By Sanjeev Gandhi
Law firms operate within a highly competitive market, where the rules of the game have changed. As clients become more informed about process, value, and alternative services, long-term relationships are being challenged.
New client demands bring new challenges for law firms as they look to drive growth, maintain profitability, and compete in this changing environment.
Trainees at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are among the least likely to use LinkedIn, according to data provided to The Lawyer. Research conducted by TBD Marketing has ranked leading law firms according to how often its trainees use their LinkedIn profiles to write posts ranging from quick career milestones updates to long […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has upped its newly qualified (NQ) solicitor salaries to compete with the US market. NQ salaries have increased from £125,000 to £150,000. There have also been changes to trainee compensation. First-year trainees will see an increase of £6,000 as salaries rise from £50,000 to £56,000. Second-year trainee salaries will increase from £55,000 […]
Charles Russell Speechlys (CRS) is continuing its innovation strategy rollout with the introduction of a new programme for its trainee solicitors. Following the launch of its ‘advanced client solutions’ (ACS) team in early April, the firm has now brought in Russell Up, a scheme designed to have each trainee deliver four innovation projects throughout their two-year training […]
Davis Polk & Wardwell has recruited from Paul Hastings’s finance team, expanding its partnership ranks in the City to nine. The small City outfit has hired Luke McDougall from Paul Hastings. McDougall focuses on UK and cross-border acquisition finance and restructuring, acting for senior lenders, junior lenders and borrower groups on a variety of capital […]
Having returned to the legal market after seven years in retirement, Graham White has been named as senior partner of McDermott Will & Emery’s London office, along with a new managing partner. Private equity lawyer White, who joined McDermott this year after leaving Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson in 2017, has taken on the […]
This report contains: an overview of the current Commercial Court judges and the duties they carry out individual profiles outlining each judge’s career path and an analysis of the cases they advocated on and heard
This report contains: ranking of the 50 largest US firms by headcount analysis on the extent to which US firms are increasing their focus on UK-originated work and clients data-rich firm profiles Please note that headcount figures are for the year 2023
This reports contains: detailed analysis of 12 UK top 100 ‘City independents’ exploration of their growth trajectories and strategies amidst industry consolidation and rising costs analysis of increased specialisation within practice areas City independents firms’ efficiency
This report contains: five-year headcount growth analysis at the French firms in the European 100 an analysis of firms’ partnerships examining how long it takes to make partner at France’s elite firms
Read this report to gain insights into: The evolving role of in-house teams amidst market transformations Current attitudes and increased adoption of artificial intelligence tools Organizations’ continued emphasis on flexible working culture Projections for spend on external legal counsel over the next five years Enhanced feedback on quality of service from private practice law firms […]
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In October 2018, the journalist and critic of the Saudi Arabian regime Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The international reaction was swift. Dozens of major organisations, including HSBC, Ford and JP Morgan Chase, dropped out of the planned “Davos in the Desert” Saudi investment summit. “We are going […]
It’s a 90-minute train journey to London and two hours from Bristol. At £29 per sq ft, grade A office rents are a third of the average £90 per sq ft City firms pay. And it has an abundance of lawyers. Slowly but steadily, Southampton is slipping into the mid-tier consciousness as a city in […]
Talk of associates losing faith in the partnership track is nowhere to be seen at Addleshaw Goddard, which recently unveiled its largest round to date. The partnership count is currently running at 429 – up 75 per cent from the 245 it housed back in 2019. Those promotions show a firm that is bullish about […]
1 May is a big day for many in the legal industry, not just the thousands of people at Allen & Overy and Shearman who have now combined officially. Scores of lawyers become partners today after a wave of promotions, meaning that also – in the great circle of life – plenty of veterans are […]
The significance of the unstoppable growth of US-headquartered firms in London isn’t solely about jaw-dropping scale, although the size of headcount and revenue at some of these big City beasts is truly head-turning. Notably, several US firms have doubled down on their investment in London of late, and not just Paul Weiss. While the New […]
A week after losing a private equity duo, Travers Smith is set for another partner exit – this time from its infrastructure finance team to Sidley Austin. Partner Ben Thompson has exited the firm and is joining Sidley Austin. Thompson joined the firm in September 2021 from Weil Gotshal & Manges, where he was a […]
Manchester United’s interim CEO and general counsel has left following another shake-up within the club’s executive ranks. Patrick Stewart served as general counsel at the club for over 18 years and stepped into the interim CEO role at the end of last year following the departure of Richard Arnold. Stewart completed his legal training at Burness and qualified in […]
Iberian firm Uría Menéndez will close in New York when its Park Avenue lease expires, after more than three decades in the US. The firm runs with a small staff in New York of just three lawyers, led by office managing partner and corporate lawyer José Félix Zaldivar. Uría Menéndez felt its US strategy would […]
Lawfront, the business backed by private equity firm Blixt Group, has made its eighth acquisition of a law firm, and its third in the last 12 months, as it continues its expansion. Manchester-headquartered full-service practice Slater Heelis is the latest to be acquired, with Farleys, Fisher Jones Greenwood and Nelsons the other large firms to […]
One of Shearman & Sterling’s London partner contingent left the firm ahead of its merger with Allen & Overy today. Leveraged finance partner Sanjeev Dhuna has not made the move to the new A&O Shearman. He joined Shearman during the firm’s hiring spree of 2021. Dhuna was previously at A&O, where he had spent the […]
