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Claire Ruckin legalweek

Wragges promotes three and adds Travers associate to partnership

Wragge & Co has become the first top 30 UK firm to announce its 2010 partner promotions, with the national firm selecting three lawyers to join its partnership.

Birmingham-based lawyers Paul Carberry and Sue Ryan have been made up to partner in the pension and construction teams respectively, while Munich-based intellectual property lawyer Alex Bayer has also been promoted to the partnership.

Carberry leads the six-lawyer public sector pensions team and becomes the firm's seventh partner in the overall pensions practice, while Ryan - a dispute resolution specialist - becomes the firm's sixth construction partner. Bayer becomes the tenth partner in the IP practice.

The promotions to the all-equity partnership will take effect from 1 May 2010 and will take the firm to 125 partners.

The promotion round is an improvement on last year's numbers when the firm made up just one new partner - regulatory litigation specialist Andrew Litchfield.

In addition to the internal promotions, Wragges has also hired private equity specialist David Marshall as a partner in the corporate practice. Marshall joined the firm earlier this month from Travers Smith, where he was an associate.

Wragges senior partner, Quentin Poole said: "In the grand scheme of things, looking out over a decade, the number of promotions is modest but equally I am happy we are able to promote these lawyers. It is a positive sign and reflects our mindset of continually investing in the firm's future."

News of the promotions comes after the firm announced earlier this year that it would be launching in Paris with the hire of a 10-partner team from its French referral firm Lefevre Pelletier & Associes (LPA).

The new office is expected to open later this year, subject to approval by the Paris Bar, and will be headed by joint managing partners Pierre Appremont and Simon Lowe.

Wragge & Co on the Legal Week Wiki

Claire Ruckin legalweek

The Law Society is set to launch a review of the Law Society Charity in a move that casts doubt on the charity's long-term prospects.

The review will look at the society's relationship with the charity, which was set up in 1974, including issues such as whether it should resume providing annual funding to the body, which only has reserves to cover it for the next few years.

It could result in the society taking the charity's work in-house and donating directly to individual organisations currently part-funded by the charity, such as Stonewall and Reprieve.

The society covers the allied charity's running costs of between £100,000 and £200,000 per year but has not contributed additional funds beyond this since 2004. Prior to this it gave up to £2m each year.

With reserves standing at only £1.3m, should the society opt not to resume funding the charity may be forced to wind down when its reserves run out.

Law Society chief executive Des Hudson commented: "For its part, the Law Society is keen to understand the charity's future plans and fundraising proposals. The society is also keen to explore how it might best support charitable works if that is approved since, at present, direct giving by the society to individual charities rather than through the Law Society Charity would save members of the society at least £100,000 per annum."

The charity declined to comment.

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Claire Ruckin legalweek

Linklaters' Cheyne and Baroness Neuberger head up group aiming to bring senior lawyers into judiciary

Leading City partners from firms including Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are calling for more solicitors to join the judiciary as part of plans to increase judicial diversity.

A group of partners, led by Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne and Baroness Julia Neuberger, submitted proposals last month on how solicitors should get more involved, with the findings forming part of a wider report issued by the advisory panel on judicial diversity, which was formed last April by Lord Chancellor Jack Straw.

The group, which also includes Guy Morton and David Gold, senior partners at Freshfields and Herbert Smith respectively; Allen & Overy general counsel Andrew Clarke; and Clifford Chance's head of public policy Michael Smyth, wants to see solicitors in their 40s encouraged to undertake tribunal or other judicial positions.

To do this, it suggests individual City firms should be more proactive in promoting paid roles, such as recorder positions, among senior solicitors to try and increase the appeal of judiciary posts.

The group also wants to see a wider campaign to improve solicitors' awareness of the judicial appointment opportunities open to them.

Encouraging lawyers to take on the roles will also require firms to be more flexible with working arrangements so that partners can fit the posts around client work. This would be particularly true for transactional lawyers.

Cheyne (pictured) told Legal Week: "The judiciary needs to broaden itself and law firms need to see this as something to be encouraged among partners. It would be good for the profession generally and the judicial system, which would get a wider skillset if more solicitors took up judicial posts."

