The aspiring lawyers will be able to study the GDL, LPC and MSc in Law, Business and Management at the university’s London Moorgate campus.

ULaw was recently awarded a gold ranking in the government-led Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

RPC offers both legal and consultancy advice to a range of sectors. The law firm is made up of 79 all equity partners, over 300 other lawyers and more than 600 people in total. Headquartered in London, RPC has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bristol.

ULaw will work closely with RPC to design a new insurance law elective in response to changes introduced by the UK Insurance Act 2015. This high-quality module will equip future lawyers with a comprehensive range of practical and theoretical skills aligned to both the legal and insurance business challenges of today’s market.

Professor Andrea Nollent, Vice-Chancellor and CEO at The University of Law, said: “We are very much looking forward to beginning our new partnership with RPC. We are confident that our existing legal education programmes combined with the development of a new insurance law elective will play a pivotal part in training the future workforce of RPC and provide them with the skills needed to succeed in a highly competitive market.”

Simon Hart, Partner and Training Principal at RPC, said: “We are very enthusiastic about the prospects for our new partnership with ULaw. As RPC continues to respond to the rapidly changing legal market, as well as the forthcoming radical reforms to legal education, we were looking for a partner in the education sector who reflected our own desire to be progressive and forward thinking. With ULaw, we believe we have found that partner. ULaw has demonstrated an impressive commitment to understanding our needs and working with us to develop our future legal talent.”

The future trainees will join the likes of Linklaters, DLA Piper, CMS, Ashurst, and Berwin Leighton Paisner, whose future trainees already undertake their legal training at ULaw. The university also provides a new paralegal apprenticeship scheme to global law firms Freshfields and Hogan Lovells.

The merger is the latest in a series for the Dentons, the world’s largest law firm by number of fee earners, as it adds three more offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Dentons’ European offices will total 31 on completion of the deal.

Maclays partners and Dentons UKMEA partners have approved the takeover, which will add 196 lawyers and 62 partners to Dentons UK operations, bringing its partner figure in the UK to 198.

The deal awaits the go-ahead from Dentons global partnership, expected in three weeks. Maclays will then operate under the Dentons brand.

The Scottish firm focuses on financial services, energy, transport and real estate. The two firms also share clients in the banking sector including RBS, Lloyds Banking Group and Santander and are both on the panel of transport company Network Rail.

Dentons UKMEA CEO Jeremy Cohen told Legal Business that the strong practice fit between the two firms and the opportunities to service clients ‘much more seamlessly’ north and south of the border were the main factors in the merger.

‘The office in Aberdeen gives us the opportunity to have a presence in Europe’s leading oil and gas centre,’ Cohen said.

Maclays advised Aberdeen Asset Management on its merger with Standard Life in March 2017, which valued the Scottish fund manager at £3.8bn. He also mentioned the firm’s clients in the whisky sector, which is ‘mostly served and consumed outside Scotland’, as other potential beneficiaries of the merger. They include the Edrington Group and Inver House Distillers.

Maclays CEO Kenneth Shand told Legal Business: ‘The merged entity is the sort of organisation that operates globally and we will be able to provide a better service for them as part of Dentons.’

This is the third merger this year for Dentons, after it combined with Dutch law firm Boekel in March and with Monterrey-based Canales Zambrano y Asociados at the start of the year. In May, the firm launched in Georgia, taking on a team of 11 lawyers from DLA Piper in Tblisi, and opened its second office in Saudi Arabia alongside Riyhad with a launch in Jeddah.

The firm also recently announced plans to form an alliance with Brazilian firm Vella Pugliese Buosi Guidoni, which will give Dentons access to 13 partners and 116 fee-earners in São Paulo and Brasília.

Denton’s UKMEA financial results in 2016/17 revealed a 9% fall in profit per equity partner (PEP) to £481,000 and a modest 1% increase in revenue to £166.4m.

This article first appeared on The Lex 100‘s sister publication, Legal Business.

The firm announced the rates this week (20 July), alongside its second-year associates pay. They will receive a pay rise of 15% to £127,000 (from £110,000 previously), while the firm boosted third-year salaries to £140,000, a 17% increase from £120,000 last year. Meanwhile, the firm hiked second-year trainee salaries 17% to £55,000.

