I knew better and that only makes this worse. Recently, I needed a lawyer to review an agreement. There was some vague language that made me anxious. So I called an old friend who recommended one of the partners at his big firm. The partner gave me good advice, spotted an issue I hadn’t considered, re-drafted a couple clauses, and left me feeling reassured. The problem went away.
Continue reading “Guest post: Tales of an Unhappy Client – The Search for a Smarter Way to Bill”
Will the real Clifford Chance (CC) stand up? It is, after all, a key moment for what was not that long ago the world’s most influential law firm but working out what it stands for now can be a challenge.
Continue reading “Comment: The Gospel according to Matthew – can CC live up to the legacy?”
Withers’ Steven Kempster and Sarah Aughwane on the doctrine of mistake.
Withers’ contentious trust and succession group is unrivalled in its size and the scope of its experience. Our team, based across Europe, Asia and the US, and consisting of 40 fee-earners, acts on the leading domestic and multi-jurisdictional trust disputes, as well as representing individuals, families and charities in every aspect of contentious trust and succession work. Continue reading “Could trustee protection return post-Pitt and Futter?”
Cogence Search’s Mark Husband on the fallacy of cheap legal services
The respected legal commentator (and fan of mammals) Bruce MacEwen recently commented: ‘Of course, while hedgehogs know one big thing – that BigLaw hasn’t changed and hasn’t needed to so far – foxes know many things.
For example: a) 95% of the work on that indispensable “international M&A” deal consists of due diligence scutwork suitable for the skills of any conscientious team of $25/hour freelancers; b) IBM’s Watson is fast approaching the ability to understand language in context, and did we mention it has Moore’s Law on its side?; and c) pricing and efficiency pressure is actually not coming from the GCs [general counsel] and law departments of clients but from the CFOs [chief financial officers] and finance departments, who don’t give a fig about our noble profession and don’t consider it their problem to ensure the profitability, or even the existence, of the Global 50.’ Continue reading “Cost reduction = quality reduction”
Momentum versus quality. That’s the question for the upper reaches of the legal industry that is never on the lips of managing partners but probably should be. The industry likes to focus on partnership models, strategies, practices, geographic spread and culture. These are all fine up to a point but as major determinants of success, they get too much air time. But momentum – well, the impact of that is dramatically, empirically startling in law. When firms have it they are capable of achieving staggering levels of growth and market repositioning.
Momentum can come as focused application of a counter-intuitive playbook – Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Latham & Watkins, Clyde & Co or Mishcon de Reya. It can come in the form of aggressive expansion via mergers and lateral recruitment, as seen in the emergence of DLA Piper. But look at what firms can achieve if they have it. Quinn Emanuel, for example, was the fastest-growing firm in the Global 100, with revenues growing by 163% in just five years. Continue reading “Momentum – the little-discussed magic that can lead to legal success”
Will the real Clifford Chance (CC) stand up? It is, after all, a key moment for what was not that long ago the world’s most influential law firm but working out what it stands for now can be a challenge.
Taking the long view post-2000, a chasm steadily opened up between its celebrated reputation for vision, meritocracy and entrepreneurialism and a reality that too often meant bureaucracy, strategic drift and an indulgent attitude towards individual contribution.
An excess of management would be one thing if CC was delivering operational excellence and rigour but in too many regards the firm did not. The last 15 years saw the disastrous non-integration of Rogers & Wells, an ill-fated move into California and a continual avoidance of important strategic issues on remuneration and performance management. This allowed others to steal its playbook and execute it more clearly. Continue reading “Can CC live up to the legacy?”
Simmons senior partner Colin Passmore argues a new breed of collaborators are the rainmakers of tomorrow
When I qualified (was it really 30 years ago?) I had this impression about how law firms worked. The partnership was made up of different people. There were the technical geniuses – the lawyers who were the equivalent of the rocket scientists at the investment banks. There were the managers who made things work, like meeting the deadlines. Then there were the rainmakers.
Continue reading “Taking the firm to the client – traditional rainmakers are gone”
In a guest post, Aric Press, partner at the legal consultancy Bernero & Press and former editor-in-chief of The American Lawyer argues the path towards a high achieving culture in law firms turns out not to be money driven. It’s human nature, unleashed.
It is 2025 and the view from the nominal head office of the leading City law firm remains as uncertain as it has for the last 15 years. Not that there hasn’t been progress at what would once have been called a Magic Circle firm. With revenues of £2.5bn, the firm now generates only 30% of its income from the UK. That isn’t much more than it earns from its US practice, which was bolstered four years ago by a takeover of an AmLaw 200 practice, and the decision to reshape its executive and partnership to put London and New York at its heart. The notion that it needed to become a true Anglo-American institution was a culture shock but few seriously question it now.
The old lockstep is long gone – top earners in London, New York and Asia earn five times that of junior partners or those working in less profitable jurisdictions and there are two gateways to negotiate, though it’s still a long way from eat-what-you-kill. Profit per equity partner at £1.9m isn’t that much higher than a decade before but top earners take home well over £3m a year.
Brodies’ Bill Drummond argues that lack of infrastructure investment is damaging the UK’s major business and legal hubs
Writing this in early May, I’m conscious that many managing partners across the UK are, for once, doing much the same thing at the same time; mulling over the numbers for the past financial year. As I do so, my mind turns to one of the conundrums taxing economists – the UK’s stubbornly low level of productivity, despite our climb out of recession.
Continue reading “Faster, higher, stronger – a vision for a better transport policy”
