HONG KONG HK

Big Four firm EY expands in Hong Kong

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Kareena Teh, a former senior partner at Dechert, has joined EY’s Hong Kong member firm, LC Lawyers, along with two other associates, as the Big Four accounting firm expands its legal presence in the Asian hub.

Teh and the associates, Mok Ho-yin and Philip Kwok, focus on general corporate and commercial disputes, as well as regulatory and compliance matters and governance. Kwok joins LC Lawyers as counsel.

Teh, who spent five years at Dechert, earlier had an 11-year stint at Baker McKenzie, leaving as a partner. She previously worked as a barrister and solicitor in Christchurch, New Zealand.Back in May, LC Lawyers hired Rossana Chu from Troutman Sanders, after the U.S.-headquartered office exited Asia.

The Big Four accounting firms have been pushing into Asia in recent years, unsettling the market with their high-profile hires and quick expansion.

Credit Suisse finalises new global legal panel

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Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse has finalised its new global legal panel, with four firms winning places on the roster.

Ashurst, Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Latham & Watkins have all been appointed to the line-up, which replaces its EMEA and UK panels.

In addition to the global panel, which is expected to handle the bulk of the bank’s work, Credit Suisse has also appointed a number of firms to sub-panels covering practices such as employment, litigation, M&A and securities work. It also has a separate panel for Switzerland, and countries in Asia where it may require specific local expertise.

Credit Suisse’s Zurich-based corporate general counsel Julian Gooding led the review, with the global panel expected to run for two to three years.

The move to a global panel structure is in line with wider organisational changes at Credit Suisse, with the bank moving away from regional divisions in 2016.

A spokesperson for Credit Suisse said: “The driving principle of how we now run our panels is to manage our firm relationships in a holistic way more consistent with our organisational strcture. We’re happy that what we’ve put in place is a more coherent way of managing firms – we want to make sure all parties get the most out of the relationships by managing them globally.”

The bank’s review had been delayed by several months, with firms initially hoping to have heard if they had been successful in August last year.

Confirmation of Credit Suisse’s panel comes after fellow banks Societe Generale and Santander recently completed their international legal panels.

Societe Generale appointed DLA Piper, Norton Rose Fulbright and Mayer Brown among its ‘preferred’ advisers.

The French bank’s panel comprises 12 full-service firms – split into eight ‘preferred’ firms and four ‘selected’ firms – alongside six others appointed specifically to handle large litigation and tax advice.

Santander, meanwhile, has agreed terms with 46 firms, understood to include global firms DLA Piper, Baker McKenzie and Dentons, and US firms including Latham & Watkins and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Linklaters makes senior addition to its Milan office

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Linklaters has made a senior addition to its Milan office, with the hire of corporate veteran Roberto Casati from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Casati will join the magic circle firm as a partner next week, in a move that will bolster its office in the northern Italian business and financial hub.

Prior to joining Cleary in 2004, Casati was Italian senior partner at Allen & Overy (A&O) and one of three co-heads of the magic circle firm’s global corporate management committee.

That move made waves in the Italian legal market at the time, as he joined Cleary as its first partner based full-time in the city, with the deal putting him at the top of the US firm’s lockstep.

Casati advised on a raft of major deals while at Cleary. Months after joining from A&O he secured a headline mandate for the firm, advising Italian industrial group Finmeccanica on its £1bn purchase of GKN’s stake in AgustaWestland.

During the global financial crash in 2008, he co-led the firm’s team advising Italian bank UniCredit on its deal to secure up to €6.6bn of funding, while in 2013 he advised top Italian football club Inter Milan on its takeover by a consortium of Indonesian investors.

Casati told Legal Week: “Linklaters is a perfect platform and I think their Italian practice is excellent. I hope I can bring a good level of seniority to the offering.”

Last year, Linklaters deepened its Italian offering when it opened a lower cost legal centre in the southern Italian city of Lecce. Alongside Milan, the magic circle firm also has a base in Rome.

Other international firms to make inroads in the country last year include DWF, which opened a Milan office with the hire of a 16-strong team from local independent Pavia & Ansaldo. Herbert Smith Freehills is also set to open an office in Milan this year, on the back of the hire of Simmons & Simmons Italy dispute resolution and intellectual property head Laura Orlando.

However, a number of law firms have downsized their presence in Italy in recent years, with firms including Ashurst, Simmons & Simmons and McDermott Will & Emery all closing bases in Rome during the past three years.