All of the associate salary increases at V&E were implemented on 1 July 2017, while the trainee increases take effect from 1 September 2017.

In January 2017, when V&E published its financial results, its revenues were up 4% to $653.9m. PEP was $2.03m for the year.

The new compensation structure follows V&E’s move in January 2016 to increase all of its London-based associate salary levels and raise its newly qualified salaries to £100,000, then a 25% rise.

At the time, second-year associates also received an overall pay increase of 22% to £110,000, while third-year wages grew 20% to £120,000. The Texas firm last increased salary levels to £45,000 for first-year trainees in September 2015, and £47,500 for second-year trainees.

V&E’s London managing partner Alex Msimang said it is very important that the firm attracts and retains top talent at every level.

‘This is a highly competitive market, and we believe these compensation adjustments exemplify our appreciation for the hard work and excellent service that our associates and trainees provide to our clients every day,’ he added.

Earlier this month, Akin Gump also increased trainee salaries by 12% and 8% for first and second years respectively, raising incoming first-year trainee pay from £43,000 to £48,000, and second-year salaries from £48,000 to £52,000. NQ pay at Akin remains at $180,000 which is £140,000 at current exchange rates, as the firm last increased NQ remuneration levels in September 2016 from £100,000.

Also in this year’s pay review, Jones Day boosted their junior lawyers’ pay by 18%, rising to £100,000, £15,000 up from last year.

This article first appeared on The Lex 100‘s sister publication, Legal Business.

Of the 14, 12 will be based in the firm’s London office, with one based in Bristol. One lucky NQ will transfer to the firm’s Hong Kong office on a permanent basis from January 2018.

The qualifying trainees will be joining the firm’s Insurance, Commercial Disputes, Corporate, IP & Technology, Media and Construction & Projects.

Simon Hart, Partner and Training Principal, said:

“Like all law firms, our trainees work very hard to secure their training contracts and then throw themselves into two years of training. It is incredibly satisfying to see our junior talent mature and to see such a high number ultimately qualifying into roles across the departments this year, including our first London-based NQ moving to our office in Hong Kong. Whilst we are unable to accommodate a small number of our qualifying trainees due to certain departments being heavily over-subscribed with applicants, every single one of our trainees has made a positive contribution to life at RPC over the last two years.”

See RPC’s full Lex 100 profile here.

It is understood that the opening is on track for early autumn.

The launch will be overseen by Brett Menadue, new managing director for the Middle East operation, hired by LOD in May in anticipation of the launch.

Already based in Dubai, Menadue was formerly chief legal officer at Mara Global Technology and a previous director of legal and compliance at Nokia in Dubai.

Foreign investors in Dubai need a local sponsor in order to open a business outside of the free zones. BLP’s own office is based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). However, regulatory, commercial and legal requirements for law firms to establish in the area differ from those for other types of businesses.

The freelance law service is based on three models: lawyers working on-site with clients under a secondment-style service, lawyers ‘on call’ in flexible secondments as and when required, and project-based ‘managed solutions’ – which include LOD teams assigned to specific projects.

The opening of LOD’s first Middle East office would mark significant growth by the consultant lawyer business over its first decade.

Founded in 2007 with 10 lawyers as one of BLP’s separate business, LOD’s UK turnover doubled in 2010. In 2012, LOD spun out from BLP to become an independent entity.

It now counts over 600 lawyers in eight offices: London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney.

In the years since it became financially independent in 2012, LOD has grown, recording an 18% upsurge in turnover for the 2015/16 financial year, when revenues rose from £12.3m to £14.6m.

In 2016, the new law pioneer business also merged with Australia-based AdventBalance, a similar flexible lawyering service, with offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, which secured LOD a presence in Asia. AdventBalance was formed from a merger between Sydney’s Advent Lawyers and Perth’s Balance Legal. John Knox, former A&O head of business development founded Advent Lawyers.

Multinationals including Mastercard, Visa, AstraZeneca, DHL, FedEx and Microsoft now run their Africa businesses from Dubai. The DIFC has also cemented the emirate’s prominent position on the regional and global stage, and became home to 447 registered financial institutions in 2016.

Some law firms which have faced increasing difficulties in strictly conservative neighbouring Arab states, such as Abu Dhabi, have relocated to Dubai. Latham & Watkins, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Simmons & Simmons and Hogan Lovells are among firms which have consolidated their UAE presence in Dubai.

