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Pulse UK
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January 16, 2025
UK Legal Sector Revenue Dips 12% In November After High
The U.K. legal industry recorded revenue of under £4.4 billion ($5.4 billion) in November, a fall of about 12% but more than the 3% decrease revealed for the wider services sector, official figures published on Thursday show.
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January 16, 2025
CMS To Cut Lawyers' Jobs In UK Real Estate Team
CMS is poised to cut 15 jobs in its real estate team in the City of London as the sector continues to face difficult economic conditions, with the firm saying Thursday that a review was underway.
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January 15, 2025
Gateley's Revenues Top £86M In First-Half Results
Gateley PLC said Wednesday that it recorded more than £86 million ($105 million) in revenues during the first half of its financial year, but a one-time gain on the acquisition of a chartered surveying practice hit its latest profits total.
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January 15, 2025
TLT Hikes NQ Pay In London To £85K
TLT LLP said Wednesday that it has increased salaries of newly qualified lawyers in its London office to £85,000 ($104,000) as law firms continue to do battle for those who are in the early stages of their careers.
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January 15, 2025
Hoffmann Eitle, KSVR Team Up To Form Patent Powerhouse
German patent specialist Hoffmann Eitle PartmbB has said that it join forces with the Düsseldorf office of König - Szynka - Tilmann - von Renesse to strengthen their capacity to handle United Patent Court disputes.
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January 15, 2025
Diversity In Judiciary Stays Stagnant Despite Push
The judiciary continues to struggle with diversity on the bench as a new progress report has revealed that Black people accounted in 2024 for only 1% of all court judges in England and Wales, which is unchanged since reporting began in 2020.
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January 15, 2025
RPC Taps Hong Kong Litigation Pro As New Managing Partner
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP said Wednesday it has elected a litigation expert as its new managing partner, turning to its current Asia chief to lead the firm.
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January 15, 2025
Ex-Axiom Ince Execs Appear In Court Charged With Fraud
Five former leaders of Axiom Ince appeared at a London criminal court Wednesday accused of fraud and covering up wrongdoing during a regulatory probe into the collapse of the law firm with a hole of more than £60 million ($73 million) in its client accounts.
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January 15, 2025
Solicitor General Backs More Money For SFO
The U.K.'s solicitor general on Wednesday voiced support for increasing funding for the Serious Fraud Office to close the resource gap between the agency and large corporations in response to criticism that the watchdog was backing away from the biggest cases after a string of setbacks in court.
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January 22, 2025
Charles Russell Speechlys Adds Barrister To Finance Team
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP has hired an expert in digital assets to work at its financial services and funds team in London as the firm moves to bolster its practice in the face of an increasingly complex financial technology sector.
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January 22, 2025
Temple Bright Hires 2 Partners From Travers Smith, Ashurst
Temple Bright LLP has snapped up two longtime lawyers from Travers Smith and Ashurst to continue making inroads into the growing market for alternatives to traditional law firms.
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January 14, 2025
Mishcon's Review Plan Forced Staffer To Leave, Tribunal Says
Mishcon de Reya LLP forced a former employee to resign by unfairly subjecting him to a performance management process that put him in a position in which he was "doomed to failure," a London employment tribunal has ruled.
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January 14, 2025
Orrick Adds Paris Tax Partner From Latham
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP added a former counsel at Latham & Watkins LLP as a partner in its Paris office, where she'll advise clients on the tax aspects of French and international transactions, the firm said.
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January 14, 2025
Goodwin Enters Brussels With Ex-Quinn Emanuel Antitrust Atty
Goodwin Procter LLP has opened an office in Brussels, focusing on competition matters with the hiring of a former Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorney who once served as the head of Shearman & Sterling LLP's global antitrust group.
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January 21, 2025
Plasseraud Hires Patent Pro To Lead New Amsterdam Office
French IP boutique Plasseraud has brought on board a veteran patent attorney from Simmons & Simmons to oversee its new office in Amsterdam as the firm expands its European reach.
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January 14, 2025
SFO Taps Insider As Top Lawyer As Osofsky Era Ends
Britain's anti-graft agency said Tuesday that a long-serving official with a background in running fraud and corruption investigations will serve as its top lawyer at least on an interim basis as it hunts to fill the crucial role on its executive committee.
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January 14, 2025
Blackstone Chambers Ups Pupils' Award By 20%
Blackstone Chambers has raised its pupillage award to £90,000 ($109,000), positioning itself ahead of law firms in the competitive race for top legal talent in London.
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January 21, 2025
Clifford Chance Hires M&A Pro Bruce Embley From Skadden
Clifford Chance said Tuesday that it has hired senior corporate lawyer Bruce Embley from Skadden in London as it looks to boost its transactions services.
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January 14, 2025
Gunnercooke Pro Fined For Improper Use Of Client Account
A lawyer at Gunnercooke LLP has been fined more than £14,000 ($17,000) for allowing clients to use the law firm's client account as a banking facility, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said.
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January 21, 2025
Clyde & Co. Insurance Pro Joins DWF As Partner
DWF LLP has hired a property and related liability expert from Clyde & Co. as a partner to join its global risks insurance team in London, as the firm looks to expand its practice across the U.K.
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January 13, 2025
Law Student Can't Rope Cambridge Profs Into Bias Claim
A law Ph.D. student cannot sue the individual committee members who collectively refused to award him a doctoral thesis after a London judge ruled Monday that the panelists added nothing of substance to his discrimination case against Cambridge.
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January 13, 2025
Law Firms Avoid Early Payout In Dispute Over Property Deal
A property business failed to get two law firms to contribute to its £2.5 million ($3 million) liability to a lender over a botched property purchase, after a judge ruled Monday that the dispute needed to be decided at trial.