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Suzi Ring legalweek

Retention rate falls 8% on 2009; Simmons records 69% rate

Trainee retention rates across the UK's top 30 law firms have been hit by the ongoing economic downturn, with most firms with March 2010 intakes retaining under 80% of their newly-qualified lawyers.

Legal Week research shows the average retention rate for March 2010 stood at 75%, comparing acceptances with the number of qualifiers, a drop of nearly 10% on the 83% retention rate reported in March 2009.

The figure, which is based on final numbers from the 21 top 30 firms operating both March and September trainee intakes, rises to 79% when looking at the number of accepted places compared with the number of lawyers applying to be kept on.

Figures were broadly similar across leading City firms and national players, with the top 10 City firms seeing a final average retention rate of 75%, with 306 of 407 lawyers qualifying accepting places with the firms.

At the five national law firms with a March 2010 intake, retention stood at 76% on average - the same as in March 2009.

Simmons & Simmons bucked the trend for declining retention after keeping on 69% of its March 2010 qualifiers compared with 53% of its March 2009 intake. However, both figures are well below its peer-group average.

Pinsent Masons also came in below average, keeping on nine of its 14 March 2010 qualifiers, giving it a retention rate of 64%. This rises to 82% considering only the 11 applying for positions.

Nabarro and Wragge & Co saw the highest retention rates across the top 30 for March 2010 at 86%. Other firms within the top 30 with new retention figures include Addleshaw Goddard, which is keeping on 89% of its March 2010 intake and 100% of those applying, and Macfarlanes, which is retaining 67% of the intake.

Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance (CC) all saw retention dip between March 2009 and 2010, with final retention figures standing at 73% at Linklaters, 80% at Freshfields and 70% at CC. Allen & Overy dipped from 89% to 83%

Linklaters trainee development partner Simon Firth told Legal Week: "The results are due to the economic downturn. The attrition rate has gone down and we have to align our recruitment numbers against our forecast of the number of people who we predict will leave each year, which is less than normal."

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Sofia Lind legalweek

Norton Rose has hired a new partner who will relocate to Singapore to head up the firm's local insurance practice.

Anna Tipping is set to join Norton Rose as a partner from Linklaters' City base, where she was a counsel.

She will spend six months in London working with the City-based corporate insurance team and getting to know the firm before relocating to Singapore later this year.

Tipping, a New Zealand national, has been a counsel with Linklaters since 2007, having joined the magic circle firm as managing associate in 2003 from Reed Smith. Her practice focuses on the insurance and financial services market, and she has experience advising on capital markets and structured finance transactions as well as M&A within the sector.

Norton Rose said it has seen a significant upturn in demand for advice in the insurance arena in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly after the firm obtained an Australian practice through its merger with Deacons, which went live earlier this year.

The firm has four corporate insurance associates in Singapore but no insurance partner.

Norton Rose insurance head James Bateson said: "We have a lot of insurance work in our Singapore office and we thought the time was right for a specialist partner to go out to lead the practice there. We have known Anna for years as we have many mutual clients who have spoken very highly of her for a long time."

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Suzi Ring legalweek

New research reveals falling proportions of minority lawyers at leading US law firms

The number of ethnic minority lawyers in US firms has fallen for the first time in nine years, with large firms losing 9% of minority lawyers, according to research by Legal Week sister title The American Lawyer.

The findings, based on statistics from 202 participating firms including Baker & McKenzie and Latham & Watkins, suggest that minority lawyers were disproportionately affected by job cuts at US firms over the last year.

While big firms shed 9% of minority lawyers between 2008 and 2009, this compared with only a 6% cut of their overall lawyer numbers. Minority lawyers made up 13.4% of all lawyers across the group in 2009, down from 13.9% in 2008.

African American lawyers saw the largest decline, with the number of black lawyers falling by 13% (462), while the number of black non-partners slid by 16% - meaning that almost one in six African American non-partners left the surveyed firms in the space of a year, without being replaced.

The drops were not evenly spread across firms, with one third seeing no decrease in minority lawyer numbers, while 31 firms saw drops of 20% or more. The biggest decliners, such as Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, Kilpatrick Stockton and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, lost more than one third of their minority lawyers.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati held onto its number one spot in the rankings, while many others fell, including Sidley Austin, which dropped from number 45 to 62 and Mayer Brown, which fell from 81 to 98.

