The former head of operations at London outfit Schillings has been fined and rebuked by the regulator after it emerged he had been flogging the firm’s mobile phones.
Martin Flowers, who resigned from the media and privacy law specialist in September 2018, received a total of £13,547 for the 95 handsets, which he sold through a phone recycler, according to a regulatory settlement agreement published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
Flowers’ actions came to light in July 2018 when the firm was alerted by Vodafone after it had identified “unusual activity” on the account. In September 2018, the ex-operations chief admitted to selling the mobile devices during an interview with his line manager and the firm’s head of human resources. He resigned later that day.
Flowers accepted his conduct was dishonest and admitted breaching SRA Principles by taking mobile phones belonging to the firm and selling them for personal profit.
As a result of his actions, the former Schillings man is disqualified from acting as head of legal practice or head of finance and administration of a licenced body, as well as being a manager or being employed by a licenced body.
Flowers was rebuked, fined £13,547 and ordered to pay costs of £600.
Experts from Dechert, Ropes & Gray, Wiggin and The University of Law share their tips for TC hunters
With the clock ticking down to firms’ summer training contract application deadlines, we gathered together lawyers and other experts from Dechert, Ropes & Gray, Wiggin and The University of Law (ULaw) for an evening of advice in a Question Time-style discussion chaired by Legal Cheek editor Tom Connelly.
With the speakers boasting various specialisms — including competition law, litigation, employment, media law and graduate recruitment — the session gave wide-ranging insights into life in law and how to make it through the door.
Asking the questions were an audience of 130 students. They elicited some memorable responses during a lively evening at ULaw’s London Bloomsbury campus as part of the university’s Secrets to Success events series.
Charlotte Brunsdon, associate at Ropes & Gray: ‘Be prepared for complexity but don’t undervalue the basics’
Working in the antitrust team at Ropes & Gray sees Charlotte Brunsdon frequently tasked with “becoming an expert about a completely new industry”. Recently Brunsdon has advised clients on matters in sectors as diverse as swimming pools and air freight, while she regularly advises across the technology industry as it increasingly finds itself in regulators’ crosshairs. And as she climbs the career ladder, which began with a training contract and stint as a junior associate at a magic circle firm before she made the move to Ropes & Gray in 2016, the level of complexity keeps increasing.
But Brunsdon urged the audience at Secrets to Success London not to undervalue the more admin-focused tasks that are also an important part of being a junior solicitor. “When you are in a meeting with clients and you are the one who has indexed the documents, meaning you are the only one in the room who knows where anything is, that’s an important position to be in — and you can really seize on that and make the most of knowing exactly what is going on,” she said.
(Left to right) Tom Connelly, Sandie Gaines, Charlotte Brunsdon, Claire Livingstone, Sonali Sullivan-Mackenna and Gemma Baker
Gemma Baker, graduate recruitment manager at Dechert: ‘Don’t be boring’
Over her nearly 20 years as a graduate recruiter, Dechert’s Gemma Baker has kept observing the same mistake: candidates churning out generic responses that fail to show their genuine interest in the intersection between business and the law. Baker believes the main cause of this is students applying to too many firms in the misguided belief that they are boosting their chances when instead they “should focus on making 8-12 really strong, carefully researched applications”.
Similarly, Baker urges candidates to aim for authenticity in how they handle themselves during vacation schemes. “At some firms, where there are pockets of very posh people, there can be a pressure on students to pretend to be someone they are not. This immediately puts them at a disadvantage as it is vital to find a firm where you as an individual are welcomed, can thrive, can be your authentic self and will be supported.”
Sonali Sullivan-Mackenna, an associate at Dechert who joined Baker on the panel, recalled how she had learnt these lessons while making applications. “Getting over rejections is tough, but building resilience sets you up well for practice, and you learn from the process to eventually get where you want to be,” she said.
Claire Livingstone, senior associate at Wiggin: ‘Find a firm that fits and then master your art’
Having always wanted to be a journalist or a lawyer, media law was the perfect choice for Claire Livingstone and securing a training contract at one of the UK’s leading firms in this field was a dream come true. Livingstone describes herself as a “Wiggin lifer” and is determined to make partner at the firm. At Secrets to Success she spoke about “the gratification of slowly getting better at the job” — something which can be “hard at first as it can feel intimidating when you are surrounded by so many intelligent people who are very good at what they do”. But over time the senior associate who specialises in music and digital media law has felt her confidence grow. “You get to that point when you come off a difficult call and think to yourself ‘I understand all the issues, I know what they mean, I’m fully on top of this’ and that feels great,” she said.
130 students in attendance at Secrets to Success London
Reaching this point, she adds, is as much about understanding the wider commercial context of the matters you are advising on as having mastery of the law itself. “Clients just want commercial advice: ‘Can I do this — yes or no?’”
Sandie Gaines, dean of ULaw’s Bloomsbury campus: ‘Getting a training contract now takes more than a single application’
When she started her career 25 years ago, Sandie Gaines made a single application for a training contract after having worked at a firm during summer holidays. She was then offered and accepted a training contract. It was a far easier process than most students experience today. But looking back Gaines wonders if it might not have been beneficial for her to sample different practice areas and different types of firms via vacation schemes and employability exercises. As it happened she got lucky, specialising in employment law — a field “which kept me entertained for many years” before a move into academia.
