JD Journal » foreign offices

Lovells Adds Four Lawyers in Italy

Erik Even — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:15:23 +0000

Lovells has brought on two partners from Simmons & Simmons for its Milan office.

Federico Del Monte and Corrado Fiscale specialize in structured finance and securities work, and will co-head Lovell’s Italian capital markets practice. They bring with them two associates.

Del Monte and Fiscale came to Simmons in 2004 from Clifford Chance.

Lovells is an international law firm with over 300 partners and around 3,200 employees operating from 26 offices in Europe, Asia and the United States. It is one of the largest international legal business practices in the world.

Clifford Chance to Spin Off Budapest Office

Erik Even — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:14:16 +0000

Clifford Chance’s office in Budapest, Hungary will spin off from the firm, to form the new Lakatos, Köves & Partners.

London’s Clifford Chance says it is dropping the office as part of a reorganization of international resources.

All of Clifford Chance’s lawyers and staff in Budapest will transfer to the new firm by the end of this month. The new firm will be headed by managing partner Peter Lakatos.

Clifford Chance LLP is the largest law firm in the world by number of lawyers, and part of the UK’s “Magic Circle” of leading law firms. It is a prestigious international practice with its principal office in London.

Baker & McKenzie Holding Layoffs in China

Erik Even — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:24:49 +0000

Chicago’s Baker & McKenzie, which in April laid off 124 employees, announced today it is laying off 11% of its lawyers and staff in China.

The firm has released no further details. It has 350 lawyers and staff across offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

If you have any details about layoffs at Baker’s China offices, please — send us a confidential tip!

Baker & McKenzie was founded in Chicago in 1949 by Russell Baker and John McKenzie. One of the first law firms to be truly global, it employs more than 3,900 lawyers in more than 70 offices in 38 different countries.

Diaz Reus & Targ Launches in Shanghai

Erik Even — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:51:36 +0000

Diaz Reus & Targ has launched a new office in Shanghai, China.

Firm partners Robert Q. Lee and Adam Ehrlich will manage the office. They are joined by associates Federico Tabja, Xiaomin Hu and Xin Zhang.

Miami, Florida-based Diaz Reus & Targ LLP focuses on trade and business transactions; complex commercial, civil, and criminal litigation; and arbitration matters. It has offices in Frankfurt, Germany; Caracas, Venezuela; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Bogotá, Colombia; and São Paulo, Brazil.

Baker Botts Launches Abu Dhabi Office

Erik Even — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:35:33 +0000

Baker Botts, which in March laid off an undisclosed number of attorneys, has opened a new office in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and is expanding its other two Middle Eastern offices in Dubai, UAE and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Greg Golden, a partner at Baker Botts’s Washington DC office, relocated to the region to serve as the Partner in Charge of the new office.

The three offices together employ 20 attorneys, up from five in 2005 when the Dubai office was launched.

Founded in 1840 in the Republic of Texas, Baker Botts LLP is an international law firm of around 800 attorneys. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the firm has a major list of energy related clients. Other offices include Abu Dhabi, Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, New York, Palo Alto, Riyadh and Washington DC. Baker Botts employs 760 lawyers.

Miller Canfield Opens Toronto Office

Erik Even — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:58:30 +0000

Miller Canfield has established an office in Toronto, Ontario.

The new office was formed through a merger with the 10-lawyer Toronto firm of Gaertner Tobin, run by name partners Dennis Tobin and Arie Gaertner. Miller Canfield also employs 25 attorneys in Windsor, Ontario, on the US border.

Last week, the firm held an event celebrating the merger, feting 200 clients.

This week, the Detroit headquarters of Miller Canfield let go 25 people, including 16 lawyers.

Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone was established in Detroit in 1852 and has offices in Michigan, Illinois, Florida, New York, Canada, Poland, Mexico and China.

Gibson Dunn to Launch Brazilian Office

Erik Even — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:45:52 +0000

Gibson Dunn will open a new office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the next few weeks.

The office will consist of New York corporate partner Lisa Alfaro, who is moving to Sao Paulo with her family, and an associate. Various teams of corporate and litigation lawyers will rotate through for active matters.

