This column isn’t going to be about lawyers, much. Rather, it’s about how we say goodbye to old ways of working. This month we bid a cheerful farewell to our print version, which was weekly from 1989 to 2017 and monthly thereafter. When I joined The Lawyer as editor 21 years ago, I had not […]
I remember 10 years ago sitting in a sun-flecked conference room in Portugal at The Lawyer’s General Counsel Strategy Summit when one senior legal head on the panel began a tirade about how law firm partners didn’t have a clue about in-house practice, that they thought the world revolved around them and how the fees […]
There is a long-standing ideal of the boardroom consigliere shared by many corporate lawyers: a generalist adviser who stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the CEO. It takes time to attain that status, as those who are toiling to create a public M&A practice will acknowledge. For the few private practice individuals who get it right, a senior […]
How depressingly familiar. The annual silks round is supposed to be a celebration of the best and brightest at the Bar. Except it’s not. The abject lack of encouragement and support for Black barristers who might be thinking of taking their first steps on the road to becoming a QC has become a fundamental and […]
Furloughs, abandoned plans, ambitions put on hold. Who knew that 2020 vision is not perfect after all?
The legal landscape in England and Wales is rapidly transforming with the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE). This shift in the qualification process for legal professionals is reshaping the traditional route to becoming a solicitor, and by 2032, all existing routes will be officially phased out, making it the sole option for aspiring […]
“You might think you’re thinking your own thoughts. You’re not. You’re thinking your culture’s thoughts.” Jiddu Krishnamurti We need to talk about our culture’s thoughts. These have been called different things: the dominant world view; our metanarrative; the hegemonic paradigm. Whatever the terminology, it comes down to the prevailing way of thinking, the story we […]
Sarah Walker-Smith proposes a manifesto for business the next government of the United Kingdom should adopt.
In the UK, as elsewhere, the environment is in a parlous state. Deeply concerning adverse environmental trends continue. Urgent action is needed to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. Businesses often want to do the right thing and NGOs are active in the sector. Even so, the environment often lacks a ‘voice’, with few economic […]
The Post Office Horizon scandal has led to a renewed scrutiny of private prosecutions and growing calls for a reform of the system, first put forward by the Justice Committee, and which the Justice Secretary is apparently considering. However, it would be entirely wrong to extrapolate errors that occurred in the Post Office prosecutions to […]
The Post Office Horizon scandal has led to a renewed scrutiny of private prosecutions and growing calls for a reform of the system, first put forward by the Justice Committee, and which the Justice Secretary is apparently considering. However, it would be entirely wrong to extrapolate errors that occurred in the Post Office prosecutions to […]
“All the meetings with MPs, letters to the Minister, more Ministers than you can shake a stick at, years and years – still no one in power hears a word we say”. These were the words of Alan Bates on 31 December 2018, as he watched the former CEO of the Post Office honoured with […]
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 […]
A scene from the westerns and cartoons of my childhood keeps playing in my mind. A trail of gunpowder leads to kegs of dynamite. The fuse is lit. Will the hero put the fuse out before the whole thing blows sky high? It’s a race against time. What are advised emissions anyway? Advised emissions […]
By Angel Opara, Graveney School, Tooting
As the first legal business to list on London’s Main Market, DWF became the first to de-list from it this month. CEO Nigel Knowles explains why private equity backing from Inflexion was the right choice.
It was Blair Underwood’s character Jonathan Rollins in LA Law who first inspired me to become a lawyer, cliched as this sounds. As a child aged 7, I had never seen a black man in a professional role before, and I was in awe – representation really does matter. My initial steps into the legal […]
Laura Uberoi is a Council Member at the Law Society and, alongside Kayleigh Leonie, represents junior lawyers of 0-5 years PQE. In October Laura was elected as president of her local law society and in doing so became one of the youngest and most junior solicitor to ever hold such a role across the country. […]
I feel like a tranquillised hippo. My limbs weigh two tonnes and my brain’s too heavy for my head. It’s November and I have 3,000lb-ungulate jet lag, so I must be at MIPIM Asia. For readers who only know MIPIM Cannes, MIPIM Asia is Cannes’ more refined Hong Kongese cousin. Each year about 900 property […]
Julia Salasky, CEO of CrowdJustice, the online crowdfunding platform for legal action, spoke at the Law Society’s Future of Law lecture. In this adapted version she shares her experience using innovative technologies to connect lawyers and clients with funds to take legal action
While firms are beginning to embrace the opportunities that tech can provide, the advice sector remains underfunded when it comes to digitisation.
A few weeks ago, I was asked by a paralegal at my firm whether or not they should apply be applying for vacation schemes or if they should go straight to the training contract applications. To be frank, it stumped me, as it’s something I’d not given much thought to since qualifying. It brought to […]
By Richard Oliphant The market for legal services is highly competitive. The recent report by The Lawyer and Intapp (‘Navigating a new reality in the client-empowered’) revealed how law firms are investing heavily in ‘intelligent automation’ technologies and using data analytics to improve client service and stay ahead of the pack. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning […]
In the wake of the Brexit vote, there is a need for some clarity on the general subject of globalisation and a law firm’s strategic positioning. First, globalisation is not a decision. It is a force and, for all intents and purposes, a force of nature. It is the movement of people, ideas, products, services, […]
After last week’s historic decision by the British people to leave the EU many will want know immediately what the implications are.
Addleshaw Goddard’s recent announcement that it will be restricting the number of partners who can leave the firm each year is far from unique, but it is a manifestation of a management doctrine I find curious
The Travers Smith Art Programme is at the heart of our new corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I’m more than happy to take the compliment that large firms are paying to legal networks such as ours
Imagine you are a general counsel or director in whose department sits the person who buys your company’s insurance policies. You may be about to become a star witness in insurance disputes. Is that news to you? Are you concerned by it?