Today, with tough competition for training contract places, Gaines advises students not only to spend time on beefing up their employability, but to show discipline when presented with the opportunities that follow. In particular, they should “focus on being professional at all times”. It’s not uncommon for students to blow it on the final night of a vac scheme thinking incorrectly that they are already over the finish line, Gaines notes.
Wednesday 10 July in London; open to all students and graduates
With exams over, and students’ attention turning once more to training contract applications, Legal Cheek is bringing together a host of leading City lawyers with a diversity organisation and legal educator for an evening of careers advice and networking.
Date: Wednesday 10 July 2019 Time: 5:30pm to 8:30pm Location: BPP University Law School, London Holborn Level: Students, Graduates
‘How to become a City lawyer’ takes place on the evening of Wednesday 10 July at BPP University Law School in Holborn, central London, and is open to all students. It kicks off at 6pm with a panel discussion featuring lawyers from Baker McKenzie, Hogan Lovells, Mayer Brown, PRIME and BPP University Law School. The session will be chaired by a Legal Cheek journalist.
Speakers
Baker McKenzie: Jeremy Levy, partner specialising in banking & finance Hogan Lovells: Lewis Fairfax, associate specialising in the corporate litigation, investigations, contentious insolvency and fraud Mayer Brown: Sarah Rochelle, senior associate specialising in real estate PRIME (Linklaters): Katharine Collard, associate specialing in fintech at Linklaters BPP University Law School: Caroline Rayson, deputy head of law at BPP Holborn, and former associate at Ashurst and Osborne Clarke
Students — who can apply to attend the free event below — will be able to ask the speakers any questions they like during the Question Time-style session.
Afterwards there will be drinks and networking with the speakers, trainees from their firms and members of their graduate recruitment teams.
Apply to attend. You’ll be asked to submit a CV and two questions for the panel. Students of all levels are welcome, but places are limited.
Linklaters has become the fifth and final of the magic circle lot to up its total newly qualified (NQ) solicitor pay package to £100,000.
Junior associates qualifying into the firm’s City of London headquarters will now earn a salary of £100,000, a spokesperson for the firm has confirmed. This figure includes a discretionary performance bonus.
Links has matched money moves made by fellow magic circle players Allen & Overy (A&O), Slaughter and May and Clifford Chance in confirming its headline NQ pay figure is a combination of base salary and bonus. Future associates at Freshfields are currently winning the City pay war sparked by soaring US law firm London office NQ salaries. They have the potential to out-earn their magic circle rivals with discretionary bonuses on top of their six-figure salaries.
“Linklaters has increased the total cash payable to NQ lawyers to £100k, comprising a base salary plus a discretionary performance bonus, with top NQ performers receiving above this.”
The firm, which offers around 100 training contracts each year, more than any other City outfit, previously remunerated NQs a salary of £83,000. This figure rose 2% from £81,000 in October last year. At the time, trainee solicitor salaries also increased by 7%. First year trainees earn £47,000, rising to £52,500 in their second year.
Drawing comparisons between the elite fivesome in terms of NQ pay has become increasingly more difficult due to some firms choosing to include performance-related bonuses in their public pay figures. Freshies is paying rookies £100k basic, with bonuses on top of that, while Slaughters has disclosed a base rate of £92,000. Links, A&O and CC, however, do not report their base rate figures.
Lewis Fairfax, corporate litigator at Hogan Lovells, chats to Legal Cheek‘s Aishah Hussain ahead of his appearance at next Wednesday’s ‘Inside Track: How to become a City lawyer’ event
Lewis Fairfax spent time in Monaco
Joining the world of City law and working on big-ticket deals with high-profile clients is the end goal for many a wannabe lawyer. For Lewis Fairfax, a newly qualified associate at Hogan Lovells, the City of London is the arena to undertake top-drawer work. “It’s my favourite thing about my job: doing cross-jurisdictional work that has huge implications and that you’ll often hear about in the news. It gives me a real sense of pride.”
Working in the firm’s corporate litigation, investigations, contentious insolvency and fraud team — no two days are the same. “My workload is varied and fluctuates from case to case — we typically work towards deadlines, so it’s ‘seasonal’ to an extent, depending on where you are in the case” he says. On any one day Fairfax could find himself drafting evidence, researching a particular point of law, liaising with clients or attending court.
His first experience with the cut and thrust of litigation was as a trainee during his first seat.
He enjoyed his time, citing the intellectual rigour, thought-provoking legal arguments and the ability to stick with a case and see it through, as reasons for staying on post-qualification. “Litigation tends to go on for much longer periods than transactional work which enables litigators to get stuck in and really come to know a case or carve out a niche as the ‘go-to’ for knowledge on a certain aspect of law which is great for personal development,” he explains.
The cases are typically “measured in years, not months” due to their complexity, and there are even some high-level disputes dating back to the 90s that the firm is still picking through. “The big cases can go on for years with some of our partners currently working on cases they started on as associates.”
Now four months in, Fairfax describes a particular highpoint: working pro bono with a mid-level associate on a case as a trainee and then associate which Hogan Lovells had struck out by the court on behalf of its client earlier this year. “I completed an entire disclosure exercise on my own and conducted advocacy in court — that was an absolute thrill!” he says. “It’s testament to the calibre of work available at Hogan Lovells in both our fee-paying client work and innovative pro bono practice. It’s rare as a junior lawyer to be able to see a matter through from start to finish and achieve a great result for the client,” Fairfax adds.
