Innovative Lawyers 2015

InnovatIve Lawyers 2015

october 22015

ft.com/innovative-lawyers

ReseaRch paRtneR suppoRted by

ForeWord The first decade

Welcometoalandmark edition of Innovative Lawyersmagazine. This is the10thyearofanFT specialreportthathas weighedand ranked the work of European legalorganisationsduringatimeofgreat change in the industry. In therun-uptoour first report,manyinand outsidethe profession said innovating wasnot what lawyersdid.In2006 just twoleading legalfirms expresslycited innovation as avalue on theirwebsites. Nowalmostall do. Andthe growth of theseriesofFTreports,now with threeseparateregional editions,shows howfirmsaroundthe worldhaveembracedinnovation. Theworkoflawyers wastransformed by theglobaleconomiccrisisin 2008.Theywerecalledontosteadybusinesses andgovernments,especially as bankerscameunder increasing suspicion.Thatworkisstill going on but stronger regulation in thewakeofthe crisis is also forcingmorecompliance work upon companiesaroundthe world—and they areturning tolawyers forhelp. Theincreasingtempo of change hasbeenfeltinthe structures of legal FTSpecialreporTS ediTor Leyla Boulton organisations. Mergersacross continents have become widespread in ediTor thepastdecadeand severalfirmshavemoved close to beingtruly global Rohit Jaggi producTion ediTor entities.And anylistofthe eliteofthe profession hastoinclude some US George Kyriakos firms that have made substantial inroadsintothe Europeanmarket. arTdirecTor Jonathan Saunders In theUK, theLegal Services Act2007, liberalising some areasofthe JuniordeSigner profession,has hadamuchgreater effect than many lawyersexpected Harriet Thorne picTure ediTorS when it wasfirstmooted. Many firms have taken advantageofthe Emily Lewis |Michael Crabtree legislationtohirenon-lawyers into thepartnership,and to setupother Sub ediTor Philip Parrish typesofbusiness. Tenyears ago, fewfirmsthoughttheywould outsource TableS deSigner work.Now nearly allthe topfirmshaveanoffshoreorlow-costcentre. In Derek Westwood therestofEurope, too, anumberoffirmslookradically differentfroma illuSTraTor MartinO’Neill decade agoand,byembracing theconcept of continuous change,havebeen global adVerTiSingdirecTor —b2b featured regularlyinthe report’s rankings over theyears. Robert Grange global clienT relaTionSHip direcTor Technology is anotherconsistentlygrowing themeofthe FT Innovative StephanieCollier Lawyersreports.Firms have gonefromoutrightscepticismtoembracing publiSHing SYSTeMS Manager Andrea Frias-Andrade technology that candeliver much greatervalue to clients. If we look ahead proJecT Manager to theprofessioninanother 10 years’ time,manyfirmsmight well be using NathalieRavier adVerTiSingproducTion artificialintelligencetopowersomeoftheir legaladvice. This mayreduce Daniel Lesar thesizeoflegal organisations—but it mightalsoplace thefocusevenmore rSg conSulTing Reena SenGupta, Yasmin Lambert, closely on thetailored, innovative advice that thebestlawyers have builtan Lucy Pearson, Laura Ansell,Victoria Harris, Katie O’Riordan,Joshua expertiseinproviding. James, Helen Jenkins, Scott Shustak, Hannah Bledsoe Lionel Barber Editor,Financial Times

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 3 contents This year…

special achievement business of law 7 David Morley,below, senior client service partner at Allen &Overy,has 16 been the driving force behind Collaborations with in-house the firm’s success as afirst legal teams and fresh ideas moverinnumerous fields for corporate projects are just twowaysfirmshave added valuetotheir service

social responsibility 20 Ideas and initiatives in which lawyers engage with and help civil societyare also benefiting their firms

strateGic resourcinG 24 Some of the most creative efficiency improvements have produced substantial savings for lawfirms, which they have then been able to pass on to their 7 clients

Growth and business introduction development 8 28 Financial crisis has defined As some firms takeonthe the 10 yearsthese reports accountancy giants in the have been running, but many liberalised legal market, more challenges, not least in others are building revenues new technology, lie ahead from less orthodoxavenues 13 continental technoloGy individuals 13 32 36 36 The climate of austerityin Digital strategies have been Judges chose joint winners some of Europe’sweaker thefocus of investment in the of the award for legal economies has encouraged search for efficiency gains, innovator of the year — lawfirmsinthose countries including agrowing interest Shireen Irani, right, and to experiment more in artificial intelligence Simon Harper

contributors Arash Massoudi,FTM&A research consultant and FT and corporate finance contributor, correspondent Duncan Robinson,FT Murad Ahmed,FTEuropean Sarah Murray,FTcontributor Brussels correspondent technologycorrespondent Laura Noonan,FTinvestment Reena SenGupta,RSG Jane Croft,FTlaw courts banking correspondent consulting chief executiveand correspondent Christian Oliver,FTEU FT contributor LindsayFortado,FTlegal correspondent Michael Skapinker,FT correspondent Lucy Pearson,RSG Consulting associate editor

4 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 2015 rankings and award winners research Ranking Page Award winner methodoloGy

FT 10: European law firm innovators 2015 10 Pinsent Masons FT InnovativeLawyers 2015 is arankingsreport and Top10European game-changers of the past 10 years 10 DLAPiper/Latham &Watkins series of awards for Europe- Top10European law firms (non-UK) 15 Garrigues based lawyers. Shortlists Topfivegame changers of the past 10 years (non-UK) 15 Vieira de Almeida &Associados (VdA) for the awards comprise the top-ranked submissions in each section of the report. Client service 19 Pinsent Masons The FT and its research leGal eXpertise Social responsibility 21 iProbono partner RSG Consulting Strategic resourcing 26 Axiom have devised aunique methodologytorank lawyers corporate and Growth and businessdevelopment 29 Signature Litigation on innovation. Lawfirms, in- commercial Technology 35 Axiom/Pinsent Masons house legal teams and other 42 legal service organisations The revival in mergers and Corporate and commercial 43 Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira are invited to submit their acquisition activityhas been innovations. These are then Finance 47 Dechert fully researched through an opportunityfor firms to Dispute resolution 49 Hogan Lovells telephone interviewsand showtheir deal-sealing skills Competition 51 Linklaters online feedback. No entryappears in this finance Intellectual property 53 Wiggin report without arobust 46 client or independent Complexcross-border deals In-house legal team 57 BT Group reference. Market experts have required original In-house operational change 57 Wolseley Group are also called in to assess thinking from companies’ the submissions and the Outstanding innovation of 2015 Linklaters research. advisers Each entryisscoredout of 10 points fororiginality, rationale and impact, in-house for amaximum score 28 55 of 30. Entries are then Working in acompany’s legal benchmarked against department has become an each other to arriveatthe final rankings. Lawyers exciting option for lawyers are ranked for delivering interested in innovation, exceptional valueto following atransformation business. in roles in the past 10 years The in-house lawyer rankings are drawn from nominations as well risinG stars as submissions, but all entries require third- 58 partyvalidation and Five individuals aged under commendation. 40 whohavedemonstrated that ideas in the legal ft 10: lawfirm profession do not have to innovators 2015 come from the top down The FT 10 ranking is apure aggregate of each lawfirm’s dispute resolution performance across the 48 private practice categories So intricate is international 46 of the report. This year we litigation that firms are have truncated the ranking under pressure to find new (in previous years it was ways to achievesettlements the FT 50) to accommodate aranking of thegame- changing European law competition firms of the past 10 years, 50 commemorating the 10th In atesting regulatory edition of the Europereport. environment firms veha had This ranking is based on to be inventivetosecure lawfirms’answers to five positiveoutcomes for clients questions, considering growth, change, operational innovation, legal innovation intellectual property and contribution to the 52 profession. The advance of digital and online businesses has put the Forthe full methodology, go onus on their legal teams to 52 to ft.com/innovative-lawyers expand their range of skills

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 5

Special achievement Front runner DavidMorley hasdriven hisfirm, Allen &Overy,to be thefirstmover in many fields in recent years. By Reena SenGupta

avid Morley,senior partneratAllen &Overy,exudes youthfulness and enthusiasm—raretraitsinanindi- Dvidual whohas headed an international lawfirm for 12 years. Histenure at the firm has not been easy.He has seen the firm through the financial crisis and ensuing recession, and has met the challenges of what manyinthe profession called the “new normal” —aworld where premium lawfirms can no longer dictate to their clients. Harlie BiBBy

Allen &Overy,where he has worked since :C joining as an articled clerk in 1980, has gone OTO

through manyincarnations. Once considered PH the latecomer to the “magic circle”oftop UK firms,ithas in recent years reinvented itself as nowhas alow-costcentre in Belfast, its own Allen &Overy,however,isshowing this is amemberofanelite groupofglobal firms. contract-lawyer business, Peerpoint, and vari- not the case. Profits are up 133 percent over Of note have been the decisions to invest in ous online and legal technologyofferings that the past 10 years, from£245m to £579m. growth during the recession, when peerswere it combines for clients as an alternativetothe The firm, under Mr Morley’sleadership, has cutting back. The firm has opened 18 offices in traditional single model based on an hourly been bolder than most of its peer group. His the past fiveyears, taking its total to 45 glob- rate and expensivelawyers at fixed locations. legacy —hesteps down in March —will not be ally.Its commitment to expansion has paid confined to Allen &Overy,however. off: its rate of growth in that periodinrevenue One of his significant achievements is Prime, terms has been double that of other magic cir- ‘When youtry something his idea for tackling the lack of social mobility cle firms. Over the past 10 yearsrevenues have novel, younever knowif in the profession by encouraging lawfirms almost doubled, from £666m to £1,281m. and in-house legal departments to giveschool- Having wonthe FT’smostinnovativelaw it will work. In fact, children from disadvantaged backgrounds firminEuropeaward four times in the past qualitywork experience.Some88firms are 10 years, Allen &Overy is clearly intent on people arelining up to involved, and more than 2,875 students have leading the way. Butthe position of first vermo tell youitwon’t work’ passed through the programme. is not alwayscovetedinthe legal profession. Mr Morley wastoldbyateacher at his Ches- Being second is far more comfortable for law- ter comprehensiveschool that he would never yers brought up following precedent. “When In the past, top lawfirmshave resisted any become alawyer. But he went on to read law youtry something novel, younever knowifit standardisation of their legal services and at Cambridge, and headed Allen &Overy’s will work,”MrMorleyadmits. “In fact, people have wanted to retain abespokeapproach to banking practice on his waytobecoming are lining up to tell youitwon’t work.” all their work, at their high hourly rate. Many managing and then senior partner.Onthe way One of the more controversialmoves of have felt —and some still do —that to offer he has dispelled manyfervently held assump- recent years has been to offer an integrated alternativedeliverymodelscan mean adilu- tions about howthe business of lawshould be deliveryofdifferent typesofservice.The firm tion of apremium brand. conducted. n

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 7 INTRODUCTION

Shining lights in the dark Adecade deﬁned by crisis has fosteredinnovation but bigchallengeslie ahead, says Reena SenGupta

his year’sFTInnovativeLawyers report marks adecade of researching and writing about innovation in the legal Tprofession in Europe. The first report, in 2006,came at atime when lawfirmswere enjoying double-digitgrowthand there wasa feeling the bumper years would neverend. As one firm in Portugal put it, developing the business meant standing by the fax machine.Sure, the marketwas competitiveand there wasa need for firms to differentiate themselves, but beingsuccessful had neverbeensoeasy. Skip forward to 2015 and there is anew mentalityinthe European legal profession. Previouslyheldtotemshavedisappeared.For example, back in2006, few lawfirm leaders ever thoughtthat significant partsoftheir legalserviceswouldbestandardised and that they would have to offer low-value, high-volume services. Outsourcingwas not seen as a premium lawfirm activity. Today, nearlyall of the top 20 UK-origi- natedlaw firms veha alow-costdeliverycen- tre, including more traditional namessuch as FreshfieldsBruckhausDeringer, which opened its Manchester facilitythisJanuary.

Innovationisnow avalue to which lawfirms andin-house lawyers aspire, but some law- ◄

8 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS FT 10: LAWFIRM INNOVATORS 2015 aw tise sofl exper tal score for andout entries ommended Rank Firm To ranked entries Legal score Busines score St C entries 1 Pinsent Masons 193 70 123 62 2Baker &McKenzie 180 62 118 35 3Allen &Overy 172 103 69 61 4HoganLovells 157 72 85 34 5CMS 156 46 110 34 6Linklaters 150 74 76 51 7Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &Flom 138 91 47 33 8Latham &Watkins 136 93 43 33 9= Garrigues 130 65 65 24 9= Paul Hastings 130 67 63 24

TOP10GAME CHANGERS OF THE PAST 10 YEARS Firm Score DLAPiper 43 Pioneer of the Swissverein structure, under which affiliates remain separate entities, the firm led in showing the profession how to achieve ambitious internationalisation without the pain of afull merger.DLA tied up with US law firm Piper Rudnick in 2005 and has since expanded its number of offices from 49 to 88, covering 30 countries. It also led in listening to clients and positioning itself as abusiness-led law firm.

Latham & 43 The firm has built practices in New York and London to rival incumbent leaders. Its Watkins growth strategy, commitment to innovation and effectivenessinlateral hiring have seen it ruffle feathers in keymarkets, particularly in finance. It has shown that elite firms can build market-leading practices in competitive jurisdictions from scratch.

Axiom 42 The contracts management businessisrevolutionising the waybig corporations create and manage commercial contracts. Axiom employs lawyers, project managers and processengineers who, together with its own technology, provide clients with an alternative to traditional law firms that raises standards for the profession.

Slater and 42 The first law firm in the world to float, Slater &Gordon originated in Australia but has Gordon gone on to build asignificant UK businesswith the acquisition of nine firms over the past three years. It is changing the wayinwhich consumer law is practised and how lawyers are perceived in the consumer market.

Allen &Overy 40 The winner of FT overall law firm innovation awards in four of the past 10 years, Allen & Overyleads the wayinshowing elite law firms aroute to combine premier legal practices with alternative service models such as its online legal services business, aosphere. It bucked the market trend to downsize in the wake of the financial crisis and has increased its number of offices by 92 per cent and partner headcount by 100.

Berwin 40 The LOD (Lawyers On Demand) service showed the wayfor lawfirms to offer flexible Leighton staffing. The scheme has now been copied by 30 per cent of the top 20 UK law firms. LOD Paisner has grown 700 per cent over the past five years. BLP has integrated LOD into aservice deliverymodel.

Eversheds 38 Aseriesofinnovations saw Eversheds enter into the profession's first comprehensive single-supplier relationship with Tyco in 2006, and set up businessprocessengineering in the early 2000s before the disaggregation of legal services wasaccepted as amarket necessity. It set up general counsel initiatives before most law firms saw the importance of the in-house lawyer.

King &Wood 38 The first leading international law firm to be headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region. Mallesons The tie-up between Chinese law firm King &Wood with Australian firm Mallesons sent waves through the profession and within twoyears has resulted in afurther spate of Anglo-Chinese tie-ups. The subsequent merger with London-based SJ Berwin means it is the first European firm to be able to offer advice from mainland China.

Bird &Bird 37 The firm grew beyond its boutique rootstobecome an internationalplayer that sticks to the media, technologyand lifescience industries.The focus on industrysectors and relatedpractice areas became alegal profession trendinthe late 1990s. Bird &Birdhas been doingitfor longer and shows how such astrategypays dividends forafocused law firm. Garrigues36The firm leads the wayonthe Iberian peninsula and in Latin America in terms of working differently. It has benefited from the days of its tie-up with Arthur Andersen and is not afraid to experiment with multi-disciplinaryteams, technologies and aprofessional approach to running its partnership. One of the first Iberian firms to publish asocial responsibilityreportin2006, it continues as an all-equitypartnership that regularly occupies the top non-UK European law firm slot in the FT reports.

