Senior partner leaves KWM Europe ahead of administration
King & Wood Mallesons’ European arm is set to file its second notice of intended administration today (9
th Jan.) and formally enter the process 10 working days later.
According to Legal Business, the regional senior partner Michael Cziesla left the firm last week and has joined McDermott Will & Emery in Frankfurt. He was appointed senior partner at KWM Europe in October 2016 after the early resignation of Stephen Kon.
Other partners have also left KWM to go to Baker McKenzie, Willkie and Stephenson Harwood while Goodwin has taken on some of the firm’s trainees.
Strong year for law firm mergers
There was another strong year for law firm mergers in 2016 according to figures from consulting firm Altman Weil. In total, 85 firms in the US combined, the fourth consecutive year of more than 80 mergers and this year is also predicted to see multiple tie-ups.
“It’s a post-recession reality that with market demand flat-lining the most-effective way to add new business is to acquire another law firm,” says Altman Weil principal Tom Clay. “But as the supply of prime targets inevitably shrinks, we expect the competition to make high-quality deals will intensify in 2017.”
The largest merger announced in 2016 involving a US firm was international firm Eversheds with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. Outside the US there were significant tie-ups involving Dentons, Norton Rose Fulbright and
DLA Piper.
15 new partners for MoFo
Morrison Foerster has appointed 15 lawyers to its partnership across 11 practice areas and offices.
The promotions include real estate lawyer Mori Inada, and Kenichi Ko of the corporate practice, in Tokyo; Amit Kataria in Hong Kong’s corporate team and Matthaw Lau in the office’s tax team.
Humans marrying robots to be legal by 2050 says expert
As if artificial intelligence isn’t concern enough for lawyers, now it’s claimed that marrying robots will be legal within a third of a century.
At a conference in London, author David Levy predicted that marriage between humans and robots will be legal by 2050; a claim not dismissed by Adrian Cheok of the Mixed Reality Lab in Singapore.
“That might seem outrageous because it’s only 35 years away. But 35 years ago people thought homosexual marriage was outrageous,” Cheok told Quartz.com.
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