Effective 1 May, the round represents a much stronger showing for women, with 10 being promoted compared to just four last year. Overall the promotion round has increased by two from 24 in 2017. The new partners will span across the US, Asia Pacific, continental Europe the Middle East, while in the City promotions increased to seven, up from six last year.

The London promotions saw a strengthening of CC’s corporate, finance, disputes, real estate and tax, pensions and employment practices. European promotions shaded appointments in the City, with eight partners being made up on the continent, while the Americas and the Asia saw three and six promotions respectively.

Global managing partner Matthew Layton said: ‘The make-up of this group also demonstrates the breadth and diversity that will underpin our future success. I look forward to working with them over the coming years as they help drive our progress in a fast-shifting legal landscape’

The announcement follows the promotion rounds of Magic Circle rivals, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer promoting five to its London partnership, while Linklaters bumped up the size of its promotions for a fifth year running, making up 27 new partners. Meanwhile, Allen & Overy made up just two female partners in a reduced global promotion round.

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Hosted by journalist, writer and television presenter Mariella Frostrup, the ceremony saw Fieldfisher crowned Law Firm of the Year after an impressive 36% revenue growth to £165m in 2016/17 – the largest rise of any law firm in the Legal Business 100 table last year. The firm scooping the most prestigious award of the night underlines the work of managing partner Michael Chissick and senior partner Matthew Lohn in turning around a firm which only in 2012 was near-crisis (as described in our recent cover feature Reversal of Fortunes).

It was a big night for Kirkland too. The world’s highest-grossing firm secured two of the most sought-after awards, Private Equity Team of the Year and US Law Firm of the Year. Matthew Elliott, Neel Sachdev, Steven Lucas, David Holdsworth and Stuart Boyd were joined by recent high-profile lateral hire David Higgins on stage when they picked up their second award.

Stephenson Harwood also picked up two awards on the night – Private Client Team of the Year, and one of the most coveted awards – Corporate Team of the Year – for its role advising Lavendon Group in its takeover by Loxam. A&O’s banking star Denise Gibson, who featured prominently in our cover feature Alphas this year about the leading female deal talent, was crowned Lawyer of the Year.

Meanwhile, Glen Atchison’s decade at the helm of successful West End practice Harbottle & Lewis secured him Management Partner of the Year.

In other practice awards, Norton Rose Fulbright scooped Finance Team of the Year for the pro bono work of the team led by chair-elect Farmida Bi advising the International Committee of the Red Cross on the development of the Humanitarian Impact Bond, a funding mechanism to encourage social investment from the private sector.

On the contentious side, Charles Russell Speechlys was named International Arbitration Team of the Year for Patrick Gearon’s team work in defending a Qatari telecoms provider against a $660m claim brought by a Saudi Arabian multinational. Wedlake Bell won Commercial Litigation Team of the year for advising Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga as he challenged the outcome of the 2017’s presidential election, which brought to Kenya’s Supreme Court annulling the election results.

DLA Piper was named Real Estate Team of the Year for its use of tech in advising Oval Real Estate in its acquisition of the Custard Factory and Fazeley Studios in Birmingham. The team closed the deal just over a month after the terms had been agreed by using automated contract review system Kira.

Two separate awards recognised the growing importance of tech. Legal Innovator of the Year went to F-Lex, a platform that connects firms and in-house lawyers with pre-vetted paralegals. Squire Patton Boggs brought home Legal Technology Team of the Year for developing Global Edge, an app portal providing employment advice across 32 jurisdictions.

In-house lawyers had their chance to shine too. BT’s Dan Fitz was the first winner of the newly-established GC of the Year prize, while Kendra James at the FT won Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year. In-House Team of the Year went to The Carlyle Group. The awards ceremony was preceded by a reception to mark the launch of this year’s GC Powerlist report, featuring the top 50 in-house teams in the country.

Irish leader William Fry scooped International Law Firm of the Year after advising on Linde’s $70bn merger with Praxair, the largest deal in Europe in 2017.