Recent US firms to set up in Dubai include Mayer Brown, with its new Dubai office in June 2016, and Shearman & Sterling, which has operated in Dubai since 2015.

Covington & Burling opened its Dubai office in June this year, with the addition of Chadbourne & Parke’s project finance team.

Winston & Strawn opened a Dubai arm in November 2015. Its Middle East managing partner Campbell Steedman told Legal Business that despite having suffered significantly from the effects of the financial crisis and the subsequent plunge in oil prices, Dubai remains ‘a haven of regional political security and economic stability, and any new entrant to the legal market will be welcomed by the regulator authorities’.

‘The market is still quite traditional, and established practices and teams generally dominate. That does not mean there is no space for a new entrant, but it will be challenging as the market remains highly competitive,’ Steedman added.

This month, BLP posted mixed financial results for the year, but attributed its revenue growth to strong performances across the business. In particular, the firm highlighted LOD’s substantial growth over the year. The business’ most recent financial results reveal turnover rose 18% during 2015/16. BLP’s own revenues climbed 7%.

LOD’s Companies House filings in February this year indicated a £255,000 spend on new technology during 2016.

This article first appeared on The Lex 100‘s sister publication,Legal Business.

The newly-qualified lawyers (NQs), who will earn £63,000 a year, will join Fieldfisher’s corporate, dispute resolution, employment and pensions, finance, intellectual property, regulatory, property litigation and technology practices.

This year’s group of qualifiers is marginally larger than that of 2016, when Fieldfisher retained 100% of its 12 trainees.

In a statement, Fieldfisher also confirmed that it would increase the number of London trainees to 14, with two trainee places each in the firm’s Birmingham and Manchester offices.

Edward Miller, Fieldfisher’s training principal and structured finance partner, told Legal Business that the 100% retention rate was due to the firm ‘taking a lot of care in recruiting high quality trainees who we are keen to keep in the business.’

Miller also said Fieldfisher had become a more attractive firm for aspiring lawyers, adding: ‘We are seeing the fruits of the efforts that a lot of people around the firm have made to make it a more attractive business.’

Fieldfisher senior recruitment manager Amelia Spinks added that there are ‘additional NQ roles currently available at the firm.’

The firm posted strong financial results in May, with revenues up 34% to £165m.

Profit per equity partner at the firm also saw significant growth, rising 16% from £550,000 to £640,000.

Fieldfisher has also seen significant expansion this year, opening offices in Amsterdam, Shanghai and Bologna.

This article first appeared on The Lex 100‘s sister publication, Legal Business.

The firm is the first of the Magic Circle to post its retention rates this year, having been the last in autumn 2016. Of a 32-strong cohort, 30 qualifiers put themselves forward and the firm made 30 offers, of which 29 were accepted.

Slaughters’ autumn trainee retention figures are down 9% from its spring 2017 rates, which saw the City heavyweight keep 100% of its 25 trainees in NQ positions at the firm.

Commenting on the result in a statement, the firm said the retention rate remains in line with previous years.

‘We remain encouraged by our consistently high retention rates and are confident that all these talented lawyers will make a strong contribution to the firm,’ the statement added.

This spring, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) announced they would retain 84% and 82% of their trainees respectively, while Linklaters kept on 86% to become NQ lawyers. All the other Magic Circle firms surpassed Clifford Chance (CC) in retention rates, which held on to 67% of its cohort of its spring trainees earlier this year.

In autumn 2016, Linklaters posted the highest retention rate of the Magic Circle firms, with 91% trainees kept on to NQ posts, while Freshfields posted a 95% retention rate as A&O retained 86% of its NQs.

Clifford Chance, after announcing in 2016 that it would cull its trainee intake by 20% by 2018, again posted the lowest autumn 2016 retention rate, although it still retained 82% of its cohort.

This article first appeared on The Lex 100‘s sister publication, Legal Business.

All offers the firm made were accepted by the candidates, with 13 heading to NQ positions in the firm’s corporate division, while three moving to roles in finance and the disputes practice.

The firm’s latest figures reflect a considerable jump for the firm, which in March successfully retained 85%, or 17 of its group of 20 trainees. In September, 14 Ashurst second-year trainees agreed to join the firm out of a group of 20, taking retention to 70%.

