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The article discusses an interview with Attorney Mark Amsden, general counsel of Morrisons Supermarkets PLC in Great Britain. It relates how he established the legal team of Morrisons. Amsden asked the help of former Addleshaws commercial director Chris Howe to run the first formal legal panel review of the supermarket.

The article reports that law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) managing partner Neville Eisenberg will resign at the end of his fifth term at the end of April 2015.

The article reports that Clydesdale Bank UK general counsel Jennifer Darbyshire has returned to Australia to resume her role at parent company National Australia Bank (NAB).

The article reports that 20 Essex Street, a set of commercial barristers' chambers in London, England, hired Cavenagh Law practice manager Rachel Foxton to be the newly-created head of practice support focusing on growing the set's business in Asia.

The article reports that lawyer and current head of enforcement Tracey McDermott has been promoted by Great Britain Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as part of a structural overhaul.

The article reports that Robert Stirling has been appointed at the global financial institutions group of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

The article reports that 12 new partners were added by law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP to its ranks in its most recent promotions round.

The article discusses the Russian legal market as of 2014, and it mentions the impacts that economic sanctions by Western countries are having on lawyers and companies in Russia. The efforts of Russian firms and businesspeople to forge relations with entities in Eastern nations such as the China are mentioned, along with restrictions on Russian banks and corporations. International trade between Russia and America is examined, as well as alliances involving Russian law firms.

The article focuses on the Innovation in Law survey conducted by market research company Ipsos MORI. It found that 74 per cent of the 500 lawyers who responded to the survey felt that senior positions across the legal profession are dominated by white, public school educated men. In addition, lawyers were pessimistic about the status of the industry including the effects of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and the Jackson Reforms of the civil justice system.

The article informs that law firm Drax is planning to appoint its first head of legal for two years as part of its in-house restructuring. It is noted that company secretary Philip Hudson decided not to replace the role after former legal head Kavita Singh left the firm in 2012 and divided the legal team in two and promoted two senior lawyers to look after both teams.

The article offers information on the Briefing Live event organized by The Lawyer and Popovici Nitu & Asociatii with regard to investing in Romania. Topics include the issue of stability in the country, the investment appeal in energy, real estate, and agribusiness, and the exploration projects of Romania's National Agency for Mineral Resources. It also discusses the controversial issue of fracking in the country.

The article reports that law firm Nabarro LLP has entered a partnership with the French company Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés. It is stated that the alliance with Lefèvre Pelletier will give a new presence in North Africa, and strengthen the alliance's presence in China. The new firm formed under the alliance will have 980 lawyers across 31 offices in various countries.

The article presents information on a career survey conducted by recruitment agency Robert Walters PLC, according to which lawyers are one of the hardest-working professionals, and stay with their employer for a longer period. Only 30 percent of lawyers surveyed said that they would look for a new lob after less than three years. The survey found that financial services and sales professionals were more hardworking than lawyers, with financial services employees on the top.

The article reports that 4,000 staff at supermarket giant Tesco PLC, including general counsel Adrian Morris and 25 other lawyers, have been asked by firm chief executive Dave Lewis to work one day a fortnight in stores during Christmas period as a part of the firm's annual "helping hands" campaign. Group company secretary Jonathan Lloyd, and regulatory, ethics and compliance director David Ward will also work at the shop floor during this period.

The article reports that Lucy Vernall, first-ever general counsel of British payday loan company Wonga.com Ltd. has left the company for Internet lender Funding Circle. It mentions that Vernall left the company few months after Wonga paid out compensation for sending debt collection letters from fake firms. It mentions the legal responsibilities she handled in Wonga.

The article announces the appointment of Valerie Ford Jacob, Michael Levitt, and Paul Tropp as lawyers of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.

The article features pensions regulator lawyer Marcus Laughton in Great Britain. It highlights Laughton's effort in dealing with the defunct Lehman Brothers' pension scheme until it came to its settlement with 2500 former employees, and mentions his other high-profile cases. It also reveals Laughton's multi-disciplinary team, which was consists of business analyst, chartered accountant, and case manager.

The article announces that Queen's Counsel Paul Bowen was appointed at Brick Court Chambers in London, England.

The article announces that Bob Charlton, the former head of law firm DLA Piper LLP Asia Pacific, has been appointed head of Asia and Hong Kong, China managing partner at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP.

