International law firm enhances Asia-Pac team
The Hong Kong office of Simmons & Simmons has a new partner in its corporate and commercial practice. Joseph Lee has joined the firm with a practice focusing on IPOs related to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Lee along with David Neuville who also joined the office this month, had worked together previously at Simmons a decade ago but join from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. A team of associates will be following them in the coming weeks.
Baker & McKenzie signs global corporate responsibility initiative
Baker & McKenzie has signed up to the world’s largest corporate initiative, the United Nations Global Compact. The law firm which has 11,000 people in 77 countries has agreed to support and promote 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. The firm’s chairman Eduardo Leite says that the initiative is in line with the law firm’s values, while Asia-Pac chairman and leader of the firm’s global sustainability committee Bruce Hambrett commented that they are looking forward to working with others who share similar principles.
Law firm CEO says don’t forget the back office
William Sider, a US lawyer with more than three decades of experience at a law firm in Detroit and is now its CEO, has been sharing his experience of what it takes to lead a team. The firm, which has around 100 lawyers, was recently ranked in the top 20 medium sized law firms by the National Law Journal, and Sider told the Detroit Free Press that relationships are the key to leadership success. Looking after clients is important and valuing your legal team but so is recognising those in the firm that get none of the limelight… the back office: “These folks absolutely care about this place, and they allow us in the front office to focus almost entirely on the legal work. Somebody needs to make sure they have an appreciation for — and an understanding of — the back office features of running a law firm because they are critical.”
Nabarro PEP rises 21 per cent
Equity partners at international law firm Nabarro have seen their profits rise by 21 per cent for the 2014/15 financial year. It’s the firm’s third consecutive double-figure percentage growth and is the largest rise since the financial crisis. Turnover increased by 8 per cent to the equivalent of AU$252 million while PEP is set to hit more than AU$1.15 million. Nabarro has offices in the UK, Belgium, Dubai and Singapore and senior partner Graham Steadman said that associates will share in more than $2 million in bonuses as reward for their hard work.
