A grinding year for the Global 100 as US leaders assert dominance

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A grinding year for the Global 100 as US leaders assert dominance

Casting an eye over the results for the world’s 100 largest law firms, 2016/17 has been the definition of grinding out a result. Not a pretty result at that.

The group as a whole hiked revenues 3% to $98.82bn, pretty much tracking the increase in lawyer numbers. In part due to the strength of the dollar, there are some surprising results. The number of $2bn-plus law firms has fallen from ten to eight (thanks to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters). The number of $1bn-plus firms falls from 35 to 34. Consolidation continues to be a force in the industry but almost exclusively in the global mid-tier, not its upper echelons.

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The last word: Global horizons

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The last word: Global horizons

‘Recent events have not helped the UK’s Brexit negotiating hand – or foot, which now sports a large bullet hole.’

Andy Ryde, Slaughter and May

GOODBYE GLOBALISM

‘There has been significant M&A slowdown in the first quarter of 2017 – despite pundits commenting positively. There is no empirical survey evidence to show a drop-off in confidence, so we will have to see what happens in the next few quarters. The overall macro predictions continue to be steady but we’re not expecting spectacular growth. I fear the world as a whole is backing away from globalism – that’s bad for M&A activity – and it will disproportionately hit cross-border work.’

Richard Hall, head of M&A EMEA, Cravath, Swaine & Moore


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The last word: Elite theory

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The last word: Elite theory

‘I’m very optimistic about our model.’

Jason Mogg, Kinstellar

As part of our annual Euro Elite report, management at independent firms in Europe give their views on market challenges, Brexit and technology

ZERO SCHADENFREUDE

‘Brexit will probably have an impact on UK clients but there is no feeling here that Brexit will harm either the position of the German economy, or German independent firms. However, it is not the time for us to be looking at the UK and saying: “Poor UK firms, you will have a problem and Frankfurt is going to be even stronger.”‘

Alexander Schwarz, managing partner, Gleiss Lutz

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Royaume-Uni, nil points: why the true Eurovision is independence

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Royaume-Uni, nil points: why the true Eurovision is independence

Compiling our second annual Euro Elite report this month reminded me of when the late Rodrigo Uría, then managing partner of Spanish leader Uría Menéndez, recounted how he ended a heated meeting with Linklaters’ irascible former managing partner Terence Kyle by pointing out the armed guards at the entrance to his firm’s Madrid office. Back in the late 1990s, the UK elite was desperate to get into Europe. Emotions ran high.

With Brexit, the UK now wants out (the legal profession less so). But in the Continental market you could argue the English firms have been in withdrawal mode for years. Although the buccaneering expansion across the region in the 1990s and early 2000s means firms with Anglo-Saxon origin are ubiquitous, few dominate. With the exception of France, where the locals have potent competition, and the Netherlands, where Allen & Overy became a major force (by force), Global 100 firms rarely compete at the top level. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a leader in Germany, but by virtue of the only merger of equals between a European and an English firm, and even it is currently looking to strip down its local practice to bolster profitability. The Magic Circle has been on some level of modest reversal in Germany for a decade now.

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Education: not broke, fat chance of a fix

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Education: not broke, fat chance of a fix

Forget the casual observer, even some keen observers are bemused by the current passion for reforming legal education displayed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) with plans to tear up the framework for legal training.

The gist of the proposals is to create a central, two-stage assessment regime to become a solicitor, which will in theory end the need for a legal practice course or training contract, where candidates would demonstrate their skills after two years of relevant work experience.

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The Big Four – they’d have done it by now if they cared

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The Big Four – they’d have done it by now if they cared

At the debate I recently attended on future of law-type stuff everything was proceeding to plan. Once the panel finished on artificial intelligence (AI), the law firm model and partners being useless, conversation turned to the Big Four. You know the gist: HERE THEY COME – GLOBAL – SLICK – WAY-AHEAD-OF-LAW-FIRMS.

Of course, the case that these professional service giants with superb boardroom access and resources way beyond the largest law firms should become leaders in law sounds persuasive. And yet discussion of the Big Four still gives so little weight to the plain fact that, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, they have been at this for more than 20 years and have yet to get anywhere near justifying the hype. The only conclusion can be that there is something fundamental to their approach and models that frustrates their progress.

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Sponsored briefing: Offshore construction risks

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Sponsored briefing: Offshore construction risks

Navigant’s Tony Farrow describes how the particular risks of offshore oil and gas extraction present unique challenges for parties involved in construction projects

Onshore and offshore basics

In oil and gas extraction, both onshore and offshore-based facilities are dealing with the same process – namely the collection, initial processing, storage, and transfer of oil and gas. However, there are significant differences in the technical demands and risk profile of each approach. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Offshore construction risks”

Quality of life – law can give it… and take it away

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Quality of life – law can give it… and take it away

Legal Business‘ team and contacts have had to put up with me banging on about my intention to do an issue focused on quality of life for quite some time. It is a difficult topic to write about without descending into generality or banality but this remains a people business to the bone.

Law firms obsess about getting bright kids through the door, how to engage and develop (and sometimes exit them) – how to retain and corral partners (and attract new ones) – how to keep the favour of clients (and attract the gaze of new ones). Lawyers can seem curiously stiff to those previously unacquainted with the profession but it does not take long to realise that this is an intensely social industry shaped in the village of modern London.

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The true capitalist case for a new work/life deal

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The true capitalist case for a new work/life deal

It would be hypocritical for the legal media to complain about the lack of serious debate on work/life balance but since no-one got into this game to be consistent, we will not let that stop us.

Attempting to make up for lost time this month with a focus on quality of life, the core question is how can the profession help its staff make work more rewarding and achieve some measure of balance in their lives?

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New look Linklaters – cuddly inclusiveness proves oddly compelling

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New look Linklaters – cuddly inclusiveness proves oddly compelling

It has been a long, long time since one of London’s elite law firms has genuinely shifted direction. So the shake up currently unfolding at Silk Street under the newish teaming of managing partner Gideon Moore and senior partner Charlie Jacobs is, professionally speaking, a big deal.

The mood music from Moore’s 2015 election had already signalled a more consultative stance – a welcome shift after a series of bruising post-Lehman restructurings.

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