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Pulse UK
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January 10, 2025
The Revolving Door: Osborne Clarke, MoFo Make Big UK Hires
Over the past week, Osborne Clarke LLP hired a competition litigator from claimants boutique Hausfeld LLP, Charles Russell Speechlys LLP brought on a barrister specializing in fintech, and Morrison Foerster LLP lost another real estate lawyer to Simmons & Simmons LLP. Here, Law360 looks at those and more of the week's most notable lateral hires around the U.K.
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January 10, 2025
RBG And Rosenblatt Reach 2-Week Truce In Battle Over Firm
RBG Holdings PLC said Friday evening that it had reached a two-week truce with founder Ian Rosenblatt to allow him to buy back his former firm after its skirmish with its biggest shareholder over the business's future publicly exploded.
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January 10, 2025
Milbank Bumps Trainee Pay As New Training Contract Debuts
Milbank LLP said Friday that the first group of five trainees on its new leveraged finance training program will start in September as the firm revealed that it had bumped trainee pay by more than 12%.
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January 10, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen legal services group RBG Holdings face a winding-up petition from founder Ian Rosenblatt amid soured talks about the group's leadership, J.P. Morgan file a fresh claim against WeRealize, retailer Asda face an intellectual property claim over a specific type of mandarin and financier Nathaniel Rothschild sue German entrepreneur Lars Windhorst and his investment vehicle Tennor International. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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January 10, 2025
Lawyer Cleared Of Dishonesty Over AML Compliance Failings
A disciplinary tribunal on Friday cleared a lawyer of dishonesty over allegations that he misled an insurer and the English solicitors regulator about his lack of compliance with anti-money laundering regulations.
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January 10, 2025
Litigation Funder Forms New Biz To Oversee Group Claims
Litigation funder Asertis confirmed Friday it has joined forces with law firm KP Law PC to create a one-stop shop for managing legal claims through a unique platform that offers funding, litigating and insuring services.
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January 10, 2025
SRA Bars Conveyancing Exec Over Falsified Documents
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has banned a conveyancing executive from working for another law firm after she falsified legal documents to conceal the fact that she had missed a deadline for sending them to Companies House.
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January 10, 2025
Clifford Chance Adds 2 Fund Finance Pros From Mayer Brown
Clifford Chance LLP has hired two lending experts to join its global financial markets team in London, as the firm looks to add experience and specializations to its already strong private credit practice.
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January 10, 2025
CMS Taps Tax Disputes Specialist From KPMG
CMS announced that it has appointed a former KPMG director as a partner in its London-based tax practice.
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January 10, 2025
RBG Says It Has Creditor Support Despite Winding Up Bid
RBG Holdings PLC sought Friday to halt the sharp decline in its share price by reassuring investors that the company continued to have the support of its main creditors, just days after its largest shareholder and founder filed to wind up the company.
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January 10, 2025
SRA Bars 2 Case Managers Over Drug Dealing Convictions
Two former case managers at a law firm in northwest England have been banned from the profession after they were convicted of drug dealing by a criminal court, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said Friday.
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January 17, 2025
Fieldfisher Hires Disputes Pro From DWF In Birmingham
Fieldfisher LLP has hired a new dispute resolution partner to its Birmingham office from DWF LLP, with the new arrival saying Friday that he is keen to work on high-value matters that are "unheard of" at other firms in central England.
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January 10, 2025
Investors Sue Ackland & Co. Over Negligent Property Advice
A Welsh law firm has been sued by a group of individuals over alleged breaches of duty in connection with their failed purchases of property in a development in England that collapsed before the promised residential apartments were built.
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January 10, 2025
Law Firm Sued For £1.8M Over Property Payments Advice
A property company has sued Manuel Swaden for £1.8 million ($2.2 million), accusing the law firm of failing to inform it of unpaid payments when it gave advice on the purchase of a residential property in London.
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January 09, 2025
Skadden Opens Abu Dhabi Office With Freshfields Hire
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP announced Thursday that its first Middle East office has opened in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, spearheaded by a new corporate transactional partner who previously led the region for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.
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January 09, 2025
CILEX Regulator Still Faces Uncertainty About Its Future
The current regulator of legal executives for England and Wales said Thursday that it remains uncertain about its future as it awaits a decision on whether its powers will be transferred to the solicitors watchdog.
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January 09, 2025
Trainee Misled Firm Over Annual Leave Request
A former trainee solicitor at a central English law firm has been banned from being employed by another law firm after she lied to her employer about needing to take time off to go to court over a planning matter, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said.
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January 09, 2025
Lawyer Disbarred For 'Recklessly' Misleading Upper Tribunal
A barrister who "recklessly misled" the court over the course of judicial review application proceedings into immigration decisions was disbarred by the profession's disciplinary tribunal on Thursday.
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January 09, 2025
Direct Line Names New GC Ahead Of Planned Aviva Merger
Direct Line Group has appointed a new general counsel to its executive committee, as the insurer moves toward its anticipated merger with rival Aviva later in 2025.
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January 09, 2025
Barbara Mills KC Elected As New Bar Council Chair
The Bar Council has elected family law specialist Barbara Mills KC as the first Black person to serve as its chair as the profession continues to wrestle with a lack of diversity and underinvestment in the justice system.
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January 09, 2025
Tech Biz Says Barrister Failed To Flag Law Firm's Negligence
A tech company has accused a barrister of failing to spot his instructing law firm's alleged negligence, telling a London court that this armed the law firm with a limitation defense that cut the value of an eventual settlement.
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January 09, 2025
SFO To Claw Back £1M From Solicitor Convicted Of Fraud
A lawyer who was imprisoned for 14 years for siphoning off investors' money through a fraudulent offshore "get-rich-quick" legal aid scheme will repay victims more than £1 million ($1.23 million), the Serious Fraud Office said Thursday.
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January 09, 2025
Ex-Lawyer Sues BT Over Lost £8M From Search Invention
A retired real estate lawyer has accused British Telecommunications and a paralegal firm of conspiring to exclude him from a system he created to find building asset risks, alleging they robbed him of more than £8.75 million ($10.8 million) in future annual revenue.
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January 08, 2025
Lawyer Accused Of AML Failings And Accounts Rules Breach
England's solicitors watchdog told a tribunal Wednesday that a lawyer lied about anti-money laundering failings and used his firm's client account as a banking facility to hold more than £2 million ($2.7 million) for a client.
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January 08, 2025
Reed Smith Names Brigid North As New London Chief
Reed Smith LLP named long-time real estate partner Brigid North on Thursday as the new managing partner at its London office, as the U.S. law firm targets "sustainable" growth in the increasingly competitive legal market.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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2 Perspectives On Navigating The Litigation Funding Process
Paul Martenstyn of Vannin Capital and Daniel Spendlove of Signature Litigation share their top tips on how to get a case funded, drawing from their respective experience as a funder and a lawyer.