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 9 INTRODUCTION

yers still equate it to providing services more of the top three slotsinaspecial FT ranking cheaply.Asthis FT report shows,itisasmuch for this year,the Top10game changers of the about innovationsintechnical legal expertise past 10 years. as it is aboutinnovation in operations or the In this ranking, which illustrates howthe business of law. profession has evolved, no singlelaw firm has The need for lawyers to innovate for clients fundamentally changed the wayinwhich the became acute during and after the financial profession operates,but allthe firms listed crisisof2008. Brad Gans, thendeputy general have ledthe legal market in some way. Many counsel at Citigroup, the US banking company, reflect the impact of globalisationonthe pro- said: “Noone could have expected ayearbefore fession. Outside the financial crisis,the story Lehmans that Citi’s share price would have of the past 10 years is oneofhow lawfirms dropped to adollar.” The legal sector found have changed their domesticproductsinto itself inthe eyeofthe storm that followed. international ones. DLAPiper and Latham& As areflection of lawyers’contributionto Watkins, while operating in different market the stabilisation of financial markets and busi- segments, have shown howtointernation- ness, the FT instituted its first special achieve- alise quickly and successfully. King&Wood ment award in 2009. Mallesons, the first leading international law The inaugural winner wasRodgin Cohen of firm to be headquarteredinthe Asia-Pacific Sullivan &Cromwell. The decision to givean region, reflects wtho he globalcentre of grav- American lawyer the first European prize was ityhas shifted towards thatpart of the world. ameasureofhow his work in big bank-related Other important trends in the legalmar- transactions had ramifications for European ketare reflected in the inclusion of Berwin institutions and howthe lawwas no longer a Leighton Paisner for its LOD (Lawyers On domestic product. Demand), which shows howthe legal sector is The financial crisis to thisyp da rovides not immune to the growing “gig economy” — manynovel situations in which lawyers are the rise of career paths based on flexible, short- forced to be creative.But this report also rec- term stints of work. The impact of regulatory ognises the work of lawyers in everyday busi- and legislativechange is shown in the inclu- nesssituationswho come up with inventive sion of Slater and Gordon. The first wfila rm to solutions. float in Australia, it has taken advantage of the There is, however, an important distinc- UK’sLegal ServicesAct to growits consumer tion betweeninventiveness and mere novelty. legalbusiness in England and Wales. António Cardoso, apartner at Portugueselaw Being afirst moverisnot the only indicator firm Vieira de Almeida&Associados (VdA) of innovation in the profession. Sometimes andone of the FT’stop 10 innovators in 2013, coming from behindcan be astrength. UK law says:“Theyare not the same thing. Inventive- firm Pinsent Masons, which wasranked 16th nessiswhen the solutionisnot obvious. This last year,takes first position in the FT’soverall is important when we deal with innovation. ‘What is considered indexoftop performersfor the 2015 report. Whatisconsidered inventiveiswhen youdis- inventiveiswhenyou Richard Foley,the firm’s seniorpartner, coveranewproblem,evenifitisnot finding believesthat being innovativeinthe legalsec- the solution. When youare innovative, you discoveranew problem, tor is as much about having an entrepreneur- have to know what the problem reallyis.” ial culture as it is about beingfirst. “Wemakea Mr Cardoso’s comment is areflection of what even if it is not finding value of watchingand learning,”hesays. “For it means to be an innovative lawyer today.Itis the solution’ us, there is asense that if youcan’t be first then no longer enoughtobeagreat problem solver. youneed to be second. We made boldness a Now, premium lawyers have to create their core value of our business and alot of what we owninstructionsand be “problem finders”. have done is aconsequenceofthat decision.” The standout legal expertise rankingsinthe role in the boardroom and supply advice to top One of thefirm’s winning innovations is in 2015 FT report showlawyers whohave done executivesthat used to be the preserve of pri- the technologycategory, whereits new cloud- just that but whohave also, in some instances, vate practice. Their departments have become basedproduct Cerico helps clientsdealwith displaced other professionaladviserstocome strategic functions, closely working with busi- compliance. It is an important category of the up with the overall commercial solution. ness colleagues to balance risk and revenues. FT report inwhich to show prowess. Besides needing these creative,commer- The resultofthis is that their purchasingpat- If the storyofthe legal sector of the past10 cial and leadership skills, lawyers also have terns have changed. Theyare willing tobuy years hasbeendominatedbythe financial cri- to be consciousabout theappropriateness of from alternative legal suppliers such as Axiom sis, the rise of the client and globalisation, the their legalservice deliverymodel.Nolonger that aredisrupting established practice. one for the next decade is likely to be howthe do their clients payfor young lawyers to learn Organisations such as these are changing profession deals with new technologies. To their trade on their deals.Despite areturn to the landscapeinEurope, particularly in work takejust one example, Watson, IBM’sartificial growth in several European jurisdictions and on commercialcontracts, often seen as the intelligence computing system, is set to change increasingdemand for legal services, the cli- bedrockoflegal work inany big business. the waylawyers work farmoreradically than ent-lawyer relationship has not returned to Mark Harris, Axiom’s chief executiveand the anything has done in thepast. n pre-crisis conditions wherethe lawfirm had FT’sSpecial Achievement Award winner in the upper hand. 2013, said in his acceptance speech: “The busi- In fact,one of the biggest changes of the past ness of law is the mostexcitingpartofthe pro- RESEARCH &AWARD SUPPORTED BY 10 years has been in the corporate legal depart- fession to be operating in right now.” ment. As legal service purchasers, they now Axiom hasachieved 1,216 percent growth in have teeth.General counsel have moreofa revenuesoverthe past10years andgains one

10 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS

CONTINENTAL Anew tack for austere times

The willingness of firms toexperiment has been strongest in some of Europe’sweaker economies, writes Lucy Pearson

he need to remain competitivesince the financial crisis has forcedwfi la rms across Europe to shifttheir business Tmodels and explore new ways of align- ing them with the needs of cost-cutting clients. Indeed, manyfirmsincontinental Europeand Ireland have afresh approach that rivals those of their British peers. Spain features in thisyear’sFTInnovative Lawyers report as the countrywith the most forward-thinking lawfirms. Garrigues’com- mitmenttoinnovation earnsitthe titleofmost innovativelaw firmincontinental Europefor a fourth year.The firm, which performedequally well in the business of lawand legal expertise categories, has shown both expertise and a willingness to experiment. Forexample, in ordertoachieveafavoura- ble outcome for its client Mediapro in adispute over football broadcasting rights, partners An- tonio Rodríguez and Fernando Pantaleónhad to convince the communications companyto undergo voluntarybankruptcy.Such astrategy wasnecessarytoprotect the businessthrough lowercourt proceedings untilits casecould be heard by the Supreme Court where,according to the lawyers’assessment, it wouldreceive ►

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 13

CONTINENTAL

amore favourable hearing. “[Mediapro] had to TOP10EurOPEan LaWFIrMS (nOn-uK) takeour word that the Supreme Court would likely rule in its favour,”say thelawyers. “Not entries aw only did we have to be good advocates and lit- tise igators,wealsoneededtobepsychologiststo sofl keep the clients’confidence alive.”Their suc- exper tal score for cessful strategyensured Mediapro avoided a andout entries ommended heftyfinancial penaltyand retained its right to Rank Firm To ranked entries Legal score Busines score St C broadcast matches. 1 Garrigues 130 65 65 24 Innovation in legal services is not just about 2Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva&Associados 108 44 64 05 good ideas but investing to translate them into 3PwC Tax&Legal Services(Spain) 89 08922 value for clients. PwC Tax&Legal Services 4Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira 72 28 44 12 (Spain) has implemented an internal pro- 5Uría Menéndez 69 49 20 21 gramme to stimulate its team’s thinking around 6William Fry 67 67 0 12 helping clients. One of its criteria is that ideas 7= Arthur Cox 65 45 20 12 must be replicable. One product to emerge has been apricing model that helps clients manage 7= Gómez-Acebo &Pombo 65 23 42 12 the costs of litigation resultingfromthe finan- 7= Matheson 65 20 45 12 cial crisis. About 6per centofthe firm’s reve- 7= Pérez-Llorca 65 65 0 12 nue nowderives fromthis service. Helping clients manage costs wasatheme in the Spanishlegal market this year.Anin- ternal online pricing tool fromCuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereirahelps partners makebetter TOPFIVE GaME CHanGErS OF THE PaST 10 YEarS (nOn-uK) fee proposals and selectwork that is more likely to be profitable. Using aformula developed by the firm, partners can makedecisions based on objectiveand historical data. “It gives you Firm Score avisiononwhere the business is going,”says Vieira de 35 The firm has set an example by embedding aculture of innovation. It wasone of the first Laura Canudas,marketing director. Almeida & in Portugal to institutionalise professional management. Its talent management breaks Senior management can noweasilysee Associados new ground for the legal profession and empowers employees to innovate in their own which practice areas are most profitable, giving (VdA) style. firms the sort of strategic edge that is increas- Fondia 34 This Finnish law firm operates as acompany rather than as apartnership and all ingly necessarygiven the march of the big four employees are shareholders. It also acts as the internal legal department to 140 accountingfirms into law firms’territory. companies. Revenues have grown from €0.14m to €13.6m in adecade. PwC Taxand Legal Services (Spain)achieved Magnusson 32 Strong professional management has helped this firm with offices in anumber ofBaltic anotherfourrankings in this year’sFTreport, countries overcome twobig traditional challenges for the legal sector.Diversityis illustrated by half of its managers being women. And referrals between offices, which in all in the business of lawcategories,where it many firms are rare, have risen 569 per cent in three years.

PLMJ 32 PLMJ wasthe first Portuguese law firm to develop internationally. It wasalso one of the ‘Not onlydid we have first to offer standardised services more competitively and offer multidisciplinaryteams to be good advocates acrossindustry sectors and geographies. Tuca Zbarcea 32 Aground-breaking Romanian firm that is aperennial feature of the FT reports. It acts as and litigators, we &Asociatii adeveloped-market firm in the wayitputs amultidisciplinaryapproach at the heartof also needed to be its client service, to ensure that legal advice is given holistically and in context. psychologists’ could combine its technological and process lativechange to allowEuropean investment strength with its lawyers’entrepreneurialism. funds into Ireland. Meanwhile, William Fryas- One of the standout innovations fromPwC sistedincreating the first Europe-wide clearing wasits service for “high potential” compa- house for exchange traded funds. And Arthur nies. It created ateam to provide an interface Coxcombined legal with financialand strategic between high-growth companies and larger, advicetoassist CRH, the Irish building materi- established organisations.Since2013, the new als company, in acquisitions that pushed it into business hasgrown to revenuesof¤4m. the sector’stop three globally. Focusing on young companies wasacom- In the area of social responsibility, many mon theme for continental firms. In Portugal, firms in Europe have set up foundations over Morais Leitão,GalvãoTeles, Soares da Silva& the past decade that can access alternative Associadoscreated Team Genesis, amultidisci- funding sources and makeprojects more sus- plinaryteamof13lawyers targetingstart-ups. tainable. Gómez-Acebo&Pomboand Uría In Ireland, Matheson took aproactiveap- Menéndez of Spain and Matheson of Ireland, proach to helping itsasset management clients have usedtheir advocacy skillsinarange of determinewhere to establish funds. The firm initiatives to uphold the rule of law, instil val- commissioned independent research, which ues and build aculture of philanthropyintheir it has used to lobbythe government for legis- home markets. n

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 15 CLIENT SERVICE Opportunities to add value

Collaboratingwith in-house legalteams and bringing fresh ideastocorporate projectsare twowaysfirmshaveenhanced their clientrelations. By LindsayFortado

twas asunnySeptember daytwo years to enact new rules to makehostile takeovers ago, and Michael Hatchard, apartner of British companies more difficult. This had with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & followedthe contentious acquisition of food IFlom, washavinglunch with executives group CadburybyUSrival Kraft in 2010. from insurance broker Aon at the lawfirm’s “Break fees had become unavailable, which officeatLondon’s CanaryWharf. left the bidder exposed to costs,”MrHatchard The group wasdiscussing the fallout since says.Without those incentives for first bid- aradical move by the Takeover Panel, the ders, an unsuccessful bid could end up costing UK’smergers regulator,two years previously tens of millions of pounds in some cases. ►

16 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS xxxxxx xxxxxxx CLIENT SERVICE

The Skadden lawyers and Aon executives A£1bn technologyproject to facilitate a worried that the changewas putting at risk a move from aprime-contract to amulti-sup- nascentrevival in mergers and acquisitions in plier model led RoyalMail Group to instruct the UK, discouraging private equitybidders in Slaughter and Mayin2011 to work with its particular. in-house legal counsel, leadingateam of up The result of the brainstorming was“top- to 18 lawyers from RoyalMail’spanel law ping insurance”, anew product that would act ‘It’sabout firms, including secondees from Addleshaw as break-up coverage for potential acquirers in Goddard and DACBeachcroft. The group deals, and paythe bidders anycosts incurred — sharing the washeaded by Rob Sumroy, aSlaughter and up to 1per cent of the bid price —ifacompet- risk. The more Maypartner,and SarahDraper,Royal Mail’s ing bidder emerged and won. “It’sabout using legal director for technologyonthe project. insurance as amechanism to reduce risk for efficient we are, Pinsent Masons and Axiom have taken a both parties,”MrHatchardsays. similar approach with twooftheir clients, It is arare instance of lawyers coming up the better it is which effectively outsource part of their with the idea for acommercial product for for the client bulk legal work to the firms, which in turn aclient, and it helped Skadden by providing allows the companies’in-house departments more work, boosting its standing with Aon and that ends to concentrate on strategic issues. and providing securityfor thesort of deals Pinsent Masons has been working with Skadden is often hired to advise on. up being one of its clients, the consultancy Mercer, It is also asignofthe times —lawyers are better for us’ awholly owned subsidiaryofprofessional realisingthat to maintain and strengthen services group Marsh &McLennan, to take their relationships with clients they have to on operational legal work,mostlyonafixed- find innovativewaysofproviding value after fee basis. As aresult, the companyhas saved adeal is done. That is especially true for man- more than £1m ayear since the programme dates such as M&A, where the billing rates began in 2012. are highest. The partnership, dubbed “Getting Cer- Increasingly,law firms are also being asked tainty”,came about after discussions on how to leave their egos at the door by collaborating the firm could help Mercer do some of itsday- with other lawyers so that the client has the to-day work in order to free up its in-house benefit of awider range of expertise. legal department to focus on areas such as