Corporate partners Kevin Kelley and William Campbell, both of whom have focused on Brazil for many years, will continue to do so from the firm’s New York office.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has approximately 1,000 lawyers and 15 offices, including Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, London, Paris, Munich, Brussels, Dubai, Singapore, Orange County, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Century City, Dallas and Denver.

Greenberg Traurig Launches London Office [Update]

Erik Even — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:20:15 +0000

Greenberg Traurig has launched a London office, a new UK firm called Greenberg Traurig Maher LLP.

Paul Maher joins from Mayer Brown as founding member and office chair. He will also co-chair the firm’s global mergers & acquisitions practice.

Greenberg Traurig LLP is an international, full-service law firm with more than 1,800 attorneys and governmental affairs professionals in the US, Europe and Asia. The firm was selected as the 2007 USA Law Firm of the Year by Chambers & Partners.

UPDATE

Two additional Mayer Brown partners, corporate partner Fiona Adams and European environment head Cate Sharp, will join Maher in London. Sharp and Adams will be co-managing partners of the London office.

K&L Gates Poaches German Team from Freshfields

Erik Even — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:12:19 +0000

K&L Gates has snagged a four-lawyer team from the Berlin office of Freshfields.

Partner Ludwig Hausmann joins the Berlin office of K&L Gates, along with principal associate Annette Mutschler-Siebert, who joins as counsel. They bring along two associates.

K&L Gates’ German offices, in Berlin and Frankfurt, now have 45 lawyers.

K&L Gates LLP employs over 1900 attorneys worldwide, and is ranked as the 7th largest law firm in the world. It was formed in January 2007, by the merger of Pittsburgh-based Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham with Seattle-based Preston Gates & Ellis, co-founded by William H. Gates, Sr.

Davis Polk to Shut Frankfurt Office

Erik Even — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:39:30 +0000

Davis Polk, home of stealth layoffs, will permanently close its office in Frankfurt, Germany in August.

The office’s long-time resident partner, Patrick Kenadjian, is retiring at the end of the year. His successor, Harald Halbhuber, has decided to leave the firm as well.

Much of the office’s work will be taken over by Davis Polk’s 31-lawyer London office.

Two associates and one counsel at the Frankfurt office have been offered other positions with the firm.

Davis Polk & Wardwell is an international law firm headquartered in New York. The firm employs more than 700 attorneys and is primarily known for its corporate, litigation and tax practices.

K&L Gates Opens Dubai Office [UPDATE]

Erik Even — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:00:36 +0000

Pittsburgh’s K&L Gates, which in March opened a Singapore office, has launched a footprint in Dubai, UAE.

It’s the firm’s first office in the Middle East, and its 33rd overall.

UPDATE

K&L Gates has hired Paul de Cordova away from Ashurst, where he managed the firm’s Dubai office. The firm will also move senior dispute resolution partner Neal Brendel to Dubai from its Pittsburgh office.

Dechert Snags Chadbourne & Parke Partners to Found Moscow Office [Update]

Erik Even — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:40:02 +0000

Dechert announced today that it has lured away from Chadbourne & Parke five partners to found a Moscow office.

The team is headed by Chadbourne’s Laura Brank, formerly the firm’s managing partner for Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Moscow will be Dechert’s ninth foreign office. In 2008, the firm launched two offices in China.

The firm laid off 63 lawyers and 62 staff in March.

Founded in 1975, Dechert LLP is an international law firm of more than 1,000 lawyers with top-ranked practices in corporate and securities, complex litigation, finance and real estate, and financial services and asset management.

UPDATE

Two of Chadbourne & Parke’s Moscow partners, senior partner Mikhail Rozenberg and finance partner Jennifer Handz, say they will not join the group heading to Dechert, and will remain with Chadbourne along with three counsel.

Managing partner Laura Brank and finance partners Shane DeBeer and Konstantin Konstantinov will move to Dechert.

Denton Wilde Sapte Lays Off Undisclosed Lawyers, Staff

Erik Even — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:35:38 +0000

As international law firms cut back on their Moscow footprints, Denton Wilde Sapte has confirmed it laid off both lawyers and support staff at the Russian capital.