The winners were selected by an external judging panel comprising: Nilema Bhakta-Jones, group legal director of Ascential Group; Kate Cheetham, group general counsel, Lloyds Banking Group; Kirsty Cooper, group general counsel and company secretary, Aviva; Simon Croxford, general counsel – group centre legal, Barclays; Maaike de Bie, general counsel, Royal Mail; Claire Debney, chief of staff and director of legal strategy, Shire; Dan Guildford, general counsel, FT; Rachel Jacobs, group general counsel, Springer Nature; Rosemary Martin, group general counsel and company secretary, Vodafone; Nigel Paterson, general counsel and company secretary, Dixons Carphone; Nayeem Syed, assistant general counsel, Thomson Reuters; Ned Staple, general counsel and company secretary, ZPG; Liz Tanner, director of legal services, SSE; Geoffrey Timms, group general counsel and company secretary, Legal & General; Clare Wardle, general counsel and company secretary, Coca-Cola European Partners. The panel also included Legal Business managing editor Mark McAteer and editor-in-chief Alex Novarese.

For more details on the awards, click here.

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Legal Business Awards 2018 – The Winners

Hogan Lovells – TMT Team of the Year

Norton Rose Fulbright – Finance Team of the Year

Charles Russell Speechlys – International Arbitration Team of the Year

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang – Restructuring Team of the Year

Wedlake Bell – Commercial Litigation Team of the Year

Stephenson Harwood – Private Client Team of the Year

Eversheds Sutherland – Competition Team of the Year

Pinsent Masons – Energy and Infrastructure Team of the Year

Clifford Chance – Insurance Team of the Year

Stephenson Harwood – Corporate Team of the Year

Kirkland & Ellis – Private Equity Team of the Year

DLA Piper – Real Estate Team of the Year

GQ Employment Law – Boutique Law Firm of the Year

Denise Gibson, Allen & Overy – Lawyer of the Year

Weil, Gotshal & Manges – CSR Programme of the Year

William Fry – International Firm of the Year

Kendra James, Financial Times – Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year

Dan Fitz, BT – GC of the Year

The Carlyle Group – In-House Team of the Year

Glen Atchison, Harbottle Lewis – Management Partner of the Year

Kirkland & Ellis – US Law Firm of the Year

F-Lex – Legal Innovator of the Year

Squire Patton Boggs – Legal Technology Team of the Year

Shoosmiths – National/Regional Law Firm of the Year

Fieldfisher – Law Firm of the Year

The £10,000 offering marks a 43% increase, with the firm previously granting £7,000.

The increase is a welcomed change by many students who find funding living costs whilst studying a significant burden.

Crispin Rapinet, Hogan Lovells’ newly-appointed training principal, said: “Ensuring all our people have access to high quality training, support and the opportunity to progress throughout their career is an absolute priority, at every level. With 29% of our 2016/17 hires coming from social mobility backgrounds, we recognise that finances are an increasing consideration and often a barrier to pursuing a career in law.”

He added: “In offering an enhanced level of financial support we hope to address these concerns for future potential candidates and allow our current cohort to focus on achieving their very best in their studies.”

The increase applies to students who started the LPC in February 2018 as well as future joiners. In order to receive the grant, incoming trainees to Hogan Lovells will have to complete their LPC at BPP Law School and do so in seven-and-half-months instead of the customary 12.

Hogan Lovells follows similarly positioned law firms including Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May who also upped their LPC maintenance grants to £10,000 this year. It is worth noting however, that these are not the first firms to offer this, with Dechert LLP offering trainees a five figure LPC grant for over 6 years.

Bob Charlton is joining Addleshaws after leaving BLP, now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) following its US merger in February, where he was the legacy firm’s head of Asia since 2014. Charlton previously held a similar role for DLA Piper in the region.

Charlton will be based in Hong Kong and lead Addleshaws’ Asia Pacific practice, which operates in Hong Kong and Singapore and has slowly grown from one partner in 2012 to four now. The firm also has a formal alliance in Japan with Hashidate Law Office.