18 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS developing new consumer-facingproducts, CLIENT SERVICE de-risking pension schemes and improving internal risk and compliance systems. Up to 30 lawyers at the firm, across eight otal offices, ybewma orking for Mercer at any Law firm / client Originality Rationale Impact T given time, says Isabel Nurse-Marsh, apen- Pinsent Masons/ Aholistic approach that frees Mercer’sin-houseteam to take 89926 sions litigation partner at Pinsents whohas Mercer on more strategic work and play the role of trusted adviser. Includes abespoke case management system, flexible fees worked with the consulting firm for about 15 and directly advising businessunits. years. Pinsents has also signed up to conduct an Axiom/BT Amulti-layered three-year partnership to handle BT’s 89825 commercial contractwork. Axiom'stechnologyenables in- annual review of hundreds of Mercer’sstand- house lawyers to track and speed workflow and makebetter ardcontracts with clients at afixedprice. This resourcing decisions. Businessunits send requests directly to is to givethe companyeasier access to infor- Axiom, freeing the in-house team for more complexwork. mation and allowittoassess risk more easily. Slaughter and When Royal Mail shifted to adynamic supplier model, 89825 “There’s an awful lot of collaboration,”Ms May/Royal Mail the firm initiated acollaboration with other panel law Nurse-Marsh says.“We would see ourselves firms to disseminate all process changes acrossthe company. as an extension of them: they have secondees Linklaters; The firms reviewed the central clearing counterparties 88824 from us; they have recruited people from Pin- Milbank / rulebooks to providefinancial institutions with clear advice sents. We knowthem really well.” Futures Industry and analysis of regulations. Aimed at all market participants, The arrangement means Mercer knows in Association the productcuts thetime taken to makeinvestmentdecisions from monthstominutes. advance howmuch the work will cost. The client will also payPinsents bonuses if the work Skadden, Arps, After break-feeprotectionfor failed bidderswas removed 99624 meets certain efficiency targets. Slate, Meagher from the Takeover Code, the firm developed an insurance &Flom/Aon policy for Aon –whichcan now offer bidders up to 1per cent “It’sabout sharing the risk,”MsNurse- Standout of theprice if their bid fails. Commended: Skadden partner Marsh says.“The more efficiently we do it, the MichaelHatchard. better it is for Mercer and that ends up being Stephensons/ Aloyaltyprogramme tailored for individual clients. It 98724 better for us.” private clients includes personal counselling and store discounts. Lisa Tolaini, chief legal counsel at Mercer, says:“We believewehave developed an inno- Addleshaw The firm's client development centre works to help the 78823 Goddard/ in-house teams of clients acrossarange of issues. The vativeapproach to managing our legal spend Barclays programme with Barclays focuses on developing lawyers' without compromising the qualityofthe understanding of the financial sector and the bank. advice we receive, and which will also allow Hogan Lovells/ More than 100 partners in33international offices at the firm 78823 the legal function to focus more time on those Honeywell providelegalservicestoHoneywell. Thescheme includes a areas such as product development that really transparent fee structureand bi-monthly training. add value to the business. We particularly like CMS/Standard The firm has developed asophisticated e-discoverysoftware 87722 that our lawyers are sharing the upsides and Life that provides forensic analysis and review. downsides of our risk with us.” Axiom, afirm whose lawyers are seconded Paul Hastings The firm streams client panel conversations around 13 78722 in-house with clients on aproject basis, is offices to educate partners about clients' concerns. working with BT,the telecoms company, on Baker & The three law firms have an unusual collaboration to act as a 94821 amulti-million-pound project where ateam McKenzie; “super firm”for Accenture. Morrison & of more than 30 lawyers in Northern Ireland, Foerster; Allen & England, India, Singapore and the US is trying Overy/Accenture to transform BT’scontracting operations. The work of Axiom’s lawyers frees BT’s DLAPiper/ Asingle-supplier relationship has seen the firm deepen its 78621 Heineken UK collaboration with Heineken. in-house team to focus on deals. The firm is using its proprietarytechnology, Iris, to pro- PwC Tax&Legal Created internal mechanisms to encourage innovation – 68721 vide BT with dashboards that allowthe com- Services (Spain) about 100 projects are funded each year. panytoviewthe contracts the Axiom team is Reed Smith/CAA Developed twolearning programmes with the CAA. 77721 working on by type,geography, counterparty, originating requester,source of terms, busi- Berwin Leighton Full legal service provider to Thames Water since 2010, the 67720 Paisner/Thames multi-disciplinaryteam now advises on the Thames Tideway ness line, legal entityand date,and thestatus Water Tunnel project. of each. The volume of work handled by Axiom has First Law An alliance of local firms that gives amore personal service 67720 International than big firms. risen about 250 percent since it launched the

programme. The complexityofwork handed Commended Garrigues/Orona Working with Orona to encourage aculture of compliance. 67720 over has also increased. HerbertSmith Running innovation workshops to foster ideas with the 67720 Skadden’s Mr Hatchard and his team spent Freehills/Man client. about 18 months negotiating with the Takeo- Group verPanel to approve the topping insurance. Morais Leitão, Atwo-way relationship to develop the businessof 77620 The product, which will coverdeals with a Galvão Teles, technologystart-up Legal Flow. value of up to £3bn, with potential for further Soares da Silva/ coverage of up to £7bn, waspackagedearlier Legal Flow this year along with support insurers. “It has White &Case/ Servicing clients post-deal and preparing them for exits. 67720 deepened our relationship with [Aon],”Mr private equity Hatchard says.“We can see it having applica- clients tions in the US and elsewhere.” n Note: Foradditional entries, see the online table

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 19 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

20 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY otal Law firm Originality Rationale Impact T iProbono The UK-based organisation facilitates pro bono activities for 9109 28 lawyers worldwide. It has built anetwork of 50,000 lawyers and 1,200 civil societyorganisations, and completed more than 720 projects in 31 countries. Commended: Shireen Irani and Swathi Sukumar.

White &Case Collaborating with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and 99927 Reconciliation, the firm works to prevent atrocities in more than 30 countries and has helped more than 70 governments. Commended: Owen Pell.

Linklaters More than 200 lawyers from eight offices worked to index 99826 Liberia's case law to provide acrucial judicial resource.

Reed Smith Helped to achieve adual first in socialimpact financewith 98825 the world'sfirst cross-border development impact bond. The scalable Educate Girls bond allows private international investors to fund education. Commended: Ranajoy Basu.

Allen &Overy The SmartStartprogramme provides training and work 98724 experience for more than 60 students from underprivileged backgrounds each year.Itwas the catalyst for the profession- wide Prime initiative. Commended: David Morley. Standout Vieira de Almeida VdAplayed acritical role in creating afoodredistribution 88824 &Associados programme that has given out 1.3m meals. Endorsed by the (VdA) UN. Commended: Margarida Couto.

Baker & Since 2006 the firm has targeted inclusivityand support 87823 McKenzie acrossall its offices. As aresult 30 per cent of trainees, 15 per cent of associates and 6per cent of partners are black, Asian or minorityethnic.

Garrigues The lawyershelp businesses assessthe social, environmental 78823 and human rights risks of supply chains.

PwC Tax&Legal The Impulsa Programme subsidises PwC's lawyers to work 88723 Services(Spain) with non-governmental organisations for twomonths. Good Skadden, Arps, Combining artand the law to addressacritical lack of 87823 Slate, Meagher funding for the charityJustice, the firm has helped raise &Flom more than £400,000. Commended: Karyl Nairn, QC.

Cuatrecasas, Legal protection for unaccompanied migrant children 78722 Gonçalves entering Spain. works Pereira DWF The 5Star Future programme improves social mobility. 77822 Engaging with civilsociety Gómez-Acebo & Businessand human rights training programme. 78722 Pombo isproving to be abonus for Hergüner Bilgen Collaboration to instil ethical values in young people. 78621 manyfirms,whoseown Özeke businessesare benefiting Matheson Helping to build aculture of corporate philanthropy. 77721 too, writes Sarah Murray Pinsent Masons Tailored programmes in partnership with 12 schools. 67821 Shearman & Advancing the international criminal justice system. 68721 Sterling

Slaughter and Extensive supportfor aschool in Islington, London. 67821 uropean lawfirms are crossing the May

globetouse their skills and experi- Commended A&L Goodbody Collaboration with the Irish Refugee Council. 66820 ence in initiatives that promotehuman Abreu Advogados Raising youth awarenessofjustice and citizenship. 67720 Erights and the rule of law. Equally importantly, firmsare takingaproblem they Arthur Cox An international programme to assist disadvantaged 67720 encounter at home more seriously:the lack of students. diversityinthe workplace. CMS Supporting social entrepreneurs through advice and 67720 Firmsare recognisingthey can use knowl- advocacy. edge acquired through their commercial Hogan Lovells Acoordinated global approach to empower women and girls. 77620 work to supportcivil societyorganisations. Forexample, for more than 10 years White & Paul Hastings Producing the Reporters Without Borders Handbook. 77620 Case has worked with NewYork-based non- Uría Menéndez Educating Spain’s youth about law, justice and democracy. 77620 profit organisation the Auschwitz Institute ►

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 21 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

for Peaceand Reconciliation on aprogramme The youngsters’activities include mock standard is set in terms of the qualityofthe that helps governmentsmonitorand halt the deals, for which they act as advisers. In one ses- work experience,”saysMrMorley. processes that can lead to mass atrocities, and sion, teams negotiate the buying and selling of ForBaker &McKenzie, statistics were what trains government, policeand militaryofficials afootballclub, with A&Ostaff playing sheikhs prompted afocus on diversityinits London in genocide prevention. and oligarchs, thepotential buyers. office. In 2006, it vedisco red that just 4per cent The relationships and experienceWhite & The sessionsbuild confidence, as well as of trainees and only one partner in the office Case has built up through the programme have skills such as writing aCVand making public —the firm’s largest —werefromblack and also increased the value of the servicesitoffers minorityethnic groups. to corporate clients. “We’redoing the right Rather than paying external consultants thing. But,also, atrocityprevention is another ‘Promoting diversity to hire newstaff,the firm created the Baker- form of legal risk management,”saysOwen has an important Ethnicityinitiative to addresssystemic barriers Pell, the White &Casepartner whospear- to diversity. Arange of programmes includes headed the initiative. businessbenefit. If we widening the diversityofrecruitment panels At Linklaters, the approach has been to use and giving interviewers training to combat the firm’s intellectual capital to promote the don’t represent our unconscious bias. rule of law. More than 200 of the firm’s lawyers clients’values, we’re Manyofthe ideasfor initiativescamefrom worked for fiveyears to helpLiberia rebuildits thestaff.“The waywe’ve tackledsome of these legal infrastructure by producing an indexed going to be lesseffective’ things has been from the inside out,”says digest of the country’sjurisprudence dating Sarah Gregory, inclusion and diversitypartner back more than150 years. at Baker&McKenzie. “We’ve used the energy Meanwhile,for some firms, the focus has presentations. They alsoexposeyoungpeople and ideas of people from across the organisa- been closer to home, particularlyonefforts to the workings of alaw firm. “None of them tion —that’sbeenreallyimportant.” to increasesocialmobilityand diversityin would have anyideaabout what lawis, so As critical, however, has been the recogni- the legal sector.Someare also looking far this brings it alive,”saysDavid Morley,A&O’s tion that, likesomanysocialresponsibility beyond traditional recruitment poolstopro- worldwideseniorpartner whoconceived the initiatives, promoting diversitymakes strate- mote social inclusion. Through its Smart programme andchairs it. gic sense. “Wesee this as having an important Start work experience programme, for exam- The Smart Start programmehas nowbeen business benefit,”saysMsGregory. “Because, ple,Allen &Overy brings youngpeople from extended into Prime, anational initiativein as alaw firm, if we don’t look like our clients underprivileged backgrounds into its offices which 88 lawfirmsparticipate. “Every firm and represent their values, we’regoing to be for aweek. does it slightly differently,but aminimum less effective.” n Case study: iProbono

While studying at the UniversityofWarwick’s lawschool in 2003, Shireen Irani wanted to apply her research to promoting human rights. Her difficultyinidentifying opportunities to do this led her to create an online marketplace that nowhas a network of more than 50,000 volunteers and has provided services to the social sector worth more than £7.4m. Ms Irani tapped into agroundswell of demandfrom lawyers to use their skills and training to help solve global problems. “Because of time constraintsand lack of visibilityastowhat existed,they weren’table to find anything,”she says. Social networks were stillatanascentstage, as were lawfirms’ corporate responsibilityinitiatives, and no forum existed where lawyerscould easily find projects that matched theirindividual passions with their specific skills. In 2009, therefore, Ms Irani secured the support of her lawfirm, Fieldfisher, to create an independent organisation and technologyplatform that would become iProbono, with headquarters in the UK and India. Non-profit organisationspostprojects on iProbono, which sends alerts to the most appropriate lawyers in the network. Organisationsare subjected to due diligencebyiProbono, which works with themsothat,rather than making open-ended requests, theydevelop projects that are clearly definedinscope. Examplesofthe work volunteer lawyers undertake include creating contracts, representing vulnerable people or securing adequate compensation for abused children. Suchcases not only help these people, says Ms Irani, but also pave the wayfor fairer judgments in future cases. “That’sstrategic litigation,”she says. “It’sindividual justice,but we’realsoadvancing the legal system.” In the process, iProbono is meeting demandbylawyers to use their skills for public good.“Forthis generation of professionals, there’s areal hunger for these opportunities,”saysMsIrani. Sarah Murray

22 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS

Strategic reSourcing

24 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS nthe run-up to July 2014, when asprawl- Despite the usual slowpace of change in the ing set of regulations took effect to make legal industry, howfirmscreatively and more Afull Europe’shedge funds and private equity efficiently deliver legal work has evolved as Ifunds more transparent, thousands of they seek competitiveadvantage. asset managers needed legal advice. In the past few years, leading UK firms They wanted to knownot onlywhat to do have begun using contract lawyers, and have to comply with the new laws —known as the opened lower-cost service centres in cities suite AlternativeInvestment Fund Managers Direc- such as Belfast, Manchester,Glasgowand Bir- tive(AIFMD)—but also howindividual EU mingham, shifting work out of costly London. member states would implement the rules, Lawyers are also collaborating with third- and when.While some answers had to be tai- partyproviders, adding on consulting or other Some of the most creative lored to specific funds, yoftman he questions services and using document automation efficiency improvements were universal. technologies. The rise in the use of project Simmons &Simmons, aUKlaw firm whose managers is indicativeofthe efficiency drive. have producedsubstantial clients include manyasset managers and Linklaters has tackled the issue through its hedge funds, sawanopportunitywith aprod- business improvement, knowledge and learn- savings forfirms and uct it had created several years before, during ing and technologyteams, which identified their clients, writes the onset of the financial crisis in 2007. eight areas for improvement, including new Its Navigator suite of online subscription uses of technology, paralegals and lower-cost LindsayFortado services wasaimed at just that scenario — resources, and document standardisation. when hundreds of clients from the same It has produced savings of up to 35 percent. industryasked the same questions. The fund The business improvement team, created managers needed to knowthe basics, such as twoyears ago, brought in non-legal expertise, when the rules would takeeffect and howto including project managers, to increase the comply,but they also needed regular updates efficiency of its projects. from each European countryonhow that Axiom, alegal services companythat pro- jurisdiction wasinterpreting the new rules. vides teams of lawyers to work on projects in- “It wasacase of us trying to respond to house with clients, is resourcing aproject at ahuge amount of uncertainty,”saysSarah aglobalbank to draft and negotiate its deriv- Chambers, afinancial regulatorylawyeratthe atives and master trading agreements. The firm. “There wassupposed to be harmonisa- deal, worth$73m, is being staffed mostly at tion on variousissues, but there have been a centres in Belfast and Poland, with senior law- lot of variations.” yers,derivatives specialists, business and ►

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 25 Strategic reSourcing

data analysts, technologists and project man- STRATEGIC RESOURCING agers working together. Since Allen &Overy and Herbert Smith Freehills opened service centres in Belfast in 2011, several other firms, including Baker

