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Global round-up: Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Kennedys
Kennedys cancels its bonus scheme, Clifford Chance's New York office announces a new round of redundancies, and top firms globally scramble for the biggest deals. Today's legal news from around the globe...
The New Lawyer
Kennedys holds on to all cash for now
UK litigation firm Kennedys has cancelled its bonus scheme, but is promising pay increases next year instead. The Lawyer magazine has reported that the firm would put funds from its bonus pot towards increased across the board. According to the firm's chief executive Rick Martin, the firm was doing well but the "bonus system isn't working for us and isn't consistent with our ethos. We're not a sweatshop designed to grind people down", he said.
CC lays off 24 lawyers in New York
Clifford Chance's New York office has announced a new round of redundancies, with 24 associates being laid off from various transactional practice groups. Business support staff in the NY office are also preparing themselves as an additional axing from that group is predicted. The 24 associate cuts are spread across all practice groups, thought litigation lawyers have been spared this time. They are still recovering from a litigation-targeted cut of 20 in October last year. The firm has blamed "continuing sluggishness in the market".
Top firms line up on $6bn shipping deal
Law firms are scrambling for the biggest deals in a desperate attempt to secure some decent work. The big deal de jour is German tourism giant TUI's $6bn sell-off of a majority stake in its Hamburg-based shipping unit to an investor group. While Latham & Watkins, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, White & Case and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have secured roles on the deal, it is Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer that scooped the biggest portion.