The firm has not released any details or numbers.

In March, Dentons laid off 37 lawyers and 39 staff in the UK.

If you know anything about layoffs at Denton Wilde Sapte, please send us a confidential tip! Be sure to mention that you’re writing about Dentons!

Denton Wilde Sapte LLP, or Dentons, is a law firm headquartered in the City of London that employs over 600 lawyers.

SJ Berwin Expands into Dubai

Erik Even — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:29:00 +0000

SJ Berwin, which announced a new Hong Kong office in March, will open an office in Dubai later this year. It’s the firm’s first expansion into the Middle East.

Private equity funds partner Benjamin Aller will join the office from Paris, along with international arbitration partner Tim Taylor from London.

The partners in Dubai will focus on private equity, investment funds and complex dispute resolution.

Founded in 1982, SJ Berwin is a pan-European firm with offices in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.

Clifford Chance Partners Defect to Start New Italian Firm

Erik Even — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:45:40 +0000

Three capital markets partners in Clifford Chance’s Milan, Italy office are leaving to set up shop on their own.

Paolo Calderaro, Michele Crisostomo and Silvio Riolo will bring at least one Clifford Chance associate along for the ride. Calderaro was head of structured finance in Milan.

No details about the new firm have been announced. If you know anything, please send us a confidential tip!

After the defections, Clifford Chance’s Italian practice has 23 partners and 117 other lawyers.

Last week Clifford Chance cut 20 positions at its New York office.

Clifford Chance LLP is the largest law firm in the world, both by number of lawyers and revenue, and a component of the UK’s “Magic Circle” of leading law firms. It is a prestigious international practice with its principal office at Canary Wharf in London.

Conyers Dill & Pearman Expands Island Practices

Erik Even — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:53:46 +0000

Conyers Dill & Pearman, which just announced it is opening an office in Brazil, has hired three associates for its Bermuda and British Virgin Islands practices.

Elizabeth Denman joins from Mello Jones & Martin; Callum Harper joins from Ashurst. Both are based in Bermuda.

Anton Goldstein joins from Sullivan & Cromwell, and will be based in the British Virgin Islands.

Established in 1928, Conyers Dill & Pearman has over 550 staff and 150 lawyers at offices in Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman & Mauritius Islands, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, Singapore and now São Paulo.

Miller Canfield Opens New Mexico Office — That Is, a New Office in Mexico

Erik Even — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:49:04 +0000

Miller Canfield announced it is launching an office in Monterrey, Mexico, which is that nation’s automotive manufacturing and business center.

The office will focus on mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate and commercial transactions, labor & employment, tax, litigation and intellectual property law.

The Miller Canfield Mexico Practice Team is led by Alberto J. Murga, Otto H. Sampogna and Michele M. Compton. The team will be supported in the US by a team of lawyers with expertise in Mexican and international transactions and disputes, led by Richard A. Walawender.

Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone was established in Detroit in 1852 and has offices in Michigan, Illinois, Florida, New York, Canada, Poland, Mexico and China.

Morris, Manning & Martin Expands into Beijing

Erik Even — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:37:14 +0000

Atlanta-based Morris, Manning & Martin, which last month fired incoming associates, is launching a new office in Beijing, China.

The firm just opened an office in Taiwan.

Morris’ Asian offices will deal with patent prosecution and potential litigation, as well as corporate and securities matters.

Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, is 175-lawyer firm with offices in Atlanta, Alpharetta, Duluth and Savannah, Georgia; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Washington DC; Beijing and Taipei.

Conyers Dill & Pearman Opens Brazilian Office

Erik Even — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:54:10 +0000

Cayman Islands law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman will open a São Paulo office.

The Brazilian Bar Association has approved licensing. Conyers will be the only offshore law firm with an office in Brazil.

The practice will focus on investment funds, public company listings and holding company incorporations in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Mauritius.

Established in 1928, Conyers has over 550 staff and 150 lawyers at offices in Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman & Mauritius Islands, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, Singapore and now São Paulo.

