Hot 100 career quiz: Foot Anstey’s Chris Pritchett
Foot Anstey partner Chris Pritchett’s most vivid memory as a trainee is carrying a load of cymbals onstage in front of 18,000 people.
Hot 100 career quiz: OC’s digital revolution lawyer Catherine Hammon
“I realised fairly early on that I didn’t want to be a partner, so the hardest part of leaving behind fee-earning was finding time to write my CV.”
Hot 100 career quiz: piracy lawyer Richard Neylon
What has been your toughest career decision? For HFW partner Richard Neylon, it was paying ransom to criminals.
Hot 100 career quiz: Gibson Dunn’s Amy Kennedy
“There are always challenges and things that go wrong, but every problem – even seemingly insurmountable ones – will get solved somehow,” says Amy Kennedy.
Hot 100 career quiz: Fulham FC’s Peter Limbert
Peter Limbert, legal chief at Fulham FC, has four pieces of advice for aspiring sports lawyers.
Hot 100 career quiz: Debevoise’s Samantha Rowe
“Be generous and authentic, and seize every opportunity that you can,” says Debevoise partner Samantha Rowe.
Hot 100 career quiz: Hogan Lovells public law guru Charles Brasted
The most vivid memory of Charles Brasted’s training contract involved staples…
Hot 100 career quiz: Serle Court’s Emma Hargreaves
Emma Hargreaves turned down a magic circle training contract on a hunch that it wasn’t right for her; she hasn’t regretted the decision.
Hot 100 career quiz: DAC Beachcroft managing partner David Pollitt
Our latest Hot 100 career quiz is with DAC’s managing partner David Pollitt.
Hot 100 career quiz: Linklaters innovator Shilpa Bhandarkar
Shilpa Bhandarkar had to choose between a clearly defined career path at Linklaters and the complete uncertainty of the start-up world. She chose the latter.
Hot 100 career quiz: Milbank’s Apostolos Gkoutzinis
Many lawyers merely pay lip service to the concept of client commitment, argues Hot 100 2019 star Apostolos Gkoutzinis of Milbank.
Hot 100 career quiz: WeWork’s Sarah Nelson Smith
“The most influential person in my career? A partner I once worked under. He was a bully, misogynistic, homophobic and racist,” says Sarah Nelson Smith.
Hot 100 career quiz: Taylor Wessing’s Graham Hann
In our career quiz series we get to know the Hot 100 2019 a bit better. The first one this year is with Taylor Wessing’s tech guru Graham Hann.
Black History Month: It’s vital to have BAME role models in the profession
Baker McKenzie’s global director of diversity Anna Brown features in our latest post for Black History Month.
Black History Month: “I’ve had to learn how to make connections across racial and class divides”
What’s your background? Did you always want to be a lawyer and how did you first enter the profession? I was born and raised in Accra, Ghana and educated there until secondary school. My father was a civil servant (now retired) and my mother owns and runs a nursery school. For tertiary education, I went […]
Hot 100 career quiz: James Knight
Managing partner James Knight featured in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 this year after floating Keystone Law on the London Stock Exchange.
Hot 100 career quiz: Darren Roiser
Darren Rosier, recently appointed KWM’s new managing partner, recalls his training contract at Slaughter and May.
Hot 100 Career Quiz: Sam Longworth
Stewarts family partner Sam Longworth featured in The Lawyer Hot 100 after a string of roles in major divorce cases.
Hot 100 career quiz: Chen Yun
Huawei Technologies’ Chen Yun featured in The Lawyer Hot 100 for being integral to the telecoms giant’s success in the UK.
