Law firm news
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Dewey & LeBouef's leaders explain the firm's collapse
This article gives an account of an interview in DealBook with Martin Bienenstock and L. Charles Landgraf, both of whom served as the ‘office of the Chairman’ at Dewey LeBouef, which was created in March of this year to try to avert the disaster that has now toppled the firm. Bienenstock... more -
DAC Beachcroft allies with Canadian firm with a view to merging
DAC Beachcroft has entered into a formal association with Canadian firm McCague Borlack, with a long-term plan to fully merge the two firms. Initially, the deal has a duration of two years, in which time the firms will share office facilities and work jointly for clients in the London and... more -
O’Melveny & Myers appoints new head for Hong Kong practice
O’Melveny & Myers’ capital markets specialist David Johnson has been appointed as the head of the firm’s Hong Kong practice. Johnson will relocate from California where he has acted as the global head of the Transactions department, which develops and implements the firm’s worldwide strategy.... more -
Former London MP from Dewey offers trainees a lifeline
The London trainees at Dewey & LeBoeuf have been offered positions by their former London Managing Partner, Peter Sharp. Sharp departed to take up a role at Morgan Lewis two weeks ago, and though Morgan Lewis & Bockius has not previously offered training contracts, Sharp has asked Dewey trainees... more -
Survey reveals instability in Indian legal services market
A new survey looking at the attitudes of lawyers in India has revealed significant instability in the legal services market, with just 15 per cent of lawyers saying that they could see themselves working in the same firm or company three years into the future. Over 50 per cent indicated that they... more -
Australian secondment firms set to merge
Secondment firms Advent Lawyers and Balance Legal have agreed to merge on 1 July. The combined firm will be known as AdventBalance, will have a headcount of around 80 lawyers and will have offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Singapore, with a Brisbane office opening later this year. Both... more -
NY firm pays $574,000 in compensation for age-discrimination
New York law firm Kelley Drye & Warren has agreed to pay $574,000 in compensation to former equity partner Eugene T D’Ablemont, who was forced to give up his equity in the firm when he reached the age of 70 though he continued to work for the firm full-time. Last month the firm agreed to end... more -
Clifford Chance to tell under-performers to take a hike
Clifford Chance is attempting to change its own rules regarding the removal of underperforming partners. Under the current system, an under-performing partner will be given notice and the opportunity to lift their game over a period of between 9 and twelve months. The proposed reform to the... more -
Student debt will reach an average of $210,796 in 2015, says LST
Law School Transparency, a group dedicated to improving consumer information concerning the value of legal education, has updated its estimates of the amount of student debt that will be carried by law students, revising the figures upwards after correcting for schools that underreported... more -
Long term thinking could save biglaw
Here is an interesting article by Mark Harris, the chief executive of Axiom Law, a 900-person new-model legal services firm. Harris attempts to diagnose some of the problems built into the biglaw model that make the structure unstable and liable to the kind of catastrophic failure that we see... more
