Our family laws are too outdated to effectively deal with the implications of three-parent IVF Three-parent IVF is welcome news for couples who may have struggled to conceive. Nonetheless, at present, the law that governs contact and residence proceedings is over 20 years old and stems from a very different scientific and social background to […]
Early figures show plenty of top firms upping their turnover Last week the legal bigwigs put out their results for all to see. Half of The Lawyer Top 50 have released their figures so far and it all makes for interesting reading (see table, below). Despite predictions that it would be another flatlining year, most […]
An interesting paper put out recently by Laura Empson, professor at Cass Business School is doing the rounds. It focuses on the ambiguities of law firm leadership. The study, titled Who’s in Charge? Exploring Leadership Dynamics in Professional Service Firms, parses the various structures of formal and informal power at several top (anonymised) private practice […]
Yes, beware German liquidators, but also be aware of the range of their rights and responsibilities While we agree with the view of Stephan Weber (Life in the Bust Lane, The Lawyer, 17 June) that you should be warned upon receipt of a letter from a German liquidator, we believe his article needs to be […]
New ways for private equity to invest in the UK legal sector are emerging as the market reaches “a point of maturity”, according to a recent seminar for potential investors hosted by Armstrong Transaction Services. An audience of representatives from private equity houses met last month at the Commonwealth Club in London to discuss investment […]
Real estate was one of the first areas of law to be hit by the economic downturn. In fact, even before the collapse of Lehman, the rot had begun to seep in. Now, having sat back and watched other areas of the economy recover, commercial property lawyers are finally finding they have something to celebrate. […]
Heathcliff-like, Lupton Fawcett is poised to bestride Yorkshire’s broad acres In the past few years Leeds firm Lupton Fawcett has gone about steadily increasing its size and regional profile. First it added a Sheffield office by bolting on local firm Hackett Windle, then it expanded in Leeds last year by tying up with Lee & […]
Patricia Walsh is the global chief HR officer at Squire Sanders. She has previously held roles at Hammonds and Bupa. What are the key elements of your role? I’m responsible for all aspects of HR for staff and am a member of the firm’s legal personnel committee, which consists of a representative group of partners […]
Norton Rose Fulbright’s expansionist strategy is based on strong leadership by CEO Peter Martyr – too strong for some
The Snowden affair is more about private contractors than surveillance, or even whistleblowing As former National Security Agency (NSA) and CIA employee Edward Snowden continues to try to evade the US authorities, the spectacle has been the talk of Washington DC. While Snowden is characterised as a whistleblower, the affair raises questions about the […]
Showing admirable innovation in gruelling economic times, our shortlist of teams slug it out for the most prestigious law firm management accolades in the business The days of a law firm’s business support staff being overlooked by the partners are rapidly being consigned to the dim and distant past, but if ever there was […]
Ece Gürsoy, legal officer at solar power generator Lightsource, jumped ship from private practice in search of professional fulfilment – and found it Ece Gürsoy took a roundabout route to her present role at solar power generator Lightsource. Gürsoy is a Turkish and English dual-qualified lawyer who trained in-house in Istanbul at Hewlett-Packard, worked in […]