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Mishcon de Reya LLP
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
No. of officesTwo
No. of lawyersOver 600
No. of employeesOver 1200
Major practice areasCorporate, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Intellectual Property, Mishcon Private, Real Estate
Key peopleKevin Gold
Executive Chairperson
James Libson
Managing Partner
Revenue£230.7 million (2022)[1]
Profit per equity partner£1.05 million
Date founded1937 (London)
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitemishcon.com

Mishcon de Reya LLP is a British law firm with offices in London and Singapore.[2] Founded in 1937, it employs more than 1200 people with over 600 lawyers.[3] It is regarded as forming part of the "Silver Circle" of leading UK law firms.[4]

In March 2017, the firm was announced Law Firm of the Year at the Legal Business Awards.[5] Mishcon de Reya records revenue of £230.7 million for the last financial year, 2021-2022 – an increase of 22% from the previous financial year, which saw profit per equity partner (PEP) at the London firm jump by 11% to just over £1m.[6]

History

Mishcon de Reya was formed by the merger of Victor Mishcon & Co, a one-man office founded by Victor Mishcon, and Bartletts de Reya.

In 2008, the firm launched the specialist 'Pink Law' Legal Advice Centre in conjunction with Queen Mary, University of London, and two other city law firms. The project offers free and impartial legal advice on issues affecting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, such as employment discrimination, civil partnerships and cohabitation.[7] In 2016, this expanded to include SPITE,[8][9] for victims of 'revenge porn', and again in 2020 with the Black Justice Project,[10][11] which assists members of the Black community.

The firm became a limited liability partnership on 9 October 2015.

In 2016, Mishcon de Reya and children's charity Place2Be produced a book written for adults by children on the topic of parental separation 'Splitting Up: A Child's Guide to a Grown Up Problem'.[12]

Mishcon de Reya was named Law Firm of the Year at The Legal Business Awards 2017.[13]

Mishcon de Reya represented the Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC) in a landmark case in 2019, in which the High Court in London ruled that the £1,012 fee the Home Office charges children to register as a British citizen was unlawful.

In May 2020 the firm opened a new branch office in Singapore, focused on delivering legal services to high net worth families across South East Asia.[14]

In 2021, the firm announced MDR Solutions I,[15][16][17] a venture with Harbour to fund litigation and arbitration cases. It also shared news of a strategic combination agreement[18] with Taylor Vinters, a legal and advisory business, to offer legal and consultancy services to innovators and entrepreneurs.[19] In November that year, it launched an association with Karas LLP[20] in Hong Kong, following its approval to open a branch office in association with the Hong Kong-registered firm earlier that year.[21]

The company runs a VIP Russia service that provides “reputation protection,” wealth structuring and asset protection for Russian clients. The Pandora Papers revealed that the company helped Russian politician Alexei Chepa use an offshore company to buy a London mansion.[22]

In January 2022, the company paid a record $315,000 fine in the UK for violating anti-money-laundering rules.[22]

Notable clients

In 1995 one of the firm's solicitors, Anthony Julius, represented Diana, Princess of Wales, in her divorce.[citation needed]

In 2000 the firm represented historian Deborah Lipstadt in the case David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt. The 2016 film Denial was based on the case.[23]

Mishcon de Reya's Employment team won a case in the UK Supreme Court on behalf of its client Krista Bates van Winkelhof, in which it was determined that members of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) do have the protection of whistleblowing legislation.[24]

In 2016 the Supreme Court ruled financial claims can be brought over 20 years after divorce for client Kathleen Wyatt.[25]

In 2016 the company co-ordinated a challenge in the High Court by Gina Miller, an investment manager and philanthropist, against the process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.[26] The Government in January 2017 appealed the High Court ruling to the Supreme Court, but were unsuccessful. In a majority decision, it ruled that Parliament must vote on whether the Government could start the process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.[27]

The firm again represented Gina Miller in 2019 in R (on behalf of Miller) v The Prime Minister. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue Parliament was unlawful.

In 2019 the Court of Appeal overturned the Judgment of Mr Justice Warby dated 8 October 2018 which had refused Mishcon de Reya's client, Richard Lloyd, permission to serve a representative action on Google LLC. The claim relates to what is known as the "Safari Workaround" - Google's alleged unlawful and clandestine tracking of iPhone users in 2011 and 2012 without their consent through the use of third party cookies.[28]

In 2020, the firm acted on behalf of 397 Hiscox Action Group members,[29] in a £52 million claim against Hiscox Insurance for refusing to pay out on business interruption claims due to COVID-19. The Supreme Court handed down its judgment in favour of the policyholders.[30]

Notable people

Victor Mishcon, Baron Mishcon, QC, DL, founder

Anthony Julius, Deputy Chairman

Criticism

In January 2022, the company paid a record $315,000 fine in the UK for violating anti-money-laundering rules.[22]

