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?
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 […]
In June this year, two key decisions on each side of the Atlantic sparked debates about the future of diversity initiatives in the workplace. The US Supreme Court ruled that positive affirmative action in relation to race in college admission programmes is unlawful (Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, No. […]
With artificial intelligence (AI) growing at a rapid pace, many industries are looking at how AI, as well as new tech innovations more generally, can influence their ways of working. When looking at the legal sector in particular, AI presents a range of new opportunities, whether that’s supporting with research and drafting briefs or analysing […]
The publication of the Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms in India 2022 by the Bar Council of India (BCI) in March 2023 – potentially opening up the Indian legal market to foreign lawyers – led to a lot of excited chatter around the legal world. These Rules came […]
Matt Wort, senior partner at Anthony Collins, discusses the importance of firms being held to these rigorous standards and why only 2.5 per cent of the top 200 UK law firms are currently accredited.
There is a rather big word that our friends in the Diversity & Inclusivity (D&I) teams have in their lexicon which is “intersectionality”. I am not sure anyone really understands what it means. Is it about gender, sexuality, race, religion, social class and/or disabilities? It is supposed to acknowledge all the differences between us which […]
On 25 June last year, the unthinkable happened. Tragedy struck in what should have been a weekend of celebration. Two people were shot and killed at the heart of the Oslo Pride celebrations. Some of my colleagues were moving in London pub circles, some of them know people who were directly affected, and some of […]
How many times have you heard a member of the LGBTQIA+ community share that they have hidden part of their personal lives during their career? Yet, even once they have come out of the closet, it feels as if the door slams shut again with each new job, position, colleague… At the start of my […]
Despite the Disabilities Discrimination Act being around for over 25 years, disability is one of the ‘last taboos’ which needs to be tackled for true inclusivity in the legal sector. Former global managing partner at Clifford Chance Matthew Layton became an advocate for disability inclusion in the legal sector in the latter part of his […]
Yesterday, I dared to struggle… When I was 14, I started to question my sexuality and actively explore what this meant. At the time, I attended a middle class, conservative school where the majority of the teachers and pupils looked and spoke the same. I had no visible LGBTQ+ role models, or anyone I could […]
Why is Pride month important? Its value is not so much about celebration in my view, but creating a point in time to remind everyone why we are discussing these issues. The truth is that, whatever we might think from the comfort of Western Europe, freedom to identify openly in the workplace as LGBTQ+ is […]
The invitation to share some reflections on Pride Month has caused me to reflect more deeply on my relationship to “pride” in a work environment than I have done, consciously at least, before. The centring of “pride” by the Gay Liberation Front in the UK and US, and other gay liberation groups across the world, […]
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?