This year’s financials show how much Clifford Chance and A&O have played catch-up
It is a historical oddity of magic circle figures that there is always one firm that has an off year.
Data breaches: ‘tech suppliers, firms and clients must collaborate’
Lawyers discuss the lessons that can be learned from recent cyber security breaches and the best ways to prevent future infringements
He’s coming home – but is McKimm’s multimillion-dollar Shearman return the cosy choice?
Back at Shearman, Ward McKimm will be reunited with his former client base – and with some old friends.
But much has changed in the seven years since he left Shearman & Sterling. Can the superstar partner replicate his past success, or is it true that you can never go back?
Litigation funding: Firms miss out as clients go direct
Corporates are increasingly going direct to funders with opportunities, meaning firms are last in on the conversation
The tech pioneers: 24 evangelists for change in the legal sector
To accompany our extended feature on the legal tech revolution we have singled out some of the main evangelists for change across the profession.
Litigation too bespoke to pin down on price? HSF didn’t think so
HSF has adapted the fixed fees approach used for transactional work to the much less predictable world of disputes
Pinsents and Everton FC: advice from a law firm, with no lawyers required
While the provision of legal advice is central to any law firm, many are branching out into other areas. One recent project taken on by Pinsent Masons for football club Everton was notable because it had little to no involvement from lawyers. Instead, it was managed from start to finish by the firm’s dedicated legal […]
DLA Piper’s offices overhaul: If you’re going open-plan for costs, you’re doing it wrong
DLA Piper’s recent office overhauls in Australia, Manchester and next London are not about cramming more people in.
It’s not about the kit. In tech and innovation, firms need to learn to speak fluent human
There will soon be a transfer market for law’s tech celebrities, and the internal opportunities are attractive.
My Pride Story: “Being gay is no big deal for me – thanks to the work of those who came before me”
Solicitor apprentice Hal Donovan gives his take on LGBT in law as one of the newest entrants to the profession.
The JLD column: The SRA needs a null hypothesis for SQE – and a Plan B
Avid Lawyer 2B readers will be well aware of the SRA’s plans to radically alter the process of qualifying as a solicitor via the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). For those less familiar with the topic, it can be summarised as follows: whereas the current formula for qualification can crudely be expressed as […]
I clinched a training contract only after ignoring my diversity
When I first started making training contract applications I concentrated heavily on my ‘diverse’ background. I realise now I was wrong to do so.
Six things to consider if you want to float your law firm
Nothing comes for free – before going for the IPO firms need to understand six key points.
Freshfields lockstep: the war for talent gets teeth
This is the first fissure revealing the implications for those of us who are not superstars; we’re not worth as much as we thought we were.
KPI: Make kindness a performance indicator
Should kindness be a significant measure of success for all leaders and all teams? asks LBC’s Paul Gilbert
2018 financials: Why the Clifford Chance Carillion deal is more important than Freshfields losing Higgins
Across the board, we’re hearing of splendid figures all round, with the mid-tier proving its worth once again.
Slaughters can’t grow all its own talent anymore – no wonder it has to bring in laterals
Warning: we must now confront the unthinkable. Slaughter and May lateral hires will start to be seen as the norm.
What we can expect from the SFO’s next director
As the non-announcement leaked out, there was much scratching of collective heads and asking, who is she? Because she isn’t One Of Us.
US lateral hires: Asda shows a payoff for Gibson Dunn’s competition push
A US firm displacing the mighty competition department at Slaughter and May, no less, has not gone unremarked by City partners.
Transatlantic tie-ups have slowed local growth for UK legacy firms
US-UK mergers can be divided into two waves: pre- and post-Hogan Lovells.
Global growth obsession: Six firms that are setting the trend
In 2016 Global 200 billings totalled $128.4bn – a 3 per cent increase on 2015’s $124.4bn. A large part of that growth is thanks to six ambitious firms.
Herbert Smith Freehills tops mammoth settlements in 2017
If settlements are conducted behind closed doors then they seldom achieve the attention and excitement of the cases that make it to trial, for the fact there is no binary winner or loser. That may have to change, because so far, three of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases for this year have settled.
The sad story of Cobbetts
As it emerges that eight former Cobbetts lawyers have been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, we recall the story of an ambitious firm caught out by the recession.
Clifford Chance lances the boil with lockstep review
Clifford Chance partners have voted to extend the firm’s lockstep ladder once again this week. But who is going to benefit from this change?