&McKenzie, have followedsuit. At the time, otal Law firm Originality Rationale Impact T A&Oglobal managing partner WimDejonghe Axiom Axiom has struck afive-year,$73m deal with aleading 9109 28 says the move wasabout thefirm asking itself: investment bank to handle its derivatives agreements, “Are we operating in the most efficient and including secondments of specialist lawyers and regulatory supportteams. It improves how the bank handles risk cost-effectiveway possible?” through better control of large documents and information. Berwin Leighton Paisner set up alegal services deliveryteam in Manchester.The Berwin Leighton The integration of differentapproaches to delivering legal 89926 Paisner services reflects agrowingtrend.Alow-cost centre in firm has created an “integrated client service Manchester,contractlawyers through its LOD (Lawyers On model” to offer alternativeresourcingfor Demand) business, aprocessimprovement service and access projects.That includes using its Manchester to specialist third-parties combine to allow customised, staff,third-partyproviders and LOD (Lawyers transparent andvalue-for-money services. Linklaters Efficient and integrated resourcing throughout the firm 89926 includes ateam of project managers who are an essential partofpitches and now handle almost half of big projects. ‘The Navigator Specialist teams focus on streamlining processes for clients, system wassomuch making efficiency savings of up to 35 per cent. Eversheds Resourcing for global clients has evolved intoanoffering 89825 partand parcel of called EvershedsConnect. This co-ordinates the work of business professionalsand lawyers acrossthe firmtogive what we were doing clientsaccess to better management information. on adaily basis, it Halebury The firm, which provides in-house legal expertise, combines 89825 three businesslines for small and medium-sized enterprises: resourcing, advisoryand consulting. Pricing options include justmadesense to fixed fees, daily and weekly rates, and bulk hour purchases. Standout streamline it’ Simmons & The firm has created an offering on Navigator,its online 79925 Simmons service platform, to help financial institutions comply with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. It On Demand), its contract lawyer agency.Cli- provides updates from more than 90 jurisdictions. ents includeDeutsche Bank, Tesco, Barclays, DWF The firm is embracing flexible working for its staff. 88824 National Grid and Aviva. Initiatives such as selling fully equipped portable offices to Simmons &Simmons’Navigator system lawyers encourage homeworking along with advanced video conferencing, smartdesksand flexible working spaces. More wascreated by partner Charlotte Stalin after than 500 people work flexibly at the firm. her team wasapproached by abig hedge fund client that wanted away to access information Pinsent Masons Working with US opportunityfund Lone Star,the firm 88824 created adue diligenceand document automation process on regulations in different jurisdictions. for the auction of assets of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. With laws in the financial services indus- The firstthree deals had abook value of more than €15bn. tryconstantly changing, the fund wanted to TLT TLT’scaptive “shared services”centre provides 88824 be sure it wastargeting the most appropriate administrative, legal and complementarybusinessservices investors. forthe firm and its clients. It is now expanding its target “Wethought, let’ssee howwecan commod- client base to other law firms and in-house client teams. itise this,”MsChambers says.“It wassomuch Serjeants' Inn Aclient service team facilitates apartnership between 88723 part and parcel of what we were doing on a Chambers clients and the chambers, which helps its clients win work. daily basis, it just made sense to streamline it.” Baker & Set up anew multi-jurisdictional research unit for clients in 68822 Navigator gave the firm’s asset management McKenzie Belfast. clients access to regularly updated advice on howtocomplywith AIFMD and other fund Cuatrecasas, Developed apricing tool for partners to cost work better.78722 Gonçalves regulations in more than 90 jurisdictions, at Pereira afraction of the price of bespokeadvice from counsel in each jurisdiction. Latham & Took astep forward in alternative fee arrangements and 78722 budgeting. More than 300 organisations subscribeto Watkins the service, encompassing more than 6,000 Radiant Law Expanded its service centre in Cape Town. 78722 individual users. Navigator has grown to VanDoorne Created abusinessline to leverage document automation 88622 include channels with advice on securities, for volume work. share disclosure and derivatives. Tax, corporate finance and lending services are being Ashurst Its legal analysts in Glasgow save clients up to 50 per cent. 67821 Commended developed. CMS Set up new legal supportunits in Glasgow and Edinburgh. 77721 “It’sbeen averyorganic process, listening to clients and seeing what’sgoing on in the mar- NautaDutilh An approach to help save costs in the design phase of a 77721 zoning plan. ket,”MsChambers says. “The feedback has surpassed our expecta- Schultze Set up adual legal and financial team for insolvent 77721 tions in terms of howit’sbeen performing. It’s &Braun companies. been ahuge opportunitytoassist our clients Hogan Lovells Set up alow-cost Birmingham centre for complex legal work. 67720 and attract new ones.” n

26 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS

GROWTH AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Diverse models

While some firms are takingonthe accountancy giants,othersare finding more unorthodox ways to boosttheir bottom line, writes Jane Croft

ince the liberalisation of the legalser- to accountants offering tax advice. Legal pro- directoratScottish Power. She says lawfirms vices market, lawfirmshave feared fessional privilege is the confidentialityofcom- are picking upworkasmore tax disputesgoto competitionfromthe “march of the munications betweenalawyerand aclient; court. “The interaction between tax and areas Saccountants”asconsultancyfirmshave manyaccountants consider it gives the legal of lawisnow better recognised. Taxismorelaw pushed eagerly into the legalmarket. profession an unfair advantage. than accounting in manyways,”she says. The 2011 Legal Services Actwas aimed Lawfirms have also been hiringnon-lawyer “Tax disputesare becoming more complex at allowingnon-law firm entrants suchas tax professionals. At Baker &McKenzie’s cor- and litigation might be considered at an earlier accountants to offer legal services, while law poratetax practice for example, non-lawyers stage than if the client had been advised in an firms could eitak nvestment from thirdparties. account for half of the team’sfee earners. Its accountancy firm. wfiLa rms can also drawon The big four accountancyand consulting hiringofMarkBevington, aformerpartner at additional expertise[internally], such as com- firms veha movedquickly.PwC has pledged Ernst &Young, illustrates the competitionwith petitionlawyers,when advising on state aid to build up its legal servicesdivision while EY the big accountancy firms, as does the promo- and its tax treatment.” Lawhas hired partners fromFreshfieldsand tion to partnerofnon-lawyers. Spain-based Garrigues is another lawfirm AddleshawGoddard. Lawfirms are fighting that has increased its complementofother pro- back by hiring accountants and bolstering their ‘The interaction between fessionals, including economistsorfinancial expertise in areassuchastax that traditionally analysts,towork alongside itslawyers. have been dominatedbyaccountants. tax and areas of lawis Beyond these defensivemoves to stave off The global financial crisis and squeeze on nowbetterrecognised’ competition, somefirms have used the liberali- public financeshave increased the focus on sation of the legal market to innovate and have tax and the level of public controversyasto exploited their expertisetocreatenew offer- whether bigbusiness is payingits fairshare. PinsentMasonshas also formed atax team ings.One exampleisBird &Bird’spartnership Adecadeago, lawfirms’tax practices often of lawyers and accountants. In 2000, senior with ASE Consulting, amanagement consul- acted as corporate support functions in big tax litigators James Bullock and JasonCol- tancy,that has created Baseline, which offers merger or takeoverdeals. The big four would lins launched the UK’sfirst dedicated tax liti- IT transformational programmes. devise new tax structures while lawfirms gationpractice. The firm has alsoset up atax Other more specialised lawfirms have wouldlegallyimplement them. Today, law investigations practice in afurther move on to enhanced theirexpertise.Wiggin, which has firms advisenot just on lawbut alsoonfinan- accountancyfirms’ turf.Now about 30 percent traditionallyfocused on media law, has devel- cial and economic aspects of tax planning in an of the firm’s tax fee earners are non-lawyers oped non-legal media-focused businesses such increasingly complexand cross-border world. with abackground in accounting or HM Reve- as Cirkus. Thisisasubscription television Taxlawyers were helped by alandmark nue &Customspolicy. service with partners such as content consul- ruling in 2013 by the Supreme Court, which One recent hire is HeatherSelf,aformer tancy Content&Coand ITVoffering British refused to extend legalprofessional privilege seniorpolicy adviseratHMRCand group tax programmes to Scandinavia. Wiggin has also

28 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS GROWTH AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT tal Law firm Originality Rationale Impact To Signature Alitigation-focused boutique that has doubled its revenues 9910 28 Litigation in the past year.With six partners and 23 fee-earners, it has outsourced its back-office functions and everymember of the firm participates in an egalitarian profit-sharing model.

CMS Grew in the UK by 35 per cent in revenue terms last year.Its 8109 27 focus on industrysectors,new deliverymodels and talent development raisedbrand recognition.

LOD (Lawyers The pioneer of the flexible working contract lawyer service, 9810 27 On Demand) LOD posted a48per cent growth in revenues between 2014 to 2015. Now offers “managed teams”ofin-houselawyers for big corporate clients, remotely or on site.

Bird &Bird Bird&Bird, with ASE Consulting, has created Baseline, which 99826 works with clientsonchange and compliance programmes thathaveaheavy technology component.

Baker & Accountants now outnumber lawyers in the growing tax 89825 McKenzie team. The international distribution of offices means it can compete with the big accountancy firms on tax services.

Review My Claim is aservicethat enables consumer clients 88824 Standout Emsleys Solicitors to have their personal injurylegal work from other solicitors reviewed by the firm. It has converted 85 per cent of inquiries into clients.

Matheson Grew its fund practice through research on where asset 88824 managers can set up funds

Pinsent Masons Acombined multidisciplinarytax team of lawyers and 88824 accountants that is expanding internationally.

PwC Tax&Legal The firm has developed abusinessline for high-growth and 79824 Services (Spain) high-potential companies, which also provides them with an interface to larger companies.

Wiggin Afocus on mediameans the firm has developed several 88824 businesses, such as Incopro, atechnologybusinessthat helps combined with technologybusiness Incopro to clients enforce intellectual property rights, and Cirkus,a subscription on-demand television service. help clients protect trademarks and intellectual property. Morais Leitão, Set up Team Genesis to help start-up companies in Portugal. 78823 In somecases, such as new boutique law Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva firms, the innovation has come from firms structuring themselves differently. Traditional Garrigues Set up amulti-disciplinarytransferpricing team. 78722 firms veha alarge number of salaried lawyers Hogan Lovells Set up aconstitutional change taskforce. 78722 and asmall eliteofequity partners whoshare profits.However,somesmaller,boutique firms L&E Global An expanding international network of employment firms. 78722 are rethinking this business model. Magnusson The first firm to cover the entire Baltic region. 77822 Aprime exampleisSignature Litigation,a London-based firm set up by lawyers in 2012. Schillings Developed abusinessofferingaroundreputation risk. 88622 Graham Huntley, afounding partner,has 30 Simmons & Astakeholder engagement programme means it now acts 77822 years’experienceincommercial litigation. Simmons for 40 out of the top 50 European hedge funds. Clients have includedthe family of the late Badri Patarkatsishvili, aGeorgian billionaire, King &Wood Newand different approach to promoting its Asia business 77721 Mallesons in Europe. whowere embroiled in a$1.8bn High Court battle with Russian aluminium tycoon Vasily Latham & Various measures to build atop buyout practice in Europe. 67821 Anisimov in acase that wassettled before trial. Watkins

Signature has set up aprofit-sharing scheme Commended Mishcon de Reya Set up astandalone family office for wealthy clients. 77721 for all members of the practice. It has also outsourced some back-office functions, which Mr Paul Hastings One of the first to set up amobile payments practice, it now 77721 has 40 lawyers. Huntleysaysenables lawyers to devote time to practisinglaw rather than otherancillaryactiv- Akin Gump Took advantage of afailing firm to establish 120 more staff 66820 ities. Adopting the same administrativestruc- StraussHauer in Europe and Asia. &Feld tureasatraditional lawfirm would also result in apoorcash flowmodel foraboutique law Cooley Overnight expansion in London saw 20 partners join. 66820 firm, heys. sa Gómez-Acebo Builtanarbitration practice from scratch through aclever 67720 “If youare in alarge lawfirm,someofyour &Pombo collaboration. time is spent on areas likemaintainingclient files or billing, rather than practising law,”Mr Miranda Correia Extended its Portugal-led Africa practice to Paris and 67720 Amendoeira Francophone markets. Huntleyadds. n

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 29

technology Digital drivers Thesearch forefficiency gains that can givefirms a competitive advantagehas been the primefocus of their investment strategy, writes Murad Ahmed

32 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS sthe heart of abureaucracy that sets rules for 28 EU states, Brussels is a good place to observe the complexities Aof completing abig international deal. Fiona Carlin andGavin Bushell,partners at Baker &McKenzie in the Belgiancapital, saw howlarge mergersand acquisitions for international companies required the clearance of antitrust authorities in multiple countries. This adds alayer of regulatorydifficultytobig deals; the prolonged reviews of multiplejurisdictions are costly and time-consuming. Ms Carlin and Mr Bushell proposed asolution: adigital tool that could identify the antitrust issues for anydeal.Since being launched in September 2014 the Global Merger Analysis Platform (GMAP)has been rolled outto300 of the firm’s antitrust and competition lawyers worldwide, enabling them to provide adetailed analysis of the keyriskinM&A deals within hours rather than what previously mayhave taken manyexpensivedays. The tool is an example of howlaw firms are using high-tech services to aid their work. Accordingtogroups such as Axiom, Pinsent Masons and Foot Anstey,the reasons to adopt such new technologies are obvious: as clients look for value for money,lawyers are increasingly aware that digital tools can also create efficiencies in their ownwork, speeding up previously laborious and repetitivetasks, while also serving to spotlighterrors. In thesearch for marginal competitive gains, firms are embracingpractices and tech- niquesthat have transformed other industries, whether it is bigdata—finding better ways to deal with the enormous mass of information their organisations collect —orcloudcomput- ing, which allows employeestoshareand store documents over theinternet, or even artificial intelligence, with smart computers able to “think” likehumans to complete tasks. In the caseofBaker &McKenzie, GMAP has collected data related to merger controls in 135 countries. Clientscan be given atailored report withinacouple of days that analyses the risks attached to an international merger. “GMAP has transformed the waywehandle the M&A process for our clients,”saysSam Mobley,Baker &McKenzie’sheadofglobal antitrust and competition. “What would ordi- narilyhavebeenahighly complicated,ardu- ousprocess requiring asignificant amount of due diligence has been streamlined to deliver clarity, simplicityand, crucially,costand time efficiency.” Nick Koberstein,division counsel at Abbott Laboratories, the global healthcare company advised by Baker &McKenzie, says:“These tools are critical for my position.Ineedto quickly analyse atransaction and advise my management on the potential riskassociated with the deal. Anything that can help me get the job done easier and faster[is invaluable].” Anotherhighly ranked lawfirm, Pinsent Masons, has shown its entrepreneurial sideby launching and beingthe majorityownerof►

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 33 technology

Cerico,acompliance solutions business. Com- to their template content.The Cericoteamis panies must comply with avast range of rules excellent—very driven and very customer and on issuesrangingfrombribery and corruption deadline-focused,”saysAnthonyStanitsas, for- to health and safety,with substantial penalties mer legalcounsel at Aggregate Industries, the construction companyand aCerico customer. Such innovations are not the preserve of The Cerico platform global firms. Foot Anstey, aregional firm in allows employees to southwest England, has used software by Thomson Reuters, the businessinformation undergo compliance provider,tocreate adigital conveyancing tool. One benefit of the system is automatic gener- checks in afastand ation of conveyancing letters. The time taken auditable manner for each has been cut from 90 seconds to two seconds —adifference that adds up, given the firm produces more than 80,000 letters ayear. if they fail to implement suitable strategies. The But despite these individualadvances, per- platform providedbyCerico allows themto suading lawfirms to adopt new technologies ensure employees and supplierscan undergo can be an uphill struggle.The FT rankings are regular, rigorouscompliance checks in afast dominated by toolsthat improveefficiencyand and auditablemanner. can be adopted quickly by lawyers whoimme- The platform also allows companies to keep diately understand the need for them. agiftand hospitalityregister, an important tool Asurveyofchief information officers at for stayingahead of complicated new laws sur- European legalfirms by RSG Consulting, the rounding corporate bribery, as well as elearn- legalconsultancythat is the FT’sresearch part- ReseaRch&awaRd suppoRtedby ing tools that allowemployees to taketraining ner for the Innovative Lawyers series, found the coursesonline on issues such as competition vast majority did not believe their firms used and health and safety. available technologyenough, the reasons being “There are other offerings in the market alack of investment in IT talent and —almost but we foundthese to be relatively expensive, inevitablyfor acenturies-old profession —a anonymous and loath to have anyamendment resistance to change. n

34 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS Rise of the TECHNOLOGY otal machines Law firm originality Rationale Impact t axiom axiom's Iris technologyhelps leading global companies to 10 9928 create and manage commercial contracts faster and more efficiently, with reduced risk. It now forms acritical partof axiom's managed services business.