It’s a role, he admits, that is equally “challenging” as it is “rewarding”. There are, as one would expect, the occasional long hours when things get busy but “if you’re passionate about what you’re doing then it’s not a problem”. He recalls the time he spent on secondment at the firm’s Paris office as a particularly busy time. He worked around the clock with one of the partners to get a deal over the line. The client appreciated their efforts and took them out for lunch. “Where there are low points there are always high points,” he reflects.
Fairfax studied French and Russian at the University of St Andrews prior to entering City law. During the summer of his penultimate year the born-and-bred Geordie moved overseas to Monaco, where he worked for an agency as a translator — which included teaching English to French clients in the legal industry. He then discovered the clients wanted to learn about how the English legal system operates and so took his first steps into law; first learning about it himself before dishing out his newfound knowledge in French. By his final year Fairfax’s interest in law had grown and he began applying for training contracts, leveraging his experience abroad and cultural awareness in applications. He was offered a training contract with Hogan Lovells midway through his final year.
The transition from languages to law, Fairfax admits, was tricky at first. “Law isn’t a subject you can pick up things about by just kicking around the non-legal world. People sometimes talk about how businesses work but no one ever really talks about how trusts work in day-to-day life!” quips Fairfax, who completed the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) at BPP Law School in Leeds. “The GDL accordingly builds you from the bottom up — it’s a useful primer in which no prior legal knowledge is assumed.”
Fairfax will be speaking during next Wednesday’s ‘Inside Track: How to become a City lawyer’ event at BPP Holborn, alongside panellists from Baker McKenzie, Mayer Brown, PRIME and BPP University Law School. There he will shed further insights on his career journey to date and offer advice to student attendees interested in becoming litigators. For now, he leaves readers with these words of wisdom:
“Your primary concern as a litigator is your client: what their interests are, what they want to achieve from litigation and how best you will help them realise that. Litigators stand up for their client’s interests — not necessarily in an aggressive, tenacious or ‘fight at all costs’ way (that’s not always possible) — rather through conciliation or settlement if that’s what is in the client’s best interests.”
An “incredibly underrated” skill among junior litigators is good organisation and case management, notes Fairfax. “If you can be on top of things, track deadlines, take the initiative to create and distribute an action list after a meeting, this will put you in good stead in your career. Juniors are at the coalface, in the nuts and bolts of litigation, and in the multifaceted cases we work on they’ll often raise a point they’ve come across which they think is of minor importance but in actuality turns out to be significant to the case when reported back to the partners or senior fee-earners who are supervising the overall case at a higher level,” he adds.
Lewis Fairfax will be speaking alongside lawyers from Baker McKenzie, Mayer Brown, PRIME and BPP University Law School at ‘Inside Track: How to become a City lawyer’, on Wednesday 10 July at BPP University Law School in Holborn, central London. You can apply to attend the event, which is free, now.
City law firm Macfarlanes has bumped the base salaries of its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers by 6% to £85,000.
Up from a previous rate of £80,000, the firm has, however, said its new associate talent will actually earn anywhere between £98,600 and £110,250 when individual and firm-wide bonuses are taken into account.
The single-office-outfit, which takes on around 30 rookie lawyers each year, confirmed that over 98% of fee earners qualified for individual bonuses this year (based on contribution, not chargeable hours), while the firm-wide bonus is based on financial performance and is paid to all staff.
Legal Cheek‘s Firms Most List shows today’s uplift puts the firm’s NQs on the same levels of cash as their peers at Herbert Smith Freehills (£85,000) and a full £3,000 ahead of those plying their trade at Ashurst (£83,000). However, with bonuses, an NQ at Macfarlanes could out-earn their counterparts at a plethora of US and magic circle firms. Trainee pay currently sits at £44,000 in year one, rising to £49,000 in year two.
Cash aside, Macfarlanes also confirmed a perfect Autumn 2019 retention score of 100% (25 out of 25). Seán Lavin, head of graduate recruitment at Macfarlanes, said:
“We are really pleased to have maintained our consistently high retention rates for another year. Our trainees are the future of the firm and we recruit and train them with a view to nurturing their talents and building long-term careers at Macfarlanes.”
Irwin Mitchell has released its annual trainee retention score. Of the 47 trainees to qualify this September, 45 will be kept on as newly qualified (NQ) solicitors, the national outfit has confirmed.
This puts Irwin Mitchell’s retention score at 96% — a notable increase on last year’s rate of 83%, which saw 49 out of 59 trainees stay on.
The commercial and personal injury law specialist, which offers around 45 training contracts annually, confirmed 15 NQs will be based in London, nine in Birmingham, seven in Sheffield, five in Manchester, with the rest spread across Leeds (4), Newcastle (2), Southampton (2) and Bristol (1). All retained NQs are on permanent deals.
According to Irwin Mitchell, the bulk of NQs will sit in its personal legal services, with 30 spread between personal injury, medical negligence, public law and court of protection. The remaining 15 will continue in the firm’s business legal services, whose departmental destinations include litigation, real estate, corporate and restructuring. Seventy-seven percent (35) of the firm’s new associates are female.
Marissa Sanders, head of early careers at Irwin Mitchell, said:
“This year’s newly qualified retention rate of 96% is an outstanding achievement reflecting both the calibre of our trainees and the training and support they receive in the business.”
