TCLA General Discussion Thread #2 (2021)

[JayC]

Mischon de Reya revives IPO plans despite investigation by regulator

Law firm favoured by wealthy eyes £750m London listing with all 1,000 staff poised to become shareholders

www.google.com

Anyone seen that the Mischon partnership have voted to float? Would be super interested to hear opinions from anyone who's involved with the firm (and just everyone in general lol)!

I'm interested in law firm IPOs in general - am I right to believe that this is somewhat of a uniquely British thing? I think in the US at least there is a rule that no non-lawyer can own part of a law firm

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Hi everyone. One of my previous colleagues is doing a master course and one of her projects is on virtual internships.

If anyone has time to complete this survey, I would be incredibly grateful.

Microsoft Forms

forms.office.com

 

[Daniel Boden]

Mischon de Reya revives IPO plans despite investigation by regulator

Law firm favoured by wealthy eyes £750m London listing with all 1,000 staff poised to become shareholders

www.google.com

Anyone seen that the Mischon partnership have voted to float? Would be super interested to hear opinions from anyone who's involved with the firm (and just everyone in general lol)!

What's your take on this? Personally, if they think that is the best way they'll be able to push their expansion into Asia and move into different practice areas then all power to the firm!

However, there is always the risk of a Deliveroo-style IPO debut which could backfire and perhaps even later on, its share price could underperform just as DWF's has done since its IPO in 2019... (though the firm will be hoping it has more of a Coinbase-style stock market debut than a Deliveroo one!)

 

[JayC]

What's your take on this? Personally, if they think that is the best way they'll be able to push their expansion into Asia and move into different practice areas then all power to the firm!

However, there is always the risk of a Deliveroo-style IPO debut which could backfire and perhaps even later on, its share price could underperform just as DWF's has done since its IPO in 2019... (though the firm will be hoping it has more of a Coinbase-style stock market debut than a Deliveroo one!)

What would the reasons be for not pursuing a merger in Asia instead?

 

[Jacob Miller]

What's your take on this? Personally, if they think that is the best way they'll be able to push their expansion into Asia and move into different practice areas then all power to the firm!

However, there is always the risk of a Deliveroo-style IPO debut which could backfire and perhaps even later on, its share price could underperform just as DWF's has done since its IPO in 2019... (though the firm will be hoping it has more of a Coinbase-style stock market debut than a Deliveroo one!)

I've got to be honest, I'm unsure it's likely to be the resounding success they appear to think it may. It strikes me as a slightly-too-elaborate way of giving other lawyers an equity stake (it appears as though all their lawyers are primed to be able to buy shares at float) and, as you mention with DWF, the (albeit limited) track records show that law firms don't float phenomenally well.

Floats are also mega expensive; I get the whole "speculate to accumulate" thing but I can't help but wonder how sensible such a vast expenditure is in the current climate.

Plenty of firms break into other markets with strategic acquisitions etc, I think if a float is the way they plan to break into foreign (especially more insular) markets then they must be seriously confident that they understand the legal culture and landscape in those areas. Strokes me as much higher risk than strategic buyouts of respected local firms who have a genuine understanding of the culture.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Speculation a few weeks ago that Irwin Mitchell was going to float as well.

Ince and Gateley have floated previously. It would be interesting to see whether they are deemed successful or not.

 

[Matt_96]

Mischon de Reya revives IPO plans despite investigation by regulator

Law firm favoured by wealthy eyes £750m London listing with all 1,000 staff poised to become shareholders

www.google.com

Anyone seen that the Mischon partnership have voted to float? Would be super interested to hear opinions from anyone who's involved with the firm (and just everyone in general lol)!

I've been reading about this. Only time will tell how successful this listing will be. But personally, I think it is a very short term decision which is going to put the financial interests of the current partners ahead of the rest of the firm. No other listed law firm has done that well. Listing is also going to create pressure to keep the share price rising and satisfy the demands of investors, which could be a distraction from Mishcon's responsibilities to its clients and impact on its culture.

 

[Daniel Boden]

What would the reasons be for not pursuing a merger in Asia instead?

I guess the amount of time that option could take, how tricky it is to find a potential firm to partner with and match values/create synergies etc. One just needs to take a look at A&O and O'Melveny's failed merger which involved years of talks before ultimately failing so I imagine that's a fairly big reason

 

[Daniel Boden]

I've got to be honest, I'm unsure it's likely to be the resounding success they appear to think it may. It strikes me as a slightly-too-elaborate way of giving other lawyers an equity stake (it appears as though all their lawyers are primed to be able to buy shares at float) and, as you mention with DWF, the (albeit limited) track records show that law firms don't float phenomenally well.

