Charles Plant, outgoing Chair of the SRA who has led the SRA through one of the more interesting phases in its relatively young life, had some interesting thoughts in a recent valedictory speech (at legal futures). In particular, flat-earther comments aside, he is reported as having offered this:
Regional Insight – Leader
If you were to venture outside London to the major regional legal markets ten or 15 years ago, you would probably have been surprised. The energy, ambition and cohesive professional communities in these markets went well beyond expectations.
In the bars of Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester you would often meet individuals with that mix of personality, judgement and charisma that marks out the best commercial lawyers. No wonder so many of London’s sharpest legal operators used to be bred in the sticks.
Guest post: The PM’s ‘foreign fighters’ plan – probably lawful
In Australia, the Prime Minister announced new counter-terrorism powers which he intends to introduce in a bill in the next few weeks. He said there’d be ‘new powers for police at ports to seize passports, to stop suspects travelling and to stop British nationals returning to the UK unless they do so on our terms.’
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The Friday Edit: Property is hot once more and the dangers of upsetting Susan
We’re halfway through November and it’s Friday, so here’s our regular look back at some of the stories that have drawn everyone’s attention over the last five days. For access to subscriber content, click here for full access to Legal Business or contact mark.proudley@legalease.co.uk.
Also, a friendly reminder that the deadline for submissions for the 2015 Legal Business Awards is this Monday (17 November).
Continue reading “The Friday Edit: Property is hot once more and the dangers of upsetting Susan”
Comment: Magic Circle real estate withdrawal isn’t a myth, but it’s not that simple
In a 2011 piece on the decimated real estate market in the City, we noted that few senior property partners were in their mid-40s, due to the fact that law firms largely ceased hiring junior real estate lawyers following the early ’90s crash. It looks like history will repeat itself in roughly 15 years’ time: post-credit crunch, the most established real estate practices went into hibernation. Some started to disintegrate. Either way, if you were a trainee interested in real estate around 2010, pickings were slim.
Comment: Join our club – law firms’ obsession with the in crowd is beyond parody
As I reach my middle years I find much to admire and celebrate about the legal profession, and lawyers in general. This column is not going to be about any of that stuff. Instead, we turn to a facet of the typical lawyer’s character that does them no credit: the obsession with joining a crowd, or rather a club that the lawyer believes says something ego-stroking about them.
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Comment: The cost of culture – HSF finds mega-mergers always come at a price
This month’s cover feature on Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) looks in hindsight like the end of an informal trilogy on storied London firms agreeing high-stakes mergers, following earlier pieces on Hogan Lovells and Ashurst.
Continue reading “Comment: The cost of culture – HSF finds mega-mergers always come at a price”
Join our club – law firms’ obsession with the in crowd is beyond parody
As I reach my middle years I find much to admire and celebrate about the legal profession, and lawyers in general. This column is not going to be about any of that stuff. Instead, we turn to a facet of the typical lawyer’s character that does them no credit: the obsession with joining a crowd, or rather a club that the lawyer believes says something ego-stroking about them.
Whatever you call a law firm, however factually you try to describe it, that firm will want a different, self-authored tag and often one that stretches credibility. One firm’s comms team has stalked me for years demanding I call a practice that generates less than 15% of its revenue outside the UK, and a good deal of its income from the UK regions, ‘global’. Golden Circle, Silver Circle – when I heard these terms years ago, I figured there was no way they’d catch on. Magic Circle sounds bad enough as it is, but it became currency because it defined a basic truth: as bluechip advisers, five London law firms were in a league of their own by the end of the 1990s. They still are.
Continue reading “Join our club – law firms’ obsession with the in crowd is beyond parody”
The cost of culture – HSF finds mega-mergers always come at a price
This month’s cover feature on Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) looks in hindsight like an informal trilogy on storied London firms agreeing high-stakes mergers, following earlier pieces on Hogan Lovells and Ashurst.
Taken together, patterns and contrasts emerge. The legacy Herbert Smith, Lovells and Ashurst were all wrestling with similar cultural and strategic issues ahead of their unions as they struggled to compete against larger and more driven rivals.
Continue reading “The cost of culture – HSF finds mega-mergers always come at a price”
Magic Circle real estate withdrawal isn’t a myth, but it’s not that simple
In a 2011 piece on the decimated real estate market in the City, we noted that few senior property partners were in their mid-40s, due to the fact that law firms largely ceased hiring junior real estate lawyers following the early ’90s crash. It looks like history will repeat itself in roughly 15 years’ time: post-credit crunch, the most established real estate practices went into hibernation. Some started to disintegrate. Either way, if you were a trainee interested in real estate around 2010, pickings were slim.
But, as we report in ‘Back in the game’ on pages 48-54, real estate is back with a vengeance and some partners would have you believe it never really went away. The most popular line of argument is that there is a wealth of opportunity out there for City and national firms because the Magic Circle has been progressively retrenching in property for years.
Continue reading “Magic Circle real estate withdrawal isn’t a myth, but it’s not that simple”