Managing partner John Joyce said Charlton’s leadership pedigree in the region was required as the firm looks to grow its presence in Asia. Disputes partner Nigel Francis, head of Asia for the previous four years, is returning to full-time work on his contentious practice, while Charlton will be a full-time leader in the role.

He told Legal Business: ‘We’ve got a presence in Asia: we’d like to grow it materially from where it is. So far we’ve been trying to do that through people doing their day jobs, and we just felt it needed a leadership role to give it the proper time and attention. It’s something that to do properly and to do well, you need to spend time at.’

Joyce said material growth in the region meant growing partner numbers to 12 or more. The focus will remain on Hong Kong and Singapore, however: ‘[We’d like to] get those to the right size and shape before we start looking elsewhere but if the right opportunity comes along elsewhere then absolutely we’d look at that.’

A BCLP spokesperson confirmed Charlton’s departure last week: ‘Having accomplished much for our Asia business and having successfully implemented our “One Asia” strategy, Bob Charlton has decided that now is a good point for him to seek a new challenge elsewhere, and has left the firm.’

Elsewhere, Addleshaw has recruited former Pilsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman Middle East practice co-leader Ahmad Anani as its Qatar office head. Anani is a corporate and capital markets specialist, and Addleshaws has now made nearly 20 lateral hires in 2018.

Joyce commented: ‘A lot of those people are starting to come around having been in discussions with us for 12, some of them even 18, months. We’re still seeing a huge amount of lateral activity… there’s a few more to land this year.’

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The firm’s global Tech Academy will make available to employees and fee earners a variety of online resources and face-to-face workshops which focus on technology concepts and developments such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Coding, Cybersecurity and Data Privacy. The day-long training workshops – which take place around the world – will be run by Australian education and innovation consultancy Collective Campus.

The launch of the Tech Academy no doubt comes in response to the growing spread and significance of technology across businesses of varying kinds. Paul Landless, Finance partner based in Singapore and one of the leaders of the firm’s Tech Group explains: “Our clients’ market environment is undergoing a paradigm shift with technology pervasive across all sectors and deeply affecting our clients’ businesses. As a firm we want to develop our people fully with a balanced set of both technical and business skills for today and the future, focussed on what our clients need and with a strong grasp of business trends in our clients’ industries.”

Anand Saha, Capital Markets partner based in New York and another of Clifford Chance’s Tech Group leaders, adds: “It is critical that our people are fluent in the key technological trends that our clients are facing”, and so with the Tech Academy, the firm hopes employees will be encouraged to develop a better understanding of the latest innovations in tech.

At this event:

• you will discover the role of the company secretary and how it can get you into the boardroom at an early stage in your career
• meet company secretaries and learn about what drew them into the role, how they qualified, what a typical day looks like and why they love what they do
• talk to a specialist company secretarial recruitment consultant about ways into the profession, career paths and salary potential
• network with other students and graduates.

There will be a photographer present offering complimentary professional headshots.

Register now to discover more about routes into governance with ICSA.

Book your free place here.

The new firm officially launched on 3 April and boasts approximately 1600 lawyers split across 32 offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The merger has positioned the firm as the first global law firm to be led by two women, and also among the Top 50 largest firms in the world, with a combined gross revenue of around $900 million.

“Our combination is rooted in a shared determination to do something fresh and different for clients,” commented Lisa Mayhew, Managing Partner of BLP. “Clients will benefit from our combined legal expertise; our shared values and culture and our approach to innovation in their interests. Different to most other international firms, ours will be fully financially integrated from day one. This will enable us to work in teams whose only focus will be to provide a first class service to clients”.

Bryan Cave Chair Therese Pritchard added, “This merger will result in an expanded presence and set of service offerings in key markets around the world and accelerate our utilization of technology and innovation to redefine efficiency and value in the practice of law”.

The two firms merged following an overwhelming vote by partners in favour of coming together. “Both firms have long traditions of building strong relationships – both with clients and within our firms. This legacy is reflected in shared values, including a core belief that our greatest asset is our people and our greatest responsibility is to our clients” explained Pritchard.

