The longer you do this job, the more your mind wanders to the big moments – recessions, terrorist attacks, political shocks, wars. Yet as I sit here typing this leader in a near-deserted London office, the majority of our team working from home as we try to put this issue to bed, it is a …
Continue reading “For the profession, as the world, the coronavirus is a moment of truth”
Skadden Arps, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and, currently, Kirkland & Ellis – over the last 30 years these firms have all at one time had claims to have been the most influential law firms of their age, the pioneers that defined the top of the profession through dash, ambition and imagination. And many senior lawyers would …
Continue reading “Latham vs K&E means that everyone else loses”
Int-Arb Arbitrators & Mediators (Int-Arb), the specialist set of advocates launched earlier this year, is opening a new branch in Washington DC with the recruitment of its latest member. The veteran mediator and arbitrator Wolf von Kumberg becomes the sixth tenant at Int-Arb, the set and membership service for independent practitioners launched in January. Von …
Continue reading “Pioneering City arbitration set secures DC launch with latest member”
Our second one-day summit dedicated to banking disputes and regulatory actions returned in February with a host of sponsors, speakers and more than 150 guests in central London. Backed by a string of top names in contentious banking work, including headline sponsor White & Case, as well as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Boies Schiller Flexner, One …
As our 2020 Disputes Yearbook hits desks, it is an appropriate moment to reflect on how litigation and arbitration evolved through the decade just past. And what a period it was for contentious lawyers. The post-Lehman era caused much turbulence for the British economy and policy makers but proved bountiful for disputes counsel, supplementing the …
Continue reading “A golden decade closes but the 2020s promise more”
Barely into 2020 and news came that probably the most influential business thinker of the last 20 years had passed away. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, who died on 23 January at the age of 67, entered the business world and then popular culture with his concept of ‘disruptive innovation’, which was first outlined …
Astute readers will note that our cover feature on 2020 forecasts spends as much time casting its eye back on the 2010s as looking ahead. Assessments based on observable trends support conclusions that better stand the test of time, but such introspection has lent a jaded tone to the resulting piece. How could it not? …
Continue reading “Comment: The 2010s marked an unsung crisis in law firm leadership”
Astute readers will note that our cover feature on 2020 forecasts spends as much time casting its eye back on the 2010s as looking ahead. Assessments based on observable trends support conclusions that better stand the test of time, but such introspection has lent a jaded tone to the resulting piece. How could it not? …
Continue reading “The 2010s marked an unsung crisis in law firm leadership”
The team behind the City’s new cutting-edge arbitration centre has launched a membership service for independent practitioners, with full clerking and admin support as well as a home in the heart of London’s legal community. The new business, Int-Arb Arbitrators, is backed by the International Arbitration Centre (IAC), the world-class disputes hub launched last year …
Continue reading “City’s new disputes hub launches home for independent arbitrators”
For a pundit often claimed to be dismissive of the PR community, the subject of this leader may surprise. The reputation was never that accurate – I’ve always said skilled comms professionals are an asset to major law firms – but let’s put that to one side for now. The topic is something I’ve been …
Continue reading “Comment: Whatever happened to the PR as managing partner consigliere?”