he fast-developing technologyofarti- pinsent Masons pinsent Masons and information technologyconsultancy 9109 28 campbell Nash launched complete electronic Risk ficial intelligence is creating quite a compliance (cerico), atechnologybusinessthat helps buzz, from Google’s self-driving cars clients comply with regulations. Regular audit checks of Tto digital assistants that could replace employees and suppliers embed aculture of compliance. secretaries. But surelyitisunlikely to disrupt baker & the Global Merger analysis platform is atool to identify 99927 the livelihoodsofhighlyskilled workers suchas McKenzie potential anti-trust issues for clients considering amerger lawyers in the same way? or acquisition. It provides accesstoreal-time data and a bespokeanalysis across135 jurisdictions. Wrong, sayexpertssuch as Richard Susskind, alegal futurist, whowarns that complacent law Foot anstey Responding to demand from politicians for more homes, the 8910 27 firms face big changes. “Until theyf econom ell firmbuilt on software tools from thomson Reuterstoimprove the efficiency of its conveyancing team. the time taken to off acliff mostpeopleinmajor lawfirmsand create alegal letter hasbeencut from 90 to twoseconds. indeedin-house counselwerequite happyto continue workingthe waythey had done for a a&L Goodbody the firm developed twoinformation management portals. 89825 bids centre facilitates the production of complex, highly couple of centuries,”hesaidlast year in apres- tailored bid documents using document automation and entation on the potential impact of artificial standardised processes. partner connect gives partners all intelligence on the legalprofession. the management information required to run practices. The threat —oropportunity,depending on tools4Legal anew legal project management provider whose products 99725 your standpoint —tothe profession comes enable in-house legal departments and law firms to track the fromrecentdevelopments in this technol- Standout progressoftheir work from starttofinish. ogy. Companiessuch as Google are working allen &overy the firm is using the isheets module of software provider 79824 towards“general AI” systems that can make highQ's cloud-based product collaborate to create client- connections and interpretations from informa- facing resources. with more than 500 lawyers using it, the tioninorder to makeindependent decisions firm is turning legal and commercial information collected into data and management information. and predictions. This wouldmakethem ableto “think”likehumans.Evenlawyers. addleshaw customising modules from highQ, the firm is enabling 78823 Prof Susskind predictsthe “decomposition”, Goddard closer collaboration between its transaction services team, lawyers and clients. though not the death, of the legal profession, with traditional jack-of-all-trades legal jobs ashurst created arisk assessment system with software firm Intapp 88723 beingsplit into several distinct roles. Manyof that enhances client service and ensures that the firm’s own risk and compliance requirements are met. the platform will his suggested jobs carrytitles more befitting a be rolled out to other law firms to customise. techstart-upthan alaw firm: legal wlkno edge engineer, legal technologist, project manager, schillings developed ateam supported by its risk consulting and cyber 79723 information securityservicesarms that helps clients prevent riskmanager or process analyst. Tomorrow’s and addressdata breaches. barrister or solicitorislikelytobepartsoftware engineer, part lawyer,hesays. toffoletto de the twoItalian firms collaborated to develop the iLex 79723 Luca tamajo e system, which integrates and automates routine functions This is not pie-in-the-sky thinking. Students soci, and NctM of running alaw firm, saving lawyers up to twohoursaday. at the UniversityofToronto were askedtofind auseful application for IBM’sWatson, the cog- aequitas Legal an app to give clients real-time updates on claims. 68822 nitivetechnologyfamous for answering trivia dwF adigital mail service that routes mail directly into matters. 78722 questions on television show Jeopardy.They cameupwith Ross,alegal research service. Vandoorne apricing tool that contributes to grossand net earnings. 77822 Lawyers ask Ross legal questions, which it eversheds developed dealMaster,atool to manage multijurisdictional 77721 answers by sifting through hugequantities of M&a transactions. legal documents, cases and legislation. Ross’s Macfarlanes aprocesstoautomatically produce leases for clients. 78621 answers are sophisticated:they include legal citations and links to articlesfor further read- Morais Leitão, set up an internal businessdevelopment web portal to serve 67821 ing. Because Watson has the ability to learn, Galvão teles, clients better. soares da silva& Ross refines its responses based on experience. associados Such atoolcould do much of the work that Nautadutilh aportal to grow young companies and let them accesslegal 77721 has been left to juniorlawyers —work that, as Commended billable hours, has traditionally been profitable. belgium advice. The Toronto group plans to launch acom- pwc tax&Legal atax exemption tool for mobile professionals that saves 77721 panythat offers Ross’s services. Soon lawfirms, services(spain) them money. instead of hiring swaths of new lawyers every Radiant Law state-of-the-arttechnologyinfrastructure. 78621 year,could be far smaller entities that outsource all butthe trickiest work to acomputer. cMs an advanced approach to complete mobile and flexible 76720 n working for all staff. Murad Ahmed

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 35 individualS Forging links

Twolawyers whohave shown howto unleash the powerofnetworksrose to the fore among our10finalists. Portraits by Rick Pushinsky

caMille abouSleiMan, T ► he judging sessiontochoose the most innovative dechert individual lawyer is alwaysspirited. But thediscussionshave, in the past, resulted in asingle winner emerging. Camille Abousleiman has This year the list of 10 finalists wasasimpressive as always. been adrivingforce behind But the judges could notdecidebetween twocontenders: Simon legal work in capital markets Harper,founder of LOD(Lawyers On Demand), and Shireen in the MiddleEast.Inthe Irani, theprincipal moverbehindiProbono and Fieldfisher’s early1990s, while working director of corporate responsibility. inLatinAmerica when the Mr Harper hit on the idea of aservicethat wouldprovide Mexicanpeso crisis struck, lawyers on atemporary basis for in-house corporate legal he sensed an opportunityfor departments and laterfor other lawfirms. Originally setup thedevelopment of capital within the firm of Berwin Leighton Paisner, LODhas nowbeen markets in the Middle East, spun off as aseparate entity. adapting new structures long Ms Irani’siProbono project is an online platform connecting before theinvestment banks. lawyers prepared to offer free servicestocivil society His market firsts include organisations. iProbono has teams in London and NewDelhi, the then largest international although it operatesin31countries.The judges were placement offering, thefirst particularly impressed with the legal support iProbono had equity listing of aMiddle been abletooffer on child protection matters in India. Eastern companyonthe The judges felt both these contenders were tapping intothe London StockExchange, same phenomenon: lawyers increasingly want to work in the first eurobond issued different ways,whether flexibly or by offering pro-bono services. by aprivate companyand a As the argument continued on which of these twoshould bank in the region and the win the award, some of thejudges began to ask: can’t they first and second listings on both win? Whydoweneed to separate such worthy candidates? Nasdaq Dubai. The rest of us couldsee no reason whynot.So, in the 10th Mr Abousleiman has guided anniversaryyearofFTInnovativeLawyers,MrHarper and transactions for sovereigns Ms Irani are joint winners. and companies through Michael Skapinker, chair of the judging panel regime change,constitutional crises and assassinations. His work has helped to preserve investors’access to capital markets under extraordinary ReseaRch&awaRd suppoRtedby circumstances—Egypt and Tunisia returnedthis year following theArabSpring and subsequent upheavals.

36 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS Michael hatchard, Skadden, arpS, Slate, Meagher &floM ►

Michael Hatchard has played an integral part in the rise of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &Flom in the City. He has been at theforefront of significantchanges in mergers and acquisition law over an extensivecareer. He developedthe useof demergers in hostile bids andcreated anew structure for hostile acquisition in the 1980s. More recently,heled the team on Pfizer’sbid for rivaldrugs group AstraZeneca and created the structure for more binding commitments and post-offer undertakings. Invited to comment on the liabilitystructures underwriting UK privatisations,hewas appointed adviser to the government broker,where he created astructure that forms thebasis forall UK government privatisations. Mr Hatchard’sinnovations also extend to new products. He wasinstrumental in developinganew topping insuranceproduct for client Aon,following changes to the Takeover Code that removedbreak-fee protection for failed bids.

SiMon baggS,

Wiggin ►

As the head of Wiggin’s technologyand intelligence to secure acourtorder intellectual propertyand services that allowclients to blocking websites that rights protection team, and counterthreats. infringe trademarksbyselling managingdirector of Incopro, In 2013, Mr Baggs achieved counterfeit goodsonline. Simon Baggs has been at the aground-breaking success And this March, a forefront of the fight against for the filmindustry. Under High Court order required the online infringement his guidance the sector won the UK’sfive leading ISPs of businesses’intellectual the first UK site-blocking to ensurethat they blocked property. order,whichrequires access to specificwebsites Mr Baggsfounded Incopro internet service providers that allowed usersto in 2012 after recognising (ISPs)toblock subscribers download films illegally. that businesses were from accessing websites Having identifiedagap inadequately protected from that infringe businesses’ in the market for legal growing global challenges copyright. protection of intellectual in the form of counterfeiting In October 2014,hewon property, Mr Baggs has and piracy. another landmark victory significantly contributed But he realised that legal for client Richemont. His to filling it, not just with skills alone were not enough. advice acted as thecatalyst Incopro butalso with some Incopro therefore also offers for the luxurygoods group important legal precedents.

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 37 individualS

Sir nigel knoWleS, with US firms Piper Rudnick work meant that othertop dla piper ► and GrayCaryWare & firms veha followed suit Freidenrich. andthe structureisnow In just 19 years Sir Nigel By 2009 his firm’s rapid consideredcommonplace Knowles has taken a expansion and work forthe inthe professionasthe Yorkshire firm that had its Prince’s Trusthad wonhim a waytoexpand internationally. roots in aSheffield debt- knighthood. Sir Nigel’sappetite for collecting practice and It wasnot allsmooth game-changing wasfurther turned it into one of the going. As an early adopter of shown when he wasone of largest firms in the world in both atransatlantic link and the first senior lawyers to revenue terms. the Swiss vereinstructure, takeadvantage of the Legal As head of Dibb Lupton under which affiliates remain Services Act, liberalising Broomhead he first merged separate entities, the firm parts of the profession, with Manchester firm that had become DLAPiper to invest in the holding Alsop Wikinson, but by 2006 came under criticism, companyofRiverview Law, his firm had abase in the ButSir Nigel’scommitment which offers adifferent way david kerr, CityofLondon and atie-up to making thestructure of delivering legal advice.

bird &bird ►

David Kerr hasbuilthis career on innovation in lawfirm leadership. He has driven Bird &Bird’s strategy of continuously developing technology-focused expertise. Under his leadership the firm hasgrown fromasmall, specialist London-based outfit into anetwork of lawyers in 28 offices and18countries. Mr Kerr has also been determined not to abandon the firm’s heritage as one focused on intellectual propertyand technology. Instead, the firm’s growth has been strictly confined to these areas. This has also been akey part of Mr Kerr’s international growth strategy: local market expertisecombined with the international Bird &Bird brand —aformula used in theopening of the Sydney office in November 2014, when Bird &Bird merged with leading local technology and communications firm Truman Hoyle. Mr Kerr has also overseen operational innovation, developing the Virtual General Counsel service to help resource companies with no internal lawyers; establishing Baseline, a joint venture with ASE Consulting to offer clients amultidisciplinaryservice; and launching amatter planning and profitability initiativetoprovide clients with more flexible and transparent pricing proposals.

38 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS padraig oriordain, arthur cox ►

Pádraig ÓRíordáin is awell- recognised name among leading corporate lawyers and has playedakey role in the Irish banking crisis as part of theArthur Coxteam. He trainedinaWall Street firm before joining Arthur Cox, where in 2003 he was elected managingpartner at just37years old. He developed anew visionfor thefirm that would turn itsfocus from being adomestic Irish practice to onethat couldoperate on Yulia kYrpa, an internationalstage.

aeQuo ► Mr ÓRíordáin, as lead external adviser to the Yulia Kyrpaisanoutstanding Irish state, wasatthe specialist in the field of centre of the Irish banking banking and finance w,la at a crisis, advising on the time of immense challenges. implementation of agreed Ms Kyrpa has tackled the bank guarantees. The nature difficulties surrounding of thecrisis meant that every the 2014 Ukraine revolution bank and buildingsociety with acommitment to wasarisk to thestate. reform. Againstthisdifficult Ms Kyrpa assisted backdrop, butwith no the European Bank for existing legal structures Reconstruction and in place, Mr ÓRíordáin’s Development on the launch team designed alegal and implementation of state framework thatwould insurance of household preserve the legal integrity deposits and bank reform, of thebanks but enable the bringing Ukraine’s government to takethe action legislation into line with best it deemed necessary. international practice. With that backgroundit Ms Kyrpa’s full-scale is perhapsnot surprising penelope Warne,

legal assistance for NCH that Mr ÓRíordáin is a cMS ► Capital, aleading US private member of theEuropean equityfund, wasessential Commission’s Insolvency PenelopeWarne joined expansion, with offices in achieving the acquisition LawExpertGroup,the CMS as an oil and gas being established in Brazil, of the insolvent Astra Bank advisorybodytothe specialist in 1993 to set up Mexico, the Middle East from the state. Commissiononthe the firm’s Aberdeen office. and Asia. The deal brought new development of an EU cross- Twenty yearslater,she has She has also worked hard US money into the country, border regulatory crisis built this specialism in her outside her field. She was demonstrating to foreign management regime. role as senior partner and instrumental in helping investors that, despite the head of energy. WarChild, the firm’s charity crisis, it waspossible to She has applied herself to partner,toraise £150,000 enter into successful and expanding the firm. in fivemonths. Andshe is credible transactions. In 2014, swiftly after passionate about helping When President becoming senior partner female lawyers to break Yanukovychfled Ukraine, Ms at CMS, Ms Warne drove through the glass ceiling. Kyrpa and her team faced the the merger with Dundas Her commitment to challenge of finding grounds &Wilson that allowedthe creating aleading energy in the constitution to justify firm to become Scotland’s practice, influencing the the appointment and scope market leader. global energy debate and of the temporaryUkrainian One year on, revenue actively championing government. has grown 30 percent and diversityand corporate And by finding innovative profits are up 15 percent social responsibility legal solutions Ms Kyrpa —making 2014-15 arecord combine to form apicture and her team ensured year for CMS. of alawyerwho can innovate that Ukraine could agree Ms Warnehas also led in not just one but anumber borrowing from the EU. the firm’s international of areas.

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 39 individualS

WinnerS

SiMon harper,

lod (laWYerS on deMand) ►

LOD (Lawyers On Demand) sent shockwaves through the legalindustrywhen it waslaunched in 2007asan original alternativelegal servicesprovider.Simon Harper,the man behind this idea,led the project to makeitasuccessful and now independently managed business after itwas spun off from Berwin Leighton Paisner as aseparate entity. Mr Harper developed the idea for LOD after observing contradictorypressures in the legalindustrythat were exacerbatedbythe global financial crisis: he recognised that while buyers of legal servicesneeded to make their budgets stretchfurther, more lawyers were looking for flexibilityand autonomy. Since being established, LOD has grown700 percentand nowhas aturnoverofmore than £12mand ateamof more than 200lawyers. Mr Harper’sinnovation has been copiedbyseveral big law firms in the UK.Morethan a third of the top20firms now have similar offerings. But Mr Harper continues to innovate. He has developed an evolution of the LOD model that sends inteams of lawyers whouse technology and data analytics to support in-house legal departments. This new avenueaccounted for more than half of the 40 percent growth LOD posted lastyear.

40 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS Shireen irani, iprobono ►

Shireen Irani, Fieldfisher’s director of corporate responsibility, founded iProbono to provideanonline platform for civilsociety organisations to engage with lawyers and studentswilling to provide legalassistance. It waswhile shewas reading for an LLM that Ms Irani recognised thedesireof fellowstudents to contribute to society. But shealso noted the absence of an easy and flexible waytodoso. When she joined Fieldfisherin 2007, shedecidedtoharness thispotential and pitched her ideas to the firm,which lent itssupport to the organisation, which is an independent charity. The success of iProbono revolves aroundacoreteam in London and NewDelhi,led by Ms Irani. An easy-to-access networking platform caters for the limited resources of civil societyorganisations and the desireoflawyers to provide assistance in a flexible manner.Ithas a global reach, in 31 countries, with 1,200 organisations and 50,000 volunteers on its network whohave varying levels of experience, skills and availability.The platform has aregistrationprocess,which is used to match projects to volunteers’interests. The organisation has provided legal support on awide varietyof issues, from child welfare, slavery,educationand the environment to the rights of girls on the Indian subcontinent.

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 41 Corporate and CommerCial

42 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS Deal CORPORATE And COMMERCIAL otal Law firm Originality Rationale Impact T Cuatrecasas, Whenausual joint venturewas not possible, lawyers helped 9109 28 sealers Gonçalves ICL and itsSpanishsubsidiaryIberpotash form adealwith Pereira AkzoNobel that could enable investment of €800m in Spain.

