The rise of boutiques has been yet another development shaping the legal industry that no-one predicted. Conventional wisdom for years held that law firms should go global or specialise but that was largely in the context of mid-tier players becoming more tightly defined around a handful of profitable practice areas (which pretty much hasn’t happened either).
Continue reading “Comment: Legal boutiques – unheralded, thriving and coming after your lunch”
2014 was a year that saw the number and value of private equity (PE)-backed exits reach unparalleled highs globally. More benevolent economic and market conditions, including an increase in global M&A activity, created renewed confidence in the industry.
Many admire John Kennedy and his advisers’ deft handling of the Cuban missile crisis. It is generally thought to result from some of the best-judged decisions of the era. Yet a year earlier, much the same group of people decided to support the Bay of Pigs invasion (a crackpot scheme for the invasion of Cuba in which the US pitted 1,600 men against 200,000), conversely thought of as one of the most idiotic.
The rise of boutiques has been yet another development shaping the legal industry that no-one predicted. Conventional wisdom for years held that law firms should go global or specialise but that was largely in the context of mid-tier players becoming more tightly defined around a handful of profitable practice areas (which pretty much hasn’t happened either).
What we have seen instead – as we address this month – is a flourishing of highly specialised and lean law firms launched or expanded since the financial crisis reshaped the market. Obviously, much of this is due to the post-
Continue reading “Legal boutiques: unheralded, thriving and coming after your lunch”
HSF fraud veteran Robert Hunter on how smart teams can make bad decisions
Many admire John Kennedy and his advisers’ deft handling of the Cuban missile crisis. It is generally thought to result from some of the best-judged decisions of the era. Yet a year earlier, much the same group of people decided to support the Bay of Pigs invasion (a crackpot scheme for the invasion of Cuba in which the US pitted 1,600 men against 200,000), conversely thought of as one of the most idiotic.
Continue reading “‘A curious atmosphere of consensus’ – the dangers of groupthink”
Why do ‘big ideas’ or ‘monolithic ideas’ become so accepted when under analysis and the test of time they so often prove to be wrong? It has always seemed especially strange for monolithic thinking to have caught on in the legal sector, an industry whose lifeblood is enthused with the need for careful checking of details and not taking statements at face value.
Continue reading “Guest post: Why ‘Big Ideas’ are often wrong and the fallacies of legal myths”
Two weeks ago, Labour pledged to tax as income the performance fees (known as the ‘carried interest’) paid to certain investment managers. This rather than the much lower capital gains tax rate enjoyed hitherto. The pledge followed Labour’s promise, earlier in the week, to remove the centuries old non-dom tax break and, last month, to restrict pension tax relief for high earners.
A long, long time ago when I used to report on fund management, one of the defining figures was Tony Dye, then the chief investment officer of Phillips & Drew, one of the City’s most storied asset management houses.
Continue reading “Comment: Being right in real life is much harder than being right intellectually”
A long, long time ago when I used to report on fund management, one of the defining figures was Tony Dye, then the chief investment officer of Phillips & Drew, one of the City’s most storied asset management houses.
Dye earned himself the nickname ‘Dr Doom’ through his bearish stance on equities, in particular by making the case that global stock markets were overvalued as the 1990s wore on. By the end of that decade, there were a growing number sharing that conviction as the dot-com mania and a takeover boom hiked valuations. But Dye made the case as early as 1995, years before the market turned.
Continue reading “Being right in real life is much harder than being right intellectually”
One of the biggest mysteries of the UK legal industry since the wipe-out of 2008/09 is whatever happened at Addleshaw Goddard. The firm had a fine pedigree, the best partnership in the North West, a client-base to die for and a credible City merger under its belt in 2003 when it hooked up with Theodore Goddard.
Rivals often point to the lack of an international practice as holding the firm back but there are plenty of firms in its weight class that have performed strongly since 2009 with relatively lean international networks or none at all, among them Macfarlanes, RPC, Stephenson Harwood, Mishcon de Reya and Travers Smith.
Continue reading “The window opens for Addleshaws but only for so long”