The article reports the contenders for the role as sole legal adviser of global beer producer Heineken. The topics discussed include the withdrawal of Eversheds and Pinsents Masons from the race, a brief background on current retainers Shepherd & Wedderburn and TLT as of September 12, 2014, and the trend of going into sole legal advisory contracts.

The article reports that Elizabeth Stephen, general counsel of the Save the Children International (SCI) has left the charity on sabbatical. Stephen joined the charity in 2009 and headed up to lead a team of seven lawyers as well two assistants The charity is expected to name a replacement for Stephen by the end of 2014.

The article reports that British law firm Gateley will double its office space in Leeds, England, in 2014, through an office move three years earlier than planned after adding 22 lawyers. By October 2014, Gateley will leave its Toronto Square base, and the firm will have a team of 10 lawyers working for house building clients, and it is also looking for corporate clients in Leeds, and plans to expand its banking reach.

The article reports on the increase in barrister revenues in Great Britain. Topics discussed include changes in employment law, growth of the law firms, and new laterals and weighty judicial review cases. Also being discussed is the rise in revenue per barrister (RPB), focusing on the financial performance of several chambers like Outer Temple Chambers, Matrix Chambers Ltd., and Hardwicke Chambers.

The article reports the July 31, 2014 deadline for the submission of application to the British Ministry of Defense as it conducts its first panel review for commercial law firms. Topics covered include the disposition of commercial lawyer Andrew Fox, the external law offices working for the government unit, and the increase in the financial allocation for the department from 3 million British pounds to 10 million British pound in 2013. Also mentioned are the law outfits removed in 2010.

The article discusses the annual General Counsel (GC) Summit, held in Portugal in May 2014 and hosted by the periodical "The Lawyer" and the business enterprise Thomson Reuters. It discusses presentations by business enterprise Ernst & Young global leader of legal services Trevor Faure and British firm Scottish Water senior counsel Ramsay Milne, and a plenary session led by British firm Lloyds Banking Group lawyer Kumar Tewari.

The article reports that the bank Barclays PLC has modified its legal function to create a streamlined global litigation group. It is informed that the group would report directly to its general counsel. The firm has also launched a new global financial crime team. The bank has promoted lawyer Stephanie Pagni as global litigation head and put current litigation and investigations director Jonathan Peddie in charge of the beefed-up global financial crime unit.

The article reports that lawyer Denys Hickey has joined Thirty Nine Essex Street, a long established barristers' chambers based in London, England.

The article focuses on attorney/arbitrator Jan Paulsson and his creation of a boutique law firm after retiring from his position at the firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Topics include the economic performance of boutique law firms in 2014, the increase in boutique law firms in Great Britain in 2014, and the success of the co-working business model among boutique firms.

The article focuses on the legal dispute between the law firm BPE and client Richard Gabriel on if attorneys have a duty to warn clients about financial or commercial risks. Topics include attorney liability in Great Britain, if an attorney's failure to communicate risk to a client can be considered professional negligence, and if clients should be allowed to sue attorneys for a failure to provide sound investment advice.

The article focuses on the ruling of Supreme Court which can cause serious liability implications for lawyers. Topics discussed include views of the High Court and Court of Appeal judges related to the duty of solicitors during the hearing of the case of Cheltenham, England-based law firm BPE and former client Richard Gabriel, loan agreement, and the firm's breach on its duty.

The article profiles London Mining PLC general counsel (GC) Rohit Bhoothalingam. It cites that the Indian-born lawyer studied at Cambridge University had to show his grit in Mining Group's $650 million battle with joint venture partner with Basin Precious Minerals in which all claims have been dropped. It mentions that Bhoothalingam has relationships with firms around the world and he needs strong external relationships to push the company through heavyweight finance deals.

The article reports on the expansion of intellectual property (IP) practice of the law firm Irwin Mitchell LLP wherein it hire IP lawyer Katrina Burchell for the IP market in Great Britain. It states that the firm has won at the Law Society for it competitive tender on employment, commercial contracts and property matters. It also notes that the firm has launched an internal initiative to improve it IP team.

The article reports on twp promotions at Morgan Cole LLP including tax lawyer James Greig in the Thames Valley and commercial lawyer Jason Richards, based in Oxford and Cardiff.

The article focuses on resignation of Peter Rees, general counsel at energy company Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Rees states that he decided to leave as he wanted to explore his options and has not got any offer from another company. It mentions that Rees reorganized lawyers into Shell's business teams. It highlights that Rees decided to quit after Ben van Beurden, new chief executive officer (CEO) at Shell was appointed.