Several firms bucked the trend including White & Case, which rose from number nine to number four, and Weil Gotshal & Manges, which moved from 23 to 20.

Reasons cited for the percentage decreasing for the first time in a decade include the recession, scaled-back sponsorship of diversity groups and a reduced number of newly-qualified minority lawyers, as well as reduced recruiting during the downturn.

Arin Reeves (pictured), diversity consultant for law firms at The Athens Group in Chicago, said: "My fear is that even though it is a half-percentage point decline, it is a half-percentage point that will not correct itself, and it will increase over the next two years."

Venu Gupta, executive director of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in large law firms, said: "The way that law firms beefed up their diversity numbers was really to have a lot of diverse associates in the first and second-year classes. If a firm didn't hold on to its minority associates - and many didn't - it was relatively easy to hire more in the next recruiting session."

The American Lawyer is a US sister title of Legal Week.

Jeremy Hodges legalweek

Slaughters, Eversheds and Wragges named on first formal panel

Slaughter and May, Eversheds and Wragge & Co have been appointed to Premier Foods' first formal roster of external legal advisers.

The trio are the only firms to have been appointed to the panel, with the news likely to be seen as a blow to longstanding adviser Weil Gotshal & Manges, which has been the most visible transactional adviser to Premier in recent years.

Premier, which is the UK's largest food producer and owns leading brands such as Hovis, Mr Kipling, Branston and Bisto, kicked off the review in November 2009 and concluded the process within the last few weeks.

Sixteen firms pitched for a spot on the roster, which the company decided to create in a bid to reduce the number of external advisers it uses and to cut costs.

General counsel and company secretary, Suzanne Wise, said: "We were impressed by the high quality of all of the firms that were invited to take part in the exercise and are pleased to confirm that the new external panel will comprise three core firms."

Eversheds has previously advised Premier across a number of disciplines including commercial disputes, while Slaughters has acted for the banks funding a number of Premier's acquisitions, including a role advising NM Rothschild & Sons as financial adviser to Premier on its acquisition of RHM, the company behind Hovis and Mr Kipling, for more than £1bn in 2006.

However, Weil has carried out the bulk of Premier's public M&A work in the UK for the last six years, winning the relationship through its link with Premier's former owner, buyout house Hicks Muse Tate & Furst (now Lion Capital).

Last year the US law firm advised the company on a £404m fundraising with a team headed up by corporate partner Ian Hamilton and London head Mike Francies. Other transactions for Weil include Premier's acquisitions of Bird's Custard and Angel Delight and its sale of Typhoo Tea.

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Sofia Lind legalweek

Denton Wilde Sapte has reappointed two members to its main strategy board.

The firm has elected City-based head of restructuring and insolvency Mark Andrews to a fourth non-consecutive term on the partnership board, while Dubai corporate partner Stephen McGlennan has been elected for a second term to the body, which has overall responsibility for the firm's strategy and management.

Both were re-elected last month, with their two-year appointments formally starting last week (1 March). The firm has no cap on the number of terms partners serve but staggers terms for consistency so that two members are up for election each year.

The eight-member partnership board includes four partners as well as Dentons' chief executive, chairman and finance director, as well as one external non-executive member advising the firm on strategy.

Its most recent addition was the appointment of London partner Michael Black, who specialises in secured corporate lending transactions. Black was appointed last March, with litigation partner Rory McAlpine re-elected at the same time. Elections will be due for both their positions in March 2011.

The next election is due to take place in March 2011 for Black and McAlpine's positions.

Dentons chairman Martin Kitchen commented: "Stephen's presence in Dubai has brought an important Middle East perspective to the board's discussions and with Mark's long experience of the firm's management, they have both been invaluable members of the board. I'm very pleased to that the partnership has seen fit to re-elect them."

Denton Wilde Sapte on the Legal Week Wiki

Jeremy Hodges legalweek

Howrey is set to cut up to 10% of its partnership over the coming months in the wake of a 35% drop in profits per equity partner (PEP) during 2009.

Between 25 and 30 partners are expected to leave Howrey over the next few months as part of the restructuring, with the majority of the cuts set to fall in the US. Up to three partners are expected to leave across the firm's European offices.

