Pulse UK

  • October 21, 2024

    Top UK Firms Boost Hourly Rates By 40% Over 5 Years

    The top 10 U.K.-headquartered law firms have increased their hourly rates by nearly 40% over the past five years as global legal outfits reassess their international footprint and scale back in less-profitable countries, a report published Monday revealed.

  • October 25, 2024

    Sidley Hires Capital Markets Duo From Latham

    Sidley Austin LLP has recruited two capital markets partners from Latham & Watkins LLP for its London office, further boosting its finance capabilities in the city after it recently snapped up a group of five partners from its U.S.-based rival.

  • October 18, 2024

    BigLaw Sees Rise In Partner Hires, Led By NY And London

    Despite economic turbulence, partner lateral hires at BigLaw firms have held steady in the first three quarters of the year, with the New York and London markets seeing the most significant uptick, according to a recent report from legal search firm Macrae.

  • October 18, 2024

    Solicitor Must Pay For Suing Barrister Repping Ex-Firm

    An employment tribunal ordered a solicitor to pay £3,000 ($3,914) to cover costs that his old law firm and its barrister incurred while fighting claims of victimization that the court had no jurisdiction to hear.

  • October 18, 2024

    Squire Patton Bumps Up NQ Pay In London To £110K

    Squire Patton Boggs LLP said Friday it is increasing the salaries of newly qualified lawyers in its London office to £110,000 ($143,471), as it also posted a high trainee retention rate.

  • October 18, 2024

    Post Office GC Says Legal Strategy Flawed By Group Think

    The Post Office's top lawyer told the inquiry into the Horizon accounting scandal on Friday that the organization's approach to litigation with wrongly convicted subpostmasters was "flawed" and its legal advisers fell victim to "group think."

  • October 18, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen Professor Cat Jarman, Earl Spencer's new girlfriend, sue his ex-wife, Bitcoin fraudster Craig Wright file a £911 billion ($1.18 trillion) claim against BTC Core, journalist Oliver Kamm hit novelist Ros Barber with a defamation claim, and a barrister at Cloisters face a claim from a former client. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • October 18, 2024

    Osborne Clarke Pro Can't Block Zahawi SLAPP Case Evidence

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority can argue that it was not common practice when a partner at Osborne Clarke LLP, who represented Nadhim Zahawi, warned a critic probing the former chancellor's tax affairs not to disclose a defamation threat, a tribunal ruled Friday.

  • October 18, 2024

    DLA Piper International Appoints New Executive Committee

    DLA Piper International LLP said on Friday that it has appointed a new executive committee to help take its business forward under fresh leadership after electing a new managing partner earlier in the year.

  • October 25, 2024

    Mishcon Hires Employment Partner In London From BCLP

    Mishcon has hired a new employment law partner from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP to work in its London office, with the new arrival hinting on Friday that the move has been on the cards for some time.

  • October 18, 2024

    5 Questions For Leigh Day's Environment Team

    Leigh Day's environment team has spoken to Law360 about their landmark victory at the U.K. Supreme Court, brought on behalf of climate activists fighting fossil fuel production plans across the county, and the implications of the ruling for future environmental litigation.

  • October 17, 2024

    A&O Shearman Opts For 3-Level Partnership Comp

    A&O Shearman has moved its partnership to a three-level compensation structure using an all-equity model, sources close to the firm told Law360 on Thursday.

  • October 17, 2024

    Dentons Bolsters Africa Presence With 4 Leading Firms

    Dentons said Thursday it has combined with four prominent African law firms to significantly expand its presence across the continent, in a move that stands in stark contrast to the trend of other law firms scaling back their operations in Africa.

  • October 17, 2024

    Law Society Backs AI, With A Focus On Ethics, Regulation

    The Law Society said Thursday it would pursue a new strategy to encourage innovation with artificial intelligence while focusing on protecting law firms and the general public, as adoption of new technology rises across the profession.

  • October 17, 2024

    White & Case Promotes 37 New Partners In Latest Round

    White & Case LLP said Thursday that it has promoted 37 lawyers to partnership in a slight dip from 2023, with women accounting for just a fifth of those who made the grade.

  • October 17, 2024

    Bailiff Loses Claim Over Emotional Support Dog

    The Ministry of Justice was not obligated to let a court bailiff travel with her Yorkshire terrier, as an employment tribunal ruled that her anxiety levels on the job wouldn't have improved with an emotional support dog.

  • October 17, 2024

    Macfarlanes-Led Dignity To Acquire Farewill For £12.9M

    Investment company Castelnau Group said Thursday that its funeral business Dignity has agreed to acquire its competitor Farewill Ltd. at an enterprise value of £12.9 million ($16.8 million).