The article announces the names of four partners hired by British law firm Trowers & Hamlins including real estate partner Sallie Bowtell, corporate partner Jamie Gibson, and Bahrain-based partner Peter Greatrex.

The article reports partner promotions have been reduced to three by Nabarro LLP in 2014. It is mentioned that the firm broke with tradition to promote eight partners to its ranks in 2013. It is stated that with two of the three lawyers in property teams dealing with some of the firm's most longstanding clients, the firm is keeping its focus on London real estate lawyers.

The article focuses on Great Britain Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) management of a bribery case against billionaire Victor Dahdaleh. The agency had accused Dahdaleh of paying 67 millions in bribes to the former managers of Aluminium Bahrain BSC (Alba) for securing billion-dollar business contracts. In the March 21, 2014 hearing, judge Loraine Smith raised questions over management of the high-profile trial in which two Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld lawyers refused to appear as witnesses.

The article announces two appointments including Jon Bola and Paul Barnes as lawyers in the real estate and private client teams of the law firm Ashfords LLP.

The article informs that Sandra Forbes, banking and transport partner at law firm Burges Salmon, has been appointed as general counsel by coach company National Express.

The article reports on the announced resignation of Cologne, Germany-based lawyer Christian Boris as an arbitrator for London, England-based law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in April 2014 and his plan to launch Borris Hennecke Kneisel with Frankfurt partner Sebastian Kneisel and associate Rudolph Hennecke who both resigned from the firm ahead of Boris. It discusses the resignation of other arbitrators and the conflicts of interest that are said to be the reason for their resignation.

The article reports that despite the refusal of permission at the Court of Appeal (CoA) in 2013, the fight of Westminster City Council over the settling of overcharged fees against seven sex shop respondents in Soho will be taken to the Supreme Court. Natalie Lieven Queen's Counsel (QC) and Jaqueline Lean of barrister's chambers Landmark Chambers, instructed by Hayley Davies, council licensing appeals manager, will face Philip Kolvin QC of barristers set Cornerstone Chambers for the sex shops.

The article features Royal Shakespeare Co. (RSC) head of legal Marina Zain. Zain relates that she entered law accidentally when she won a law scholarship to the University of Bristol. She adds that she fell in love with theatre following her short-term role at the RSC. She also mentions that challenges at RSC are similar from other commercial organisation.

The article reports that law partners Gaetan Verhoosel, Todd Wetmore and Luke Sobota are to join the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP's London arbitration chief Constantine Partasides and ex-partner Jan Paulsson to launch an arbitration boutique. The group plans to set up the boutique across three offices in Washington DC, Paris and London and will be leaving their firms in 2014.

The article reports that the law firm Nabarro's partners are to vote in March 2014 on a cash call to its fixed-share partners to meet new tax rules for LLPs handed down by Great Britain HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). It is informed that the firm plans to ask its fixed-share partners (FSPs) to contribute more than 25 percent of their salary to avoid being classed as employees by HMRC.

The article reports on the rise in lawyers salaries with the fall in bonuses in London, England. It mentions that the total remuneration falls by 1 percent. It focuses on that growth in legal sector with firms experiencing high level of activity in corporate, finance and real estate departments. It offers information on the financial filings for partners.

The article informs that commercial litigation barrister Ben Valentin has been appointed by Fountain Court Chambers.

The author reports on meeting Jeremy Gauntlett, the venerable Zimbabwe-born barrister and Brick Court Chambers' latest recruit. He is the ex-chairman of the General Council of the Bar of South Africa and president of the Cape Bar. He has been counsel to four South African presidents and helped write the nation's first democratic constitution.

The article reports on a decline in net funds and cash at bank of law firm Ashurst LLP before its merger with Blake Dawson. The firm explained the decrease with a lower operating profit, though revenue and profit at the firm were reported to be stable. Staff costs at the firm rose slightly, with an increase in staff number to 1,748, up from 1,673.

The article reports that of Rupert Choat, construction disputes head at CMS Cameron McKennaat, is returning to the Atkin Chamber for full time practice. Choat joined CMS 13 years ago and was appointed to his current role in 2011. It is stated that Choat has remained close the chambers throughout his career.

The article reports that Vladislav Sourkov, Rustam Aliev and Dmitry Maltsev, have been appointed as partners at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (BLP).