Three more senior litigators have walked from MC to Richmond Chambers. The pattern is now too consistent to be coincidence – and it sharpens a question the firm still hasn’t answered: is the Crown warrant a launchpad, or a liferaft? John Bowie Meredith Connell, New Zealand’s oldest Crown Solicitor’s office and, by its own count,
Crown Jewel or Holding Pattern? The Meredith Connell Question Won’t Go Away Read More »
Franks File Speaks Frankly of Dimwits and Nonsense John Bowie There is, somewhere in Wellington, a Law Society Standards Committee whose members presumably rise each morning, gaze into the bathroom mirror, and think: yes — today I shall save the Nation from the menace of correspondence. It is the only plausible explanation for what was
John Bowie, LawFuel publisher It takes a certain perverted genius for the state broadcaster to threaten to sue a commercial rival over what it primly calls an “employment matter”. But here we are with the Maiki Sherman affair, something Maiki herself might term ‘Faggotgate’ should she be on the right side of the debacle. It’s
Doing the Mahi on Maiki: How TVNZ Tried to Bury Its Own Scandal Read More »
John Bowie, LawFuel Publisher There is a Hall of Shame forming in American courtrooms, a growing roll-call of prestigious law firms undone by chatbots who display Trumpian confidence and a loose relationship with reality. For three years, the admission criteria have been simple: file a brief citing cases that never existed, apologise to a federal
Sullivan & Cromwell Joins the AI Hall of Shame — and the Irony Is Exquisite Read More »
Lady Deborah Chambers KC does not shy away from a fight, which is, one supposes, rather the point of her opinion piece. Writing in the New Zealand Herald this week, the Auckland barrister and silk delivers a crisp, combative argument: the KC rank exists to signal courtroom excellence, full stop. The 2019 addition of a
KC Under Fire: When Silk Meets Substance — And Politics Read More »
By John Bowie | LawFuel publisher The summary judgment hearing may be over, but as Justice Venning considers the verdict, ANZ’s problem remains entirely the same — and the bank’s three lines of defence have a familiar quality: plausible at the bar, less convincing in the cold light of the statute. Few things are quite
ANZ’s CCCFA Defence: The Dog Ate My Compliance Calculator Read More »
Australian mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has poured more than $60 million, – and counting – of his own money into a high-octane federal lawsuit in California’s Northern District Court, accusing Meta of actively enabling and profiting from more than 230,000 deepfake scam ads that stole his likeness to fleece thousands of victims, many of them elderly Australians.
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In the rarefied atmosphere where partners measure success in eight-figure payouts and associates measure it in how many weekends they haven’t seen since the bar exam, one number looms above all others: profit per equity partner, or PEP.
PEP is the metric that makes managing partners beam, headhunters salivate, and mid-level associates stare at their billable hour trackers with a particular brand of existential dread.
The 2026 Am Law 100 rankings — reflecting 2025 fiscal performance — haven’t been formally published yet. But early reports are already in, and if you thought the 2025 numbers were eye-watering, with 4.6 trillion (that’s ‘illion’ with a ‘T’) brace yourself.
Kirkland & Ellis has become the first law firm in history to crack $10 billion in annual revenue, posting $10.56 billion for 2025 — up 20% year-on-year.
PEP at the Chicago colossus hit $11.1 million, also up approximately 20%. Since 2020, Kirkland’s average partner profits have risen 80%. Let that arithmetic sink in for a moment. A Kirkland equity partner today earns roughly what a senior Magic Circle partner in London earns in four years.
The PEP-Talk Numbers
Lobbying Law Leaders John Bowie, LawFuel publisher Big Law’s lobbying arms just posted their richest year on record, powered by Trump-era tariffs, AI and health policy fights—and a Trump‑aligned boutique has muscled past the traditional K Street giants as lobbying becomes a major new profit source for law firms in the US, UK and elsewhere.
How Lobbying Turned Into Big Business for Top Law Firms in 2025 Read More »
District Court Judge Ema Aitken of ‘Night at the Northern Club fame’ has lodged what many an unprecedented procedural application and wants to summons Chief District Court Judge Heemi Taumaunu to give evidence at her disciplinary hearing due to start in next month. Trying to drag her boss into the witness box is just about
Embattled ‘Northern Club Judge’ To Call The Boss As Witness Read More »
