SJ Berwin

SJ Berwin
Headquarters	10 Queen Street Place London, United Kingdom
No. of offices	11
No. of lawyers	600
Major practice areas	Corporate Finance: Private Equity Deals Corporate Finance: Public M&A Corporate Finance: Investment Funds (including Private Equity Funds, Hedge funds, listed funds, real estate funds) Real Estate (including commercial property, property litigation, construction, planning and environment, property finance) Litigation and Dispute Resolution (including International Arbitration) Banking and Finance (including Financial Markets and Reconstruction and Insolvency) Competition and antitrust Commercial and Technology Tax Intellectual Property Employment and Pensions
Date founded	1982
Company type	LLP
Website
sjberwin.com

SJ Berwin is an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is currently the 19th-largest law firm in the UK measured by revenues. The firm delivers commercial legal advice to financial institutions, investors, corporations and large companies.

SJ Berwin has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Shanghai. Around twenty-five percent of its partners and staff are based outside London.

History

One of the youngest firms in the UK's top 25 by revenue, SJ Berwin was founded by lawyer Stanley Berwin along with 15 lawyers in 1982. SJB was driven forward by Berwin until his death in 1988, after which he was succeeded by Christopher Haan.

In 1992, leadership of the firm was handed over to David Harrel, who led the firm for 13 years. It was on Harrel's watch that the firm in 2000 dramatically hiked its pay-rates for assistants, which contributed to a series of dramatic rises across the City that arguably became the UK's first-ever legal 'pay war'. Harrel also oversaw SJ Berwin's strategy of European expansion; at the time the firm was the only mid-tier City practice to commit to sustained international growth.

The management of the firm passed to fund formation partner Jonathan Blake in 2005, who took on the senior partner role alongside existing managing partner Ralph Cohen.

SJ Berwin made 20 fee earners and 20 support staff redundant in January 2009.

During 2009 the firm opened three new offices in Hong Kong, Dubai and Shanghai. In 2010 Ralph Cohen stood down as Managing Partner and was replaced by Rob Day, who took office in November 2010.

The firm’s profits rose 40 percent in 2011 and revenues reached nearly £180 million.

Main practice areas

SJ Berwin has defined a number of industry sectors within which it works across its offices:

• Consumer industries including retail
• Energy and Infrastructure
• Financial institutions
• Healthcare
• Investment Funds
• Private Equity
• Real Estate
• Telecommunications, media & technology

Recent notable deals and cases

SJ Berwin recently advised Lion Capital LLP on a string of deals including the on the acquisition of fashion chain All Saints from Icelandic banks Kaupthing and Glitnir in 2011, and the £1.4 billion acquisition of French frozen food business Picard Surgeles in 2010.

The firm acted for Graphite Capital on the £215 million sale of Kurt Geiger, Europe's largest luxury shoe retailer, to US retailer Jones Group.

The firm advised global packaging manufacturer Amcor in August 2009 on its offer of $2.025 billion to buy part of Alcan Packaging, a world leader in packaging belonging to Australian mining group Rio Tinto.

In 2010 the firm advised British Land on forming a £2.13 billion joint venture with NYSE listed global asset manager The Blackstone Group for British Land’s holdings in the Broadgate Estate, the premier 30-acre City of London office estate.

The firm advised SITA, the specialist in air transport communications and IT solutions, on a seven year deal, valued in excess of $2 billion, to broaden its existing partnership with Orange Business Services.

The firm acted for OK! magazine in their dispute with Hello! over the publication of "spoiler" photographs of the wedding of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Corporate social responsibility

SJ Berwin has instigated a number of initiatives to involve staff at all levels in various Corporate social responsibility programmes through the following core CSR strands:

Pro-Bono

• International Lawyers for Africa (ILFA) was launched in March 2006, spearheaded by SJ Berwin, in conjunction with major international law firms. ILFA is an initiative of leading lawyers and academics in the UK that aims at equipping African lawyers with skills and expertise in key areas of the law.
• The National Autistic Society (NAS) - in July 2008, SJ Berwin became the first pro bono partner for the NAS’ welfare rights service, offering support to people affected by autism who are challenging decisions over benefits they are entitled to receive (www.nas.org.uk)
• Toynbee Hall Debt Advisory Clinic - SJ Berwin sends two volunteers a week to the Hall to meet people with debt problems. The firms’ volunteers help people to better organise themselves, understand their means and obligations and cope with their predicament.

Environment

• The firm established its Environment Committee in 2007, and has since been working to bring about reductions in the firm’s carbon emissions through the implementation of a number of initiatives
• SJ Berwin was the first UK law firm to go carbon neutral back in 2001, and has carbon neutral status
• SJ Berwin is a founder member of the Legal Sector Alliance - an alliance of law firms working together to tackle climate change in the legal sector

Community

SJ Berwin’s London office dedicates resource to offering opportunities and benefits to a broad cross-section of people in its local Southwark borough. The firm’s Community initiatives include:

• assisting with reading schemes at Riverside primary school;
• sponsoring the Winter Festival at Shakespeare’s Globe;
• assisting with the Citizenship Foundation’s Lawyers in Schools programme;
• supporting the Southside Young Leaders’ Academy;
• offering work experience and office visits to Charter School students;
• participating in blood donating sessions.

Charity

The Charity Committee arranges activities throughout the year for all staff to help raise money for the firm’s charity of the year.

In recent years staff have worked to rebuild a village in Pakistan (Jan Lunda) that was severely affected by the floods of 2010 with the James Caan Foundation, built a dam in Kenya, and built a school in Rwanda.

Fundraising activities include sponsored cake bake competitions, Christmas raffles, quiz nights, book sales, and dress down days. Most notably members of staff completed a sponsored 180-mile walk across Britain, and the firm’s Senior Associate, Jonathan Blake, undertook a 150km hike through Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, to raise money and profile awareness for the charity Rwanda Restored. A highlight of previous years was the sponsored London to Paris cycle ride in June 2007 where 45 members of staff took part, raising over £60,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust .

External links

• S.J. Berwin