Comment: A decade since Lehman the profession still mired in the New Normal
Within days of this issue hitting desks, it will be ten years since Lehman Brothers’ collapse marked what swiftly became…
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Comment: Law firm IPOs still don’t make much sense (but soon could)
‘Who would possibly invest in a law firm?’ asks one leader this month, reflecting a common view. Yet the current…
Comment: The new outlook for City leaders – Casinos hitched with a utility
Through much of 2018 the talk has been that major City firms have been extraordinarily busy. GDPR, a rebound in…
Comment: A new Global 100 elite emerges as the old ones decline
In the summer of 2017 the world’s top law firms were looking at their next financial year with scant optimism…
Comment: Yet unremarked, generational conflict cripples City law
Our cover feature this month largely speaks for itself in assessing the changing face of partnership as Millennials begin colonising…
Comment: BCLP offers a (slightly) better post-merger pitch than expected
It would take a generous observer of Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) to claim the once sure-footed outfit had managed anything…
Comment: The good things the ‘pundits’ never tell you about the legal profession
This may be an issue dominated by all things Millennial, but I am past that, so the column that follows…
Comment: 16 easy steps to making you a great managing partner
Recently a surprisingly popular column in Legal Business took a jaded view of the state of leadership in major law firms. The…
Comment: A&O merger bid risky but US question can’t be delayed forever
‘It is an odd couple. I wouldn’t have put them together,’ is one take from a London peer to the…
Deal View: Life after Hatchard – does Skadden hunger to take its peerless M&A team to the next level?
‘Theirs is the biggest succession issue faced by any firm in the City,’ says one Magic Circle partner of Skadden,…
Guest post: Is law a franchise or a business? Lessons from Warren Buffett
I often look for knowledge outside of the legal profession to help me develop strategy for our [Microsoft’] legal business.…
Comment: Deal view – Cleary Gottlieb seeks to avoid City M&A anonymity in the age of US disruptors
The London contingent of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has recently moved across the road into premises so new they…
Comment: The golden age of law firm leadership has passed… what now?
I used to say three things when asked for a view on the quality of leadership in the profession. Firstly,…
Guest comment: NDAs and the profession’s cultural problem revealed before Parliament
Evidence before the Women and Equalities Committee last week (28 March) paints a worrying picture of ethics in the legal…
Deal view: Cleary Gottlieb seeks to avoid City M&A anonymity in the age of US disruptors
The London contingent of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has recently moved across the road into premises so new they…
Comment: After shock Voge departure, Latham has a #MeToo problem and so does the profession
Latham & Watkins and William H Voge are fortunate in one regard. The looking-glass glaze that appears when law firms…
Comment: A shock to the system as Freshfields heavyweight departs
Given that it has been so well telegraphed that the $10m lateral was coming to the Square Mile, the shock…
Comment: Law firms will never just hand status to City women – they’ll have to take it
In a blow for traditionalists, our latest cover feature eschews profiling a group of hard-working, smart, highly-confident men who are talented…
Guest post: The Legal 500 United Kingdom is changing – and it starts with the submissions
Those of you in the UK with fond memories of the hefty The Legal 500 books dropping onto your desks…
Guest post: What happens to Anna when companies merge?
This is not a piece written from the perspective of a project manager or a strategist. Neither am I writing…