Retention results aside, Legal Cheek‘s Firms Most List shows that newbies recruited to the outfit’s London office will start on a salary of £60,000. Pay packets are lower for those spread across the firm’s 13 regional offices, with base rates ranging from £36,500 to £41,500.
NQs kept on will continue to enjoy the firm’s quality of work, peer support and work-life balance — for which it scored A, A*, A* respectively in our Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey.
Canary Wharf giant’s global revenues up 4% to £1.7 billion
Clifford Chance has become the first magic circle law firm to post its 2018/19 financial results, revealing slight increases to profit per equity partner (PEP) and global revenues.
The Canary Wharf-based titan has confirmed PEP hit £1.62 million, an increase of just 1% from £1.6 million, while partnership profit was up 2% to £637 million in the year to 30 April. Global revenues stood at £1.7 billion, representing a bump of 4.3% year on year.
“I am delighted that we have delivered a fourth consecutive year of growth under our strategy, and the firm’s best financial results to date”, Matthew Layton, Clifford Chance’s global managing partner, said. “It is especially pleasing to see that the growth in revenue and profit in this period has come from across all regions and all practice areas.”
Layton continued: “There are certainly challenges for all businesses in the year ahead. However, I am confident that by staying true to our clear and established strategy and by working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we will continue towards our vision of being the global law firm of choice.”
As reported by Legal Cheek, CC enjoyed a whopping 16% boost in PEP and 5% uplift in global revenues during the 2017/18 financial year. Meanwhile, since 2015, the firm has increased global revenues by 25%, partnership profit by 42% and PEP by 45%.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has become the latest big legal player to join the City’s junior lawyer pay war.
The global outfit confirmed this afternoon that its newbie associates will be eligible to receive a “total compensation package” of up to £105,000 including bonus. The move comes almost exactly a year after HSF bumped junior lawyer pay by 13% to £93,000, again including bonus. This means today’s move equates to an increase of roughly 13%, based on the figures made public by the firm.
HSF said the new pay structure places greater emphasis on lawyers’ performance and contributions to the firm and less on post qualification experience (PQE). Legal Cheek‘s Firms Most List shows trainees receive £44,000 in year one, rising to £48,000 in year two.
“It is important that we continue to attract and retain the best talent to deliver the service our clients expect and deserve. Newly qualified associates — along with all our junior associates — represent a key pool of talent and the future of the firm. We are determined to nurture their talents and help them realise their full potential at HSF, and to reward them competitively whilst doing so.”
Drawing comparisons in terms of pay between the City elite is becoming increasingly more difficult, with many firms now opting to combine base salaries and bonuses.
Those behind the first-of-its-kind, jointly-taught programme reveal the thinking behind the move
“It is both an amazing and daunting time for law students heading towards the profession,” says Jeremy Coleman, innovation manager EMEA at Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF), the firm behind a new law and tech module being run at the University of York from January 2020, “because we don’t really know what the law is going to be like in the medium to longer term.”
Open to 40 third year law and computer science undergraduates (20 from each), the new law and tech module is believed to be the first such course to be taught jointly by tutors from both the computer science and law departments at the university. There will also be masterclasses from NRF. Coleman says: “There is an acceptance of these ‘unknowns’, but also a real interest in them and in the change that is coming.”
Two years in the planning, the development of the inter-disciplinary course was, explains Scott Slorach, director of learning and teaching at York Law School, as a result of “push factors from students and pull factors from firms”.
He says: “We have seen an increased demand and interest among students for such courses.” There is already a University Blockchain Society, for instance, and undergrads are being exposed to “the links between tech and legal services through existing modules on legal services and the business environment”. This module is “the logical next step.”
For their part, firms are increasingly discussing a “non-paper outlook” and exploring what type of thinking they want their future lawyers to have. As Slorach says: “If the watchword used to be ‘commercial awareness’, now, because of the way law firms are resourcing themselves, there is a wider range of skills and competencies needed. There is also greater openness from firms to have people coming from different disciplines.”
The University of York module is a problem-based learning course whereby law and computer science students will work collaboratively in small teams on a real-life access to justice issue. Learning about each other’s discipline, applying design thinking, and putting work in progress before tutors and NRF, they have to come up with a full specification tech solution, and pitch it to an expert panel.
The module uses BRYTER, a German-based “no-code” platform for decision automation. Michael Grupp, founder and CEO there, explains how it works: “You don’t have to know code to use BRYTER, so law students can use it. It works much like Lego, little bricks that you put together that can be rather powerful.” For the computer science students on the course, however, they can add code “by hand” and will bring “a deeper and more powerful use” of the software.
Grupp sees this as a pivotal moment: “Law has not really changed in its delivery over the past 150 years. The only real shift has been to replace the pen and paper with Microsoft Word but lawyers have still been using broadly the same methods of delivery. That is going to change. What we are seeing is something fundamentally different”.
During the course, “part of the legal reasoning will be automated”, explains Grupp. “Law students will have to map what is in their heads onto a series of automated steps. They will be suddenly forced, when making a legal reason, to articulate their thought process. It’s not easy.”
For the computer science students, the challenge is “being able to apply their skills in CS to a particular problem, as well as understanding the process that lawyers go through,” says Simon O’Keefe, York University’s deputy head at the department of computer science. “It will help them understand the ‘consulting’ element of what they will be doing in the future.”