Cleary Gottlieb Rome partner Giuseppe Scassellati-Sforzolini said: “We thank Roberto for his significant contributions to the development of our Italian corporate practice during the past 14 years, and wish him the best with his future endeavors.”

Bryan Cave posts falling revenue and partner profits before BLP merger

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Bryan Cave saw both revenue and profit per equity partner (PEP) dip in its last full financial year before its merger with Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), a deal the US firm is expecting to turn its financial performance around.

The St Louis-based firm firm saw gross revenue dip 2.5% to $592.6m in 2017 as PEP fell nearly 7% to $804,000. Revenue per lawyer remained flat at $700,000.

Bryan Cave’s top-line figure has now fallen four straight years by a total of 7.8% since it topped out at $643m in 2013.

A firm spokeswoman issued a brief statement noting that Bryan Cave is “very pleased” with the “extremely strong” financials.

A decrease in mortgage litigation work and slightly shrinking headcount (down 2.6% to 847 lawyers) partly accounted for the gross revenue dip, the statement said.

“We expect the pending combination with BLP to grow revenues and boost profitability as a direct result of our improved ability to provide our clients with broader and deeper legal services,” said Bryan Cave in its statement.

This year will be the last set of financial figures reported by Bryan Cave before it becomes Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP). That merger is expected to create a combined firm of some 1,600 lawyers with more than $900m in gross revenue.

A firm with $900m in gross revenue last year would have ranked 37th in the most recent Am Law 100 list and 44th in the Global 100 rankings, directly between McDermott Will & Emery and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy in both tables.

For its part, BLP saw revenue rise 7% to £272m (roughly $376m at current exchange rates) during 2016-17, its last full financial year, as PEP fell nearly 8% to £630,000 ($871.000).

Bryan Cave last year trimmed its non-equity partner ranks by 6.2% down to 166. The firm’s equity partner ranks grew by 2.5% to 204, up from 199 the year before, helping to explain some of the PEP decrease.

BLP’s partners will be interested in that figure, as the combination they are entering into is one of the few fully financially integrated transatlantic law firm mergers. In an earlier interview, Bryan Cave chair Therese Pritchard said the single-profit pool structure made it easier to reward partners for working together across geographies than a Swiss verein construction.

“In our mind it provides the incentives to find the best people in the firm to service the clients’ needs,” Pritchard said. “And we think at the end of the day that is a better way to operate. We are all in it together.”

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Allen & Overy litigation chief stands down after 10 years

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Allen & Overy (A&O) has made its first change in litigation leadership for over a decade, with global head Tim House handing over to Karen Seward.

The move follows House’s appointment last year as A&O’s US senior partner. House relocated to New York for the role, but said he would continue as the firm’s global litigation chief returning to London on a monthly basis.

He put his name forward in the firm’s management election race in 2016, but lost out to senior partner Wim Dejonghe.

The global litigation head role will be taken on by employment partner Karen Seward, who joined the magic circle firm in 2000 from Pinsent Masons.

She was tasked with building an employment practice at A&O, which now consists of eight partners in London.

It is the first major leadership shift at the helm of A&O’s litigation department, which has been run by House for over 10 years.

Seward, who will start her new role in May this year, said: “Tim will be handing over the reins of an incredibly successful practice.

“Tim has brought us a very long way over the past ten years, while revenues have tripled. The core values he personified, and that have underpinned that success, will remain and we will continue to seek out the most talented, diverse and ambitious litigators for even greater success.”

House said: “Karen has an exceptional practice advising boards and institutions on their most difficult senior executive and employment issues, has excellent relationships with key clients of the firm, and has a bold vision for the future strategic direction of the litigation practice.

“Karen will be a formidable leader for a changing world.”

Baker & Mckenzie

Baker McKenzie to integrate eight EMEA offices into single profit pool

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Baker McKenzie is set to bring its London office and seven others offices across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) into a single profit pool, taking the firm a step closer to full financial integration in the region.

The newly integrated business will be led by Bakers’ Brussels-based global antitrust head Fiona Carlin, who will take up the role on 1 July 2018 when the integration goes live. She was elected to the post earlier this month.

The new structure will have about 1,000 lawyers and include 250 partners, with London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Madrid, Johannesburg, Bahrain and Qatar all sharing profits. Key parts of Bakers’ European business – such as Paris and Germany – will not be included.

