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Pulse UK
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April 19, 2024
Shrinking Partner Rounds Mirror Shifting Associate Priorities
The economic downturn's impact on law firm profits has hit partner promotions in 2024. But it's not all doom and gloom, as the rise in salaries has lessened the desire among associates to own firm equity.
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April 19, 2024
SRA Fines Two More Law Firms Over AML Failures
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has fined two more law firms for breaching anti-money laundering laws as it continues its clampdown on the profession.
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April 19, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen U.K. holiday resort chain Butlins target Aviva and a huddle of insurers, Meta and WhatsApp tackle a patents claim by telecommunications company Semitel, an ongoing construction dispute between Essex County Council and Balfour Beatty, and Formycon AG hit a pharmaceutical company for infringing medical products. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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April 19, 2024
5 Questions For Taylor Wessing's Roland Mallinson
Roland Mallinson had dreamed as a child of becoming an architect, but a teacher set him on a different course, steering him toward the path of civil engineering before he eventually became an intellectual property lawyer.
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April 18, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Can Stay Free During OneCoin Fraud Appeal
A Manhattan federal judge Thursday granted a former Locke Lord LLP partner's motion for bail pending appeal of his 10-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of laundering around $400 million in proceeds from the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, saying he does not pose a flight risk given his medical conditions.
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April 18, 2024
Troutman Pepper, Locke Lord Eye Merger To Buff Focus Areas
Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP and Locke Lord LLP are in merger talks to create a combined firm with more than 1,600 attorneys and nearly $1.6 billion in revenue, in what appears to be an effort to lock in both firms' leadership in six industry sectors.
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April 18, 2024
Law Firm Can't Block Investors From Group Negligence Claim
Williams & Co. Solicitors cannot block 134 property investors from bringing a joint negligence claim over failed property development projects because U.K. laws say "in plain English" that multiple parties can join a claim, a London appeals court ruled Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
A&O Taps Dubai M&A Head To Run META Region Post-Merger
Allen & Overy LLP and Shearman & Sterling LLP said on Thursday that they have appointed a corporate partner based in Dubai as regional managing partner for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, ahead of their planned merger.
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April 18, 2024
Womble Bond Told Post Office To Withhold Docs From Court
Womble Bond Dickinson advised the Post Office to "suppress" key documents from the court "for as long as possible" in a case brought by wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters, according to correspondence disclosed at the inquiry into the scandal Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
BT Group Cuts Legal Panel From 15 Law Firms To 11
BT Group said Thursday it had cut four law firms from its legal panel and added Clifford Chance LLP to the mix alongside fellow Magic Circle giants Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and the soon-to-be A&O Shearman.
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April 18, 2024
Negligence Claims Against Law Firm May Go To Trial
A London court has ordered 35 investors to clarify their claims against a law firm that they say failed to properly advise them on the risks of sinking an estimated £2.7 million ($3.4 million) into a "worthless" property development.
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April 18, 2024
Head Of Chambers Accused Of Bullying By Expelled Barrister
A barrister told an employment tribunal on Thursday that the head of an English criminal chambers put him through "absolute hell" by bullying him and trying to end his career before expelling him from the chambers.
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April 25, 2024
Mathys & Squire Recruits New IP Partner To Munich Office
Mathys & Squire LLP has hired a new intellectual property partner in its Munich office from Müller Hoffmann & Partner in its latest move toward delivering all-German advice to clients in the nation.
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April 18, 2024
Keystone Law Sees Revenues Leap By 15% To £88M
Keystone Law Group PLC reported on Thursday that its revenues rose by 15% to nearly £88 million ($110 million) in its latest financial results, fueled by "sustained" demand from clients for advice across all practice areas of the business.
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April 18, 2024
Slater And Gordon Wins Bid To Rebut Ex-Analyst's Appeal
Slater and Gordon won permission on Thursday to challenge a former costs analyst's appeal that he was harassed for having mental illnesses after arguing that a lower tribunal's ruling suggests the accused individuals didn't know enough about his condition to have done so.
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April 18, 2024
SQE Debacle Puts Spotlight On SRA's Contract With Kaplan
The fiasco surrounding the solicitors qualifying exam has cast doubts on the future relationship between Kaplan and the watchdog for the profession, raising questions across the sector about the agency's contract with the testing giant.
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April 17, 2024
Dentons Names 12 New Partners In UK And Middle East
Dentons announced on Wednesday that 12 lawyers in the U.K. and the Middle East are being promoted to its partnership, the international law firm's second-highest figure for the region after 13 a year ago.
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April 17, 2024
Freshfields Promotes 23 New Partners In Reduced Round
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP announced Wednesday that it had promoted 23 lawyers to its partnership, with around a quarter coming from its London office, as it looks to continue taking its global business forward with a future generation of rising stars.
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April 17, 2024
Clyde & Co. Promotes 19 Lawyers To Partnership In Dip
Clyde & Co. LLP announced Wednesday that it has added 19 lawyers to its global partnership in what is its smallest promotions round since 2021.
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April 24, 2024
Fieldfisher Goes On German Media, Tech And IP Hiring Spree
Fieldfisher LLP has recruited 11 lawyers across its German offices, including several new partners, to boost its intellectual property offerings, and strengthen its position in the media sector.
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April 16, 2024
Law Firms Take Heat Over Pulled Offers After SQE Mishap
Law firms may bear the brunt of the blame for hastily rescinding job offers for trainees who didn't pass the solicitors' qualification exam after testing giant Kaplan admitted on Monday it mistakenly failed numerous aspiring lawyers.
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April 16, 2024
McDermott Hires 2 Partners For Global Tax Practice In Paris
McDermott Will & Emery is expanding its global tax practice group with two partners in Paris who have a track record of advising on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and tax controversies before France's tax authority, the firm announced.