The Washington firm decided on the cuts before Christmas following a review of its business carried out towards the end of last year.

The cuts, which will affect both equity and non-equity partners, equate to between 8% and 10% of Howrey's partnership as it stood at the end of the 2009 calendar year. At that point the Washington DC-based firm had 152 equity partners and a further 149 non-equity partners.

Howrey maintains that the cuts will not be based purely on partner performance but will focus on practice areas and geographies the firm believes do not fit with its core business of antitrust, global litigation and intellectual property law.

Although the firm would not confirm the expected breakdown of the job losses, broad areas that an internal review found were at odds with its core strategy include trademark prosecution and international arbitration. It will continue to expand in other areas.

It is understood that all affected partners have been told, with Howrey stressing that it is working closely with them to try to find new positions through outplacement programmes. It expects the process to have concluded by the end of this autumn.

Howrey posted a 35% drop in partner profits during 2009, falling from $1.3m (£876,000) in 2008 to $846,000 (£564,000) last year. Revenues also saw a double digit dip, dropping 16% from $573m (£382m) to $480m (£320m) in 2009.

Robert Ruyak, Howrey's managing partner and chief executive, said: "After an internal assessment we decided that we need to tighten up and be strong by focusing on our core areas. We added a number of partners laterally during the last part of 2009 and thus far in 2010, while a similar number are departing for firms and practices that should be a better fit for them. We do not expect the partnership to be substantially different in size by the end of the year to what it is now."

Last month Howrey announced that it was cutting 29 associates and 65 staff from its 10 US offices.

This week (8 March) saw the departure of international arbitrator Melanie Willems from the firm's London office. Willems joined Chadbourne & Parke with with her team of associates, leaving Howrey with no practice in the City. Her departure leaves the firm with eight partners in London.

Despite the cuts the firm has not shied away form making significant acquisitions. Last year saw Howrey launch an antitrust practice in Paris with the hire of a six-strong team from Clifford Chance.

Earlier this year the firm hired highly regarded competition partner Shaun Goodman from elite US firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in the City.

Additional reporting by Sofia Lind.

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Jeremy Hodges legalweek

Former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil Gotshal & Manges finance partners Perry Noble and Stuart Hills have joined the partnership at DMH Stallard.

Noble (pictured) has become a partner in the corporate team, having initially joined the London and southeast outfit as a consultant in September 2009.

He left Freshfields in September 2008, having served as co-head of the magic circle firm's finance practice.

Hills, meanwhile, joined DMH earlier this month after leaving Weil at the end of last year.

Hills joined Weil in mid-2008 from the London office of O'Melveny & Myers. He had spent four years at the US firm's City arm after joining as a partner in 2004 from Freshfields, where he was a senior associate.

DMH managing partner Tim Aspinall commented: "I am delighted that Perry and Stuart have chosen to become partners with the firm. They are a key part of our strategy to be a compelling alternative to the UK top 50.

"At a time when many users of law firms are increasingly critical of high and inflexible fee structures, our firm is focused on being efficient and sharing the benefits with clients by delivering greater value for money and high partner visibility on assignments."

News of Hills' departure from Weil comes only weeks after London restructuring partner Tony Horspool left the firm for the City arm of Ropes & Gray. Horspool also left Weil after around 18 months with the firm.

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Suzi Ring legalweek

Linklaters has elected a new Luxembourg managing partner, replacing the three current co-heads of the office.

Freddy Brausch will take on the role as of 15 March for a four-year term. replacing banking and capital markets partner Patrick Geortay, investment management partner Francine Keiser and corporate and private equity partner Jean-Paul Spang.

The trio will remain at the firm and will return to full-time client work.

Brausch has been a partner at Linklaters in Luxembourg for 23 years, as part of the firm's finance practice.

Brausch said: "I look forward to building on the achievements of Patrick, Francine and Jean-Paul.

"Linklaters in Luxembourg is a unique combination of strong local roots and of global reach. We are well placed to realise our vision of being the leading premium global law firm in the Luxembourg market."

Linklaters European managing partner Jean-Pierre Blumberg said: "Patrick, Francine and Jean-Paul have made an excellent contribution as managing partners for Linklaters' Luxembourg office.

"I now look forward to working with Freddy as the new managing partner. Freddy has the required leadership skills and experience to take our business to the next stage in the Luxembourg market."

