Comment: The answer to law firms’ social ills is not another league table

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Have we reached peak aspirational employer league table yet? From the perspective of the legal industry we certainly should have, given the trend in recent years for the profession to turn up with improbably high rankings in a proliferating range of ‘best employers for…’ tables.

Were an alien to descend to earth and judge the industry on the basis of these rankings they would conclude that the profession had cracked social mobility, gender diversity, gay-empowerment and quality of life… all the while generating a tonne of money. Continue reading “Comment: The answer to law firms’ social ills is not another league table”

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

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Comment: 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. Continue reading “Comment: A grinding year for the Global 100 as US leaders assert dominance”

Answer to law firms’ social ills is not another league table

Posted on |
Answer to law firms’ social ills is not another league table

Have we reached peak aspirational employer league table yet? From the perspective of the legal industry we certainly should have, given the trend in recent years for the profession to turn up with improbably high rankings in a proliferating range of ‘best employers for…’ tables.

Were an alien to descend to earth and judge the industry on the basis of these rankings they would conclude that the profession had cracked social mobility, gender diversity, gay-empowerment and quality of life… all the while generating a tonne of money.

Continue reading “Answer to law firms’ social ills is not another league table”

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

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Comment: 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.

Continue reading “Comment: The Big Four – they’d have done it by now if they cared”

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

Posted on |
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.

Continue reading “The Big Four – they’d have done it by now if they cared”

Comment: The true capitalist case for a new work/life deal

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Comment: 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?

Continue reading “Comment: The true capitalist case for a new work/life deal”

Comment: New look Linklaters – cuddly inclusiveness proves oddly compelling

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Comment: 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.

Continue reading “Comment: New look Linklaters – cuddly inclusiveness proves oddly compelling”

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

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Comment: 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.

Continue reading “Comment: Quality of life – law can give it…and take it away”

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

Posted on |
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.

Continue reading “Quality of life – law can give it… and take it away”

The true capitalist case for a new work/life deal

Posted on |
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?

Continue reading “The true capitalist case for a new work/life deal”