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April 16, 2024
Womble Bond Sued Over Advice On £126M Real Estate Project
Two businessmen and a management company have sued Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP in a London court after the law firm's allegedly negligent advice caused a £126 million ($157 million) property redevelopment project to fall through.
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April 16, 2024
Hill Dickinson Bolsters Disputes Team With New Partner
Hill Dickinson LLP has snapped up a partner from Teacher Stern LLP to join its commercial litigation team, bringing a wealth of dispute resolution and crisis management experience to the table.
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April 16, 2024
Hogan Lovells' Tech Unit Partners With ESG Compliance Biz
Hogan Lovells announced Tuesday that its new legal technology venture has entered into a strategic partnership with Daato, a sustainability management company, to help clients comply with their reporting requirements on environmental, social and governance.
Expert Analysis
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Highlights Of The UK's New Economic Crime Plan
With the direction of the U.K. government’s newly launched second economic crime plan undeniably altered by the recent focus on kleptocrats and their money, the emphasis is now on how the U.K. can deliver a more effective approach to reducing the threat of economic crime, says Kathryn Westmore at the Royal United Services Institute.
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How Lawyers' Behavior Can Affect Opponents' Mental Health
Acts of unreasonable behavior of lawyers working on opposite sides can take their toll, and with mental health and stress never higher in the national consciousness than right now, such conduct should be reported to help the firm understand the treatment its solicitors are receiving and better manage the situation, says Libby Payne at Withers.
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The Challenges Of Presenting To Clients In The Hybrid World
As a sector that is guided heavily by the demands of its client base, the legal industry will have to overcome various obstacles to make stylish, convincing and successful in-the-room, virtual and hybrid presentations in the post-pandemic blend of home and office, says Gavin Brown at Speak with Impact.
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5 Challenges General Counsel Are Set To Face
With an ever-broadening role, general counsel are being tasked to do more with less, with a need for caution and a requirement to leverage time wisely to anticipate and identify emerging industry challenges, says Jerry Temko at Major Lindsey.
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How SRA Workplace Culture Guidance May Help Legal Sector
Whether or not the Solicitors Regulation Authority acts on its recently released guidance on toxic workplace environments in law firms and imposes harsh sanctions, it will hopefully encourage some positive top-down changes, and should give individuals confidence to demand acceptable behavior, says Georgina Calvert-Lee at Bellevue Law.
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Beyond ChatGPT: AI Considerations For Law Firms
The use of artificial intelligence is likely to become increasingly mainstream in the legal sector, and firms should not remain complacent in the current limitations of ChatGPT, but develop policies to ensure that AI-generated liability and regulatory issues are addressed sooner rather than later, say Corinne Staves and Andrew Pavlovic at CM Murray.
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Reflecting On The Benefits Of Direct Access To Barristers
At close to 20 years since public access to barristers came into being, it is a good time to take a look at its impact on the U.K. legal profession and the more collaborative approach between barristers and solicitors we have seen develop since its introduction, say Amani Mohammed and Sean Gould at Westgate Chambers.
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How Apprenticeships Are Transforming The Legal Sector
As more legal employers recognize the benefits of creating apprenticeship opportunities, they are likely to grow in popularity, ensuring that the best and brightest minds are available to meet the challenges of an ever complex and changing legal environment, says Aisha Saeed at Addleshaw Goddard.
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Pitfalls Lawyers Should Avoid When Correcting Their Mistakes
When solicitors make mistakes that cause prejudice to their clients, they will need to carefully consider whether they should try to fix their mistake, as trying to put things right may expose them to potential regulatory action, says Andrew Pavlovic at CM Murray.
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Translating The Plan For English-Language German Courts
The German Ministry of Justice is aiming to do away with the mistakes of the past and overhaul the German civil procedure in order to accommodate English-language disputes, but the success of these proceedings will depend very much on factors that the proposal does not address, say Jan Schaefer and Rüdiger Morbach at King & Spalding.
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A Breakdown Of The SRA's Proposed New Fining Powers
Thanks to the Solicitors Regulation Authority's pending new fining framework, which includes guidance on unsuitable fines and a fixed penalties scheme for low-level breaches, firms can expect to see more disciplinary findings leading to an SRA fine rather than referral to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, say Graham Reid and Shanice Holder at RPC.
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Russian Bank Ruling Clarifies UK Sanctions Regime
The recent U.K. High Court judgment of PJSC National Bank Trust v. Mints, a case brought by two Russian banks, is significant in clarifying that the U.K. sanctions regime does not deprive designated persons of their fundamental common law right to bring a claim in an English court, despite their assets being frozen, says Zoe O’Sullivan KC at Serle Court.
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Preparing For EU's Pay Gap Reporting Directive
An agreement has been reached on the European Union Pay Transparency Directive, paving the way for gender pay gap reporting to become compulsory for many employers across Europe, introducing a more proactive approach than the similar U.K. regime and leading the way on new global standards for equal pay, say attorneys at Lewis Silkin.
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Has The Liberalization Of Legal Services Achieved Its Aims?
Although there is still some way to go, alternative business structures are now an increasingly prominent feature of the legal services landscape, and clients can expect greater choice, improved quality and more manageable costs, as was intended by this shake-up of the profession's regulatory frameworks 15 years ago, says Dana Denis-Smith at Obelisk Support.
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How Overseas Property Verification Poses Risks To Attorneys
The recently launched register of overseas entities, requiring verification of foreign owners hoping to purchase U.K. property, could expose attorneys to criminal prosecution, professional negligence claims and reputational damage if they do not complete these checks to the required standard, which nevertheless remains murky, says Harriet Holmes at Thirdfort.