Faraway, so close – two visions of nearshoring

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With even Freshfields unveiling plans to put hundreds of staff in Manchester, we teamed up with Scottish Development International to assess the rush to nearshore. Is it driven by costs or a deeper rethinking of the legal industry?

To say Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s launch of a support and legal services centre in Manchester was one of the biggest stories of 2015 would be an understatement. While back-office outsourcing and legal process outsourcing had legal process outsourcing had been the subject of much debate within the profession for years and the modern era of northshoring by global law firms was pioneered by Allen & Overy (A&O) and Herbert Smith in 2011, news that the 270-year-old Freshfields is to house up to 300 support and legal staff in Manchester by next year sent reverberations around the City. A&O had done that already in Belfast – and delivered significant cost savings to boot – but this was Freshfields, the most conservative of London’s Big Four.

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The road to Ottawa – why WLG believes Gowlings can put it on the global map

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Wragge Lawrence Graham has nailed its international aspirations to an ambitious tie-up with Canada’s Gowlings… to the bewilderment of peers. Why?

In September 2002, a Legal Business article on Wragge & Co likened the Birmingham giant’s fledging London branch to a troublesome toddler, describing international expansion as ‘just a twinkle in [then senior partner] Quentin Poole’s eye’. Thirteen years on, Wragges has swapped a best friends policy for offices in ten locations, including Paris, Dubai, Munich and Guangzhou, and transformed its London arm through its 2014 union with City practice Lawrence Graham (LG).

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The last champions – meet the leaders intent on sealing Freshfields’ place in the global elite

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Freshfields remains the most potent of the City’s big four but modernising the 270-year-old institution has always been a delicate business. Legal Business meets the leadership team tasked with sealing its place in the global elite.

A City veteran, previously a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, sums up the task ahead for the firm’s incoming leadership. ‘The biggest challenge it faces is how it will retain its leading position in an increasingly competitive market. They are running a few initiatives to tackle this and have been reasonably creative. They are willing to challenge a few taboos but are taking their time. Time they don’t have.’

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Price of debt – austerity and the plight of a project finance partner

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The Magic Circle has so far been able to hold off the advance of US firms in project finance, but how are teams faring in a market hit by European austerity and falling commodities prices?

‘Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.’
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The end of the tunnel – litigation and regulatory challenges in financial services

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Legal Business teamed up with Simmons & Simmons to discover how financial institutions are coping with the twin threats of regulation and litigation, and assess whether the end is in sight.

If there was ever any doubt about what might be in store for the Volkswagen Group following its recent emissions scandal, a glance at the banking industry over the last five years offers a sobering clue.

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Calling time at the Bar – Quality fears for English judges are growing as top QCs turn away from the bench

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Disillusionment within the England and Wales judiciary was laid bare by the findings of the UK Judicial Attitude Survey in February this year. Pay freezes, pension cuts and increased workload have evidently soured the mood at the bench.

The survey, carried out by the UCL Judicial Institute, indicated that 86% of judges who had been in the post for at least five years believed that working conditions had worsened since 2010. And nearly a third of judges are considering leaving their positions early in the next five years. Perhaps even more worryingly, a high proportion of judges said that reduced pension benefits (76%) and a reduction in income in real terms (69%) would discourage people from joining the bench.

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Leader: A challenging time for disputes teams in a polarised market

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The return of our Disputes Yearbook finds the wider outlook for contentious work considerably changed over the last 12 months. The flood of disputes that were not so long ago carrying along pretty much all vessels has receded on both sides of the Atlantic. Limitation periods have dramatically slowed the flow of litigation linked to the banking crisis, while rising business confidence has turned the mind of executives to deal-doing rather than cleaning up old messes. It is a more challenging time for the run-of-the-mill disputes team.

Nevertheless, it remains a more-than-respectable environment in which to ply the services of high-end disputes shops. Even if the march of more proactive enforcement and regulation across many sectors has paused for breath, the long-term trends show no suggestion of abandoning the global-wide push towards a more regulated business environment. The creeping extension of corporate liability and the vogue for developing economies to start clamping down on at least the most flagrant corruption look set to continue for years to come.

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Deep Blue sky thinking: The cutting edge of legal AI

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Artificial intelligence is big news once again in law and beyond. Legal Business speaks to leaders in the field of advanced automation to assess what it means for the profession.

> How are you today?
* I’m afraid AI will change the legal profession.
> How long have you been afraid AI will change the legal profession?
* Since I started speaking to AI researchers.
> Can you elaborate on that?
* They were telling me about their latest research.
> I don’t understand you.
* Neither did they, that’s why I wanted to see a therapist.
> Tell me more…

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Applied science and snake oil: AI in practice

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The cutting-edge science in artificial intelligence in law is startling, but does the tech currently offered by commercial legal providers match the hype?

It’s a sign of the times: Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) now has its own ‘robot’. In September, the firm announced it had teamed up with tech company RAVN Systems in a deal to use its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, known as the Applied Cognitive Engine (RAVN ACE).

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