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Kennedys

Unique selling points

  • Services a broad range of exciting industries, including aviation, education, life sciences, public sector, retail, shipping and international trade, sport, and travel and tourism. 
  • Chambers and Partners has awarded the firm Band 1 rankings for its Clinical Negligence: Mainly Defendant, Health & Safety, Insurance: Contentious Claims & Reinsurance, Life Sciences: Product Liability, Personal Injury: Mainly Defendant, Product Liability: Mainly Defendant, Transport: Logistics and Travel: International Personal Injury (Defendant) departments.
  • A truly international firm, with headquarters in London and over 40 offices worldwide, including locations such as Auckland, Bangkok, Copenhagen, and New York.
  • Notable clients include Sheffield United Football Club, Merge Games, DePuy, Black & White Engineering and Ascendis Pharma.
  • During the training contract, trainees are given the opportunity to attend in-house and external seminars. 
  • Guaranteed seat in the insurance team during the training contract.
  • Various pro bono projects include Amplify Goods, the Chancery Lane Project and ANTZ. 
  • Developing innovative legal technology which includes its Incident Manager app, and its Portal Manager and Recovery Manager tools.

We cover these selling points in more detail below, alongside other relevant firm facts and characteristics.

Practice areas / services

Kennedys is a full-service law firm, with a broad range of practice areas including:

  • Insurance and Claims
  • Arbitration
  • Energy
  • Environmental
  • Financial Institutions
  • Banking and finance
  • Commercial
  • Construction
  • Corporate
  • Employment
  • Competition
  • Real Estate
  • Public Law

Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded Kennedys its highest ‘Band 1’ ranking for the following departments: Clinical Negligence: Mainly Defendant, Health & Safety, Insurance: Contentious Claims & Reinsurance, Life Sciences: Product Liability, Personal Injury: Mainly Defendant, Product Liability: Mainly Defendant, Transport: Logistics and Travel: International Personal Injury (Defendant). See here for more information.

Key sectors / industries

Kennedys services a broad range of industries, with some of its highest-value clients operating in the following sectors:

In addition, Kennedys services the following industries: aviation; construction and engineering; education; healthcare; information technology; life sciences; public sector; rail; shipping and international trade; sport; and travel and tourism. 

Work

Kennedys is consistently involved in interesting, complex legal matters. Examples of the firm’s work include: 

  • DePuy: the firm helped to successfully defend hip replacement manufacturer DePuy against a 300-patient defective product claim which was the first of its kind in the UK. 
  • Black & White Engineering: Kennedys advised Black & White Engineering on the restructuring of its global business and the sale of a majority stake to Waterland Private Equity Limited. 
  • Ascendis Pharma: the firm advised Ascendis Pharma on an exclusive distribution agreement with Pendopharm for establishing a distributorship in Canada in respect of supplying a medicinal product.

Older examples

  • Sheffield United: Advising long-standing client Sheffield United Football Club, Kennedys secured a new retail site at the Meadowhall Shopping Centre for the football club.
  • Gloria Mansion: working through Kennedys Legal Solutions (a partner firm network coordinated through Kennedys), the firm advised on the sale of Singaporean residential development Gloria Mansion, in a residential collective sale that closed at SGD 70.3 million.
  • Merge Games: As part of the firm’s experience in the video games publishing market, Kennedys advised Cheshire-based video games publisher and developer Merge Games in connection with its sale to Zordix AB, a group of publishing entities.

Offices / global footprint / expansion

Headquarters: London, 25 Fenchurch Avenue

Offices: Kennedys is an international firm with 48 offices worldwide. The firm has offices in Auckland, Bangkok, Copenhagen and New York. 

Insights, internships and other opportunities

Kennedys provides a number of opportunities to gain an insight into working life at the firm. The firm’s virtual work experience programme, for example, is free and open to all students and graduates. Taking 6 hours in total, the online programme can be completed at any pace, providing a flexible and informal insight into working as a solicitor. Unlike most firms, Kennedys does not run vacation schemes, meaning budding lawyers keen to work for the firm must apply directly for a training contract. 

Training contract

Kennedys offers a four-seat training contract, with each seat lasting six months. Trainees will spend time in the firm’s core practice areas of insurance and reinsurance, liability, and commercial. During the two-year programme, trainees are given the opportunity to attend in-house and external seminars, whilst working on the high-profile matters handled by the firm. 

Secondments

With offices in a wide variety of locations all around the world, Kennedys offers its trainees the chance to apply for international secondments in a number of the firm’s international offices. 

Technology and innovation

Kennedys is “redefining what it means to be innovative”. As such, the firm has developed and adopted a number of tools to help its clients work effectively and efficiently. Some examples include:

  • Incident Manager: this app optimises the claims process by collecting better-quality data, filling in gaps by using wider data sources, and providing instant guidance and support. 
  • Portal Manager: this AI-powered portal assistant enables clients to manage portal claims faster, more consistently, and more efficiently, by spotting fraud and providing automatic assessments. 
  • Recovery Manager: This is a tool the firm offers businesses to help boost their bottom line by making it a more efficient and cost-effective process to recover money from small claims which can’t be recovered from the other side. 
Corporate social responsibility

Kennedys believes that everyone in the firm can contribute to its “role as a responsible business”. As such, the firm’s lawyers have engaged in a number of corporate social responsibility initiatives. Some examples include:

  • Amplify Goods: The firm supports Amplify Goods, a start-up that is committed to reducing single-use plastic by working with supply chains to provide eco-friendly containers to companies that care about the planet. 
  • The Chancery Lane Project (TCLP): Kennedys’ pro bono team worked in partnership with TCLP to develop two clauses which, for the first time, will allow insurers to offer their commercial clients liability cover for climate-related injury or property damage claims. 
  • ANTZ: The firm ran its first CyberWise Workshop in partnership with ANTZ, which offered SMEs in Manchester an opportunity to learn about the risks of not having a robust cyber security system in place. Participants were invited to attend a 30-minute follow-up session.  The firm is planning on expanding the reach of this training to its other office locations. 

Diversity and inclusion

Kennedys is “proud” to be “made up of individuals who come from all over the world”. Linked to embracing its diverse culture, the firm has launched several D&I initiatives, including: 

  • Reciprocal Mentoring: The firm has a reciprocal mentoring scheme which is there to ensure talent, regardless of race, ethnicity or heritage, thrives at the firm. The scheme aims to foster mutually beneficial relationships between junior colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds and more senior colleagues. 
  • Affinity Network: Kennedys' networks are voluntary, employee-led initiatives which support the firm’s DE&I strategy. Networks include Rainbow Network, Embrace Network and the Parents and Carers Together network. 
  • Let’s Start the Conversation Events: The firm has a series of internal events which involve inviting external guest speakers to talk about difficult topics affecting marginalised communities. Topics have included anti-racism in the workplace, islamophobia, the career progression of Black partners, and domestic violence.