LIA SocGen settlement: This saga is nowhere near over
As far as litigation is concerned, settlements are supposed to be the gentle way out. But in the case between the Libyan Investment Authority and Societe Generale, it has come to signify the end of one headache and the beginning of another.
How partner exits sparked Ashurst’s strategy u-turn
Last year Ashurst’s mounting partner exits signalled serious trouble within its ranks. But as firms prepare to release their year-end financials, the consensus is that the storm at Ashurst has calmed. Will it last?
India: The age of telephony has arrived
On 19 June 2018, the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India (DoT) finally provided its nod to several key recommendations (Recommendations) made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the Regulatory Framework for Internet Telephony in October 2017. DoT has released a clarification (Clarification) and certain amendments to existing licenses (Amendment), both of […]
Claims management companies: The new regulatory regime
Walker Morris Banking Litigation partners Louise Power and Rob Aberdein explain the new regulatory regime and the Financial Conduct Authority’s proposals for changes to the regulation of claims management companies across England, Wales and Scotland…
Adjudication Matters – July 2018
The Courts have re-affirmed that, despite a contract containing an express right of set-off, it is only in exceptional circumstances that a party will be entitled to set-off another claim against an Adjudicator’s award. This case serves as a helpful reminder that a right to set-off is unlikely to apply to an Adjudicator’s decision. The […]
Two EU regulations on UCITS/AIFMD asset segregation requirements for depositaries upon delegation
On 12 July 2018, the European Commission adopted two delegated regulations supplementing the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and the Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive (UCITS) on the safekeeping of assets by depositaries and their delegates. Their main purpose is to eliminate discrepancies among different national regulations. The following aspects will […]
Sleeping time is not working time says Court of Appeal
By Siobhan Fitzgerald The social care sector is breathing a sigh of relief after the Court of Appeal in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake reversed previous cases and decided that only time spent awake and working should be counted as working time for the purposes of calculating the national minimum wage.
Report of the Independent Review of the FOS is published
By Richard Hayllar On the 12 July 2018, the Financial Ombudsman Service (the FOS) published a report on an Independent Review carried out by Richard Lloyd (former Which? executive). The review was undertaken following the broadcast of the Channel 4 Dispatches programme which set out a number of concerns about the handling of FOS complaints.
Efficient arbitration, part 2: Launching an Efficient Arbitration
Kicking off our series on efficiency in arbitration, our first article, Efficient Arbitration – Part 1: Metrics sets out our idea of an efficient arbitration: Achieving the best possible outcome with the least amount of resources. A range of tools are available to focus the spending of resources. Resources should be invested, not wasted. The selection of […]
Efficient arbitration, part 1: Metrics
This is the first in a series of articles by Schoenherr focusing on efficiency in arbitration. In our series, we will explore various tools which serve to improve the efficiency of any given arbitration and so achieve a favourable outcome without wasting resources. But before exploring those tools we need to determine what efficient arbitration […]
Amendment of the Code of Conduct for Pharmaceutical Advertising
The Code of Conduct for Pharmaceutical Advertising (Code of Conduct) (In Dutch: Gedragscode Geneesmiddelenreclame) has been amended as of 1 July, 2018. The changes come as a response to the amendments to the policy rules providing guidance on the ban of inducements regarding medicinal products, which entered into force 1 April, 2018 (Policy Rules) (In Dutch: Beleidsregels gunstbetoon Geneesmiddelenwet […]
Draft legislative proposal introduces a minimum price for CO2
The Dutch government has published a draft legislative proposal for consultation that introduces a minimum price for CO2. The minimum price is introduced by way of a tax levied on electricity producers. The tax is levied per ton of CO2 emission. In the proposal, the tax rate per ton CO2 is calculated each year as […]
Webinar: The role of soft skills in building a user adoption strategy for lawyers
Getting the right technology in place is the easy part of law firm innovation. The hard part is getting your lawyers using it. Watch Stuart Barr, Scott Reid and Kate Simpson have a lively discussion about change management strategies and soft skills that innovation teams can use to help lawyers adopt new technology…
The practical guide to legal knowledge management
The ability to capture, harness and re-use corporate knowledge has always been important in law firms, and knowledge management is key to doing so. This guide shows you how enterprise-grade social tools can help you advance your knowledge management initiatives…