Fulbright & Jaworski Adds 6 Lawyers to HK Office

Erik Even — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:46:28 +0000

Fulbright & Jaworski has added four new lawyers, and transferred partners, to its Hong Kong office.

Jessica Fei joins Fulbright as counsel from the China practice of an unnamed international firm, where she was head of dispute resolution.

Partners Richard Hill and Stefan Ricketts transferred to Hong Kong from Fulbright’s London office.

Three new associates have also joined the firm’s Hong Kong office.

Founded in 1919, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP employs over 1,000 lawyers in 16 locations in Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Denver, Dubai, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Munich, New York, Riyadh, San Antonio, St. Louis and Washington, DC.

Herbert Smith Hiring for Hong Kong Practice

Erik Even — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:04:43 +0000

London’s Herbert Smith is launching a Hong Kong restructuring practice, with a partner recruited from Bermuda’s Appleby Global.

Michael Barker will focus on restructuring and insolvency work.

At Appleby, Barker headed the Hong Kong bank and structured finance team. He was formerly an insolvency partner in the Hong Kong office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Barker specializes in advising creditors, debtors and investors on non-contentious restructuring and insolvency issues.

Herbert Smith was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith, and today has 230 partners and 1,200 fee-earners. It is widely considered to be the UK’s leading litigation practice.

Dehnen Lawyers Opens Washington, DC Office

Erik Even — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:27:05 +0000

Dehnen Lawyers, a small boutique firm in Dusseldorf, Germany, has launched a new office in Washington, DC.

The firm, which has 10 lawyers in its Dusseldorf office, specializes in advising US clients on tax, legislative, and policy issues when working in Germany.

Chairman Peter Dehnen says he will spend one week a month in the Washington office. As business picks up, the office may expand to include one or two more lawyers.

Dehnen formerly worked at Arnold & Porter’s DC office.

De Brauw Targets Up to 90 Support Staff

Erik Even — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:49:07 +0000

Speaking of The Netherlands, leading Dutch law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek has launched a support staff redundancy consultation, set to affect up to 90 jobs over a two-year period.

The firm has frozen support staff salaries for 2009 and 2010.

No lawyer cuts are currently planned, although partners expect a substantial decline in profits per equity partner.

Despite the redundancies, De Brauw has pledged to continue recruiting. The firm is preparing for an office launch in Beijing.

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek is headquartered in Amsterdam, with branch offices in London, New York City, and The Hague. The firm has 76 partners and 260 lawyers. The firm was founded in 1871.

De Brauw is lead counsel to over 40% of the top 100 companies in the Netherlands.

DLA Piper Lays Off 8 Dubai Associates

Erik Even — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 17:24:25 +0000

DLA Piper has laid off eight associates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, about 8% of the office’s legal staff.

The lawyers were cut from the office’s corporate, finance and projects practices.

In early March, the firm laid off 20 lawyers and 34 staff across its Asian offices. In February, DLA Piper cut 80 associates and 100 staffers from its US offices, plus 30 attorneys and 110 staff in its UK offices.

DLA Piper is one of the largest law firms in the world, and is (or at least was) the only firm with more than 3,700 lawyers in North America and Europe.

SJ Berwin Expands into Asia

Erik Even — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:26:23 +0000

SJ Berwin is launching a new dedicated China and East Asia practice with an office in Hong Kong.

The firm’s first office beyond Europe will be founded by three partners and one consultant: Asia Managing Partner Daniel Liew, Peter Tse, Hans Thomas Kessler and Giovanna Kwong.

The team will focus on corporate & commercial work and dispute resolution, including private equity funds and buy-outs, M&As, projects and project finance with a focus on the infrastructure, energy, power, water, telecommunications, technology, life sciences, real estate, banking and finance, insurance, steel and natural resources sectors.

Founded in 1982, SJ Berwin is a pan-European firm with offices in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.

Jones Day Opens Dubai Office

Erik Even — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:12:09 +0000

Jones Day opened an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates this week.

