Access your pdf edition of LB magazine – issue 316
Legal Business 100 2023: Stuck records
LB100 firms need a different tune
Social media influencers: Social circles
Amid Twitter’s demise and LinkedIn’s rise, who are lawyers turning to for reliable social media content? LB asked the market for their must-follows
Social mobility: An invisible problem
While the legal sector has made great strides in improving diversity on a number of levels, social mobility needs urgent attention. Are a new range of initiatives the latest diversity fads or steps towards a breakthrough?
Ireland focus: No line on the horizon
Our annual trip to Dublin finds law firm leaders in an unusually reflective mood, notwithstanding admirable resilience in a trying market. As tougher times loom, how long can Ireland’s reputation as an outlier last?
Life During Law: Sandra Paul
Kingsley Napley’s Sandra Paul on tackling racism, the age of criminal responsibility and why an AI programme could never be a duty solicitor
The Client Profile: Alessandro Galtieri, Colt Technology Services
The deputy GC of Colt discusses his hi-tech career, being no good at maths, and bumping into astronauts in the staff canteen
ChatGPT has drunk the Kool-Aid on A&O Shearman – let’s see what it makes of Paul Weiss
So much ink has been spilled over game-changing developments in recent weeks – namely the partnership vote in favour of the A&O Shearman deal, and Paul Weiss’ assault on the talent pools of the Square Mile – that it can be difficult to find an angle that isn’t hackneyed to within an inch of its life.
Silence is not golden as Legal Business 100 firms need a different tune
A glance at our Legal Business 100 table this year shows the post-Covid, frothy corporate market conditions have finally come to an end. The significant number of red, downward pointing arrows for profit metrics in particular means the leaders of the top 100 firms by revenue in the UK have reason to be nervous.
Kirkland endures more losses as Magic Circle firms continue expansion in the US and Middle East
September saw it finally confirmed that, as suspected, M&A lawyer Roger Johnson will join Paul Weiss’ new English law offering, leaving Kirkland after the firm’s management discovered that he was in discussions to take a team to a US rival firm.
Partners vote yes on A&O Shearman – now they have to make it work
‘You’ve now got one more 64,000lb gorilla,’ said one former UK firm leader, in response to the news that the merger of Allen & Overy (A&O) and Shearman & Sterling will proceed.
‘A salutary lesson’: Axiom Ince closed by SRA following months of turmoil
Drawing a long-running saga to its inevitable conclusion, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced on 3 October that it had closed down Axiom Ince with immediate effect following its intervention to protect the interest of clients and former clients of the firm.
Go big or go home: Market reacts to Paul Weiss’ daring London play
Grabbing headlines in recent weeks, Paul Weiss has pursued an English law offering at breakneck speed, hiring some of the City’s biggest hitters. Here LB canvasses the reactions of industry peers to the Wall Street giant’s bold play.
Learning from adjacent industries – the legal teams that thrive and not just survive
In April 2023, LEX360 and The Legal 500 held the UK’s first ever legal Gemba Walk, utilising methods from Lean Six Sigma. Gemba is from the Japanese for ‘the real place’, and it is the most important place for a team as it is where the work happens.
The Last Word: LB100: Market comment
From AI to economic headwinds to flexible working patterns, leaders at Legal Business 100 firms give us their views on the past financial year and look ahead to the next
