Employee exodus: The housing crisis is now a dire threat to the future of London’s businesses October 11, 2015 Tomorrow will see a key intervention in the housing debate. Business leaders from across the capital will launch a major campaign called Fifty Thousand Homes. That’s the number of houses we need to build a year to keep up with London’s growing population. Housing costs are becoming a problem for employers as much as [...]
Market economy status for China is a disaster for Europe September 29, 2015 What is a market economy? A system in which free trade and enterprise are encouraged to thrive, or one that is closely controlled by a powerful central government, repeatedly guilty of anti-competitive conduct and hostile towards new entrants. That is the question facing Brussels policy-makers, who are currently deciding whether to recognise China as [...]
Banks at risk of legal action over the FCA’s new regulatory regime September 28, 2015 CITY lawyers are warning today that new regulations for top bank staff could spark an increase in the number of legal claims over firings. GQ Employment Law, a specialist employment law firm, says that the Senior Managers Regime, set to go into effect next March, may have unintended consequences. Under the new rules, senior managers [...]
Mayer Brown becomes London’s first law firm to offer earn-as-you-learn September 7, 2015 Law is typically the career path of the most diligent students – but aspiring solicitors can now skip university and law school thanks to the launch of London's first earn-as-you-learn legal apprenticeship. City law firm Mayer Brown has teamed up with the University of Law to offer the “articled apprenticeship", which is aimed at school leavers who [...]
Back to work: Pause before doing away with your annual appraisals September 4, 2015 As the new term kicks off one rather large organisation, Accenture, won’t be carrying out any more annual appraisals. Managers and junior employees alike must have extra springs in their steps as they, gleefully, head through the revolving doors and into work. The case against is strong. The annual appraisal system is time-consuming, regimented (often [...]
Magic circle firms struggle to keep up with US rivals September 4, 2015 BRITAIN’s elite law firms failed to track the country’s improving economy and reported a combined turnover of £20.64bn, a one per cent drop in earnings from 2014. Figures released by Legal Business magazine today show that the number of lawyers employed by the largest 100 firms in the UK, has also fallen, down two per [...]
Earnings drop at magic circle law firms as they fail to benefit from global M&A boom September 3, 2015 Britain's elite law firms failed to track the country's improving economy, reporting a combined turnover of £20.64bn, a one per cent drop in earnings from 2014. The number of lawyers employed by the largest 100 firms in the UK, has also fallen, down two per cent to 64,024, according to figures published by Legal Business [...]
What UK businesses need to know to overcome export hurdles August 26, 2015 POLITICIANS’ reputations are made or broken on the back of self-imposed targets. Back in 2012, George Osborne called for a doubling of UK exports to £1 trillion by 2020. It was certainly a bold aim. But then I guess you don’t become the chancellor of the exchequer and the bookies’ favourite to be the next [...]
Tom Hayes Libor trial timeline key dates: Former trader accused on attempting to manipulate Libor rate August 3, 2015 Well, that's it: former UBS and Citibank trader Tom Hayes has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, after being found guilty on eight counts of conspiring to rig the Libor rate. During a nine-week trial, the prosecution painted Hayes as someone who acted in a "thoroughly dishonest and manipulative manner" to mastermind a web [...]
Uber faces UK legal action from GMB union over driver employee rights July 29, 2015 The GMB union has launched legal action against Uber over the way it treats drivers. The union claims drivers should be considered employees and has a legal duty to provide them with working rights on pay, holiday, health and safety, and grievances. Uber considers drivers as self-employed "partners". Now GMB has instructed law firm Leigh [...]