Online hearings are harming junior lawyers, top judge says January 31, 2022 A senior British Judge has warned that virtual hearings are stunting junior lawyers’ development. Chancellor of the High Court Sir Julian Flux warned that “junior barristers and solicitors’ participation is limited to being a tile without picture or sound on a Teams screen.” The top Judge warned that the rise of remote hearings has seen [...]
Top UK lawyer leaves New York litigator to launch ‘modern’ firm – taking 27 of 33 lawyers with her January 31, 2022 A top British lawyer at Boies, Schiller & Flexner’s London office has said she is leaving the much talked about firm to set up a rival litigator, and that she will be taking more than 80 per cent of her former employer’s London-based staff with her. Natasha Harrison, a managing partner at Boies, Schiller & [...]
Slaughter & May hires first COO in shakeup of management structure January 31, 2022 Magic Circle law firm Slaughter and May has poached Freshfields chief operating officer (COO) Jill Hoseason as its first ever COO. Hoseason will join Slaughter & May following almost 14-years of tenure at its rival, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she served as the Magic Circle firm’s Global COO. In her new role, Hoseason will take [...]
Mishcon de Reya postpones IPO due to volatile market conditions January 31, 2022 London law firm Mishcon de Reya has said it is temporarily postponing its IPO due to “volatile” market conditions. The delay comes as another blow to London’s stock market, following a series of disappointing IPOs over the previous year. Mishcon de Reya’s senior leadership decided to put the firm’s IPO on hold, following conversations [...]
Freshfields pays out £50k bonuses to private equity lawyers January 31, 2022 Magic Circle law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has begun paying out special bonuses to mid-ranking lawyers working on private equity deals, as it seeks to keep hold of its staff in the face of competition from US firms. The London-headquartered firm is reportedly paying out bonuses worth £50,000 to lawyers working on private equity deals. [...]
Battle for legal talent continues as even more law firms join the fray January 27, 2022 Major law firms DLA Piper, Duval & Stachenfeld, and Winston & Strawn have all decided to match Milbank in offering salaries of $215,000 (£160,500) a year. Chicago headquartered litigator Winston & Strawn yesterday said it would boost salaries paid out to its newly qualified associates by $10,000 a year, to match Milbank’s offer to new [...]
Quinn Emanuel opens office in Saudi Arabia in bid to capitalise on Vision 2030 January 27, 2022 Los Angeles headquartered law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has struck a deal with Saudi Arabian law firm Alrubayyi & Attorneys to open an office in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. The deal will see prominent Saudi litigator, Nasser Alrubayyi, join Quinn Emanuel as a partner. The partnership comes as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [...]
Magic Circle law firm Freshfields offers staff $60k worth of egg freezing, IVF, and surrogacy services January 26, 2022 Magic Circle law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has said it will give each of its employees up to $60,000 (£44,430) worth of fertility clinic services, to cover the costs of egg and sperm freezing, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), and surrogacy. In a statement, Freshfields said it had partnered with fertility clinic Carrot Fertility, which offers a [...]
Goodwin Proctor ups the stakes in battle for legal talent in offering juniors £161,500 a year January 26, 2022 US law firm Goodwin Proctor has raised the stakes in the battle for legal talent, in offering newly qualified lawyers in its London office an unprecedented £161,500 a year. The Boston headquartered law firm’s move will see junior lawyers’ pay boosted by 10 per cent from £147,000 to £161,500, City AM understands. Goodwin’s decision to [...]
High Court blocks barrister’s appeal against six-month suspension for making lewd comments to woman on mini-pupillage January 25, 2022 The High Court has rejected an appeal put forward by a criminal barrister from Manchester against a decision to suspend him from practice for six months for making inappropriate comments to a woman he had brought into his office on work experience. Criminal barrister Michael Kearney was suspended from practice for six months, in March [...]