The module is based around problems arising out of a lack of access to justice in society. This was a very deliberate choice, says Coleman:
“We did debate whether there should be a commercial focus or an access to justice focus, though in many ways the course is not really about the problem so much as how students go about solving it, we decided on the latter focus; it felt like a wonderful opportunity for a captive audience of young and ambitious people to put their fantastic minds towards a solution to a social problem — and be assessed on their ability to do that.”
Setting up the joint course has not been without challenges, concedes O’Keefe, because of its inter-disciplinary approach: “The difficulty is understanding the point of view of people outside your field. Different disciplines might use different terms to describe the same thing. So it’s in part about learning how the other discipline talks about what they do.”
And, of course, computer science and law students will take a different path in exploring a problem and possible solutions. O’Keefe says: “Teaching two disciplines together at the same time is challenging – but exciting.”
But the intra-disciplinary element is a core component of the new module, concludes Slorach: “Working with other disciplines is the key to student success and a fundamental employability skill.”
Freshfields has become the second magic circle firm to release its 2018/19 financial results, reporting slight increases to both its partner profits and global revenue.
Last year, Freshfields reported a 12% hike in PEP (£1.73 million) and net income (£683 million).
Managing partner Stephan Eilers said:
“After a strong fourth quarter, the new financial year has started well and we remain confident in our prospects and our strategy.”
The results come just 24 hours after fellow magic circle player Clifford Chance revealed a 1% PEP increase to £1.62 million and global revenues of £1.7 billion — a 4.3% rise year on year.
It was the ability to work on cutting-edge cross-border transactions that drew Jeremy Levy, a banking and finance partner at Baker McKenzie, to City law.
That is something that has held true during his time at the firm. Recently, for example, he was brought on board to advise a large IT company on a deal spanning ten different jurisdictions. “Getting to grips with how a company operates, working closely with its personnel to come up with a suitable transaction and then advising the directors accordingly on a strategically important deal was a particularly satisfying experience,” reflects Levy, whose speciality lies in securitisation and structured capital markets.
There are an abundance of factors to consider when structuring a deal with international elements, and it’s this which keeps the work “exciting”, Levy explains. Potential tax liabilities, for example, may be a major consideration in some jurisdictions, while the regulatory framework in which a country operates may require careful scrutiny. “Our approach can vary significantly between countries and we have to be aware of these potential implications to ensure a deal can work across jurisdictions,” he adds.
The fast-paced London lifestyle and variety of work on offer are other factors Levy, who grew up in Edgware, Middlesex, cites as reasons for pursuing City law. Now, working on big-ticket banking and finance deals Levy says no two days are the same. “My typical work day varies: it’s generally a combination of meetings with clients and colleagues, conference calls and drafting and reviewing documents or structures. The exact make-up of my day depends on the type of securitisation transaction and the parties involved. I really enjoy working in this practice area,” the University of Cambridge law grad explains.
Levy initially enjoyed the academic study of law before deciding to enter legal practice. The transition, he admits, was “quite the leap” having read modules in contract law and international law as part of his undergraduate degree but later coming to see how they interrelate and impact the work of a commercial lawyer in practice. A vacation scheme at Baker McKenzie — split between the global player’s London and Toronto offices — helped dispel any misconceptions he had. “I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and working in-between offices with some great people. I got to experience life working as a solicitor and figured that this was something I could see myself doing,” says Levy.
Following completion of the scheme, Levy, who was in the penultimate year of his degree at the time, was offered a training contract. That was in the summer of ‘03 and Levy has stayed with Baker McKenzie since starting in ‘05. First as a trainee completing seats in corporate finance, real estate, dispute resolution (which included a client secondment to a healthcare regulatory body) and structured capital markets — the seat in which he qualified in as an associate.
Levy was tempted to qualify into the firm’s dispute resolution practice having completed a secondment there — “it was useful to see how clients on the other side of the provision of advice operate” — but the “transactional buzz” of capital markets, he confesses, proved “quite compelling”.
Just over ten years later Levy made partner. What’s his secret? “Being open-minded, enthusiastic and seizing opportunities,” he says. That’s something which starts as a trainee. He continues: “Our trainees are central to the firm, and one of the advantages of our relatively small intake [Baker McKenzie offers 33 training spots each year] is that the level of responsibility they are given is incredibly high early on in their training contracts. If you can demonstrate enthusiasm and an aptitude for the work you take on that will hold you in good stead in your career,” says Levy who is involved in graduate recruitment. “Seeing trainees develop, thrive and progress after they eventually find their niche is a truly rewarding aspect of my job,” he adds.
The brave new world of fintech is shaking up the banking sector. We are seeing trending technology compete with time-honoured financial systems in the delivery of financial services. Levy is increasingly finding himself advising financial institutions on their response to fintech but equally tech-savvy start-ups spearheading the change. There has been an uptake of work, Levy notes, in the field of supply chain finance which is a relatively new method of providing liquidity to businesses. The clients in this space are often innovative fintech providers, explains Levy, who enjoys getting to know their business model and product offering — “that’s very enjoyable”, he says.
With high-level work comes the flipside of working occasional long hours. “There can be time pressure when you’re close to getting a deal over the line but I really do miss it when I don’t have it for too long. There’s a buzz to being busy and getting something done to a tight timeframe,” explains Levy.
