United Kingdom

Banks Ask UK Partners to Risk Assets for Law Firm Cash

Partners at law firms in the United Kingdom are being asked to risk their own assets to help keep loan money flowing to their law firms. Banks in the country are leery of lending to law firms structured as limited liability partnerships and are asking partners to help shoulder the…

Mar 12, 2009 5:04 PM CDT

Clifford Chance to Cut Up to 115 Staff

Megafirm Clifford Chance has announced that it will eliminate between 105 and 115 support staff positions at its London headquarters. The latest layoffs follow an announcement last month that the firm would reduce its partner ranks; about 80 junior London lawyers have been cut under the earlier restructuring program, and…

Mar 4, 2009 8:40 PM CST

Law Firm Layoffs Alternative: 4-Day Week for Over 100 Attorneys and Staff

A major Yorkshire law firm in the United Kingdom instituted a four-day workweek yesterday for more than 100 of its attorneys and staff members as an alternative to making layoffs to deal with the economic downturn. Those involved in the Harrowells workweek reduction were very understanding about the “planned and…

Mar 3, 2009 6:55 PM CST

Nazi Spy Almost Cost US WW II Win, Declassified File Says

The owner of a Portuguese fishing boat came close to changing the course of World War II, a newly declassified British military file shows. Gastao de Freitas Ferraz allegedly was sending coded messages to Nazi-run Germany about the Allies’ military ships as a massive Operation Torch convoy neared. The fleet,…

Mar 3, 2009 6:36 PM CST

Attendance Counts for UK Associates Facing Layoffs at DLA Piper

DLA Piper associates in the United Kingdom who called in sick may feel even worse when layoff decisions are made. The law firm has drafted six possible criteria to determine which United Kingdom associates will be laid off, and taking sick days is reportedly one negative factor, Legal Week reports.…

Feb 27, 2009 5:04 PM CST

British Lord Gets 12 Weeks for Text-Messaging Behind the Wheel

A member of the British House of Lords has been given a 12-week jail term for dangerous driving after sending text-messages while behind the wheel. Although a solicitor for Lord Nazir Ahmed, 51, says he will appeal the sentence, the peer was sent straight to jail today after a judge…

Feb 25, 2009 8:22 PM CST

UK Firm Set to Hire at Least 10 McKee Nelson Partners for US Presence

The British law firm Ashurst is in advanced talks to acquire at least 10 finance partners from McKee Nelson, giving the British law firm a presence in New York and Washington, D.C. Leading the McKee Nelson finance team is partner William Gray, Legal Week reports. Ashurst is also seeking to…

Feb 24, 2009 2:15 PM CST

A&O to Ax Up to 250 Lawyers and 200 Staff, Freeze Pay, Ask Partners for Capital

A top London-based international law firm has announced that, in response to unprecedented market conditions, it plans to cut up to 250 lawyers (including perhaps 47 partners) and 200 staffers; make “equity adjustments” concerning another 37 or so partners; and impose a pay freeze. The Allen & Overy restructuring also…

Feb 19, 2009 5:54 PM CST

UK Law Firm Simmons & Simmons to Ax Up to 69 Employees

Another United Kingdom law firm is preparing to lay off employees. The firm Simmons & Simmons has announced a review that could lead to layoffs of up to 20 associates and 49 other support staffers, report Legal Week, the Lawyer and Times Online. Last year, the firm laid off eight…

Feb 18, 2009 2:59 PM CST

Prophet Richard Susskind Predicts the Future of Law; Internet is Key

A prophet who serves as something of a Cassandra to the legal profession is on an international tour to promote his latest book. Initially pooh-poohed when he predicted, in 1996, a central role for the Internet in the provision of legal services, Richard Susskind, an Oxford University-educated lawyer and legal…

Feb 18, 2009 12:32 AM CST

Lawyer Loses Briefcase—and Sensitive Iraq War Documents

In the latest of a series of embarrassing incidents concerning the British government’s loss of confidential information, a solicitor with a well-known United Kingdom law firm apparently had his briefcase stolen as he was riding a commuter train to work yesterday. In the stolen case was a set of highly…

Feb 17, 2009 11:59 PM CST

Spinoff Lures 3 London Partners from Cohen Milstein

There were already hard feelings about Michael Hausfeld’s departure in November, along with 17 antitrust lawyers, from the class action firm he founded. So it likely isn’t music to the ears of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll that the firm’s three-partner London office is now defecting to join Hausfeld, too.…

Feb 10, 2009 9:22 PM CST

Grad Student Threatens to Sue Over Destruction of Rare Lizard Dung

Offered $750 in compensation and an apology after Leeds University mistakenly discarded an unmarked bag full of 75 pounds or so of rare lizard dung during an office cleanout, a graduate student isn’t buying. Daniel Bennett plans to sue over the loss of the collection, which he had put together…

Feb 6, 2009 6:41 PM CST

‘Limited Turnover’ at Paul Hastings in Atlanta Office

Some lawyers have been let go at the Atlanta office of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker, but the layoffs are nothing unusual, the firm says. In a one-sentence response to a request for information from Above the Law concerning tips that a substantial number of associates have been given their…

Feb 4, 2009 1:27 AM CST