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January 13, 2025
Simmons & Simmons Ups NQ Pay In Bristol To £96K
Simmons & Simmons LLP said Monday that it is raising the salaries of newly qualified associates in its Bristol office to £96,000 ($116,833) as it looks to boost its pipeline of promising junior lawyers in the southwest English city.
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January 13, 2025
Tribunal Member Sanctioned After Falling Asleep In Hearing
Britain's judicial conduct watchdog has sanctioned a tribunal member for misconduct after he "appeared to be fast asleep" during a hearing, despite his claims that he suffered from a medical condition.
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January 20, 2025
Addleshaw Goddard Hires New Brands Chief From Stobbs
Addleshaw Goddard LLP has appointed a new head of brands from Stobbs, the latest in a spate of other lawyers at the intellectual property boutique taking a well-trodden path between the two firms.
Expert Analysis
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What To Expect From UK's New Economic Crime Bill
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency bill, if passed, will reform aspects of Companies House and strengthen government anti-money laundering efforts, but it is also raising questions about how new information sharing requirements will affect businesses, say attorneys at Signature Litigation.
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A Trusted Cybersecurity Framework Is Imperative For Lawyers
The recent increased risk of cyberattacks has a number of profound implications for law firms, and complying with government guidance by embedding a cyber-savvy culture and adhering to a security framework will enable lawyers to add extra layers of defense and present their clients with higher levels of protection, says Marion Stewart at Red Helix.
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Opinion
Law School Admissions Shouldn't Hinge On Test Scores
The American Bar Association recently granted law schools some latitude on which tests it can consider in admissions decisions, but its continued emphasis on test scores harms student diversity and is an obstacle to holistic admissions strategies, says Aaron Taylor at AccessLex.
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New FCA Listing Rules May Start Regulatory Shift On Diversity
Listed companies that fail to meet new Financial Conduct Authority rules for minimum executive board diversity currently risk reputational damage mainly through social scrutiny, but should prepare for potential regulatory enforcement actions, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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What UK Professional Regulation Looks Like In A #MeToo Era
Two recent rulings from U.K. courts and tribunals reveal the increasingly shifting line between professional misbehavior and bad actions that would previously have been considered outside the scope of professional regulators, says Andrew Katzen at Hickman & Rose.
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How Immune Are State Agents From Foreign Courts?
The ongoing case of Basfar v. Wong is the latest to raise questions about the boundary between commercial or private activity and the exercise of sovereign authority that shields state agents from foreign judicial scrutiny — and the U.K. Supreme Court's upcoming decision in the matter will likely bring clarity on exceptions to the immunity doctrine, say Andrew Stafford QC and Oleg Shaulko at Kobre & Kim.
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Opinion
Justice Gap Demands Look At New Legal Service Models
Current restrictions on how lawyers structure their businesses stand in the way of meaningful access to justice for many Americans, so states should follow the lead of Utah and Florida and test out innovative law firm business models through regulatory sandboxes, says Zachariah DeMeola at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.
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Opinion
New NJ Fed. Rule On Litigation Funding Should Be Welcomed
The District of New Jersey's new local civil rule on litigation funding disclosure has faced exaggerated criticisms when it is a logical extension of the current practices in many U.S. jurisdictions, leads to greater transparency for the parties and the court without unduly burdening the parties, and is a positive development particularly in product liability cases, say attorneys at Dechert.
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Lessons In Civility From The Alex Oh Sanctions Controversy
Alex Oh’s abrupt departure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and admonishment by a D.C. federal judge over conduct in an Exxon human rights case demonstrate three major costs of incivility to lawyers, and highlight the importance of teaching civility in law school, says David Grenardo at St. Mary's University.
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Rebuttal
US Legal System Can Benefit From Nonlawyer Ownership
Contrary to claims made in a recent Law360 guest article, nonlawyer ownership has incrementally improved the England and Wales legal system — with more innovation and more opportunities for lawyers — and there is no reason why those outcomes cannot also be achieved in the U.S., say Crispin Passmore at Passmore Consulting and Zachariah DeMeola at the University of Denver.
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Increasing Investment Scams Can Implicate Lawyers, Too
With the pandemic serving as a catalyst for increased financial fraud, it's important to recognize that these scams are not only devastating for victims, they also pose a significant threat to law firms and individual solicitors who fail to do their due diligence, say James Darbyshire at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Heather Clark at Burness Paull.
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UK Lawyers Can Adapt Due Diligence To Screen New Clients
As COVID-19-related fraud gains pace, U.K.-based practitioners should help combat money laundering by using alternative methods to verify that new clients are who they say they are, says Christopher Convey, a barrister at 33 Chancery Lane and chair of the Bar Council's Money Laundering Working Group.
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Key Risks And Developments For UK Law Firm Culture In 2020
In 2020, law firms throughout the U.K. will be increasingly reshaped by rapid changes in societal expectations and advances in technology, say Helen Rowlands and Niya Phiri of Clyde & Co.
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#MeToo Pressure On UK Businesses Is Set To Rise
Recent declarations by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority indicate that sexual harassment in the U.K.'s financial services industry may lead to consequences under the newly expanded Senior Managers and Certification Regime, and other sectors are facing growing scrutiny as well, say attorneys at Covington.
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Corporate Wrongdoing Risks Go Beyond Exec Departures
Recent controversy over misconduct allegations that led to the ousting of a KPMG executive reminds firms that the challenges caused by suspecting or uncovering internal wrongdoing are not so easily solved by the implicated executive's exit, says Sarah Chilton of CM Murray.