Ashurst’s graduate recruitment partner Nick Wong said the firm was pleased with its latest round: ‘Attracting, developing and retaining the best people is critical to the success of our business and we are confident that these talented young lawyers will make a significant contribution to Ashurst over the course of their careers.’

Ashurst has also increased its pay for its NQ associates by 3% with a rise to £72,000.

Junior Ashurst lawyers with one and two years’ post qualified experience will receive an extra £1,000, boosting their pay to £76,000 and £86,000 respectively.

First year trainees have also received a £1,000 rise this financial year, with pay increasing to £42,000.

Late in June, the firm revealed improved financial results for the 2016/17 financial year. Ashurst’s revenues rose 7% to £541m, up from £505m the previous year when profits fell 10%.

Profits per equity partner for the financial year rose 11% to £672,000 following a 19% drop in 2015/16, when numbers plummeted from £747,000 to £603,000.

This article first appeared on The Lex 100‘s sister publication, Legal Business.

Lawyers at Ince will now progress up a four-step career programme applicable to trainees, associates, senior associates and managing associates.

They will only move on to the next stage once they have demonstrated a set of competencies focusing on legal skill, client management, business development, working with and leading people, business and financial awareness, and ethos and culture, rather than moving up year on year.

Lawyers who reach the level of managing associate will also be given the option of taking up the new role of legal director, instead of moving up to partner. The firm so far has one lawyer who will be the first to take up the role this year.

Those that choose the legal director path are still given the flexibility to make partner later on in their careers, if they demonstrate the level’s competencies as set out by the firm.

Ince will create pay ranges for each level which gives it flexibility to link reward, promotion and performance, moving away from the previous PQE model. These ranges will be reviewed annually for the next financial year.

Although current bands are based on Ince’s previous post-qualification experience model, these will be reviewed at the end of the financial year. Performance bonuses worth between 10-25% of a lawyer’s salary will also be available for top performers.

The firm’s City appraisal system has now been moved from paper-based reviews to an electronic-based system. This way, partners can provide feedback to associates with records reviewed at regular intervals throughout the year.

All feedback will then be formally reviewed by an associate’s mentor at the end of the year to assess whether or not a lawyer should move up.

The initiative was rolled out in London on 1 May. Ince expects the new structure will be adopted by the rest of its 13 offices at the start of the next financial year.

The initiative is being implemented in conjunction with the firm’s learning and development function, headed up by Andrew Jameson, a former barrister and HR specialist for the Royal Navy.

Ince senior partner, Jan Heuvels, told Legal Business: ‘The benefit is that it plays to people’s strengths. You will very quickly be able to identify that some people naturally are potentially at the next level but need to fill in some other skills.

‘You then focus on those and you are therefore able to drive quality in your firm and your associateship far more effectively than if you were treating everyone the same, hoping that time will make them all exactly the same,’ Heuvels said.

‘It’s also about getting people to take responsibility for their own careers,’ he added.

This article first appeared on The Lex 100‘s sister publication, Legal Business.

CMS’ new Monaco office, which will trade as CMS Pasquier Ciulla & Marquet, will focus on private clients, banking, M&A, employment and real estate, traditional areas of focus for PCM.

PCM’s three partners and 14 lawyers join CMS as the first Monaco full-service outfit to merger with an international firm.

CMS executive chairman Cornelius Brandi said the Monaco opening will give CMS the possibility to support both global clients trying to do business in the city-state and Monaco-based global investors.

Olivier Marquet, a partner who joined from PCM partner, said that the Monaco had ‘taken steps to enhance its attractiveness to foreign investors’. He agreed that the new firm becoming part of CMS’ global network meant it would also be able to offer local expertise to serve those international-oriented clients, given that Monaco was the base for ‘a high number of investors’ who operate internationally.

CMS’s move follows the launch of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Monaco-based operations in November 2016 and gives the firm 71 offices in 40 countries and more than 1,000 partners.

This January, three Latin American firms – CMS Carey & Allende in Chile, CMS Grau in Peru and CMS Rodríguez Azuero Contexto Legal Abogados in Colombia – were brought into the CMS group, expanding the firm’s presence in that region.

This article first appeared on The Lex 100‘s sister publication, Legal Business.