The firm announced on December 13 that applications to enter Fuse will be welcomed from companies until 25 January. A selection pitch to the firm will follow in February before successful applicants move into the space shortly after. Both early stage and mature companies can apply, joining Fuse for about six months.

Shruti Ajitsaria, head of Fuse, commented: ‘Fuse acts as a radar enabling us to understand what is out there in terms of technology-driven solutions to the challenges that our lawyers and clients face every day. Selecting a new cohort will enable us to continue to be a destination and a collaborative partner for best-in-class tech companies with whom we find synergies.’

The firm rewired its Fuse initiative last April, when the incubator announced a host of established names to take part in the second cohort. Last time around incumbent companies Avvoka, Legatics and Nivaura all retained their places, while Bloomsbury AI, Neota Logic and the highly-rated Kira Systems made up the new additions. The second cohort also saw companies without an explicit legal focus win spots, such as AI company Signal Media.

Magic Circle counterparts Slaughter and May and technology powerhouse Thomson Reuters are both primed to launch their own tech incubators next year, directly competing with established names such as Mishcon de Reya’s MDR LABS and Dentons’ Nextlaw Labs and Nextlaw Ventures.

A&O, meanwhile, has also been named a partner to the University of Oxford’s AI and legal services project. The project was recently awarded £1.2m by the Economic and Social Research Council, which will be used to fund the ‘Unlocking the Potential of AI for English Law’ project.

The initiative will see the university’s law, economics, social policy, computer science and education departments collaborate. The research team will then work with private-sector partners to address research questions such as AI’s potential for dispute resolution and applying AI to legal reasoning. A&O joins Slaughters, The Law Society and Thomson Reuters, among others, as project partners.

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In keeping with the firm’s pledge to provide more complex and sophisticated client solutions, the scheme encompasses developments in legal technology and new business approaches.

Graduates will undertake four six-month rotations in the following departments: business solutions, commercial management, innovation, legal project management and pricing and resource management.

Two roles will be available in March 2019, followed by a further four starting in September 2019. Recruits will be based in Norton Rose Fulbright’s London office, with opportunities to work with the Innovation Team based at the firm’s Newcastle Hub. The role could also involve shorter placements in one of the firm’s international offices.

David Carter, commercial director, commented: “We are delighted to offer a comprehensive business and legal operations graduate scheme. The scheme reflects the immediate need for new team members, to meet both client and internal demand following the early success of NRF Transform, our global change and innovation programme. The scheme also reflects our commitment to build the teams involved for the long term.”

Matrin McCann, partner, global head of business and global sponsor of NRF Transform commented: “Everything that is exciting about the legal sector at the moment is reflected in this graduate scheme. The delivery of legal services is “transforming” and the leading law firms know that their future success is linked to how they adjust the traditional model. This is a chance for ambitious graduates to join the teams we have in London and in our Newcastle Hub, helping us to deliver a consistently better service to clients.”

Click here to apply for the graduate scheme.

To see Norton Rose Fulbright’s full Lex 100 training contract profile, click here.

The essay question will be made available when the competition launches, so watch this space!

To find out more visit: www.icsa.org.uk/tmep or contact ICSA’s Student Engagement Officer, Costa Roussis: [email protected]

Trainees will now earn £45,000 in their first year and £51,000 in the second year of their training contract.

NQ lawyers will earn £83,000, rising to £86,000 once they have six months post-qualification experience (PQE) under their belt. One-year PQE associates will be remunerated with £89,000 and one-and-a-half-year PQE lawyers will receive £93,750.

Bonuses will also be dished out to associates who demonstrate a ‘good or exceptional level of performance’. NQs will receive a bonus equivalent to 8.25% of their basic salary whilst the bonuses handed to trainees and support staff will amount to 3% of their base salaries.

To see Slaughter and May’s full Lex 100 profile, click here.

1. May to fight confidence vote – and says: ‘I’m ready to finish the job’ [via Sky News]

2. Sainsbury’s and Asda appeal for extra time to deal with watchdog’s merger probe [via The Independent]

3. Home Office delays plan to suspend ‘golden visas’ for super-rich foreign nationals [via The Independent]

4. Google invests in London property tech start-up AskPorter [via Evening Standard]

5. Victoria Beckham’s fashion HQ in London sold to Middle Eastern investor [via Evening Standard]

6. Former Tesco bosses cleared as £250 million fraud trial collapses [via Evening Standard]

7. Dixons Carphone loses £440m in six months [via The Guardian]

The landmark ruling means that UK parliament can instruct the government to bring an end to the Brexit process, if it so wishes.

