Shares in listed law firm Gordon Dadds jump after it acquires five overseas firms April 4, 2019 Shares in listed law firm Gordon Dadds climbed more than five per cent this morning after it said it had added five new partnerships to its network, representing £23m in revenue. The listed law firm, one of just a handful in the UK, has acquired Ince & Co’s former network firms in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, [...]
EY continues expansion into law with Thomson Reuters managed legal services acquisition April 4, 2019 EY has announced the acquisition of a 1,000 strong managed legal services business from Thomson Reuters, marking another step forward in the Big Four audit firm’s push into the legal sector. The deal follows EY’s acquisition of tech-heavy alternative legal provider Riverside Law in August which was widely seen in the sector as underlining EY’s [...]
Fraud squad boss will favour firms who keep hold of incriminating evidence April 3, 2019 Companies should be prepared to keep hold of evidence of fraud and corruption in their ranks if they want to co-operate with the authorities, the boss of the UK fraud office has said. Lisa Osofsky, the recently appointed director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said companies not only needed to be "brave enough" to [...]
Solicitor at magic circle law firm Allen & Overy facing disciplinary action over Harvey Weinstein non-disclosure agreement April 3, 2019 A solicitor at magic circle law firm Allen & Overy has been referred to a disciplinary tribunal over a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed by a former assistant of Harvey Weinstein. Paul Philips, the chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), told MPs today that the case was referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last [...]
PR agency Hanover snapped up by Canadian communications group Avenir April 3, 2019 Communications group Avenir Global has acquired London-headquartered public relations firm Hanover for an undisclosed sum. Hanover, which was founded in 1998 by John Major’s former press secretary Charles Lewington, posted revenues of £19m last year and has unveiled plans to double its size by 2022. Read more: Top financial PR firm cuts ties with Sir [...]
DEBATE: Should the audit and consultancy arms of the Big Four firms be divided, as proposed by MPs? April 3, 2019 Should the audit and consultancy arms of the Big Four firms be divided, as proposed by MPs? YES, says Rachel Reeves MP, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee. We have two major problems in the audit market today: a lack of competition and quality. The Big Four’s dominance has led to a precarious [...]
The Copyright Directive might have noble aims, but it is plagued by a lack of clarity April 3, 2019 Last week, the European Union inched closer to finalising new rules governing the use of copyright material on the internet. Set out in the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, the rules set out to curb the power of big tech firms by levelling the playing field between content creators and those who [...]
Big Four must face up to the realities of reform or risk having no choice April 3, 2019 A couple of MPs managed to tear themselves away from Westminster's slow motion car crash yesterday to deliver a kicking to another scandal-hit sector of the British establishment. Labour chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee Rachel Reeves and Conservative MP Antoinette Sandbach addressed a packed auditorium at the Chartered Accountants’ Hall near [...]
Court gears up to hear Andrew Tinkler defamation claims against Stobart directors April 2, 2019 Former Stobart chief Andrew Tinkler will launch his claim for defamation against five of the company's directors in court tomorrow, reigniting what has been a bitter battle. Tinkler, who was fired from the Stobart board last July, claims a statement put out by the FTSE 250 firm last May contained "false and defamatory material" about him. The statement, [...]
MPs call for full breakup of audit’s Big Four in wake of scandals April 2, 2019 MPs have triggered a war of words in the City after calling for a radical breakup of accountancy’s Big Four firms. A highly-anticipated report by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) Committee, released today, said the audit and consultancy arms of Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC should be forcibly divided to drive up competition [...]