For students interested in specialising in this coveted area of law, Levy advises having a sound understanding of finance and law as a business. Whether that’s through browsing the Financial Times or reading the business section found in most broadsheet newspapers, what matters most, Levy says, is that you grasp the concepts and above all, enjoy it.
Stephenson Harwood has upped pay for its trainees and newly qualified (NQ) solicitors.
The ten-office-firm, which takes on roughly 20 trainees each year, has bumped London NQ pay packets to £75,000, up 3% from £73,000. Meanwhile, rookies in year one of their training contracts now earn £43,000, up 5% from £41,000, while those a year ahead now receive £47,000, an uplift of 4% from £45,000.
Legal Cheek’sFirms Most List shows that today’s modest money move puts the City outfit’s NQs on the same levels of cash as their counterparts at Dentons, Reed Smith and Simmons & Simmons (£75,000), and a full £2,000 over and above their equals at Squire Patton Boggs (£73,000).
As for life at the firm, Stephenson Harwood notched up As for quality of work, perks and office in our Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, as well as Bs for training, peer support, partner approachability, work/life balance and social life.
This despite making up less than 1% of each year’s graduating class
Nearly a third of magic circle rookies went to Oxbridge, new research has revealed.
The findings, based on interviews with 2,500 trainees over the past three years, show that 31% of trainee solicitors at the elite fivesome — Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters and Slaughter and May — completed an undergraduate degree at Oxford or Cambridge. This comes despite Oxbridge students making up less than 1% of each year’s graduating class.
Russell Group grads, excluding Oxbridge, made up 47% of magic circle trainees, while 13% came from other UK institutions and 9% studied overseas.
The research, compiled by Chambers Student Guide, also highlights the superduo’s dominance across the City’s mega-paying US firms, with 24% of trainees boasting Oxbridge credentials. Fifty percent of US trainees attended a Russell Group uni, 17% studied at another UK institution, while 9% completed their undergrad degree overseas.
Elsewhere, the findings show that Oxford supplied the most trainee solicitors between 2016-2018 (7.9%), with Cambridge (7.5%) and Durham (6.2%) in second and third spot, respectively. Bristol placed fourth with 5.5%.
Commenting on the findings, Sal Francis Morton, senior research analyst at Chambers Student Guide, said:
“Law firms lock their gaze on graduates from these prestigious universities, knowing they don’t have to look far for the brightest and most driven candidates. Since employability is a factor in a university’s status and funding, this is a convenient relationship for both the firms and the universities, so it’s hard to break.”
Pride jubilee marked half-century since Stonewall uprising
Lawyers were among the tens of thousands to take to the glitter-laden streets of London this weekend to march for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender plus (LGBT+) rights at this year’s Pride parade.
Members of the legal profession painted the City all colours of the rainbow at the flagship London march on Saturday to mark 50 years since the Stonewall Uprising in New York — the notorious riots which helped kickstart the modern Pride movement.
Some have been sharing their social media snaps using the hashtag #LegalPride and we’ve rounded up the very best.
The chair of The Bar Council’s Young Barristers’ Committee, Athena Markides, joined treasurer Grant Warnsby under the banner ‘All are equal under the law’.
Uncertainty over Marcus Ball’s future comes despite crowdfunding over £500,000
Marcus Ball
The man who brought a private prosecution against prime minister hopeful Boris Johnson has told Legal Cheek he faces an uncertain financial future after racking up debts of around £200,000.
Despite crowdfunding over £500,000 over three years to bring the case, Marcus Ball has told this website in an exclusive interview that “in terms of the overall balance sheet, money owed and money left, we’re in the negatives.” When asked if he’s in debt, the director of Brexit Justice Limited responded: “Oh, massive debt, of approximately about £200,000, roundabout.”
Sipping a glass of apple juice in a café in London’s trendy Shoreditch, Ball spoke openly about his cashflow situation. His openness was to be expected. After all, he maintains that “if you’re prosecuting someone for [allegedly] lying about money, you cannot be in a position where you’re seen to be lying about money”.
Despite facing a potential hefty costs order, Ball believed that, going forward, he can crowdfund more cash. “If I did not believe in this case and the evidence we’ve got, I would be terrified. I would be fucking panicking,’ he explained. Asked if he intends to take proceedings against Johnson further, Ball told us:
“It is highly likely we will appeal. However, the legal team and I have to define exactly what the appeal is going to be before I confidently announce it. Because I don’t want to be in a position where I’m saying, ‘Oh, I’m definitely appealing, I’m definitely appealing’, and then in two weeks my legal team, finding something, are saying, ‘Marcus we can’t appeal because of this’. I have to be 100% sure otherwise it’s not responsible to say it.”
And yet, Ball admits he’s “totally fucked” if his campaign against Johnson is unsuccessful. “Financially, I’m ruined if this doesn’t happen”, he said. As if to prove his entrepreneurial mentality, he stressed his willingness to bear this costly burden to achieve his ulterior aim: eradicating dishonesty from politics which, he believes, kills democracy. Ball continued:
“I understood this from the beginning, you have to be willing to take that and absorb that risk otherwise nobody else will. This is the advantage I’m in: I’m young, I don’t have a wife or kids to be responsible for, or a mortgage or a car. I don’t have things that rely upon me.”