Hot 100 career quiz: Karima Fahmy
Name: Karima Fahmy Position: General counsel Organisation: Grosvenor Estates Trained at: Lovells In the Hot 100 for: Leading Grosvenor’s legal team to help deliver a series of headline transactions. Read her full Hot 100 profile. What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee? I was on secondment to the Brussels office of Lovells (as it was then) […]
Hot 100 career quiz: Maria Ludkin
Name: Maria Ludkin Position: Chief Counsel Organisation: WaveOptics (formerly at GMB) In Hot 100 for: As GMB’s head of legal, fighting valiantly for workers’ rights. Read her full Hot 100 profile here. What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee? My supervising partner having early confidence in me and giving me my own cases to work on. I […]
Hot 100 career quiz: Daniel Brook
Name: Daniel Brook Firm: Hogan Lovells Position: Partner Trained at: Hogan Lovells In Hot 100 for: Eli Lilly’s landmark patent trial against Actavis. Read his full Hot 100 profile. What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee? I was a trainee at Hogan Lovells. During one of my seats, my supervisor gave me a model London […]
Hot 100 career quiz: May Smith
Name: May Smith Firm: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Position: Partner Trained at: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer In Hot 100 for: Newly promoted partner tipped for greatness. Read her full Hot 100 profile. What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee? It all remains pretty vivid. On the work side, a great variety of interesting work in areas of […]
The Hot 100 career quiz: Peter Dickinson
Mitie GC Peter Dickinson featured in The Lawyer Hot 100 after stepping up to become its acting CEO in unforeseen circumstances.
Hot 100 Career Quiz: Katherine Moir
Name: Katherine Moir Firm: Clifford Chance Position: Partner Trained at: Macfarlanes In Hot 100 for: Work on complex transactions, particularly in relation to listed plcs. Read her full Hot 100 profile. What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee? Doing my first deal as lead executive while on secondment at 3i. The deal value was […]
Hot 100 Career Quiz: Mark Humphries
Senior partner Mark Humphries appeared in The Lawyer Hot 100 for breaking the traditional law firm model with Humphries Kerstetter.
Hot 100 career quiz: Karon Monaghan QC
Name: Karon Monaghan QC Position: Barrister Firm: Matrix Chambers In Hot 100 for: Work for Unison against the Government in its four-year battle over Employment Tribunal fees. Read her full Hot 100 profile. What’s your most vivid memory from being a pupil? My most vivid memory of being a pupil? Confronting my pupil supervisor about his requirement that […]
Hot 100 career quiz: Kirsten Massey
Herbert Smith Freehills partner Kirsten Massey featured in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 for her role on the £12bn RBS rights issue litigation.
The Hot 100 career quiz: Ros Prince
Stephenson Harwood litigation partner Ros Prince appeared in The Lawyer Hot 100 for playing a critical role in the firm’s fraud practice..
Weightmans’ boss Schorah: We need to be more aggressive
Liverpool headquartered Weightmans has enjoyed a comfortable few years, which has seen it keep hold of its position of as one of the UK’s top 50 firms by revenue.
Ashurst: Overhauling remuneration is not enough
Paul Jenkins was a bold choice for managing partner, and now he’s running the firm during one of the most turbulent periods in its history.
- 15 July: Ashurst partners: ‘We can turn things around’
- 26 July: Ashurst CFO quits
Deloitte Legal: “We want to be the law firm of the future”
The story of the re-entry of the Big Four accountancy firms into legal services has occupied many minds in the last year or so. But in the UK, there is one notable absence – Deloitte. While its rivals EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have all been busy hiring senior lawyers from top private practice firms Deloitte has stayed away from the UK market.
Irwin Mitchell private wealth: Big, but not a threat
Last November Irwin Mitchell announced that it was acquiring southeast firm Thomas Eggar. The deal gave the northern-focused Irwin Mitchell an additional six offices in the south of England and has boosted the firm’s turnover to £250m.
A&O’s new management: turbo-charging strategy
Allen & Overy’s (A&O) new management outlined their strategy to partners last month in the 45-degree Dubai heat. But what were the hot topics on the agenda?
Edmonds Marshall McMahon: The small firm making waves in fraud disputes
Private prosecution boutique Edmonds Marshall McMahon caused a stir earlier this year after it made the biggest lateral hires in its short history.
Orrick’s global boss: Our new strategy to bring London up to scratch
Orrick’s global boss and London head talk about bringing the firm’s base in the capital up to scratch to meet the needs of global clients, Microsoft and Instagram.
