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.

1) Get in Touch

Speaking to lawyers within firms can give you a great insight into the culture of the firm as well as the work that they do on a daily basis. It looks fantastic on an application if you’ve shown the initiative to speak to someone before you apply and people are often flattered when you show an interest in what they do, so don’t be embarrassed to ask for advice. If you speak to someone at a careers fair or an open day make sure to get their name and send them a follow-up email, and make the most of LinkedIn to start getting connected.

2) Do a Vacation Scheme

Not only is this a much more assured way of getting a training contract, vacation schemes are also the best way to judge if a law firm is right for you. They provide you with more time to get a feel for the firm, and more opportunities to impress them and show off your capabilities than a short interview would. It’s much easier to get an idea of what working there will really be like by experiencing it for yourself.

3) Be Genuine and Relaxed at Interviews

It’s important to be well prepared for interviews, but don’t let this take away from how you conduct yourself on the day. If you rote learn answers this may show that you aren’t able to think on your feet, and it may also take away from giving an accurate reflection of your personality. Try to relax and be yourself; the interviewers are looking for capability but also for people that they want to sit in an office with. 

4) Consider the Firm’s Selection Process

Although it can be difficult to remember whilst you’re trying to impress at interviews, open days and on vacation schemes, it’s important to consider how contact with the firm impacts on your impression of them. Law firms all have different methods of recruiting, and this can be a good indication of their treatment of trainees. Some law firms may really challenge you intellectually at interviews, or try to get the best out of you at vacation schemes by setting up interesting challenges whilst providing support. These experiences can be a good indication of what life as a trainee would be like with them.

5) Look Further than Online Brochures

It’s easy to be taken in by glamorous promises on law firms’ websites, such as doing overseas seats. However, the best way to find a firm that’s the best fit for you is to consider what kind of work you want to do and culture you want to work in on a daily basis. If you don’t enjoy the particular culture or practice areas of a firm in London, it won’t make it much better if this environment is transplanted somewhere more exotic.

6) Base your choice on Practice Areas

The work you do as a lawyer will be entirely different depending on which practice area you work in. As a trainee you will sit in four (or sometimes six) seats and after two years you will specialise in one of these areas, so it’s important to consider the practice areas that may interest you.

7) Read the News

Reading the news will provide an insight to the deals and disputes that a firm is currently involved in and help you understand which practice areas work on those transactions. It may also provide an insight into recent or potential future development within the legal world. For example, if you are looking for a small or medium-sized firm you may discover that the law firms that you are considering could be facing a potential merger with a larger firm.

8) Training Contract Structure

Training contracts are structured very differently across firms, as some firms structure their offices so that a trainee is always seated with a partner and/or an associate, whilst others give trainees their own office. Consider the structure that you feel would provide you with the best way to grow and develop as a lawyer.

9) Use Your Resources

From your university’s careers service to the vast amount of advice available online, there is plenty of research that you can do to gain an insight into firms before you apply. Make the most of all resources available to you as this will improve your applications and ensure you are selecting firms that will be best for you. Some online careers advisors even offer contact with lawyers within various firms, and are willing to provide extensive advice to you personally concerning applications. Be willing to listen and take their advice on board.

10) Be Selective

Being selective by choosing five or six firms to apply to will mean that you have more time to tailor each application to the criteria specified in the brochures. Highlight that you not only want to be a lawyer but also that you specifically want to be a lawyer at that firm; offering someone a training contract means investing a huge amount of time and money in them, so showing commitment is key.

Akin Gump’s London Newly Qualified Lawyer (NQ) pay will not be changing at this time and remains at US$180,000, until the firm chooses to review associate/NQ salaries.

Victoria Widdows, Director of International Legal Recruiting & Development at Akin Gump in London, commented: “Training as a lawyer in our London office offers an inspiring and immersive environment. Akin Gump trainees quickly become an integral part of the London office and we want to ensure that salaries are reflective of this at the top end of the market, as is the case with our NQ salaries.”

Shearman will retain 87% of its London trainees due to qualify in September 2017, as 13 out of 15 trainees were offered and accepted newly qualified (NQ) positions at the firm. This represents a drop from both its 2016 and 2015 retention rates, when all 13 of its September qualifiers accepted full-time positions at the firm’s London office. This year’s figure remains above its 2014 rates, however, when the firm retained 75% of its final-year trainees to NQ positions.

The US firm’s September NQ lawyers join the mergers and acquisitions, finance, financial Institutions advisory and financial regulatory, project development and finance, and antitrust global practices. Three members of Shearman’s NQ intake this year will take up international secondments in Brussels, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

Other firms to have announced their retention rates for this autumn include Burges Salmon and Blake Morgan. Burges Salmon announced in April this year that it will retain 100% of its 28 trainees, while Blake Morgan will keep eight of nine trainees who will qualify this September.