Linklaters' Luxembourg office, which has 13 partners, focuses on tax, litigation, employment, real estate and technology, media and telecommunications.

Linklaters on the Legal Week Wiki

Friederike Heine legalweek

Water and sewerage regulator Ofwat has finalised its first-ever external legal panel, appointing three firms to the roster.

Addleshaw Goddard, Norton Rose and Wragge & Co have all won spots on the panel, with the trio appointed following a tender process that kicked off in November last year.

The panel appointments, which will run for four years from 1 March, will see the three firms work closely with the body's own in-house legal team.

Ofwat said that a large number of firms applied for roles, with Addleshaws, Norton Rose and Wragges selected on the basis of their experience in water regulation and competition law.

Huw Brooker, Ofwat's director of legal services, said: "We have an excellent in-house team of legal experts but the panel allows us to call on extra resources, skills and experience. It gives us more flexibility in bringing in legal support when we need it.

"The challenges the water sector now faces are different to those of the past. These firms have shown they have the experience and expertise to advise us in key areas of water regulation and competition law, as we seek to help meet these challenges."

Legal Week reported in May 2008 that Ofwat was considering creating its first-ever panel in an effort to reduce its legal spend.

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Suzi Ring legalweek

German law firm Noerr is set to open up an office in London at the end of 2010.

The office, which will act as a base for advising international clients, is expected to launch in the last quarter of 2010 and will be staffed with five lawyers.

Two partners and three associates will initially be based in London - with corporate and media partner Hans Radau and insurance partner Thomas Heitzer set to make the move from Munich and Duesseldorf. The firm has yet to select which associates will join the office.

The office will cover M&A, banking, restructuring, media, insurance and international litigation work and will act as a hub for advising clients from the UK, the US, China, India, Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. It will not offer English law advice.

Radau, who will head the office, told Legal Week: "The decision to go to London was not a spontaneous one, but something we have been thinking about for two years as part of our international strategy.

"A very significant proportion of our work is international and we want to show our clients that we are not just a German firm but a European one. We will be looking to expand our London office in line with this outlook over the next few years."

Noerr currently has seven offices across Europe, with bases in Germany, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Noerr, which was formerly known as Noerr Stiefenhofer Lutz, rebranded in December 2009.

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Claire Ruckin legalweek

Ashurst and Blackstone Chambers have represented Winterflood Securities on the trading company's bid to overturn a 2008 market abuse ruling by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Ashurst litigation partner Edward Sparrow (pictured) instructed Blackstone Chambers' Charles Flint QC on the appeal against the ruling, which saw Winterflood fined £4m for an "illegal share-ramping scheme" carried out in 2003-04.

The case was heard in the Court of Appeal yesterday (9 March) in front of Lord Justice Lloyd, Lord Justice Moore-Bick and Lord Justice Richards.

Winterflood's defence claims that the market abuse did not occur within the FSA's Code of Market Practice, as the trader did not deliberately attempt to distort the market.

In response, the FSA argued that its rules do not include "a requirement to prove any form of mental element" in finding market abuse and that it is the effect rather than the intention that matters, so the appeal should be rejected.

Fountain Court's Bankim Thanki QC represented the FSA.

The court has reserved judgment, although a ruling is expected before Easter.

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Jeremy Hodges legalweek

Harbottle & Lewis has recruited two television and film partners from Reed Smith.

Jonathan Berger and Peter Armstrong joined the media and entertainment specialists as partners last month.

Both partners have been at Reed Smith since 2006, with Berger advising on the financing and distribution of films and TV programmes, and Armstrong specialising in film and television copyright, production and finance.

The pair's departure leaves Reed Smith's London media and technology group with 10 partners, all of whom have experience advising on television and film matters.

Reed Smith European and Middle East managing partner Roger Parker commented: "The film and media sector is a vibrant part of our business model and will continue to be so. We anticipate further hires into the London team, which is one of the UK's largest. And going forward we are looking to develop our traditional areas of strength in media finance and broadcasting, as well as digital and related areas."

Reed Smith moved to bulk up its advertising and marketing practice last week with the hire of one partner, Marina Palomba, and two associates from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

Reed Smith on the Legal Week Wiki