Business leadership

Big Four AI chief’s advice to firms: Develop your own software

A Big Four global leader in legal AI believes firms should build their own software to develop their competitive advantage. Speaking to The Lawyer, Saskia Vermeer de Jongh, global law AI leader at EY Law, said: “It’s important to start your journey with AI embedded in the lifecycle rather than using a standard product. Start […]

Roundtable: Navigating the ethical questions of genAI technologies

Generative AI will have transformative implications for the legal sector. As the capability of the technology increases, questions inevitably arise including the impact on the lawyer-client experience, disruption to the law firm business model, and others. What will be the biggest change? Empowering more work to be done by individual lawyers? A shift in the […]

Jeanette Burgess

Walker Morris names first female boss as Simpson retires

Walker Morris has named its first female managing partner as Malcolm Simpson retires after a six-year tenure. The firm’s head of regulatory and compliance Jeanette Burgess will take the reins from 1 May 2024. Burgess joined the firm in 2006 and has served on the Walker Morris board since 2015. In her new role, Burgess […]

Daniel Burton, Clifford Chance

Accenture’s global CFO to join Clifford Chance

Magic circle firm Clifford Chance has hired a new global chief financial officer (CFO) to replace Patrick Glydon, who will step down in July. Daniel Burton will join from professional services provider Accenture, after spending 24 years at the company. Burton held the global strategy and consulting CFO role from September 2022. Prior to that, […]

Analysis

How not to lose your associates

The exits we saw last year may have slowed a little since the most recent salary war cooled down, but the wider trend is one that dates back years: workers are less loyal than they used to be. Law firms are finding it increasingly difficult to retain their associates at a time when employers offer […]

WhatsApp-ing clients: fair or foul?

Do you WhatsApp your clients? It’s a more divisive question than you might expect. According to a recent poll of conducted by The Lawyer on LinkedIn, while 66 per cent of fee-earners don’t use the messaging service for this purpose, 34 per cent do. And it’s not split along seniority lines: partners, associates, trainees and […]

How to seduce a law firm

Merger negotiations between two firms of different sizes can be a tricky process. Here, a number of mid-tier managing partners give their view on how to win the hearts of potential smaller matches when on the acquisition trail.

Opinion

How to blow up a (talent) pipeline

Given we are in the midst of the festive season, it is worth calling to mind a heart-warming Christmas movie that lawyers can no doubt all relate to. Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy In Bruges is a film in which two hitmen end up stuck in the eponymous Belgian town awaiting orders from their boss. As […]

Why law firm leaders should speak out on politics

The world has changed significantly; Brexit, the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis have challenged businesses leaders and the people they employ in ways we’ve not experienced since the Second World War; which means for most of us this context is entirely new. Given the scale of the challenges we’re facing whether around society, the economy or […]

Law firm floats – waving or drowning?

Since the flotation of Gateley in May 2015, a range of law firms have floated on the stock market or considered doing so. The largest of these was Mishcon de Reya, which abandoned its proposed main listing float in June 2022 “for the foreseeable future due to market conditions”. The entry into administration of Ince […]

Can tech companies work even better together?

Thomson Reuters’ chief product officer for legal tech Kriti Sharma talks to The Lawyer about holding technology and tech companies more accountable for user needs, what can be done to reduce tech waste and getting tech companies to work better together.

Business Leadership briefings

Protecting reputation in the spotlight of an investigation

Global business is increasingly familiar with the prospect of short-notice public investigatory attention, whether from regulators, law enforcement, political forces or as a consequence of sanctions, and this can – in in some cases – devastate individual and corporate reputation.

Protecting reputation in the spotlight of an investigation

Despite the fact that the threat of an investigation alone can be enough to paralyse a business, early warning signs are often missed and businesses can mistake an investigation risk for a reputation risk. Those who handle serious issues well are able to triage the issue at an early stage and identify its potential impact, […]

Networking: don’t forget to follow up!

When networking, it’s easy to focus on the event itself and forget that one of the most important parts of the process is the follow-up. Networking, and relationship building, aren’t a one and done – they’re a process. And that process takes careful tending.

Breaking the Bias: part 2

In celebration of International Women’s Day and this year’s theme of #BreakTheBias, our national GROW network for female-identifying professionals is putting the spotlight on some of Gowling’s key clients through a powerful month-long video series.

Achieving gender balance – women on boards

The FTSE Women Leaders Review 2022 saw the United Kingdom rank in second place internationally for its representation of women on FTSE 350 boards and their leadership teams. The FTSE 100 saw a rise in the representation of women by 2.1% from the beginning of 2021, to 39.1% and an increase was also achieved in the FTSE 250, with the proportion of women in the boardroom now at 36.8%.

Employment “by reason of”, “for” and “in” the metaverse

The employment contract can be linked to the creation and development of the Metaverse, it can involve providing services from the real world, but in the Metaverse, and even in the most sophisticated form it can be performed entirely, even from its creation, in the Metaverse.

Leadership lessons: Navigating a crisis

Recently, I saw a quote that said that adulthood is not one crisis after another, it’s multiple crises, simultaneously, forever. Is anyone else feeling that way lately?

Efficient data privacy compliance using ediscovery workflows

Data privacy is rapidly transforming personal information management policy and practices. Technology-assisted programs to comply with and contain the costs of Data Subject Access Rights (DSARs) in the European Union and Subject Rights Requests (SRRs) in the United States is top of mind for affected organizations.