In 2020 the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced that their forensic and anti-money laundering investigators were conducting a multi year investigation into the company's activities.[31]

In connection with the murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, The Guardian newspaper reported:

"In the months before her death, the anti-corruption journalist received letters from the London office of the blue-chip firm Mishcon de Reya, which specialises in bringing defamation cases. Mishcon had been hired to defend the reputation of a client doing business in Malta. 'The firm sought to cripple her financially with libel action in UK courts,' Caruana Galizia's three sons claim in a letter to the writers' campaign group English PEN and seen by the Guardian. 'Had our mother not been murdered, they would have succeeded.'"[32]

According to the British satirical magazine Private Eye:

"Daphne also wrote about receiving 'harassing letters from Mishcon de Reya in London' that threatened 'to ruin me financially in a London court.' Letters from Mishcon, seen by the Eye, order her to remove articles discussing the lucrative sale of Maltese passports and the EU citizenship that goes with them."[33]

In January 2022, the firm agreed to pay a record fine of £232,500 plus costs, following an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), for committing what the SRA called "serious breaches" of money laundering rules.[34][35]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Firm revenue and PEP increase in 2021/22 financial year". Mishcon de Reya.
  2. ^ Slingo2020-05-05T10:50:00+01:00, Jemma. "Upbeat Mishcon picks Singapore for first Asia office". Law Gazette. Retrieved 28 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "The Legal 500 > Mishcon de Reya LLP > London, ENGLAND > What the firm says". www.legal500.com. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  4. ^ Simmons, Richard "How the silver circle shattered". 19 September 2017.
  5. ^ McAteer, Mark. "Mishcon, A&O and Freshfields major winners at 2017 Legal Business Awards | www.legalbusiness.co.uk". www.legalbusiness.co.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  6. ^ "Mishcon's profits surge but PEP dips at RPC". The Law Society Gazette.
  7. ^ "Mishcon joins 'Pink Law' advice initiative". The Lawyer. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Victims of revenge porn turn to students for legal advice". TheGuardian.com.
  9. ^ "Free legal advice for revenge porn victims".
  10. ^ "Mishcon helps take on discrimination issues with Black Justice Project".
  11. ^ "Queen Mary launches Black Justice Project to tackle discrimination".
  12. ^ "How does it feel when your parents divorce? Children speak out". The Times. 24 January 2017.
  13. ^ "Mishcon, A&O and Freshfields are major winners at 2017 Legal Business awards". Legal Business. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  14. ^ "Mishcon de Reya opens office in Singapore as it shifts international focus to Asia". Mishcon de Reya. 5 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Mishcon de Reya teams up with litigation funder Harbour for new venture". Reuters.
  16. ^ "Law firm Mishcon de Reya launches £150m litigation funding unit".
  17. ^ "Law firm invests own capital in £150m deal with litigation funder".
  18. ^ "Mishcon de Reya hopes to boost its flotation with merger deal". The Times.
  19. ^ "Ahead of IPO Mishcon double down on innovation".
  20. ^ "Mishcon doubles down in Asia with Hong Kong tie up".
  21. ^ "IPO-bound Mishcon lays out Asia-Pacific strategy".
  22. ^ a b c "Baker McKenzie, a go-to firm for Kremlin-linked companies, now says it's leaving Russia - ICIJ". 15 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  23. ^ "Denial: In Defence of Truth". Mishcon de Reya LLP. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  24. ^ "Clydes settles whistleblowing claim with former partner Bates van Winkelhof". The Lawyer. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  25. ^ "Woman could win cash payout 20 years after divorce". BBC News. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  26. ^ Bowcott, Owen (19 July 2016). "Theresa May does not intend to trigger article 50 this year, court told". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  27. ^ Corporation, British Broadcasting (24 January 2017). "Brexit: Supreme Court says Parliament must give Article 50 go-ahead". BBC. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  28. ^ "Google 'tracking iPhone users' case goes ahead". BBC.
  29. ^ "Insurer Hiscox agrees settlement with action group over Covid losses". TheGuardian.com.
  30. ^ "Judgment" (PDF). Supreme Court.
  31. ^ Davies, Harry; Garside, Juliette (9 September 2020). "Regulators investigate elite London law firm Mishcon de Reya". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  32. ^ Garside, Juliette (1 June 2018). "Murdered Maltese reporter faced threat of libel action in UK". The Guardian.
  33. ^ Ratbiter, (Pseudonym) (4 May 2018). "Legal News". Private Eye.
  34. ^ "Top UK law firm fined record sum for breaching money-laundering rules". The Guardian. 6 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  35. ^ "Mishcon de Reya fined over money laundering failures". Financial Times. 6 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
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