White &Case Lawyers, working with HM Treasury, initially pro bono, came 99927 up with atax law innovation that will give UK businesses The revival in mergers greater choice when looking for finance. CMS Working initially for free, the firm approached the Pension 99826 and acquisitions hasgiven Insurance Corporation with an idea for anew collateral and firms ashowcase fortheir securitystructure. Arthur Cox Combined role of legal, financial and strategic advisertoCRH, 89825 skills. By LauraNoonan the Irish buildingmaterials company, on itsacquisition of assets fromHolcim andLafarge in 10 jurisdictions.

GleissLutz Changed the structure of German publishing house 99725 Suhrkamp to resolve along-running shareholder dispute.

Standout Allen & Overy Devised astructure allowing the BT pensions scheme to 98724 hedge 25 per cent of its longevity.

Skadden, Arps, Work for Pfizer during its bid for AstraZeneca has inspired 79824 Slate, Meagher significant changes in the UK Takeover Code. &Flom

Uría Menéndez Designedstructures andstrategies that the Lone Star 79824 Fund IIIusedtobuy aportfolio of performingand non- performing loans from Commerzbank. akeanabundant appetite for dealmaking, pair it with snowballing Pinsent Masons Worked with Peterborough to help the council establish itself 88824 as aleader in green energy. regulatory demands and youcreate Tapowerful catalyst for innovation in Ashurst Raised more than £1bn in five months for twoequityfunds. 89724 corporate and commercial law. Morais Leitão, Advice on the listing of Mota-Engil Africa shares on Euronext 78823 The pastyear hashad both those ingredients Galvão Teles, Amsterdam. in large quantities, as the mergers and acqui- Soares da Silva sitions fever triggered by sluggish growth and Shearman & Advising the Qatar Investment Authorityonits hostile 88723 ultra-cheap financingcollided with greater Sterling takeover of Songbird Estates. regulationinalmost everyindustry. The M&A boominthe first halfof2015 was Skadden, Arps, Helped raise the level at which amajorityshareholder can 79723 Slate, Meagher unilaterally delist. the biggest since the heady pre-crisis days of &Flom 2007and shows that lawyers have had adecent success rate in working their waythrough the Slaughter and Advising GlaxoSmithKline on athree-parttransaction with 78823 May Novartis. regulatorylabyrinth. Otherareas of corporate and commercial Eversheds Flexible planning consents for the world’slargest wind farm. 78722 lawhave blossomed too, particularly in pen- Skadden, Arps, Advisedonthe Automobile Association’s accelerated initial 77822 sions, where new structures are being usedto Slate, Meagher public offering. cut costs to pensionfundsthat want to hedge &Flom againsttheirbeneficiaries living longer than Akin Gump Advised VimpelCom on complex telecoms transactions in 77721 expected. StraussHauer Algeria. Mega-deals have dominatedthe headlines, &Feld but some of themostinnovativelegal footwork Berwin Leighton Devised anew model for private rented-sector housing in 67821 wasdone for less high-profile agreements, Paisner the UK.

such as that struck between chemicals groups Commended ICL/Iberpotash of Spain and Akzo Nobelof DLAPiper Acting in Allied Minds’initial public offering. 77721 the Netherlands. Ownership and accounting NautaDutilh Created anew global e-commerce company via aDutch 77721 restrictionsprevented the companies from entity, Cnova. agreeing anormaljointventure, so Cuatreca- Orrick Advised Alstom on the $13.5bn sale of its energybusiness. 77721 sas,Gonçalves Pereira, Iberpotash’s lawfirm, used alittle-used provision in Spain’s19th-cen- SEH Legal Advised employees on their takeover of the Nice-Matin 78621 turycommercialcodetocreatea“participa- newspaper group. tion account”that enables the companiesto Ashurst Advised Royal London Mutual Insurance Societyona£22bn 67720 work together.The deal could lead to invest- reorganisation. ment in Spain of up to €800m. Paul Hastings Created anew structure in Italy for KKR’srestructuring of 68620 Regulation is often an obstructiontoM&A, distressed loans. but regulatoryappeasementcan spawn deals too, as with Irish cement companyCRH’s Simmons & Advised UK MinistryofDefence on sale of Defence Support 76720 Simmons Group, main provider of maintenance on army vehicles. €6.5bn bid for assets being sold by France’s►

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 43 Corporate and CommerCial

Lafarge and Switzerland’sHolcim as part of commit the purchaser to follow through with the past year have been in pension funds, as their drawn-out merger.Holcimand Lafarge the deal; penalties arepayable if it fallsapart. trustees have looked to reducethe funds’run- put the assets on the block so that the scaleof Tying down commitments before adeal is ning costs. Traditionally,when funds wanted their combinedcompanywould not unnerve signed is increasingly common. During phar- to insureagainstbeneficiariesliving longer regulators, but in theend their ownsharehold- maceuticals group Pfizer’sfailed takeoverof thanexpected, they had to engage both an ers provedmoredifficult to reassure and the rivalAstraZeneca last year,lawyers designed a insurer andareinsurer. deal came close to collapsing several times. new kind of commitment that wasmore bind- “The problem in the UK market is that there The CRH transaction, which made the Irish ing thanastatementofintent. are very few insurerstoact as middlemen companythe third-biggest playerinits sector Dealsinthe financial services sector bring betweenthe pension scheme and reinsurers,” globally,heldfirm throughout the uncertainty, says MadhuJain,acounsel in Linklater’sinsur- with Dublin lawfirm Arthur Coxacting as ance practice in London. legal, financial andstrategic adviser to CRH. ‘Lawyers arethinking Last year,BT’spension scheme, advised by Lawyers expect regulator-inspired sales Allen &Overy,cut out the middleman by using to feature more and more in the M&A land- of ways to structure aspecially created in-house insurance com- scape. “Theincrease in the number and scope deals that avoid the full panybasedinGuernsey.Its offshore status was of authority of regulators is arealissue in the important for capital and tax efficiency and context of major cross-border M&A,”saysSte- impact of the regulatory brought significantsavingsfor thescheme. phenWilkinson, London-based globalhead of Smaller companies maybedaunted by the M&A at Herbert Smith Freehills. intervention’ prospect of setting up an in-house offshore “Asaresult,lawyers are thinkingofwaysto insurer,but consultancies such as Towers Wat- structure deals thateither avoid thefullimpact their owncomplexities. “The identityofthe son have developed insurance cells that com- of the regulatoryintervention or are struc- regulator that will be in chargeofsupervision paniescan use forthe same purposes. tured to mitigate that involvement. Or they are of the group plays apart in choosing the hold- It is not all good newsfor lawyers though. finding ways to ensure that intervention is not ing structure,”saysArnaud Coibion, apartner The traditional fee modelfaces increased fatal to thedeal.” at Linklaters in Brussels. “Obtainingthe con- pressure from clients, particularly on lengthy Pre-clearance is one option. That wasthe for- sent from the regulatorsontime, the fit and transactions. GlaxoSmithKline, for example, mat used in Shell’s£47bnbid for energy rival proper criteria for the directorswho are going asked Slaughter and Mayand its other lawyers BG GroupinApril, the biggest M&A transac- to be on board… that’sall critical.” to work on afixed-feebasis on the extensive tion in UK history. Typically, pre-clearances Some of the most innovativetransactions in Novartis dealrather than an hourly rate. n

44 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS

FINANCE Solutions to the funding puzzle

The complexity of deals,especially those across borders, requiredsome original thinkingfrom companies’ advisers, writes Arash Massoudi

inancelawyers faced no shortage of taken up to 30 months to complete, meaning challenges last year.Roaring capital the bank financing had to be committed for markets and thebusiest mergers and much longer than lenders were accustomed to Facquisitionsperiod since the onsetofthe for private or public transactions. financial crisis kept advisers in demand and in Atypicalcommitmentfor this sortoflending searchofsolutionstoanonslaught of requests is usually forless than ayear. Ultimately,three fromcorporate clients. banks agreedtocommit lending for 30 months At the other end of the spectrum,politi- in what wasone of Europe’slargest post-credit cal instabilityinUkraine and the Middle East crisisleveraged loan transaction.Skaddenalso addedcomplexitytoalready difficult condi- playedanimportantroleinsecuringthe funding tionsfor companies and governments. from lenderswith limited conditions. Incorporate activity, blockbuster deals dom- InLebanon, the country’slargest banking inated the headlines. Transactions were large, group, Bank Audi,sought to raise$300mto often cross-border and almost alwayshigh-pro- strengthen the capital base of itsTurkish subsid- file. Theseelements contributed to the highest iary, Odeabank. Workingwithlaw firmDechert, level of global M&A activitybyvolume since theLebanese bank decided to pursue arights 2007.Intotal,$3.34tn worth of deals were issue for new Bank Audi sharesand global reached in 2014, according to data provider depository receiptstosecure thefunding. Dealogic. But an interestingpart of thetransaction was But the prevalence of mega-deals, in particu- theinclusion of English-law warrants, which lar the desire for companies to use dealmaking wouldbeexercisableinthe futurefor common to consolidate an industryorsector,meant shares in Odeabank,accordingtoDechert. War- completiontimes for agreed transactions ran rantsare nottypically afeature of rights issues into months as regulators scrutinised competi- andthe useofrights over equityinaseparate tion issues. Forinstance, it took 14 months for company, in adifferent jurisdiction, wasnovel. Dutchcoffee group DE Master Blenders to com- ThemovehelpedBankAudi complete an intri- pleteits May2014 takeoverofthe coffee assets cate capital markets transactionwithout the aid of Mondelez, the US snackscompany. Monde- of an investment bank, and investor participa- lez received$5bn and alarge minoritystake in tionhelpeddemonstrateconfidenceinfinancial the merged entity. The transaction to create the institutionsoperatinginadifficult region. second-largest global coffee companyrequired However, notall marketswere rifewithcor- antitrust approvals in multiple jurisdictions. porate dealmaking. In Ukraine, arevolution To execute thedeal, DE Master Blenders’con- and ensuing conflictbetween pro-Russiansep- trolling shareholder needed to secure an enor- aratistsand the Ukrainian militaryplunged its mous$11bn leveraged loan. That taskwas com- economyintoafull-on crisis. plicated by uncertaintyonhow longitwould The situation wascomplicated by thedepar- take for thedeal to win regulatoryclearances. tureofPresidentViktor Yanukovych,whichin “The parties couldnot confidently estimate turn left aconstitutional crisis. when the transaction would close, but neither The unrest prompted the European Commis- partywas prepared to enter intoatransaction sion to seek to intervene by providingfinancial without certaintyonthe financing,”accord- aidtohelp stabilise Ukraine. Lawyers were ing to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &Flom, asked to findawaytosatisfythe conditions of which advisedJAB Holding, aprivate invest- the EC’s offer, which called forthe application ment group and the controlling shareholder of of Englishlaw,ratherthaninternational law, DE Master Blenders. which is stipulatedinsuchcircumstances under The lawfirm believed the deal couldhave Ukrainian legislation.

46 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS In finding asolution, Ukrainian firm Aequo FINANCE employedwhat it called an “innovative approach… to confirm the scope of powers and due procedureofthe appointment of the new temporarygovernment of Ukraine,which was tal Law firm Originality Rationale Impact To the mandatorycondition for granting of the aid Dechert The firm created astructure to raise capital for Odeabank, 10 9928 by thedonor”. the Turkish subsidiaryofLebanon’s Bank Audi, helping to The political turmoilalso raisedthe prospect stabilise the future of financial institutions in the region. of defaultsoncorporatedebtand generated Commended: Camille Abousleiman. work for international firms.DTEK, Ukraine’s Aequo Helped stabilisethe Ukrainian financial market followingthe 99927 largest privately ownedenergybusiness,worked outbreak of the conflict in 2014. Commended: Yulia Kyrpa. with US lawfirm Latham &Watkins to restruc- Allen &Overy Negotiating on the tendering processfor the A11 motorway 89926 ture $200m in debt to avoid default. in Belgium, the firm created the first structure whereby both The transactionalsoresorted to Englishlaw bank and bond financing bids can be compared in parallel by usingaUKschemeofarrangement.The under public procurement rules. move,Latham believes,will have global ramifi- Latham & Instrumentalinbreaking afour-yearimpasseonthe 8108 26 cationsfor bankruptcy lawasitshows apoten- Watkins restructuring of Punch Taverns by establishingapowerful tially cheaper alternativetothe US Chapter 11 negotiating position for the bondholders. process. n Uría Menéndez Representing more than 100 creditors in twocomplex 89825 restructurings of Fomento de Construcciones yContratas, the firm set amarket standard for restructuring in Spain. Standout William Fry Overcame jurisdictional issues to help create the first 98825 Europe-wide clearing house for exchange traded funds.

Linklaters Advised the UK government on the creation of the first 98724 sovereign sukuk outside the Islamic world, raising the UK's reputation as ajurisdiction for Islamic finance.

Gómez-Acebo Crucial to the successful restructuring of Grupo Condesa, the 79723 &Pombo steel manufacturer.

Hogan Lovells Advised the UK ExportCredits Guarantee Department on a 88723 $913m sukuk to finance the acquisition of aircraft.

Pérez-Llorca Acted for the banks in the Fomento de Construcciones y 79723 Contratas restructuring.

Baker & Acted in the receivership and sale of London’s Gherkin 78722 McKenzie building.

Latham & Acted on the $200m debt restructuring of DTEK, the private 77822 Watkins Ukrainian energycompany.

Linklaters Achieved direct accessfor pensionschemes to the 78722 reinsurance market.

Skadden, Arps, Negotiated acquisition by Joh. A. Benckiser of Mondelēz 78722 Slate, Meagher International’scoffee business. &Flom

Slaughter and Secured shareholder consent for Punch Taverns’ 77822 May restructuring.

Sullivan & Advised Zim Integrated Shipping Services on its 78722 Cromwell restructuring.

White &Case Advised on the financing of the A7 highway in Germany. 86822

DLAPiper Acted for ING Bank in financing of the Gherkin acquisition. 78621

Garrigues Refinancing the debt of the majorityshareholder in Fomento 67821 de Construcciones yContratas. Commended HerbertSmith Advised the government of Nepal on project development. 77721 Freehills

Mills &Reeve Advised Northampton universityonits city-centre campus. 77721

Shearman & Advised abanking syndicate on abig US-Italian acquisition 78621 Sterling finance deal in the gaming industry

Akin Gump The first international bond offering for Bangladesh. 67720 StraussHauer &Feld

Matheson Acted for J.P.Morgan MansartManagement on aderivative- 77620 incorporating fund in Ireland.

Pinsent Masons Acted on the bond issue for Northampton university’scampus 76720 development.

