Dissent: Why the in-house triumph over law firms may prove short-lived
Scott Gibson and Kristi Edwards argue that GCs have secured a short-term advantage over their external advisers at the risk…
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The age of turbulence has only just begun for the UK’s top 100 firms
Respectable, yes, but 2012/13 was a tough year, even by the post-Lehman standards law firm leaders have become accustomed to.…
The lingering enigma of BLP’s bad year
Success is a mysterious beast. Hard to define, built up over years and often the result of a formula even…
The Asian century maybe but not the Asian decade for the Global 100
The market for the world’s largest law firms remains as reliably turbulent as ever. The group as a whole eked…
DISSENT: Do you know Titian? Berating law firms on social mobility belies commercial realities
RollOnFriday founder Matthew Rhodes argues it is education – not an increasingly meritocratic profession – that is to blame for…
To soar or crash with an Asian giant
If you are going to finally do a global merger, it would be fitting for one of the most distinctive…
Hogan Lovells was right to get hitched. It needs to remember that.
I’m not a big fan of comparing law firm mergers to marriages. All those torturous metaphors and incongruous imagery. But…
Flying High – The Legal Business Global 100
How the Global 100 has gone from turning over $71.6bn to $85bn in five years. The world’s largest passenger plane,…
In defence of big – the maths are favouring two + two
How many times do you hear lawyers roll out the line about mergers having to be two-plus-two-makes-five? True in many…
Don’t push your luck with partnership
Do law firms take partnership for granted? They really shouldn’t as the model has served them so well. Just consider…
DISSENT: When the BlackBerrys light up: why firms neglect their culture
Former SJ Berwin head David Harrel argues that law firms delude themselves when it comes to their own values The…
The ABS dilemma – join them sure, but shouldn’t you be beating them?
Amid all the hype surrounding alternative business structures (ABS) one story that emerged last month stood out – the aggressively-marketed…
The Last Word – litigation boutiques
With the continued success of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and the rise of the litigation boutique, we ask leading…
The Last Word
On 1 April the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation…
It’s your profession – accept it, change it but be honest
There are plenty of editors who live on the conference circuit but I’ve never been one of them. Still, I…
A star signing is one thing but who needs a lateral?
The worlds of business, politics and sport have since the 1970s fallen increasingly under the spell of the star individual…
Boring until it isn’t – sharper risk teams deliver commercial edge
It wasn’t so long ago that law firm risk teams fought an endless, fruitless battle to get partners and senior…
Capital ideas – the law firm model is as stable as you make it
It’s a sobering sign of what we’ve been reduced to when we’re praising firms for doing the obvious. This time…
Love the legacy but it’s time for renewal
Tony Angel and the cute teddy bear next to him greeted me as I found my new desk – a…
Cobbetts gets burned but that’s business
There’s nothing like a bit of schadenfreude when matters go awry and the collapse of Cobbetts as an independent entity…