The office is the 32nd location of the biglaw firm, which has been doing work in the Middle East more than 20 years. The six-lawyer office will focus on energy, finance, arbitration and merger-and-acquisition work.

The partner in charge will come from London, as will two other attorneys. Others will come from Washington, DC, and local Dubai firms.

Jones Day also opened an office in Mexico City earlier this year.

Jones Day is an international law firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1893 by Judge Edwin J. Blandin and William Lowe Rice. Jones Day is the 8th largest law firm in the world by revenue. It is currently the second largest law firm in the United States, with approximately 2,400 lawyers and gross annual revenue in excess of US$1.5 billion.

Jones Day is also famous for not understanding how the Internet works.

Freshfields to Add 15 Lawyers to Munich Office

Erik Even — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:55:38 +0000

Freshfields will add at least 15 lawyers to its Munich office, including four partners who will relocate from Frankfurt.

Yorck Jetter, Matthias-Gabriel Kremer, Rick van Aerssen and Markus Fisseler will transfer to Munich at the start of the new financial year.

Senior associate Wessel Heukamp will be promoted to partner and join the office, bringing the total number of partners in the office to 13.

Teams of associates will be hired for each new partner, expanding lawyer count in the office by around 50%. The firm intends to hire locally in Munich, and move associates over from Frankfurt, which has 60 partners and over 500 total staff.

Freshfields’ also has offices in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. The firm recently shut its office in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is the fourth largest law firm in the world by revenue, and a component of the UK’s Magic Circle of leading law firms

Nixon Peabody Launches South Asian Practice

Erik Even — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:31:15 +0000

Nixon Peabody has launched a new 23-lawyer South Asia practice.

The practice will advise the firm’s South Asian clients on banking & capital markets, mergers & acquisitions, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, intellectual property, and labor & employment.

Anjali Chaturvedi will lead the group from the firm’s Washington office.

Chaturvedi says the group includes a number of people of South Asian ancestry, which gives the firm a unique advantage in terms of language and cultural sensitivities to the region.

In January, the firm launched an Israeli practice.

Nixon Peabody LLP is one of the largest law firms in the United States, with offices in 17 cities in the United States and one in London, and more than 700 lawyers in 25 major practice areas.

DLA Piper Lays Off 54 in Asia

Erik Even — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:38:31 +0000

DLA Piper announced today it is laying off 20 lawyers and 34 staff across its Asian offices, in response to the global economic meltdown.

DLA Piper has in recent years built up one of the largest Asia practices of any international law firm, with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Bangkok.

The majority of the cuts were in the Hong Kong office, the firm’s largest in the region, with over 100 lawyers. The layoffs were primarily focused on transactional practices.

DLA Piper is one of several firms that built large practices in the area in anticipation of a continued stream of initial public offerings by emerging Chinese companies.

DLA Piper’s Asia restructuring comes weeks after DLA Piper announced sweeping layoffs in the United States, cutting its ranks by 80 associates and 100 staffers. The firm has also had layoffs in the United Kingdom.

Freshfields to Close European Office, Lay Off 10

Erik Even — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:54:37 +0000

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is set shutter its office in Bratislava, Slovakia, closing its only Central and Eastern European office outside Vienna and Moscow.

The UK firm will shut its Bratislava office at the end of the financial year. It currently employs four senior lawyers, two associates and four non-legal staff members.

The firm will not offer the Bratislava lawyers a position in the nearby Vienna office.

Freshfields previously had offices in Prague and Budapest, but cut ties with the offices in 2002 and 2007 respectively.

The firm’s decision to close Bratislava comes after Magic Circle rival Linklaters last year decided to close four continental offices.

K&L Gates Launches Singapore Office

Erik Even — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:56:43 +0000

K&L Gates, Pittsburgh’s largest law firm, has opened a Singapore office, its 32nd location and its fifth in Asia.

New partner Kevin Murphy will lead the Singapore office. Murphy joins K&L Gates from the Singapore office of DLA Piper. He will be supported by additional members of the K&L Gates Asia practice group.

The firm has more than 70 professionals across the five Asia offices, as well as 200 lawyers firmwide in the Asia practice group.

