#6 The Legal Profession This Week - IPO week

#6 The Legal Profession This Week - IPO week​

Law firm Dentons recently announced that it will be adjusting its out of hours taxi policy “to make it easier for people to get home safely after working late” (The Lawyer). This will mean employees can reclaim the cost of taxis “where public transport would be used at a time of day that would make it potentially unsafe” (The Lawyer). Previously, for example, the firm had allowed employees to claim expenses for taxis to, and from, main stations if employees were working in the office until 9pm or later, but this has now been brought forward to 8pm. It is yet to be seen whether other firms will make similar changes to their policies, in light of recent events.

In order to develop and expand its offering, law firm DWF has recently hired an expert from KPMG, Jordan Owen, to lead a “new global secretarial and entity management service” (The Lawyer) as part of the firm’s Connected Services offering. Connected Services was launched in 2017, as the firm’s business division which consists of a range of “products and services that complement [the firm’s] legal offerings” (DWF). The intention is for Connected Services’ offering for in-house lawyers - currently UK-driven - to become more international through Jordan Owen’s leadership. It seems a good time for DWF to invest in its alternative legal and business provisions; Connected Services’ revenue increased by 19% in the firm’s latest half-year period results (The Lawyer). Such growth in this area might prompt other law firms to experiment with new offerings, for example in consultancy and business arms.

‘Business as usual’ – the notable deals and cases which went ahead this week:

In its highly anticipated upcoming IPO, food delivery service Deliveroo is targeting a valuation of between £7.8 and £8.8 billion, which would make it “the most high-profile London listing of this year” (The Lawyer). A number of City law firms are involved in the listing – with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Proskauer Rose advising Deliveroo, and Latham & Watkins advising “the global coordinators, joint bookrunners and underwriters on the listing [including] Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch” (The Lawyer).

In what is set to be another high-profile IPO, law firm Clifford Chance is advising PensionBee, an online pension provider, on its planned flotation. Herbert Smith Freehills is also working on the IPO, advising investment banking firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, who are acting as “key adviser and sole global coordinator in the event the IPO proceeds” (Law.com).