The dispute pitted a batch of Scottish anti-Brexit politicians, namely Andy Wightman, Ross Greer, Alyn Smith, David Martin, Catherine Stihler, and Joanna Cherry against the government, the Council of the EU and the European Commission.

As a result of the ruling, the argument from the two EU institutions that the consent of the other 27 member states would be needed for the UK to revoke its withdrawal was defeated.

Hogan Lovells’ public law partner Charles Brasted commented: ‘In the long-term, practical questions remain as to whether, if the circumstances were to arise, the option for the UK to outstay its welcome is politically realistic. In the more immediate term, confirmation that the UK can still choose to remain in the EU is likely to harden minds, and cause more entrenchment, on both sides of the political divide against the compromises presented by the government’s deal.’

A raft of lawyers were enlisted for the case, with the anti-Brexit politicians represented by Edinburgh firm Balfour + Manson, which instructed Matrix Chambers’ Aidan O’Neill QC as lead counsel. He was supported by Brick Court’s Maya Lester QC, and Jolyon Maugham QC’s Good Law Project offered crowdfunding support.

Blackstone Chambers’ Thomas de la Mare QC acted for the government, while London firm Bindmans advised MPs Chris Leslie and Tom Brake who intervened in favour of the anti-Brexit politicians.

Meanwhile, Fieldfisher has successfully represented Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky in a case against the eastern European nation’s largest bank, PrivatBank.

Kolomoisky, and fellow defendant Gennadiy Bogolyubov, had been accused by the bank of defrauding it out of $1.91bn, with PrivatBank subsequently attempting to impose a worldwide freezing injunction (WFO) on them. Both men were the majority shareholders in the bank prior to its nationalisation in Ukraine in December 2016.

In the High Court, Justice Fancourt dismissed the WFO after identifying ‘serious non-disclosure and misrepresentation’ by PrivatBank in its claim. As a result, Justice Fancourt ruled that the maximum possible value of PrivatBank’s claim should be slashed from $1.91bn to just $515m.

Fieldfisher partner Andrew Lafferty, who led on the case, told Legal Business: ‘Our client has always maintained that the bank’s claims were politically motivated and misconceived. The judge has found that at least three quarters of their claim was not arguable at all.

‘As a firm we may have hidden our light under a bushel when it comes to disputes, despite historically working on some big claims. It’s great to have our name associated with such a high-profile dispute.’

PrivatBank was represented by Hogan Lovells, while Bogolyubov was advised by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

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The merger will go live on 1 May 2019, subject to due diligence and legal agreements, while initial talks taking place in early 2017. The new firm will have a total of 700 employees and seven offices, with scale, future investment opportunities and client wins the cited motivations for the move.

‘We’ve been looking up the M4 corridor for some time,’ Garry Mackay, chief executive and partner at Ashfords told Legal Business. ‘We have lots of clients in the south east and it fitted with our strategy from that perspective.’

The new firm will continue to trade under the name of Exeter-based Ashfords, which has growth track of 43% over the last five years in the LB100, with the firm reporting growth for the current financial year of 11%. Boyes Turner, meanwhile, reported a revenue of £14.3m for 2018, up from £13.2m the previous year but a decrease from the £15.4m the firm posted in 2015. Revenue growth for the current financial year stands at 12%.

For Boyes Turner, the takeover by Ashfords will provide a sought-after expansion beyond its Reading offering, where it has enjoyed a strong reputation as one of the most established players in the town. It featured in preliminary talks with Blake Lapthorn and Morgan Cole before the tripartite merger fell apart in 2013, with the other two firms going on to form Blake Morgan.

‘As a leading tech and innovation firm, this merger allows for greater growth from our existing strong position,’ Boyes Turner chief executive Andrew Chalkley commented. ‘This merger gives us the scale and investment capability to grow, expand our client base and keep pace with our clients’ needs. The combined firm will enable us to provide even more value to our clients as we will be able to offer a wider range of skills and service lines.’

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To see Ashfords’ full Lex 100 profile, click here.

The Philadelphia-headquartered firm has continued its commercial litigation push by making up Matthew Banham and Timothy Bowden from its white-collar crime bench in London, while tax lawyer Daniel Hawthorne has also been promoted.

The move marks Dechert’s biggest UK investment for some time, having made up only one City partner last year and bypassing London altogether the year before.