K&L Gates is Pittsburgh’s ninth largest private company, as ranked by revenue, which was $959.4 million in 2008, up 27 percent over 2007. On March 1st, the firm completed its merger with Chicago-based Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP.

K&L Gates employs around 1,900 lawyers, including 232 in Pittsburgh.

Bloomberg: China Law Offices Grow as US, UK Firms Shrink

Erik Even — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:28:41 +0000

Bloomberg reports that while law firms in the US and UK are shrinking, their offices in China expanding.

Twenty-eight foreign firms have opened offices in mainland China since September 2006, a 19% increase to 177 firms.

The continued expansion comes as some of the largest U.S. and U.K. law firms cut jobs at home because of the global financial crisis. While China isn’t immune — new share sales collapsed to $7.9 billion last year — lawyers said the country’s growing importance to clients makes it an essential location for global law firms, along with New York and London…

With the world’s largest foreign-currency reserves and third-largest economy “it’s now at the center of resolving global economic, financial and political crises,” [Christopher] Stephens, [Asia managing partner of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe] said. San-Francisco based Orrick cut 40 structured-finance, real estate and corporate lawyers worldwide in November.

Latham & Watkins LLP, based in Los Angeles, expanded its Hong Kong office this month into a local law practice with the addition of seven lawyers from Allen & Overy LLP, including the U.K. firm’s former Asia corporate chief, Michael Liu.

Via Bloomberg.

ATL: Paul Hastings Layoffs in L.A.

Erik Even — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:27:26 +0000

First LA’s Paul Hastings announced the layoff of 10 Atlanta associates.

Now tipsters tell Above the Law that the firm is holding stealth layoffs today at its Los Angeles HQ.

I just wanted to let you know that stealth layoffs are ongoing at Paul Hastings. Rumor has it that the grim reaper is making rounds to many offices [in California].

There are also rumors of layoffs in the firm’s Shanghai office.

If you know anything about layoffs at Paul Hasting, please send us a confidential tip!

Founded in LA in 1951, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP is a leading international law firm with over 1,300 attorneys and 18 offices worldwide. Paul Hastings serves a diverse client base that includes many top financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies.

Via ATL.

Proskauer Rose’s Profits Fall 10% in 2008

Erik Even — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:03:46 +0000

Am Law 100 firm Proskauer Rose’s profits per equity partner dropped 10% in 2008 to $1.4 million.

Revenues increased marginally, by 1%, to $634 million. Revenue per lawyer dipped slightly to $916,000.

Total headcount attorney rose slightly from 685 in 2007 to 692 in 2008. The number of equity partners was up two in 2008; 10 new non-equity partners also joined.

Unlike most Am Law 100 firms, Proskauer’s financial year ends October 31st, so the numbers only cover about a month and a half of the financial crisis prompted by Lehman Brothers’ mid-September collapse.

Despite this, the firm’s performance in November and December was roughly in line with the previous six months.

In 2008, Proskauer Rose added an office in Hong Kong, and announced plans to launch in Beijing. The firm also added a Chicago office following the hire of a three-partner insurance litigation team from Mayer Brown.

In December, the firm cut 35 associates and 25 administrative staff.

Norton Rose Offers Trainees Cash to Defer Start Dates

Erik Even — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:31:19 +0000

Norton Rose has offered trainees due to join the firm in 2009 and 2010 up to £10,000 to defer the start dates of their training contracts.

The London firm, which has roughly 55 trainees due to join across its September 2009 and January 2010 intakes, has contacted all of the future trainees asking for volunteers willing to push back their start date.

Those who accept will be offered up to £10,000 if they come up with something “meaningful and constructive” with their time off, while those wishing to start on the agreed date will be able to do so.

Norton Rose said that it has given trainees options to develop their skills during the year off by offering opportunities for pro bono work, internships with clients, completing a masters degree and placements within international offices.

The Norton Rose Group is a leading international law firm. It offers business law services from 20 offices across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. With around 1000 lawyers, its practice specializes in five key areas: corporate finance, financial institutions, energy and infrastructure, transport and technology.