Floats are also mega expensive; I get the whole "speculate to accumulate" thing but I can't help but wonder how sensible such a vast expenditure is in the current climate.

Plenty of firms break into other markets with strategic acquisitions etc, I think if a float is the way they plan to break into foreign (especially more insular) markets then they must be seriously confident that they understand the legal culture and landscape in those areas. Strokes me as much higher risk than strategic buyouts of respected local firms who have a genuine understanding of the culture.

Yeah I would agree with that - seems an unnecessarily risky move especially when we are yet to see what the full impact of Covid will be in terms of office space/usage, WFH etc.

On the other hand, they obviously are confident and have done extensive DD on this as otherwise, they wouldn't be pursuing it. Equally, one could make the argument that a significant reason for DWF's poor performance is because of Covid so perhaps when that's in the rearview mirror its share price will being to climb again... a lot of ifs and buts with that though and as you say, surely it'd be more beneficial to wait until market conditions are more stable and we will have a better idea of what the world will look like post-covid?

 

[Dheepa]

Mischon de Reya revives IPO plans despite investigation by regulator

Law firm favoured by wealthy eyes £750m London listing with all 1,000 staff poised to become shareholders

www.google.com

Anyone seen that the Mischon partnership have voted to float? Would be super interested to hear opinions from anyone who's involved with the firm (and just everyone in general lol)!

Just gonna plug that I wrote about how law firms who do go through with an IPO fall short on post IPO performance two weeks ago for the TCLA newsletter.

I'm actually not sure why law firms continue to list when its clear the law firms that have aren't exactly reigning it a storm of post IPO success. If Mischon's reason for the IPO is Asia expansion, small reminder that DWF had similar reasons (general international expansion) but has since closed it's Singapore and Dubai offices and multiple offices in Australia. I also think it's an especially weird time to not merge with an Asian office (if Asia expansion is the goal). Considering a large part of Asian deal activity is driven by growth in China, Japanese PE activity and to some extent tech booms in Singapore, Indonesia etc., I completely agree with @Jacob Miller that (barring Singapore) these are markets you are far more likely to be successful in if you have a partner firm with existing links and an existing understanding of the culture.

The other thing is listed companies perform well when the market/investors understands the company's proposition and the market they cater to. Law firms unfortunately do not offer services in such a linear clear cut manner. Where Mischon is great at private client work (and I'm sure a whole host of other things that I don't know about) clients tend to move from firm to firm whenever they want. Even if a law firm considers X to be a long standing client, there's no guarantee that when X wants support on a multi-billion dollar PE deal they won't go to a firm with better expertise in that. So where's the consistency that investors respond well to is my question. Then there's the branding issue - by listing Mischon is putting themselves in a bucket of firms that haven't performed so well, and honestly it could outperform and change the entire market's perception of firms that choose to list, but if it doesn't then....

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Mergers are complicated though, and I suspect more so for law firms where there is a much stronger culture/identity given the organisation is owned by its leaders.

Finding someone to merge with isn’t going to be easy. You have to find a firm with levels of similarities for the merger to work, and law firms are generally pretty quirky/individual places that finding a match will be tricky. Maybe they tried to find appropriate firms to merge with and couldn’t find one? I heard that happen a few times with the firms I worked with over the decades, and although they weren’t then reaching for the IPOs as a solution, they haven’t at the same time managed to hit the objectives a merger would have brought because organic growth isn’t straight forward either.

 

[Granger123]

Hi all,

I have an upcoming interview with Reed Smith. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with this Vacation Scheme Interview, especially regarding the case study?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

 

[Jacob Miller]

Hi all,

I have an upcoming interview with Reed Smith. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with this Vacation Scheme Interview, especially regarding the case study?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

Hi Abby,

I don't have particular experience with RS specifically, but the various articles accessible via the link in my signature are a good place to start for AC prep more generally if you're not already familiar with them!

 

[GK8997]

Hi all,

I have an upcoming interview with Reed Smith. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with this Vacation Scheme Interview, especially regarding the case study?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

Hiya, feel free to pm me!

 

[corplaw123]

Faegre Drinker PFO for their summer VS

 

[HopefulApplicant]

Hiya, feel free to pm me!

Hey, could I also reach out?

 

[GK8997]

Hey, could I also reach out?

Yes of course!

 

[M777]

Anyone heard back from Faegre Drinker?

Any news?

 

[SamTam99]

Any news?

Have you heard back? I still haven’t

 

[M777]

Have you heard back? I still haven’t

Not a peep