The City office has also seen a pacey run of lateral hires recently, recruiting Sidley Austin’s London co-head of disputes Dorothy Cory-Wright to head up its commercial disputes practice in July. The previous month, former senior US federal prosecutor Roger Burlingame joined from Kobre & Kim and in September, Hogan Lovells lost its highly-rated private equity partner Robert Darwin to Dechert’s corporate and life sciences team. The firm chalked up 2017 revenues of $977.9m in a seventh consecutive year of growth and now has around 1,000 lawyers across its 27 offices globally.

London management committee member Jason Butwick said: ‘These promotions reflect the firm’s commitment to London and its importance to the firm. Our new partners represent the next generation of Dechert lawyers and further strengthen our global capability.’

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1. May to publish Brexit legal advice as Tories urge change of course [via The Guardian]

2. Ryanair faces legal action over refusal to refund cancelled flights [via The Guardian]

3. Ethical veganism could be considered a religion in landmark tribunal case [via The Telegraph]

4. Martin Sorrell’s S4 buys ad firm MightyHive in $150m deal [via The Guardian]

5. Plastic recycling: Business leaders demand UK stops sending waste to developing world [via Sky News]

6. Marlboro maker in takeover talks with cannabis firm Cronos [The Guardian]

7. BT loses appeal to change method of pensions calculation [via The Guardian]

8. Shell to link executive pay to carbon reduction [via The Week]

9. Why internet access is a human right [via The Week]

10. Brexit: Pound value jumps after European Court of Justice official says UK can revoke Article 50 [via The Independent]

11. Ted Baker staff demand end of ‘forced hugging and culture of harassment’ [via The Independent]

12. MPs rule government ‘in contempt of parliament’ [via The Week]

The GSK deal sees it sell its malted drink brand Horlicks and other consumer healthcare nutrition brands to Unilever and includes the merger of listed GSK Consumer Healthcare India with Hindustan Unilever. GSK will also sell its 82% stake in GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh in the deal, which is slated to complete by the end of next year.

Bakers stepped up for long-standing client Unilever on the deal, with a London team led by corporate partner David Scott alongside partners Steve Holmes, Sue McLean and Michelle Blunt, who advised on the IP and tech aspects of the deal, as well as tax partner Alistair Craig.

Indian firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Unilever on Indian law, while Slaughter and May, with a team including partners David Johnson, Simon Nicholls and Christian Boney, acted for GSK.

Last year, Bakers advised Unilever on its acquisition of the personal care and homecare brands of Quala, the Latin American consumer goods company, as well as it joint venture with Europe & Asia Commercial Company in Myanmar.

Scott told Legal Business: ‘It was a pleasure to partner again with our great client, Unilever, and our friends at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, on this terrific acquisition, including an iconic brand such as Horlicks.’

Meanwhile, Slaughters earlier this year advised repeat client GSK on its $13bn acquisition of Novartis’ 36.5% stake in their consumer healthcare joint venture.

In other news, Pinsents secured a notable win to advise Manchester-headquartered AJ Bell, one of the largest UK investment platform providers, on a proposed listing on the London Stock Exchange which could raise up to £675m.

The price range for the offer has been set at £1.54 to £1.66 per ordinary share, implying a market capitalisation on admission of between £626m and £675m.

Pinsents corporate partner Julian Stanier led the team advising the company, which is also offering customers the opportunity to apply for shares via the AJ Bell website.

Stanier told Legal Business the IPO is slated to be the last big London listing of 2018 after what has been a choppy year for the capital markets.

‘It’s the same with all companies looking to list. If there is a growth story and strong management team, investors will back it, and we are confident that will be the case with AJ Bell.’

Stanier points to the customer offer alongside the institutional offer as being a point of interest.

He added: ‘The quasi-retail element is not the most common, although it has appeared before, such as in Ocado’s 2010 IPO. What’s interesting is that the whole customer offer can be done completely through AJ Bell’s website.’

Shares are due to be admitted on 12 December.

Addleshaws, meanwhile is advising Numis as sponsor, financial adviser, sole bookrunner and broker to AJ Bell on the float, led by partners Giles Distin in London and Richard Lee in Manchester.

The firm pointed to other notable listings it has worked on in the last two years, including the IPOs of Mind Gym, Sumo Digital, The City Pub Company and Ramsdens.

Distin commented: ‘Whilst UK IPO activity has generally been more muted this year, partly due to volatile market conditions and fears around Brexit, several sizeable and successful businesses have managed to complete a flotation. Like Numis, which has remained very active in the IPO market this year, we’re pleased to have been busy throughout 2018 advising on IPOs and other equity capital markets work.’

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