Comment: Bakers in a #MeToo bind and big questions on the profession’s record on harassment

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Comment: Bakers in a #MeToo bind and big questions on the profession’s record on harassment

Referencing the Presidents Club fallout last month, LB noted that the profession’s record on sexual harassment would receive much tougher scrutiny in the era of #MeToo. While optimists argued post-Weinstein that the profession is now less tolerant of bad behaviour than 10 or 15 years ago, the jaded maintain that the status and rewards handed to partners still encourage abuse… and law firms to turn a blind eye.

But who could have predicted the debate would move on so quickly, with news emerging on 2 February that Baker McKenzie had sanctioned a partner following an allegation of sexual assault? Continue reading “Comment: Bakers in a #MeToo bind and big questions on the profession’s record on harassment”

Disputes Eye: Disclosure reform – time to err off the side of caution

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Disputes Eye: Disclosure reform – time to err off the side of caution

It takes a brave soul to tackle the issue of extortionate disclosure in the UK, and finding the happy medium required to satisfy both fretting clients and sceptical lawyers is difficult.

But that is exactly what the Disclosure Working Group is attempting to do, introducing a wave of reforms in November that will run as a mandatory two-year pilot across the business and property courts in the Rolls Building, starting in 2018 subject to approval from the Civil Procedure Rules Committee. Continue reading “Disputes Eye: Disclosure reform – time to err off the side of caution”

Letter from Paris: After the malaise, local counsel rediscover la joie de vivre

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Letter from Paris: After the malaise, local counsel rediscover la joie de vivre

It was one of the defining moments of the year: on 7 May president-elect Emmanuel Macron strode towards the stage outside the Louvre to give his victory speech to Ode to Joy. Much has been written on what that moment meant for France as a more confident, globally-minded country. The triumph of a 39-year-old ex-banker who marked his success with the EU’s German-born anthem rather than La Marseillaise has done much to raise hopes in the French business community.

Rising confidence is obviously welcome for the profession with the French legal market remaining one of Europe’s key hunting grounds and – unlike Germany’s increasingly-price-sensitive sector – one that comfortably sustains Global 100-level profitability. Continue reading “Letter from Paris: After the malaise, local counsel rediscover la joie de vivre”

Tough times, new entrants and mobile talent – A Legal Business year in review

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Tough times, new entrants and mobile talent – A Legal Business year in review

It’s been another eventful year on the front lines of the City and global legal profession marked by mergers, expensive transfers of big-name partners and sharply-dividing fortunes of individual law firms. Underpinning this are ominous structural shifts in the industry thanks to changing buying behaviour and technology. A consultant friend of mine asked last week if I thought the profession was being complacent because dramatic change has yet to happen. My view is that the problem is not that change has yet to be felt, it is that it is clearly happening already but many prestigious law firms remain in denial.

Anyway, to chart a turbulent 2017, we took a quick look back through our coverage this year to pick out a few pieces that highlighted the key issues impacting the profession. We have divided the list below into a section on some of our set-piece features for subscribers and a second set of recommendations of shorter comment pieces that we have also made available in open access form online. Continue reading “Tough times, new entrants and mobile talent – A Legal Business year in review”

Comment: Forget the Silicon Valley guff – can your firm shift course in 2018?

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Comment: Forget the Silicon Valley guff – can your firm shift course in 2018?

Well, 2017 promised to be a challenging year and it did not disappoint with its disappointment. With the Brexit vote upsetting an already-delicate balance in key markets, an inconclusive general election in the summer managed to ramp up the uncertainty further. Continue reading “Comment: Forget the Silicon Valley guff – can your firm shift course in 2018?”

Comment: Super growth or decline? Which firm are you?

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Comment: Super growth or decline? Which firm are you?

Everyone knows the legal industry has been a different place since the banking crisis but it is only when you take the long view that you realise how dramatic these changes have been.

For this month’s cover feature, we looked at three mid-tier law firms that have sustained above-trend growth for ten years. To identify our trio we looked long term at the performance in the LB100, focused on organic growth. Our working assumption was that, while top firms dominated until the credit boom, in relative terms smaller practices excelled over the last ten years. It turned out we had underestimated just how wrenching that post-Lehman shift has been. Continue reading “Comment: Super growth or decline? Which firm are you?”

Comment: Ditching lockstep – better too late than never?

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Comment: Ditching lockstep – better too late than never?

‘Lockstep in its current form has to go. It’s just not working.’
Legal Business, June 2015

‘The current incarnation of lockstep is an overly restrictive model that was a child of its time…. The failure to substantively adapt the model… has increasingly threatened to shatter a system that still delivers considerable benefits.’
Legal Business, October 2013

*** Continue reading “Comment: Ditching lockstep – better too late than never?”

Disputes Eye: Disclosure reform – time to err off the side of caution

Posted on |
Disputes Eye: Disclosure reform – time to err off the side of caution

It takes a brave soul to tackle the issue of extortionate disclosure in the UK, and finding the happy medium required to satisfy both fretting clients and sceptical lawyers is difficult.

But that is exactly what the Disclosure Working Group is attempting to do, introducing a wave of reforms in November that will run as a mandatory two-year pilot across the business and property courts in the Rolls Building, starting in 2018 subject to approval from the Civil Procedure Rules Committee. Continue reading “Disputes Eye: Disclosure reform – time to err off the side of caution”

Letter from Paris: After the malaise, local counsel rediscover la joie de vivre

Posted on |
Letter from Paris: After the malaise, local counsel rediscover la joie de vivre

It was one of the defining moments of the year: on 7 May president-elect Emmanuel Macron strode towards the stage outside the Louvre to give his victory speech to Ode to Joy. Much has been written on what that moment meant for France as a more confident, globally-minded country. The triumph of a 39-year-old ex-banker who marked his success with the EU’s German-born anthem rather than La Marseillaise has done much to raise hopes in the French business community.

Rising confidence is obviously welcome for the profession with the French legal market remaining one of Europe’s key hunting grounds and – unlike Germany’s increasingly-price-sensitive sector – one that comfortably sustains Global 100-level profitability. Continue reading “Letter from Paris: After the malaise, local counsel rediscover la joie de vivre”

Deal view: A&O does private equity – faint praise confounded but a plateau lurks

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Deal view: A&O does private equity – faint praise confounded but a plateau lurks

‘Since Stephen Lloyd joined Allen & Overy (A&O) its star has definitely risen in the world of private equity,’ says one rival partner. As wringing any non-contemptuous words from rivals in the thrusting world of leveraged finance is hard, this view counts as high praise.

The team had a bumper couple of years after Lloyd defected from Ashurst in 2013, shortly joined by ex-colleague Karan Dinamani. Their arrival augmented a practice that previously relied on Gordon Milne as its sole dedicated UK partner. The recruitment of Lloyd, which former senior partner David Morley took a personal hand in, was symbolic for a shop that until then seemed to view private equity (PE) as a conflict-strewn liability for its debt finance team rather than an opportunity for the M&A department. Continue reading “Deal view: A&O does private equity – faint praise confounded but a plateau lurks”