  • October 24, 2024

    Weil Hires Private Funds Pro From Cleary

    Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has added a private funds expert to its London team, as the firm moves to bolster its offering in the growing private capital sector.

  • October 17, 2024

    Insurer Launches UK's 1st Cybercrime Recovery Service

    Digital risk insurer Coalition has launched what it says is the U.K.'s first dedicated service for recovering cash stolen from cyberattacks — and has already recouped £1.4 million ($1.8 million) for a law firm.

  • October 17, 2024

    Teacher Stern Faces Tribunal Over Client Account Payments

    Teacher Stern LLP has been referred to a London tribunal alongside two of its partners over allegations that the firm allowed payments from its client accounts that did not relate to an underlying transaction, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said.

  • October 17, 2024

    MoJ Revives Plans To Double Magistrates' Sentencing Powers

    The government reintroduced Thursday controversial proposals to double magistrates' sentencing powers as part of a bid to reduce the record backlog of criminal cases — though advocates have warned that the measures will do little to confront the delays.

  • October 31, 2024

    Dentons Rehires Financial Reg Partner From Pinsent Masons

    Dentons has rehired Andrew Barber to join its regulatory and investigations team in the U.K. as financial regulatory partner, at a time of greater oversight from the Financial Conduct Authority.

  • October 16, 2024

    Simpson Millar Turnover Dips Nearly 40% After Shift In Focus

    Simpson Millar LLP saw turnover plummet by almost 40% and losses more than double as its woes continued in 2023, according to the law firm's latest financial statements revealed Wednesday.

  • October 16, 2024

    Contract Drafting Co. Law Insider Acquires OneNDA

    OneNDA, an open-source project spearheaded by The Law Boutique, announced Wednesday that it has been acquired by contract drafting tool provider Law Insider.

  • October 16, 2024

    Spanish Firm Wins 'Legaltech' TM In Clash With Danish Rival

    Spanish law firm Lexidy can forge ahead with its application for its "Legaltech Boutique" trademark after European officials threw out a rival legal business's challenge claiming potential clients could be duped into thinking the two firms were connected.

Expert Analysis

  • Legal Technology Is Likely To Flourish In The UK

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    The U.K. may soon surpass the U.S. in legal technology, thanks to regulatory reform, law firm investment and an entrepreneurial environment, says Bridget Deiters of InCloudCounsel.

  • Law & Reorder: The Emergence Of The UK Legaltech Sector

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    Recent market dynamics are driving the U.K. legal industry to adopt nascent technologies in new service offerings as well as pre-existing solutions. The rise of legaltech should also lead to an increase in acquisitions by law firms striving to maintain relevance, says Jo Charles of Livingstone Partners LLP.

  • Why English Courts Are Prepared To Assist Cyber Victims

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    This year, a number of cases have illustrated how English courts are dealing with legal hurdles for cybercrime victims and making it easier to obtain a freezing order or injunction under such circumstances, says Fiona Cain of Haynes and Boone LLP.

  • Extradition To The United States: Fight Or Flight?

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    Recent extradition cases have demonstrated that individuals in the United Kingdom facing charges in the United States can either fight extradition proceedings tooth and nail, or voluntarily travel to the U.S. An approach carefully tailored to the facts of each case is required in order to best protect a requested person's interests, says Ben Isaacs of 7 Bedford Row.

  • UK Internal Investigations Are Taking An Ungainly Turn

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    The London High Court's decision in Serious Fraud Office v. Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation has a lot to say on the vitality of legal professional privilege and the conduct of internal investigations in the U.K., but its flawed logic and lack of pragmatism feel like the latest installment in SFO Director David Green's pushback against U.S.-style investigation procedures, say Matthew Herrington and Tom Best of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

  • Once More Unto The Breach — Rehearing In Newman?

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    On Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York decided to seek appellate review of several aspects of the recent insider-trading decision in U.S. v. Newman and Chiasson. En banc rehearing petitions are rarely granted in any circuit, and are particularly rare in the Second Circuit, which hears the fewest number of rehearings of any circuit in the country, say Eugene Ingoglia and Gregory Morvillo of Morvillo LLP.

  • UK Tax Advisers Are Beyond Legal Advice Privilege

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    A recent judgment from the U.K. Supreme Court in one of the most significant decisions on legal advice privilege for many years. Prudential PLC v. Special Commissioner of Income Tax, which dealt a blow to tax advisers and other nonlegally qualified service providers who provide legal advice to their clients, confirmed that — consistent with the position in the U.S. — legal advice privilege only protects communications to or from a qualified lawyer, say Richard Hornshaw and Daniel Cohen of Bingham McCutchen LLP.

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