legalweek
SJ Berwin senior partner Jonathan Blake will not stand for a third term at the firm’s helm, he confirmed earlier today (3 February). Blake told partners today that he will step down from the role when his term closes on 30 April this year, ending months of [...]
SJ Berwin senior partner Blake to step down from top role in April
Sweden’s Vinge names new managing partner as Wigge steps down
legalweek
Swedish law firm Vinge has appointed Stockholm banking partner Maria-Pia Hope as its new managing partner. Hope, who joined the firm in 1996 and made partner in 2003, will take over from current managing partner Michael Wigge no later than June 2012. Wigge is set to return [...]
Olswang top earner takes home £681k as Charles Russell’s highest paid partner makes £293k
legalweek
Olswang’s highest paid member took home £681,000 last year according to limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts recently filed with Companies House. The accounts show that the firm’s operating profit fell from £31.6m in 2009-10 to £29.3m last year, while staff costs increased to £32.7m in 2010-11, up [...]
Former Mishcons partner jailed for role in €22m loan scam
legalweek
Former Mishcon de Reya property partner Kevin Steele has been sentenced to five and a half years in jail after being found guilty of forgery and fraud offences in a €22m (£18.5m) loan scam. Steele was sentenced by Mr Justice Wood at Southwark Crown Court earlier today [...]
Ex-Macfarlanes partner handed jail term for perverting course of justice
legalweek
Former Macfarlanes banking partner Francis Bridgeman has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after claiming he had been kidnapped in order to avoid being arrested for drink-driving.
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K&L Gates hires Addleshaws partner for City white collar crime launch
legalweek
K&L Gates has become the latest US firm to launch a white collar crime and criminal defence practice in London, bringing in Addleshaw Goddard business crime specialist Elizabeth Robertson. Robertson has been a partner with Addleshaws since 2007 and was a member of the national firm’s fraud [...]
Salans elects disputes partner as new London office head
legalweek
Salans’ has appointed a new London managing partner, with dispute resolution partner Smeetesh Kakkad taking up the post from the start of this month (1 January). Kakkad, who made partner in 2005, replaces Howard Cohen, who is returning to full-time practice as a partner in the London [...]
Kennedys senior partner wins fourth term after consistent revenue growth
legalweek
Kennedys senior partner Nick Thomas has been re-elected for his fourth term at the helm of the firm following an uncontested election at the close of last year.
Thomas, who will start his new five-year term later this month, has held the role since 1996 and also stood [...]
DLA and Dechert settle dispute over move of senior litigation partner
legalweek
DLA Piper and Dechert have settled their long-running dispute over the latter’s hire of former DLA litigation co-head Neil Gerrard.
A source close to the situation told The Am Law Daily that the parties settled both a UK arbitration and a US litigation related to the move in [...]
Ex-Fulbright partner pleads guilty to false accounting and fraud charges
legalweek
Former Fulbright & Jaworski partner Richard Simkin is set to be sentenced in March after pleading guilty to charges of false accounting and fraud.
Simkin, who resigned from the US firm’s London office in September 2008, and his wife Zakia Sharif, who was dismissed as an office manager [...]