barrister fined £500 for calling female lawyer ‘hysterical woman’ February 17, 2022 A 66-year-old barrister has been fined £500 after calling a female lawyer an “hysterical woman” at Worthing County Court. London lawyer Feliks Kwiatkowski was fined after he said a witness statement – that had been drafted and signed by a female lawyer – was the work of an “hysterical woman”. After being challenged over his [...]
New York firm offers new lawyers unprecedented $235,000 salaries – $20,000 more than closest rivals February 17, 2022 Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors is set to pay its newly qualified lawyers an unprecedented $235,000 (~£172,500) a year, in offering $20,000 more than rival US firms. The firm’s decision to up pay for its first-year associates to $235,000 a year comes after New York firm Milbank sparked a fresh bidding war in January, after raising [...]
DLA Piper considering full merger between US and UK partnerships February 16, 2022 DLA Piper is considering plans for a full merger between the US and international arms of its business, Financial News has reported. Since being formed out of a merger between three law firms in 2005 – one from San Diego, one from Baltimore, and one from Britain – DLA Piper has worked as two separate [...]
Law firms now more willing to hire less skilled candidates in face of nationwide skills shortage February 16, 2022 Law firms are now increasingly willing to hire candidates that do not have the skills they were looking for, as the battle for talent continues. Three quarters (75 per cent) of law firms said they are now willing to be flexible when it comes to a candidate’s skillset, compared to 57 per cent of financial [...]
Barristers’ wigs are an ‘outdated’ symbol of ‘poshness’ top QC says February 16, 2022 One of Britain’s top QCs has said the UK should stop forcing barristers to wear wigs after claiming they are a symbol of “poshness” that have “no place” in the UK’s modern legal system. In an article in Mail+ Leslie Thomas QC, one of the UK’s most high-profile barristers, said wigs have hindered the Bar’s [...]