DISSENT: The road to equity – a difficult journey, an uncertain destination

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The Royal Bank of Scotland’s James Tsolakis argues the profession must accept a fundamental challenge to its traditional model

The legal profession is going through a period of dramatic and profound change, and the forces driving these changes are having far-reaching consequences on the industry. The roles and responsibilities of the equity partner are not immune from these forces, and are evolving and expanding in response. For many this is creating great ambiguity, while others are seizing the opportunity.

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Comment: Where do you want your firm to be in 2020? How short-termism has come to define the modern law firm

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To judge from the way law firms behave – it’s helpfully instructive to ignore what they say – the answer to the rhetorical question of the above headline is: ‘Who gives a fig?’

Consider the following facts and ask yourself what philosophy of management underlies and ties all law firms together:

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Guest post – Client retention: give credit where credit’s due

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Winning a new client for the firm—there’s little that can match that for excitement, sense of accomplishment and visible contribution to the firm. More so if the client is big or prestigious. A pitch is often a hard-fought battle against many worthy foes. There are numerable, maddening unknowns in pitching a new client: which lawyers at which levels should be presented? What’s the optimal pricing? What services will distinguish your firm from the others? etc., etc. Continue reading “Guest post – Client retention: give credit where credit’s due”

DISSENT: Where do you want your firm to be in 2020?

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Adam Smith, Esq’s Bruce MacEwen argues that short-termism and a lack of stewardship has come to define the modern law firm

To judge from the way law firms behave – it’s helpfully instructive to ignore what they say – the answer to the rhetorical question of the above headline is: ‘Who gives a fig?’

Consider the following facts and ask yourself what philosophy of management underlies and ties all law firms together:

Continue reading “DISSENT: Where do you want your firm to be in 2020?”

Comment: A Legal Business take on the year – my favourite articles of 2013

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Since I joined Legal Business as editor-in-chief in February, our expanded editorial team has been striving to update our publication with a number of investments. Crucially we’ve aimed to improve our coverage in several regards, including more substantive reporting on issues affecting in-house counsel. Just as important has been efforts to give the title a far stronger online platform to complement our traditional strength in print, which included the launch in April of a totally revamped website and the unveiling in September of our well-received iPad edition, which is freely available to subscribing law firms. Continue reading “Comment: A Legal Business take on the year – my favourite articles of 2013”

The New New Normal – a changing market beckons for 2014

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The last three years have drawn to a close heralding another 12 months much like those that went before: depressing. The eurozone flirting with break-up, fiscal woes holding back Western economies and a subdued legal market. Check, check and check.

But drawing to the end of 2013, commercial lawyers are facing an outlook that is, in highly relative terms, not half bad. The word from senior City partners has been generally upbeat since the summer. The first half financial results have, if anything, exceeded those raised expectations. We are looking at the best set of like-for-like financial results seen for five years from major UK law firms. Even allowing for the weak comparison point of H1 2012/13, early numbers are robust across a wide range of firms.

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DISSENT: The battle for talent and other phoney wars

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A false ‘war for talent’ has seen law firms create their own staff shortages, argue Laura Empson and Louise Ashley.

Since McKinsey & Co first coined the term in 1997, the ‘war for talent’ has been the focus of a stream of conferences, media articles and consulting assignments. It has spawned a new human resources specialism – talent management – and with that has come concepts such as ‘competency frameworks’ and ‘succession planning’.

One of the most hotly fought fronts in the war for talent is graduate recruitment. Professional service firms, including law firms, accountancy practices, banks and consultancies, pride themselves on battling with other firms, competing aggressively for a very limited number of ‘the brightest and the best’ graduates. As one banker told us: ‘All the banks are in competition, gunning for that small pool of talent.’ Continue reading “DISSENT: The battle for talent and other phoney wars”

Guest post: Time to face the dangerous delusion of the entrepreneurial lawyer

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For years, I’ve been hearing law firms describe their cultures as ‘entrepreneurial’ and hardly the slightest attention. Like ‘collegial’ or ‘collaborative’, it just seemed like so much white noise. Then finally I heard it once too often and had to face cold reality: I had absolutely no idea what these people – a lot of smart, articulate people – were talking about.

Picking up a dictionary, I found this definition:

characterised by the taking of financial risks in the hope of profit; enterprising
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Comment: ‘2006 and all that – an oh-so-familiar mess at Linklaters

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The most hackneyed cliché of the pundit is history repeating itself, a claim that rarely holds up upon closer examination. But with the recent departure of Linklaters’ private equity co-heads Ian Bagshaw and Richard Youle for White & Case, well, sometimes you just can’t escape the past.

Personality clashes, a mid-market practice not gelling with Linklaters’ M&A business, finance supposedly not supporting sponsor clients, prolonged rumours over exit talks, and, finally, a dramatic exit to a big spending US rival; yes, it’s 2006 all over again when Graham White and Raymond McKeeve quit for Kirkland & Ellis.

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Comment: The lingering enigma of BLP’s bad year

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Success is a mysterious beast. Hard to define, built up over years and often the result of a formula even its creators struggle to understand. But failure, well, that’s simple. When a law firm runs into difficulties you can point to bickering partners, problem offices, a weak client-base or an unworkable strategy. Whatever it is, there’s usually a clear narrative to explain the situation.

As such, the current rough patch at Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is striking less in itself than because the firm seems surprised by – and unable to entirely explain – the situation.

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