Legal500

Travers Smith LLP

10 SNOW HILL, LONDON, EC1A 2AL, ENGLAND

Tel:: Work 020 7295 3000
Fax:: Fax 020 7295 3500
DX:: 79 LONDON/CITY EC1

Web:: www.traverssmith.com
Email:

Paris, London

Travers Smith has spent the past 150 years quietly building a reputation for excellence. The key to its reputation is a partner-led approach and an uncompromising focus on quality control. This, when allied to one of the highest retention rates in the City, means that it is able to present clients with teams of uniformly excellent lawyers.

The firm: With almost 300 lawyers, the firm’s size allows it to be entrepreneurial in its approach and exceptionally efficient. It fights only the battles that are worth winning, consistently focusing on the results that it can achieve for its clients rather than the points it can score. This approach has attracted a long list of loyal of clients.

Types of work undertaken: Travers Smith is a full-service law firm. Technical excellence underpins everything it does and the firm strives to provide user-friendly legal advice that is relevant to clients’ needs. The firm acts for a number of publicly-listed and private companies, financial institutions and private equity clients, as well as other business enterprises involved in large and complex UK and cross-border transactions. A corporate law firm, its business comprises the following main practice areas: banking; commercial (including IP and IT); corporate (corporate finance, private equity and investment funds); corporate recovery; employment; employee incentives; environment and planning; EU and competition; financial services and regulatory; litigation; pensions; real estate; and tax.

International: for its international and cross-border work, Travers Smith has always favoured close relationships with other premium-quality independent law firms, deliberately avoiding formal networks and exclusive relationships. Instead, the firm has invested heavily in forming close ties with a number of carefully chosen preferred firms, ensuring that its clients have the very best experience and expertise at their disposal.

Recruiting talent: Travers Smith is always looking to recruit people of academic excellence and sound judgement who take their careers, but not themselves, seriously. The firm’s training philosophy is that skill and expertise are best acquired through practical experience, complemented by carefully targeted formal instruction. Great emphasis is placed on ensuring that trainees are actively involved in a broad range of work and the firm regularly wins awards for its training programmes. Graduate applications are made to graduate recruitment manager Germaine VanGeyzel at www.traverssmith.com/graduaterecruitment

Breakdown of work %
Corporate/commercial/financial services 40
Banking/corporate recovery 12
Litigation 12
Real estate 10
Employment 10
Tax 10
Pensions 6

Number of partners 63
Number of associate solicitors 141
Number of other fee-earners 81

Above material supplied by Travers Smith LLP.

Search News and Articles

Legal Developments in the UK

Legal Developments and updates from the leading lawyers in each jurisdiction. To contribute, send an email request to

COUNCIL TAX

In Harrow LBC v Ayiku [2012] EWHC 1200 (Admin) Sales J held that the word “or” in the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) Order 1992, art 3 Class N, had a disjunctive meaning, therefore it was sufficient for the non-British spouse of a foreign student to satisfy one or other of the two conditions, namely being prevented from taking paid employment or being prevented from claiming benefits, in order to qualify as a “relevant person” who was exempted from liability to pay council tax.

- 11KBW
QUEEN’S SPEECH

Bills already introduced pursuant to the Queen’s Speech on 9 May 2012 include Local Government Finance Bill and Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, both accompanied by Explanatory Notes, which in each case address ECHR compatibility.

- 11KBW
Standards

In R (Calver) v Adjudication Panel for Wales [2012] EWHC 1172 (Admin) Mr Calver was a member of Manorbier Community Council who successfully challenged the decision of the Panel to dismiss his appeal against a decision by Prembrokeshire County Council Standards Committee censuring him for a number of comments or blogs posted by him on a website he owned and controlled.

- 11KBW
A justified retrospective

Clive Sheldon - QC debates the pros & cons of retrospective tax legislation

- 11KBW
Public Sector Equality Duty (“PSED”)

In R (Greenwich Community Law Centre) v Greenwich LBC [2012] EWCA Civ 496 the Court of Appeal held that the Council had had “due regard to the PSED when making changes to its funding of community legal advice services”. At para 30 Elias LJ said:

- 11KBW
Public Sector Equality Duty

Surrey County Council conducted a review of its Library Service. This culminated in a Report to the Council’s Cabinet. The Recommendations in the Report included that there should be consultation about a community-partnership approach at selected Libraries.

- 11KBW
Judicial Review

The Judgment of Lindblom J in The Manydown Co Ltd v Basingstoke and Deane BC [2012] EWHC 977 (Admin) repays attention. The Claimant sought to challenge by judicial review 2 decisions of the Council: (1) the Council’s refusal to reconsider its position on the development of a site that it owns (and is the subject matter of a Joint Development Partnership Agreement with the Claimant); and (2) a decision of the Council’s Cabinet approving a selection of sites for development which did not include this site.

- 11KBW
The Health and Social Care Act 2012: impact on adult social services

After its torrid passage through Parliament, the Health and Social Care Bill received Royal Assent on 27 March 2012. The Act deals principally with healthcare reform, but it also contains some amendments to the legislative framework for social care. It will come into force on a day yet to be appointed by the Secretary of State.

- 11KBW
Immigration update May 2012

In this issue:

- Penningtons Solicitors LLP
Premium service for tier 2 and 5 sponsors to be launched

A premium service for sponsors will be launched by the UKBA on 6 April 2012. The service is designed specifically for companies that sponsor international employees under tier 2 and 5 of the points based system and aims to provide them with enhanced support.

- Penningtons Solicitors LLP