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 47 DISPUTE RESOLUTION

wave of financial scandalsinvolving globalbankshas kept London’scivil courts busy with cases of complex Action on the Across-border litigation. But it is nota- ble that the global nature of business is giving rise to disputes in areas such as insolvency law and capital markets that are being dealt with global front in ways never seen before, andwith the assistance of new technology. Thisisnobetter illustrated than in the outcome of afive-yearglobalcourtbattle involv- ing 33,000 Britishpensionersfromcollapsed Theintricacies of cross-border litigation are telecoms provider Nortel. They achieved a fair shareofa$7.3bn fund held in an escrow puttingdemands on firms to find new ways account, representing the remainsofNortel, whoseEuropean,USand Canadian entities had of achieving settlements. By Jane Croft made separate insolvency filings in London, Delaware and Toronto.There wasnoagree- ment on howthe $7.3bn wouldbedistributed. Fights betweencreditorsofahuge global insolvency are not new —strandsoflitiga- tion relating to the 2008 collapse of US bank Lehman Brothers are still going on in courts around the world. But Nortel became the first case in whichglobal assets were legally enti- tled to be distributedinaccordance with creditors’claims. The case wasalsounusual because two courts in Canada and the US sat simultane- ously and the trial unfolded in twolocations linked by aprivate liveinternet stream. The level of co-operation between judicial authorities wasunprecedented, but the judges had to decide the legal issues in the case according to the laws of theirown country. Hogan Lovells,the lawfirm that represented the UK pensioners, had to convince courts in Canada and the US to accept the legal principle that creditor liabilities could be paidout on a pro rata basis —ignoringclaimstoownership basedonindividual corporate identities and geographical boundaries. The ruling put an end to fiveyears of battles, with threefailed attempts at mediation,inacase described as featuring “scorched earth litigation”. John Tillman, apartner at HoganLovells, says the casewas unusual becauseofthe courts sitting jointly: “Thereisastrong tradi- tion of different courts co-operating on certain aspects of large, cross-border insolvency cases, but this took it to anew level.” The scalewas also daunting:itinvolved 120 witnesses being deposed worldwide and 3m documents being disclosed. The case has far-reaching implications for future cross-bor- derinsolvencies and could pave the wayfor further judicial co-operation across frontiers. In more conventional bank litigation cases heard in London’sHighCourt, lawfirmshave had to contend with cross-borderjurisdic- tional issues,often wherecases have parallel civilorcriminalproceedings elsewhere. One colourful case wasfoughtbyAddleshaw GoddardonbehalfofaGerman water util- ityagainst Swiss bank UBS over thealleged mis-selling of complexderivativetransactions that triggeredlarge payment obligations.The

48 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS litigation wasone of the first instances when a DISPUTE RESOLUTION

bank wassuccessfully sued by apublic author- y ityand involved close co-operation with the utility’s Germanlawyers. The bank had claimed it wasowedabout tal Law firm Originalit Rationale Impact To $140m from contracts with Kommunale Was- Hogan Lovells Following the collapse of Nortel, the telecoms provider,won 9910 28 serwerkeLeipzig in atrial that featured lurid abillion-dollar victoryfor 33,000 UK pensioners. The deal allegations of corruption, aluxuryAfrican also benefited pensioners on the other side of the Atlantic. safari and the hiring of strippers in NewYork. Commended: Angela Dimsdale Gill. The German company had claimed, how- Addleshaw Lawyers secured avictory forKWL, the Leipzig water utility, 98926 ever,that the deal wasinvalidbecause aformer Goddard against UBS over the sale of complex derivatives that triggered UBS banker had an “improper” relationship large payments in the wake of the credit crisis. with aSwiss consultancy advising the utility. Allen &Overy The firm represented the European Central Bank in acase 98926 KWL wonthe case and in ahard-hitting ruling, regarding the liabilityofEUorganisations in relation to the Mr Justice MalessaidofUBS’s conduct:“It has terms of bail-out treaties. Commended: Wolf Bussian. been acase study in hownot to conductinvest- Pinsent Masons The firm advised the UK HomeSecretaryonasuccessful 98926 ment banking in an honest and fair way.” application to setaside a£200m-plus arbitration award in a Other lawfirmshave sought to useinnova- case that clarifies whencourts are willingtointervene. tivewaystotestparts of European lawthat DWF Lawyers acted for Zurich Insurance against International 98825 need to be clarified following bailouts relating EnergyGroup to give claritytoclaimants, insurers and to the financial crisis. Allen &Overy,for exam- policyholders. Commended: Derek Adamson. ple, wasinstructed by the European Central Paul Hastings Defeated the practice of automatic suspension in France of 89825 Standout public tender offers and takeover bids in the event of acourt Lawyers saymany challenge. The practice had been an obstacle to investment. Bird &Bird Wonanaction against Crédit Agricole, the French bank, 89724 to recover funds for aclient despite the client not having a complex cross-border contractual relationship with it.

cases arebeing settled Cooley Enabledclients with limited resources to litigate by managing 79723 therisk of losing through technology, third-party funding and behind closed doors after-the-event insurance. Commended: Mark Deem. using arbitration Garrigues Developed astrategytoprotect Mediapro during extended 88723 and public proceedings over football broadcasting rights.

Latham & Defended the London Metal Exchange against an 88723 Bank following claims broughtagainstitby Watkins unprecedented application for judicial review brought by investors in Cypriot banks whohad lost out aluminium producer Rusal. under the terms of Cyprus’sbailout. Paul Hastings Defending and training the Rwandan government. 87722 Lawyers at the firm successfully argued the ECB wasnot acting as aEuropean institution Shearman & Acted in the Yukosarbitration to win the largest-ever 87722 in relation to its work with the European Sta- Sterling international award. bilityMechanism and therefore the General William Fry Convinced the Irish courts to consider sharia law. 88622 Court of the European Union lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. The ruling helped clarify Eversheds Resolved asignificant five-year dam dispute in Senegal, 77721 Mauritania and Mali. the capacity in which the ECB and European Commission were acting in the European Morais Leitão, Defended mobile phone operator Optimus against the 77721 StabilityMechanism and the action helped Galvão Teles, Portuguese Data Protection Authority. Soares da Silva prevent EU tax partners from being on the hook for liabilities. White &Case Broke a30-year deadlock worth €900m for Commisimpex 77721 Despite the amount of litigation reaching against the Republic of the Congo. London’s courts, however, manylawyers say Arthur Cox Alandmark case for Irish defined-benefit pension funding. 76720 manycomplexcross-bordercases are being settled behind closed doors usingarbitration. Baker & Defended MasterCard in the first claim filed against it in 76720 McKenzie Russia following US sanctions. Arbitration is often thought to be faster, cheaperand private. In the pastyear, big Macfarlanes Clarified the scope of Brussels regulation. 76720 arbitration cases have included the one brought

Commended Mayer Brown Achieved approval for anew regime to addressthe deficit in 76720 by Paul Hastings, the London-basedlitigation the Merchant Navy’spension scheme. group, that achieved avictory for the Rwandan government.There are signs, however, that the Sidley Austin Developed parallel schemes of arrangement in the liquidation 68620 of Murray Holdings. Englishcourtswill exercise their discretion to intervene on arbitral awards if necessary. Slaughter and Defended abig claim against Kroll and three co-defendants. 77620 Lawfirm PinsentMasonsadvised the UK May home secretary on asuccessfulapplication to Squire Patton Acted for the Slovak Republic on planned changes to public 77620 the HighCourt to setaside a£200marbitral Boggs health insurance. award made by an international arbitraltri- VanDoorne Introduced the concept of multi-party arbitration into the 77620 bunal in relationtoaninformation technology Dutch insurance market. dispute case.The ruling is nowthe lead test case on issues in which the English courts will VdAReducing the reputational damage for companies charged 76720 with capital markets offences. intervene in such awards. n

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 49 COMPETITION

Tactics to level the playing field

The regulatoryenvironmenthas been atesting one but firms showed inventiontoensure positive outcomes forclients. By Christian Oliver

nMarch, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis ing thedevelopment of skin cancer.Brussels in clinicalresearch andinnovation… thatwas completed alandmark $23bn asset swap feared the asset swap could harm consumers abig development. They really looked in detail that waswidely hailed as atemplate for by reducing the number of potential producers at competition in innovation,”hesays. Ihowtoreinvigorate big pharma. of such drugsfromthreetotwo,asthe Novartis The case wasmade more complexbythe But over the 2014 Christmas holidays the trials would probably be abandoned. fact thatthe twodrugs were designed to work deal washanging by athread afterrunning Sir Christopher Bellamy,chairman of the in combinationwith eachother,but only one intohighly complex—and somewhat novel— global competitionpractice at Linklaters, says of them, LGX818, wasfully ownedbyNovar- competitionconcerns. The regulators’worries frantic 11th-hour discussionstoensure the tis. The other,MEK162,was produced under struck at the heart of the transaction,inwhich deal’s approvalraisednew challengesfor his licence fromArray BioPharma, asmall Colora- theUK’sGSK wasselling itsportfolio of cancer lawyers. Howtoensure work continuedonthe do-based company. drugs to Novartis for up to $16bnand bought twoNovartis drugs wasfar from obvious. Competitionlawyers at Linklaters madethe theSwiss group’s vaccines unit forupto$7.1bn. Critically, Sir Christopher says Brussels was unprecedented stepofproposingtwo potential The European Commission insisted Novar- going to unusual lengths to target products remedies to the commission.Under the terms tiswould have to divesttwo important cancer that were still in development. “It wasclear of the firstproposal, LGX818and MEK162 treatments that were under development,as that the commissionwas developing anew the- wouldbeownedbydifferent companies and GSKalready had similarproducts forslow- oryofharm[to consumers] aboutcompetition then it would be left to marketdemand to

50 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS Competition y tal Law Firm Originalit Rationale Impact To Linklaters Aseriesofsolutions to problems that might have stymied the 9109 28 $23bn Novartis-GSK asset swap. The challenge wastodispose of twoproducts still in development. The lawyers convinced the European Commission to market-test their solutions and allow a company from outside Europe to participate in the deal.

Berwin In acase that has become amodel for international cartel 98926 Leighton disputes, BLP challenged the rules of international disclosure Paisner particularly around material such as evidence from whistleblowers. The firm fielded amulti-disciplinaryteam for National Grid, its client, to win acomplex case that lasted six years and involved multiple opponents.

King & The firm advised aconsortium of tyre manufacturers seeking 88824 Wood damages from cartels inflating the price of synthetic rubber. Mallesons Using complex economic modelling, the firm successfully argued that cartels were liable for damages not only from their own price- fixing but also from the overall inflation of prices in the market, called “umbrella damages”. Standout Shearman Inanunusual but successful strategy, the firm sued the UK’s 87823 &Sterling Competition and Markets Authority(CMA) over its disclosure of evidence investigating the firm’s client,BMI Healthcare. As aresult, BMI did not have to makethe divestment previously ordered by the CMA, and the CMA's processes around evidence handling were improved.

Latham & Groupement des Cartes Bancaires (GCB), the French payment 76922 Watkins card association, faced aEuropean Commission ruling that its published pricing measures were anti-competitive. This ruling meant the commission did not have to prove that GCB's actions had any effect on the market. The firm successfully argued for the European CourtofJustice to annul the commission’s decisionand ‘The world of follow-on clarified the use of this ruling. damages is relatively Garrigues Acted in a“state aid” case that clarified the role of the European 77721 Commission in Spanish tax affairs.

new. Other cases have Pérez- Enabled Schibsted, the Norwegian media group, to expand in 66820 had skirmishes but they Llorca Spain. William Integrated advocacy approach in a“stateaid” case that lasted 67720

settled. This went right to Commended Fry 10 years. the gate of the court’

ensure that they reached consumers in away gave it anarrowvictory in the competition cat- BLP says the case turnedinto a“tooth and that they couldworktogether effectively as a egoryinthe FT’sInnovative Lawyers awards nail” fight against 22 opponents and required a treatment. for Europethis year. team of lawyers and economists that swelled to The second proposalwas that ArrayBio- Berwin Leighton Paisner came second for as manyas20atits peak. Pharma would acquire both products. How- its work seekingdamagesfor Britain’s National The case wasalsoremarkable for twounu- ever,there would need to be asignificant Euro- Gridpower companyinthe English courts. sual precedents. It wasthe first in which the pean partner to ensure the drugs’position in In 2007,the European Commission imposed High Court orderedthat leniency material the EU market. Brusselspreferredthe second afine of more than ¤750m on anumber of couldbedisclosed. Under normal circum- option after conducting its markettests. leading companies, includingAlstom, Areva, stances,companies win leniency from Brussels Lawyers involved in the case noted that the Schneider and Siemens, for runningacartel by whistleblowing and providing documenta- deal wasunder intense time pressure as the in the supply of gas-insulated switchgear — tion on the operations of acartel, but on the costs of alongapprovalprocedurecouldhave keyequipment used by powertransmission understandingthat paperwork remains con- undermined the attractivenessofthe asset companies. These fines, weveho r—the largest fidential. In this case, BLP successfully argued swap. set of fines ever imposed on asingle cartel — that the material wasneededfor follow-on However, Novartis still needed to bear bolstered the EU’s ownbudget and National damages. important costs associated with the remedy. Griddecided to seekfollow-on damagesfor its The case also brokenew groundbyensur- The Swiss companyispaying to ensurethat ownlosses. ing that the French defendantswereunableto clinicaltrials continue on the divested drug. Joby Davies, litigation partner at BLP,says rely on theso-called French blocking statute, It is also paying for a“monitoring trustee”to the National Grid case chartednew territory which companies can usetoavoid obligations makesure that Array, which has no experience forthe duration of the litigation battle, which on open disclosure. of operating in the EU,selects asuitable Euro- dragged on forsix years. “The worldoffol- The defendants finally settled just before the pean partner. low-on damagesisrelatively new.Other cases case wasdue to go to triallast year.The sum Linklaters’responses to the difficultiesasso- have hadskirmishesbut they settled. This went sought was£275m,but the eventual settlement ciated with securing quick regulatory approval right to thegateofthe court.” remains confidential. n

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 51 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

ivorce can be amessy business, especially when youused to run a$3.5bn Technically hedge fund with your ex.The splitin D2009between Martin Coward and Elena Ambrosiadou, whofoundedthe Cyprus- based Ikos hedge fund in 1992, wasacrimoni- ous,leadingtodozens of lawsuits in multiple talented jurisdictions over several years. Rather than custody of the childrenorwho wouldkeepthe familyhome, lawyers focused on something even more complicated: who owned the company’strading algorithm? Theadvance of digitally based andonline Aspart of this process, the code in the algorithm usedbyMrCoward at his new business businesseshas put the onus on legalteams to had to be compared with the one used by Ikos. expand their skills, writes Duncan Robinson There wasonlyone problem: the code wasmil- lions of lines long. With court-imposed deadlines pressing, Andrew Moir at Herbert Smith Freehills — workingfor Ikos —wroteabespokeprogram that compared thetwo. The efforts of Mr Moir,who wasasoftware engineer before he became asolicitor,demon- stratethe increasing lengths lawyers nowgoto in ordertowin intellectualpropertycases. The increasing complexityand profile of intellectual propertymeanlaw firms find themselves atthe forefront of monitoring, explaining and combating infringement — as well as coming up with snappy new legal points. “There is alot of overlapbetween the lawand the technology in intellectualproperty,” says Mr Moir.“If the lawyers liveand breathe the tech,they can really help formu- latethe arguments.” In this climate, lawyers with abackground in science or technologyare increasingly val- ued. Finding people with these sorts of skills is becoming important when dealing with any topicsthat touch on intellectual property, says Stephen Kinsella,apartneratSidley Austin. “There is arecognitionofthe valueofhaving peoplelikethat,” he says. Otherfirms have gone further than using the coding skills of oneoftheir team.Lawyers at Wiggin, amedia lawfirm, set up asepa- ratebusiness dedicated to monitoring abuse of intellectual propertyonline. The business, Incopro, startedlifein2012 predominantly as away of monitoring copyright infringement in film and music. But when Wiggin’s lawyers started working with luxury goodsgroup Richemont in 2013, theyrealised the monitoring software could be put to wider use by tracking down counterfeit sales of the Swiss group’s brands. The saleofcounterfeit goodsonline was agrowingproblemfor Richemont, whose brands include Alfred Dunhill,Montblanc and Cartier.Monitoring and trying to takedown these websites wasalong-winded and expen- siveprocess. Incopro provedinvaluableinacase brought by Cartieragainst BSkyB, an internet service providerinthe UK, whichwas reluctant to block websites selling the luxurygoods mak- er’swares. BSkyB had argued thatblocking

52 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS websites did little to prevent the sale of coun- Intellectual ProPerty terfeit goods. Statistics provided by Incopro demonstrated to the courtthat the opposite y wastrue—and the court found in Cartier’s favour. tal

“For along time,technologywas just the Law firm Originalit Rationale Impact To enemy,” says SimonBaggs, apartneratWiggin. Wiggin Wiggin used its wholly owned, online content protection business, 10 9928 “If youwerearights owner,there wasanew Incopro, to advise Richemont, the luxuryconsumer goods firm, thing called the internet and everything com- on alandmark case. Using acombination of legal strategyand ing out of it looked bad.” its site-monitoring technology, it managed to protect brands such as Cartier by having internet service providers block sites Nowitisanally. Atoolaimed at stopping that sell counterfeit goods. Commended: Simon Baggs and Helen peopleillegallydownloading afilm wortha Saunders. few poundsinlost cinema ticket or DVDreve- nue wasusedtostop the sale of £10,000 Cartier Allen & The firmhelpedPfizer, the pharmaceuticalcompany, protect its 99927 watches.“If the internet is aseriesofpipes, the Overy $300m-a-year revenuestream from the drug Lyricainthe UK by ensuring thatthe NHS continued to prescribe Lyrica ratherthan waytotackle that problem is to go after the generic alternatives, for neuropathic pain. The case is significant pipes,”saysMrBaggs. for other owners of second-use patents. Commended: Nicola Dagg. This principle waspicked up by Allen& Overy, acting for pharmaceuticalcompany Bird Bird &Bird successfully protected the brand of Cunningham 9107 26 Pfizer in apatent dispute with the makers of &Bird Lindsey Group, the claims management company. Part of the an off-patent drug. Pfizer wastrying to defend strategyinvolvedadvising the group to takeover management of the company's old subsidiaryinPoland to gain accesstosensitive the $300m of revenues generated in the UK documents. The case created aprecedent that means brand theft by its Lyrica drug,which is used to treat epi- Standout can be considered acriminal offence in Poland. Commended: lepsyand in neurological pain relief.While the Marta Koremba and Izabela Kowalczuk-Pakula. drug’spatent for treating epilepsy had lapsed, it still applied when it wasprescribedasapain Herbert Twopeopleclaimed ownership of the financial algorithm 89724 Smith on which the trading of hedge fund Ikos wasbased: Elena reliever.Doctors, however, would oftensimply Freehills Ambrosiadou, chief executive, and her co-founder and ex-husband prescribethe drug under its generic name, Martin Coward. The lawyers successfully defended the claim by even when doing so forpain. Mr Coward through writing software that could compare the algorithms used by both parties. Commended: Andrew Moir.