The move towards greater financial integration, which is part of the firm’s 2020 strategy, marks a significant departure for Bakers, which has faced criticism in the past for its loosely integrated ‘franchise’ model.

Baker McKenzie global chair Paul Rawlinson said: “Integration is happening in the firm at all levels, to align ourselves around our global brand. Regional integration is one aspect of that and it is a policy which seeks to make it easier for our offices in the regions to work across borders. We see this as a continuing implementation of our entire global strategy through to 2020.”

One London partner said: “There has been criticism levelled at the firm that we’re not financially integrated. People say Bakers is just a franchise with a few offices thrown together. Anything that is done to address that has to be a good thing.

“The disappointing thing is we haven’t got more offices in there. If it was a true success we would have everyone in a single profit centre. I suppose let’s see how it works with this first wave of offices.”

Further offices are expected to join the pool over time, with Carlin’s role expected to include moving the EMEA region closer to full financial integration.

The change means Bakers will have four separate profit pools in Europe once it goes live. Roughly 130 lawyers in Russia are part of an integrated pool with Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Similarly, the firm’s Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Duesseldorf and Austrian offices also share profits. The Paris arm is currently integrated with Luxembourg.

One German partner said the firm’s intention was always to move to a more financially integrated system, with former chair Christine Lagarde initially raising the subject during her tenure from 1999-2005.

The German partner added: “Lagarde realised that this needed to happen at some point – the intention has always been there. We will do it and get to it but only when we can. There are a lot of compliance issues and you cannot play around with compliance.”

The firm brought its North American outposts into a single profit pool in 2013 but needed to broker special arrangements for the Dallas and Washington DC offices before they agreed to join.

Bakers’ 17 offices across the Asia-Pacific region are split across five different profit pools.

Reed Smith tax team quits for DLA Piper

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DLA Piper has hired a three-partner tax team from Reed Smith, just 12 months after they joined from the collapsed European arm of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM).

Paris tax partners Sylvie Vansteenkiste, Fanny Combourieu and Raphael Bera have all left Reed Smith to join DLA. The trio were part of a 50-strong team, including 17 partners, hired by Reed Smith across offices in London, Paris and Germany following the administration of KWM’s European arm.

Vansteenkiste had joined Reed Smith as head of its Paris tax team and previously co-led the European and Middle East tax practice at KWM prior to its collapse. Her practice covers tax audits and litigation, with a particular focus on complex tax structuring of investment funds.

Combourieu acts on private equity transactions, acquisitions and disposals and restructurings, with a particular focus on personal tax for high-net worth individuals. Prior to joining KWM she was a lawyer with Freshfields in Paris, before joining legacy SJ Berwin as a partner.

Bera worked at US firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in both Paris and New York before joining legacy SJ Berwin. His practice covers tax litigation and audits, with a focus on investment fund structuring.

ASHURST

Ashurst grows Australia with double hire

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Ashurst has grown its government and public sector capability with two partner hires from Norton Rose Fulbright and HWL Ebsworth.

Norton Rose dispute resolution partner Melanie McKean and HWL Ebsworth TMT partner Angela Summersby will join the firm’s Canberra office.

McKean acts for governments, corporate and private clients and has experience conducting major investigations for the Australian Government.

Summersby’s practice focuses on Australian Government contracting, information and communications technology contracts, intellectual property, privacy and business process outsourcing.

This is the fourth partner exit for Norton Rose since its merger with Henry Davis York in December 2017. The first of these, Sydney financial institutions head, Chris Redden, exited the firm to join Ashurst two weeks before the merger went live.

Norton Rose corporate partners Anthony Latimer joined Bird & Bird and Iain Laughland joined local firm Mills Oakley.

These are the first hires for Ashurst in Australia this year, as the firm focused instead on bulking up its Asia banking practice. The firm hired a banking duo from Allen & Overy and Fangda earlier this month and launched in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. The firm also hired White & Case partner Damien Whitehead to join as a local partner in its finance practice.

john lewis

John Lewis recruits Smiths Group GC as new head of legal

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Retail giant creates new partnership secretary role to supersede general counsel post.

The John Lewis Partnership has appointed a new legal head, following the departure of general counsel Keith Hubber.

 

Bracewell former London head exits for Akin Gump

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Bracewell’s former London managing partner Julian Nichol is joining Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s City office, Leaders in Law has learned.