Such self-sacrifice fits well with his campaign’s narrative, which relies on familiar imagery of an outsider fighting against the establishment, as illustrated by Ball’s widely used hashtag, #BallVJohnson. Indeed, as he was told early on into his campaign, people (and, more importantly, financial backers) respond better to a story if there’s a clear protagonist and an antagonist. Ball didn’t say which one he was in this scenario.
Legal Cheek’s Adam Mawardi with Marcus Ball
Despite his new-found public platform, the Canterbury Christ Church University history grad expressed no interest in pursuing politics, nor legal practice. Rather, providing he can successfully prosecute Johnson, Ball revealed plans to take other politicians to task over their misconduct in public office. Without naming names, Ball cites “obvious cases” including the US elections, MEP expenses scandals and the Iraq War.
Predicting he would crowdfund these endeavours too, Ball appeared inspired by the ‘move fast and break things’ mantra previously popular among the tech start-up community. “Why don’t we use that same way of thinking when it comes to older systems? Why don’t we reform the law and the way democracy works with small, fast-moving teams that are funded in unusual ways?” he questioned.
That said, the sustainability of this crowdfunding model is unclear and depends on first building a track record of success, starting with Johnson. “If I get to the point where I feel that absolutely nothing can be achieved, I cannot justify raising more money from people.”
Couple met after she represented Jeremy McConnell for assaulting ex-Hollyoaks actress Stephanie Davis
Credit: Instagram
A criminal solicitor is expecting her first child with her Celebrity Big Brother (CBB) boyfriend.
Katie McCreath, a lawyer at Crown Defence Solicitors, is said to have acted for model and reality TV personality Jeremy McConnell after he was arrested for assaulting his then on-off girlfriend Stephanie Davis, who he met while the pair were on CBB.
The couple, who have been together for over a year, announced their happy news to family and friends over the weekend, and are due their bundle of joy in December, The Sun reports. A source said:
“Jeremy and Katie are ecstatic. The baby marks a brand new chapter in their lives. They are both so excited and can’t wait to welcome their little son or daughter. Jeremy has found someone that he really loves and wants to be with forever. They can’t wait to become parents and start a family together.”
They added: “Katie has really supported Jeremy through the tough times and helped him grow as a person.”
McConnell, 29, is already a father to two-year-old Caben-Albi with his ex-girlfriend Davis. He has limited contact with both his son and Davis after being found guilty of assaulting the former Hollyoaks actress. McConnell was handed a 20-week sentence, suspended for a year, but later spent 34 days behind bars after he missed court-ordered community service to get a beard and hair transplant in Turkey. He was released in December 2017.
The Irish model who has appeared on This Morning, Beauty School Cop Outs and The Jeremy Kyle Show, revealed he is 18-months sober after becoming hooked on class A drug cocaine after leaving the CBB house. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I wake up happy and I radiate happiness,” McConnell told The Sun. “I can count friends and family on two hands now. I don’t want to associate with anybody that’s negative, that brings toxic energy to my life. I’m proud to where I’ve got to now.”
That newfound happiness is perhaps due to his blossoming relationship with the solicitor. The pair’s relationship was thrust into the tabloid spotlight when it was reported McCreath was living with ex-client McConnell after he left prison in December. They had previously been pictured leaving court together (though it was actually her colleague, James Morris, who acted for McConnell in court).
McCreath studied law at BPP Law School before being admitted to the roll in 2010. Her firm profile states she’s a specialist in serious and high-profile criminal defence, and that she qualified as a higher courts advocate.
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As a senior associate in Mayer Brown’s real estate team, Sarah Rochelle is a very busy person. Last week, when she wasn’t helping to prepare material for a client pitch, attending meetings with clients, working on a number of transactions and attending the firm’s summer party, Rochelle was darting between vac scheme meet-and-greets, initiatives aimed at tackling obstacles facing female lawyers, and, of course, talking to the Legal Cheek Careers team ahead of tomorrow’s panel event, ‘Inside Track: How to make it as a City lawyer’. “And this is a quiet week,” Rochelle says, checking her calendar.
As a real estate lawyer, Rochelle oversees several property projects at once, many of which have international investors located in varying time zones. Much to her enjoyment, these deals often involve landmarks visible from the City’s skyline — Mayer Brown, for example, acts for the owners of The Shard, and advised on the purchase of the so-called ‘Walkie-Talkie’ and the sale of the ‘Cheesegrater’ buildings.
Despite dealing with very bricks-and-mortar matters day-to-day, Rochelle began by studying English literature. Knowing she would later convert to law, the then University of Exeter undergrad chose to study something she “really enjoyed”. Still, her undergrad experience reading and distilling large volumes into simple points proved useful to the document-heavy tasks of a transactional lawyer.
After completing the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) at BPP University Law School, Rochelle began a training contract at Jeffrey Green Russell (now Ince Gordon Dadds), then a medium-sized firm based in London’s West End. Rotating between the firm’s litigation, corporate and real estate teams, the budding trainee was soon drawn to transactional over contentious work.
Rochelle makes the observation that in litigation the parties enter it with opposite objectives. By contrast, parties to a transaction usually begin with the same goal: closing the deal. Plus, litigation can be a long game, as Rochelle explains:
“In some cases, litigation can go on for years — you could be working on fewer matters, but they’ll go on for some time. Whereas most transactional matters will have a shorter time frame.”
Rochelle qualified into real estate which, although the sector was still reeling from the financial crisis that had rocked the economy, was in line with her previous real estate paralegalling experience after law school.
