Today (4 January) the European partnership of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has stopped paying 100 staff as the firm heads towards administration. The firm confirmed its intention to file for administration in a court filing in December 2016.
Continue reading “KWM Europe halts pay for 100 staff as it prepares for administration”
Boutique disputes outfit Signature Litigation has landed top commercial litigation and arbitration lawyer Simon Bushell from Latham & Watkins. Continue reading “‘A great tactician’: Latham City disputes chair exits for boutique”
Clifford Chance‘s (CC) 12-strong executive leadership group saw their combined pay packets increase by 7% to £15m, the firm’s LLP accounts for 2015/16 on Companies House reveal. Continue reading “Leadership pay at Clifford Chance up 7% in 2015/16 after falling the year before”
Social media football start-up Dugout has appointed its first in-house counsel from Perform Group as it gains backing from some of the sport’s biggest clubs.
Continue reading “Football start-up Dugout appoints first in-house lawyer”
Trowers & Hamlins‘ top paid member took home £448,698 for the 2015/16 financial year, down 4% on the year previous, according to the firm’s LLP accounts. Continue reading “Trowers LLP accounts show top member takes home less as profits flat in 2015/16”
Following its Belfast merger at the end of 2016, DWF has launched in Paris with the acquisition of four partner law firm Heenan Paris. Continue reading “‘Our growing European footprint’: DWF launches in Paris with four partner firm”
Linklaters has hired Goldman Sachs managing director Susana Cao Miranda as a partner to strengthen its London litigation offering.
Continue reading “Linklaters continues litigation push with Goldman Sachs hire”
RBS’ general counsel (GC) for corporate & institutional banking (CIB) Dan Williams has left the legal team of the banking group. Continue reading “RBS divisional GC leaves following legal team restructuring”
In today’s globalized marketplace, diversity and inclusion are more important than ever. Yet measurable progress in increasing workplace diversity remains stagnant. The reasons why are as varied as the potential solutions, but one thing I think most can agree on is that diversity is good for business. Why then can’t we accelerate the pace of change?
In a company like BP, it is often easier to progress the diversity agenda in functions like legal than when working on the oil and gas side, where the pipeline of diverse candidates may be less robust. But because of the global nature of BP’s operations and the rich cultural diversity in which we do business, it is vital that we provide all of our employees with the tools and skills necessary to effectively integrate into different environments.
For PayPal as a company, one of our core values is diversity and inclusion – it is not just a poster on the wall. It is fundamental to how we build our products. Fintech at PayPal is about democratizing money and allowing access to financial services to everyone.
Continue reading “Louise Pentland, chief legal officer, PayPal”
At Morgan Stanley, we are in the service profession – we don’t make anything. Rather, we serve the communities we operate in. But we don’t always reflect those communities in the ways we would like. Putting aside the moral and ethical issues, we just think this is bad business, and as a goal, we want to better reflect the communities we serve.
Continue reading “Eric Grossman, chief legal officer, Morgan Stanley”
I’m an electrical engineer by training and then became a patent lawyer. In patent law you need to have a technical degree before obtaining your law degree, and so, even though I’m in the legal field, I see first-hand the diversity issues that tech companies are facing. The pool of diverse candidates in the engineering space is smaller than it should be, and so the pool in patent law is even smaller.
Continue reading “Dana Rao, vice president of intellectual property and litigation, Adobe”
Diversity for me has been an issue I’ve been passionate about throughout my career. It’s certainly something which has evolved over time, but it’s rooted in my upbringing. My parents were very involved in the Civil Rights Movement back in the 1960s, so from an early age it has been ingrained in us as children that concepts like civil rights, diversity and valuing differences were the right thing to do.
Continue reading “Mark Roellig, general counsel, MassMutual”
A diverse workforce means you have a diversity of experience and a diversity of opinion, which translates into better products and better services. We service customers worldwide and our team has to reflect that in order for us to remain competitive.
A number of years ago, while interviewing an individual for an open position on my team, he shared a very personal concern with me. He told me that he was gay and that was causing him concern about how he would be perceived, should he be out in the workplace with his colleagues. He also worried that he may be treated differently because of his sexuality.
Continue reading “Mike Cammarota, senior director of legal services, Accenture”
Rhanda Moussa: ‘Bring your whole self to work’ is our team’s new lens in which we define, progress and measure the strategic direction for diversity and inclusion across legal. We broadly work from three guiding principles, focusing on attract, retain and develop.
As a white man, I don’t scream diversity. But as the first-generation son of Russian immigrants who came to the US in the 1950s, I know all too well what it feels like to be a minority. When my parents came to America, they didn’t speak a word of English. Despite being highly educated (English was their fifth language), I saw them be treated as if they were stupid simply because they struggled to express themselves in a language other than one of their own. This experience shaped my character and how I think about diversity, both personally and professionally.
Continue reading “Alex Dimitrief, general counsel, General Electric”
Maternity policy is a conversation that has been around for decades; the problem statement is our most valuable resource is our people. We have a group of working women who are assets to the organization. We invest in them via time, finance and development, and we lose that tremendous value they have with the insight, the skillset and experience because someone chooses to have a baby.
Continue reading “Megan Doberneck, general counsel, Vodafone Americas”
In May 2016, over dinner with Genius general counsel Ben Gross, the subject of the GC Diversity and Inclusion Report arose. Gross was very enthusiastic. ‘You should see what we’re trying to do at Genius. It’s early days but we really want this to be part of who we are. We looked around one day and realized we were essentially a bunch of white guys from Yale and we wanted to change that.’