‘For along time, DLAPiper When the UK Intellectual Property Office denied the International 78823 Stem Cell Corporation’s request for astem cell patent, the ISCC, turned to DLAPiper for help. The firm successfully explained technology wasjustthe complex biotechnologytothe European CourtofJustice to win the enemy. Forrights owners, ISCC's appeal. Commended: Adam Cookeand Lisa Haile. therewas anew thing Pérez- Protecting the trademark of BlaBlaCar,the ride-sharing company, 77822 called the internet and Llorca in Spain. Hogan Helped Vodafone write aglobal reportongovernment monitoring 67821 everything coming Lovells of telecommunications.

out of it looked bad’ Baker & Special adviser to the European Commission on trade secrets 67720 McKenzie protection in the EU.

Alarge US pharmacompanysuing British CMS Protecting a15-year patent for Syngenta, the agricultural 76720 doctors and the National Health Servicewould Commended company, in the Netherlands. not look good.“Our client,Pfizer,was never goingtosue anydoctors or pharmacists,” King & Defending Sky’sonline TV service, “Now TV” from atrademark 67720 says Nicola Dagg, partner and globalhead Wood infringement claim. Mallesons ofintellectual propertylitigation at Allen& Overy. “Wehad to think of ways of minimis- ing infringement, without taking enforcement steps.” Instead,Allen &Overy argued that in this case the NHS wasanintermediary —like BSkyB wasinthe Cartiercase —and therefore had an obligationtoensure patents were not being infringed. The courtagreed and the NHS came out with guidelinesonthe prescription of Lyrica — much to the chagrin of GPs, manyofwhom felt they had been unwillingly placedonthe front line of patent enforcement. As intellectual propertybecomes an increasingly complicatedand occasionallycontrover- sial topic, lawyers need to consider expanding their knowledge of another: publicrelations. n

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 53

in-house

IndIvIdual In-house lawyers Extreme Matthew Owens winner global head legal, strategic partnerships and digital medicine, novartis pharmaceuticals. Mr Owensplays acriticalrole in forging becomes relationships with technologypartners to turn Novartis’s visionofdigital medicinesintoareality.Heischanging attitudes in theindustrytoembrace a wayofworking that does notfocus on mainstream ownership of intellectualproperty. tOMBrOwn head of legal uK &ireland, paypaluK By encouraginghis team to lead productsfrominception to market, Lawyers’ powerofpurelegal innovation Mr Brownhas turned his lawyers into business leaders andproject managers. translates to creating commercial He hashad direct input into building opportunities, writes Reena SenGupta the UK businessand creating valuein the company. nick MaltBy general counsel and company secretary, genomics england Part of the team setuptodeliver the sequencing of 100,000 genomesby 2017, Mr Maltby is shaking up the UK’s approach to health. In his legalrolehe is forgingpartnerships, pricing outputs and aiming to enhance the company’s capability. lisa tOlaini T chieflegal counsel uK, mercer he in-house legal role has Ms Tolaini implemented aprogramme seen adramatictransformation over the past to enable the legal department 10 years. Once seen as the poorrelation to pri- to assistinMercer’sexpansion. vate practice, workingin-house has become Initiatives includeaninternal contract the exciting option for lawyers managementsystem, setting up with an interest in innovation. risk registersand an overhaul of The 2015 rankings showhow relationships with outsidecounsel. the innovations of in-house practitioners reflect the rapid sakari wuOlijOki rate of change in some indus- chief legal counsel, tries such as pharmaceuticals, nordea privatebanKing healthcare and energy. Mr Wuolijokihelpedcreate awealth The pharmaceutical indus- planning service. By combining that tryisadapting to “out- with an overhaul of the legal operation, comes-based” medicine, he hastransformed the team of lawyers wherethe price of drugs is into business partners. based on their performance. in-house lawyer Matthew MOhsin Zaidi Owens is helping Novartis get general counsel, pride in london to the forefront of digital med- Mr Zaidi, Pride’s firstin-house counsel icine. His role is to enable the put in place the structure neededto collaboration of the pharma- bringthe breathenew life into the ceutical and technology organisation.Afull-timesolicitor industries, which will in turn at Linklaters, he shows exceptional digital medicine: create products such as microchipped pills commitment in this voluntaryposition. novartis’s that track patients’adherence to their pre- matthew owens scriptions, as well as contact lens technologies that detect blood sugar levels in diabetics. For

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 55 in-house harlie bibby :c to pho

Novartis, these products mean new partner- chaser-supplier relationship to apartnership. for Nordea private banking in Finland and for ships with technologycompanies such as Pro- Lawyers whofind themselves at the inter- Mercer,the insurance company. teus Digital Health and Google. section of law, science and business have an However, oneofthe more startling examples Mr Owens is trying to forestall the problems unprecedented opportunitytobemorethan of the powerofpure legal innovation to create facing the union of these twoindustrysectors. legal innovators. commercial opportunities comes from the David Morris, global head of development for The team at PayPal is involved in prod- London team at CME (Europe),the options and Novartis, says:“The lawyers are changing the uct design and has an activerolemaking the futures exchange. The lawyers were instru- mindset in the industry. They are seeding an company’snew offerings successful. Com- mental in creating anew cocoafutures trading ecosystem for the development of new prod- mercial colleagues credit the UK legal team contract denominated in euros. Their work did ucts and supporting partners in the process with adirect contribution to building PayPal’s not stop at winning regulatoryapproval. The with amore collaborativeapproach to intel- increase in market capitalisation. lawyers also realised that there wasawayto lectual property.” Being able to contribute to both gross reve- improve howphysical cocoa warrants moved The need for lawyers to form new-stylecom- nues as well as net earning is ahallmark of all betweenparties trading on the exchange. The mercialpartnerships wasalso evident in the the teams in the 2015 FT ranking. Some teams solution wassimple and straightforward but work of Nick MaltbyatGenomics England, the were seen by commercial colleagues as direct had never been done before. Instead of using UK government-backed organisation building revenue generators and others more as reve- athird partyorabank, CME uses space in its one of the world’slargest genetic databases. nue facilitators. ownoffice to print off the warrants once asale Mr Maltbywas part of the start-up company But none were seen as cost centres. This had been concluded without compromising and nowhas other corporate responsibilities marks asignificant shift for the in-house the integrityofthe legal transfer process for besides beingthe in-house lawyer. branch of the profession. In the 2007 FT rank- the cocoa. This new in-house depositarysys- He wasinstrumental in negotiating acriti- ing of in-house lawyers, only ahandful of legal tem and warrantmanagement process has cal joint venture with Illumina, the US genetic departments could claim to driveeconomic ramifications for other CME product lines and technologycompany that will sequence the value for their companies. has the potential to change current practices genomes. The favourable terms mean that the Innovation for in-house lawyers is not just in this niche but global market. UK has access to cutting-edge technologyand the preserve of those working in the high-tech The 2015 winning team shows howamain- the relationship between Genomics England industries. The ranking also include some val- stream corporate legal function can excelat and Illumina has movedfromastandard pur- ue-driving initiatives from lawyers working in-house innovation. Given adirectivetocut

56 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS MOSTINNOVATIVE EUROPEAN IN-HOUSE LEGAL TEAMS core organisation s bt Group 36 acomplete legal function that spans governance, compliance and ethics, it is both a risk manager and generates revenues via bt Law, its insurance claims business. cMe (europe) 35 the legal team created an entirely new asset contract and in-house depository model for the management and movement of cocoa warrants. the first time warrant management has been done in-house. paypal uK 35 the uK legal team is an integral partofdesigning new products and is seen as making adirect contribution to building the business. contract automation has delivered $41m in savings over twoyears. Mercer 34 Lawyers are instrumental in the move by consulting group Mercer into the consumer sector.Improving consultants’risk awarenessand automating contracts free the team for more complex work. Nordea private 34 Going through substantial operational change, the team developed anew wealth banking (Finland) planning service that helps the bank win clients. afirst for Finland. Novartis 34 the move towards digital medicine and an outcome-based healthcare system is a (strategic huge shift for the pharmaceutical industry. Lawyers are at the centre of this change partnerships & for Novartis. digital Medicine) asda 33 Implemented digital contracts automation to draft contracts, manage approvals and allow businesscolleagues to generate contracts themselves in amatter of minutes. bp (Global 33 taking the lead in educating the businessoncyber security, lawyers focus on getting technology& ahead of legislation. sourcing) e.oN (uK) 33 steering the company through one of the largest demergers in the energyindustry, lawyers set up anew businessline and moved to using just one law firm. GlaxosmithKline 32 the legal team’s leading role in the deal with Novartis ensured the billion dollar international asset swap wasdone on afixed-fee basis and on time. equatorial coca 31 Lawyers in ajoint venture between coca-cola and aspanish bottling company have cola bottling rolled out acommendable ethics programme for doing businessinafrica. company proactive: dan fitz Mind candy 31 the sole in-house lawyer uses JIRa software to handle the legal work and enable some leads the bt group to be done by businesscolleagues. legal function Roche (uK) 31 taking the lead on commercial initiatives and driving the case for diversityinthe profession. tyco (uKand 31 both teams add value, the uK team in its new commercial contracts offering; the Germany) German team in its recoveryof$100m from dormant accounts. its budget by 5per cent everyyear,BTGroup’s Volkswagen 31 Implemented acomprehensive compliance program to transform internal business legal function took asweeping approach to Group attitudes. improving its services to the business while Novartis 30 the lawyers, who are active in the field of sales and marketing field, come up with cutting costs. It took aleaf out of fellowcor- Farmaceutica businessideas and are considered revenue generators. porate functions and set up BT Law, its own energy 29 Lawyers bring value to bespokeenergysavings projects. limited liabilityclaims management business technologies that nowgenerates £5m in revenues, acting Institute for BT and other clients. tsys 28 the team excels in protecting the businessfromdata protection breaches. The legal function at BT Group incorporates International manyofthe significant developments of the legal profession of the past 10 years. Dan Fitz, group general counsel and companysecretary, INNOVATORSINOPERATIONAL CHANGE says:“We have acomprehensivelegal services business here and my role is very much to lead and manage it.”The BT Group function is an entire legal business that fields specialist lawyers and works with top lawfirms. It is itself core aproactivein-house adviser to BT on risk and organisation s wolseley Group 33 Improvements acrossthe group’s legal function including its Nordic business strategy, has its ownalternativebusiness struc- comprise alean approach to the company secretariat, dawn raid apps and aproduct ture in BT Law, and has integrated disruptive integrityprogramme. suppliers such as Axiom into the department’s schroders 32 the team has changed its perception in the businessfromrevenue protectors to everyday work. It shows the value of necessity businessenablers overthe past three years. as aspur to innovation. n siemens 32 Lawyers transformed their function to turn them from service provider to business partner. ReseaRch &awaRd suppoRted by onesavings bank 29 Focused on value creation, the team assisted on the recent initial public offering and is now embedded in the business.

FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS 57 rising stars The next generation

These individuals have shown that ideas in the professiondonot have tocome from the topdown. By Reena SenGupta

nher acceptance speechfor the FT InnovativeLawyers Special Achievement Award in 2014, RosemaryMartin,group general counsel at Vodafone,saidshe wanted to putinnovation on the Iagendafor the next generation and encourage younglawyers to “raise their heads abovethe parapet”. The lawisahierarchicalprofessionand hastended not to givecredit ranajoybasu, to younglawyers. Traditionally,knowledge andideas in the profession

reed smith ► travels from thetop down. In response to Ms Martin’splea, thisyearfor the first time we have Ranajoy Basu combined dual qualifications inIndian and selected agroup of under-40swho stood outinthe researchfor this English lawwith his knowledge of structuredfinance in a report. The group is eclectic.Someshowedentrepreneurialism, others technical legalinnovation forpositive socialchange—improving focused on technical legal innovation. Some focused on clients, others education for children in the Indianstate of Rajasthan. on wider society. In the first cross-border development impactvehicleofits The judges feltall fivewerestrong candidates who, together,reflect kind, he created theEducateGirls bond aimed at private US and howthe profession is evolving. Ranajoy Basu waschosen as the winner European investors. The UBS OptimusFoundation andthe for using his legal expertisetocreate anew sociallyoriented practice Children’s Investment Fund Foundation invest funds to support area for Reed Smith. Prabhu Narasimhan,the runner-up, showedthat the work ofEducate Girls, anon-governmental organisation. being inventiveintax lawcan paydividends. His forward thinking will Mr Basu set up Reed Smith’s social impact finance groupto enablebillions of dollars’worth of investment in the UK. target clients whowant to use their activities for social good.

Peter Feehan, jeniFer sWalloW, Pinsent masons ► mind Candy ► Peter Feehan is recognised As generalcounsel andchief for helping Peterborough of staff for Mind Candy,an CityCouncilwith its entertainment company for ambitious plan to become the digitalgeneration, Jenifer theUK’sgreen capital. Swallowhas developed the Hisentrepreneurial business in ahighly regulated approach gave himthe and rapidly evolving industry. drivetotakeadvantage Mind Candy,bestknown for Prabhu narasimhan, of everycommercial andreW moir, Moshi Monsters, has more White &Case ► herbertsmith Freehills opportunity, applying his ► than 80m registeredonline Prabhu Narasimhan has private sector knowledge Before qualifyingasasolicitor, users. Ms Swallow’swork provedattention to detailcan to create new products AndrewMoir studied physics empoweredMindCandy bring aboutgreat legal and identify potential at Imperial College London staff to understand and innovation. He specialises in partnerships. He advises and worked inelectronics and respond to day-to-day legal implementing tax-efficient, clientsacross the energy and software engineering. This issues, freeing her up to cross-border structures for utilitysectors. experience has allowed him focus on strategy. international corporations. to bridgethe gap between law He worked with the Treasury and technology.Heis to devise atax lawstructure recognised here for his work that gives UK businesses inadispute over ownership more choice when looking for of thefinancial algorithm on finance. Theproposal has which Ikos, the investment resulted in Europeaninvestors management business, is committing more than $14bn based.Hewrote software to in lending to UK companies compare algorithms used by over the next fiveyears. both parties to winthe case.

ReseaRchand awaRd suppoRted by RosemaRymaRtin

58 FT.COM/INNOVATIVE-LAWYERS