More details about the firm can be found at https://www.bclplaw.com/

The series – developed by BPP Head of Innovation Technology Adam Curphey – has, so far, explained Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence, and future episodes will detail the workings of Robotic Process Automation and augmented and virtual realities. “BPP University intends to continue upskilling new entrants to the profession and we hope these talks equip students with vital knowledge about current and future legal technology trends and processes” says Curphey.

The concise videos explain complex concepts in an accessible manner, with each video covering the basics: ‘What is it?’, ‘How does it work?’ and ‘What is its legal application?’ Curphey explains that “Historically, legal language was so complex that no lay person could hope to understand it. That is less the case now, and much work has been done to simplify the practice of law and increase access to justice. These videos are performing the same job with technology: taking complex technological concepts and explaining them in a way that – hopefully – anyone can understand.”

The explanatory videos have been well received by those in the legal industry, with Alex Smith, Innovation Manager at Reed Smith saying, “There is a lot of (marketing) led confusion in the market on what technologies do what and how they will impact legal practice. These BPP Two Minute Tech Talks cut through the noise and provide quick and pragmatic views of where certain technologies are at and how they are being used at the coalface. This is important to focus future lawyers on how practice is evolving and the importance of humans in these processes and the value of legal knowledge & expertise.”

BPP’s ‘Tech Talks’ is just one of a number of initiatives set up by the university to address the demand for students and industry professionals to be better equipped with the technical knowledge required to keep pace with the constant advancements in technology. Indeed, the university is also set to offer a new Legal Innovation and Design Module to its students (subject to validation), and recently hosted the Future Lawyers’ Innovation Conference, which attracted over 1,500 viewers to the online stream in addition to those present in person.

The increasing focus by law schools and law firms on technology shows just how seriously they anticipate it changing the provision of legal services and impacting the businesses of their clients.

The US firm has announced today (28 March) the opening of a new Frankfurt branch, which will be led by eight partners, including six from Heymann & Partner and two Covington partners from the firm’s Brussels and New York offices.

The new Frankfurt outpost will open on 3 April and focus on corporate work, including M&A, private equity, finance and restructuring, outsourcing and other technology transactions. M&A and private equity specialist Henning Bloss from Heymann & Partner will lead the new office, accompanied by Thomas Heymann, the founder of the German firm.

The move underlines Covington’s decision to develop its European presence, after last year becoming the second law firm to open an office in Dublin in light of the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Timothy Hester, Covington’s chair, said: ‘Our new German team is of outstanding quality and will provide important synergies with the firm, including our London and Brussels offices and will allow us to serve the needs of our clients who have legal issues in Germany.’

M&A partner Heymann echoed Hester’s sentiments, adding: ‘We are convinced that adding Covington’s strengths and global reach will benefit our clients in an increasingly global market, especially with matters in the US, Asia and the UK.’

Covington enjoyed a fruitful year in 2017, boosting its London top line by 16% from $69.5m to $80.5m after strategic hires in the city. Meanwhile, firmwide revenue increased by 13% to $945.5m after opening new offices in United Arab Emirates and South Africa.

Meanwhile, Dentons has also expanded its international operations in Australia by bringing over 17 partners from local firm DibbsBarker, which will wind down its operations after more than 130 years.

The two firms have reached an agreement that will see Dentons acquire 10 partners in Sydney, two in Melbourne and five in Brisbane across its financial services, real estate and corporate practices from 1 May.

DibbsBarker managing partner Stephen Purcell said Dentons was ‘an excellent firm where our partners will continue to deliver high-quality legal services. Being part of a firm with global reach and an innovative approach to legal solutions will further enable our partners to amplify their offering for clients into the future.’

Dentons combined with 500-lawyer Gadens in 2016, securing a presence in Sydney, Perth and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

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1. Jaguar Land Rover lands £1.2bn deal to supply self-driving cars to Google’s Waymo [via The Telegraph]

2. Google’s tax bill rises to £50m [via BBC News]

3. Facebook privacy settings revamped after scandal [via BBC News]

4. Deposit return scheme: Government set to tax glass and plastic bottles [via The Week]

5. Megabus banned from advertising ‘from £1’ seats [via The Week]