Access your pdf edition of LB magazine – issue 320
The ESG report 2024
As ESG becomes a business fundamental, LB looks at how the top firms are responding
Overview: Beyond ‘nice to have’ – ESG goes business fundamental
Amid a tsunami of regulation and snowballing client demand, law firms are assembling ESG practices to take on the world, while also grappling with the challenges of getting their own houses in order. LB reports on the results of its fourth annual ESG survey
Mental health: Stress test – Partners on how they deal with a life under pressure
Long and unpredictable hours can make transactional work hard to reconcile with mental health considerations. LB spoke to City partners about how they keep things in check – and why the industry still needs to change
‘I mistakenly thought severe anxiety was a good thing’ – Vinson’s London head on opening up about mental health
‘I have this condition, and I’m owning it’: HSF’s Samantha Brown on managing mental ill health alongside a legal career
Gen Z: ‘Employers need to make sure they’re providing an environment in which people want to stay’: what Gen Z’s lawyers really want from their careers’
Much ink is spilled about Generation Z and the challenges of recruiting and retaining them. As more and more members of the cohort born between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s enter the legal profession, LB finds out what today’s more idealistic lawyers want from their careers and how they’re changing the profession
ESG Awards 2024: ESG Award winners
‘Non-binary people aren’t going away, no matter how much hate is expressed towards us’
‘You don’t need to be a partner at a law firm to effect change’ – ESG Award winner Ranajoy Basu on leveraging his structured finance expertise to support ESG causes in emerging economies
Eversheds, A&O, and Standard Chartered GC among winners at debut Legal 500 UK ESG Awards
Enterprise winners
On 29-30 April, more than 200 senior in-house counsel gathered at the Hilton London Wembley for the seventh annual Enterprise GC event.
MENA focus: Middle Eastern dreams
LB speaks to local players and international firms about the market across the region, including Saudi Arabia and UAE
Stressing the positives – why opening up about the demands of City life helps everyone
If you knew nothing about City law and the gender diversity problems it has at senior levels, you certainly wouldn’t think there were any issues when reading our feature on dealmakers and stress.
Making an ESG lawyer – law firms search for the magic formula
‘I don’t believe there is such a thing as an ESG lawyer’ – the words of one environmental, social and governance (ESG) practice head in an interview for this month’s lead feature aptly sums up one of the key challenges for firms trying to establish themselves at the top of this much-hyped market.
Legal 500 US: Latham tops the charts in new US rankings
The Legal 500 United States 2024 rankings have arrived, and with it a bevy of new numbers to crunch.
The new £150k benchmark for Magic Circle associates – ‘rewarding the best’, or ‘slightly alarming’?
Associate pay reaches eye-watering heights as the war for talent at the top of the market goes further into the salary stratosphere
‘Shaping the City’s tech industry’ – Perkins Coie lands in London with hire of private equity veteran Bagshaw
US West Coast firm becomes latest to target London tech transactions market with eye-catching hire of ex-White & Case dealmaker
The China conundrum – why so many US law firms are pulling out
Once seen as the next big thing for all self-respecting international law firms, China is now seeing a wave of retrenchment by US firms, with Morrison Foerster the latest to close an office in Beijing – Alex Ryan spoke to those who know the market to find out why
The Last Word: ESG to the fore
As part of our annual ESG report, management at top law firms give their views on ESG’s importance to both lawyers and clients