Shortly after qualifying, Rochelle moved to international mega-firm Dentons. After Dentons, Rochelle moved to global outfit Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) before finally arriving at Mayer Brown last year. Although not far in terms of physical distance — with the firms all situated in the London’s City district — each move amounted to a sizeable career jump matched by exposure to increasingly large-scale projects. At Dentons, Rochelle was put on secondment to multinational hospitality company, Hilton. At HSF, she worked on the Thames Tideway tunnel, better known as London’s ‘super-sewer’, which, in 2015, was the largest infrastructure project in Europe.
Much to her enjoyment, Mayer Brown’s close-knit office culture offers lawyers more hands-on responsibility in managing incoming trainees and working on the firm’s social mobility initiatives. Rochelle has also experienced first-hand how team size impacts your work. The firm’s smaller trainee intake and condensed team size means greater opportunities for talented lawyers to be seen.
Involved in the firm’s vacation scheme interview process, one question Rochelle often puts to candidates is: “What is commercial awareness and how do you stay commercially aware?” According to Rochelle:
“Here we’re testing not only awareness of current deals, transactions and issues in the business world, but also an understanding of the business environment and the operational grid under which business is conducted on a daily basis. A successful lawyer must be able to put into perspective how their legal advice will affect the workings of commerce around the world in general and for their client in particular. The flexibility to adapt commercial acumen is key to the success of a City lawyer at a top firm.”
For any aspiring City lawyer hoping to impress, expand your research beyond the obvious. “At the moment, you can tell people have brushed upon on Brexit as they think they’ll be quizzed on this,” Rochelle reveals. Despite its anticipated impact that Brexit may have on the UK’s markets, there are other news items which may have an impact on the economy too. She points to HS2 as an example.
Help us fill the gaps by sharing your insider salary info below the line
It’s been another summer of hefty pay rises for junior lawyers across the City.
With Freshfields upping newly qualified (NQ) solicitor base rates to £100,000 back in May, it didn’t take long for the other members of the magic circle to splash the cash and seemingly match the Anglo-German giant’s big money move.
But who among the City’s elite fivesome is really paying the most?
Well, unfortunately, this question has become increasingly difficult to answer, with many City players (not just members of the magic circle) now preferring not to disclose their base rates, opting instead to provide a salary figure inclusive of bonus.
Motivations for doing so aside, the new approach has not gone down well with Legal Cheek readers. One commenter wrote: “All firms should be obligated to advertise base salaries excluding any bonuses. The current trend of throwing in every bonus under the sun is very misleading.” Another chipped in: “The reality is that there is the ability to earn that amount, not a manifest right to it.”
By way of a reminder, here’s the salary information which has been made public:
Magic circle NQ money moves 2019
Firm
New salary base rate
Bonus
Allen & Overy
Not given
Sign-on bonus takes salary to £100,000
Clifford Chance
Not given
Discretionary bonus takes salary to £100,000
Freshfields
£100,000
Discretionary bonus available on top of £100,000
Linklaters
Not given
Discretionary performance bonus takes salary to £100,000
Slaughter and May
£92,000
Bonuses of around 8.5% take salary to over £100,000
So in a bid to shine a light on the fresh figures, we’re calling on our readers, many of whom will work for the firms in question, to share their insider knowledge in the Legal Cheek comments section below.
John Major says he’d consider lawyering up to stop the Queen suspending the House of Commons
John Major and Boris Johnson
A former Prime Minister has threatened to take his likely successor, Boris Johnson, to court if he tries to suspend parliament to ensure a no-deal Brexit — and it’s set legal Twitter ablaze.
Sir John Major, the Conservative Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, said this morning that he would personally take a case to stop Johnson “proroguing” the House of Commons. Johnson, heavy favourite in the Conservative leadership race, has refused to rule out cancelling parliament if it tries to stop Brexit going ahead on 31 October.
But Bogdanor said that getting Her Maj involved in politics like that would “would stretch the constitution to its outermost limits, if not beyond”.
In an explosive BBC interview today, Major said:
“The Queen’s decision cannot be challenged in law, but the Prime Minister’s advice to the Queen can, and I for one would be prepared to go and seek judicial review to prevent parliament being bypassed.”
As the BBC’s political editor pleaded for lawyers to weigh in on whether the case would be feasible, many obliged. Charlie Falconer, a former Labour Lord Chancellor, took to the Twittersphere to claim that “most lawyers” think a judicial review along those lines would succeed.
John Major says he would apply for an immediate Juducial Review against the Prime Minister preventing him advising HMQ to prorogue Parliament to facilitate No Deal. JR would succeed most lawyers think ( see eg Lord Pannick). to John Major.
And Professor Bogdanor, reached by Legal Cheek this morning, reckoned that the case “might well” succeed.
But legal commentator David Allen Green tweeted that the chances of the case succeeding would be “zero”.
Unless there is some odd aspect of constitutional law unknown to me, or some startling legal submission I cannot imagine, the chances of the High Court granting a remedy so as to prevent Parliament being prorogued are…
— David Allen Green (@davidallengreen) July 10, 2019
Meanwhile, acerbic but anonymous academic SpinningHugo debated with Open University lecturer Carl Gardner. Gardner argued that the Supreme Court “would (rightly) see the advice as constitutionally improper and so (less obviously rightly) unlawful”.
#legalpride #londonpride
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