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Linklaters’ new boss: I’m reviewing everything
Linklaters’ new managing partner Gideon Moore speaks out about his plans to review everything at the firm to “check that what we’re doing still makes sense”.
Is HSF laying the groundwork for a US merger?
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) launched a new plan of action on Thursday (28 April) that gave an enticing hint at its plans for expansion in the US.
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BLP legal services head: I’ll triple our size in Manchester
Manchester has become a competitive breeding ground for back office-style legal processing centres and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) wants to be one of the city’s biggest players.
Pillsbury chair Rishwain on the firm’s Chinese “hub” strategy
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman is among a minority of international firms to have by-passed Hong Kong and entered into Greater China via an office in Shanghai. Six years after its 2006 launch in Shanghai, the firm expanded its mainland China footprint to Beijing and most recently it announced a plan to set up a base in Hong Kong.
KWM bosses: Stability is on the horizon
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has had a turbulent few years. Since the merger with SJ Berwin in 2013 created a global firm made up of three separate partnerships, bosses have struggled to keep a hold on ‘big-hitter’ partners in the UK, keep finances in check and integrate 2,800 lawyers including 600 partners worldwide.
The JLD blog: Age and PQE do not stop you reaching top roles in the profession
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. […]
MIPIM Asia: Eversheds’ head of real estate feels like an ant on Everest
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 […]
Justicetech: Where the innovation is going to happen – and where it won’t
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
Access to justice: digitisation of the advice sector is the last hope
While firms are beginning to embrace the opportunities that tech can provide, the advice sector remains underfunded when it comes to digitisation.
The JLD blog: five pieces of advice for vacation schemes
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 […]
Why e-signatures should be the de facto standard for executing deals
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 […]
More borders, more fees: opportunities for lawyers after Brexit
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, […]
Into the brave, new world: life after Brexit
After last week’s historic decision by the British people to leave the EU many will want know immediately what the implications are.
In-house interview: Crabtree & Evelyn GC Katie Power on the benefits of flexibility
The UK is being slow to shift from the traditional nine to five, but thanks to Katie Power, Crabtree & Evelyn is using flexible working to its advantage
Eigen’s first GC on leaving the Slaughters partnership and creating value from tech
Adam Eastell left his partnership at Slaughter and May for Eigen, and has since broadened his range of skills. With his legal team growing, the future looks bright
In-house interview: GC Nick Pritchett on making the legal function vital at Ikea
After only 10 months at Ikea, Nick Pritchett was appointed its GC. He has since worked hard to integrate the legal team as a vital function at the retail giant.
Argent’s David Marriott on its mammoth King’s Cross project
Over 10 years ago, ex-Hogan Lovells lawyer David Marriott went on secondment at developer Argent. He’s still there, working on one of its largest projects.
“I’ve never had a panel – I prefer choice” – Airbnb’s Fiona Dormandy
Airbnb faces a plethora of regulatory challenges, and EMEA GC Fiona Dormandy insists getting the best advice comes from having freedom of law firm choice
Life of luxury: onefinestay’s GC on the challenges of the niche rental sector
While Airbnb may be the most familiar name of the shared economy, there are dozens of challengers in online accommodation. Enter onefinestay.
Luton Airport GC: “Going outside my original remit got me promoted to the board”
5 million more passengers, a £225m construction project and a new driverless train system was too good a challenge for Swati Paul to turn down
The man managing Dentsu Aegis’s multi-talented legal team
The head of the legal team tasked with helping Dentsu Aegis meet the challenges of the new digital economy is Simon Zinger.
Hot 100 alumni: Ashley Katz, Fried Frank
At the start of 2016 restructuring partner Ashley Katz became the latest big-hitter to move over to Fried Frank Shriver Harris & Jacobson’s growing London base.
Hot 100 alumni: Shami Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti says she was surprised that the 13 January announcement of her imminent departure from civil rights charity Liberty attracted so much attention. Sandwiched between the deaths of celebrities David Bowie and Alan Rickman, the news still made the front page of several national newspapers, notably left-leaning The Guardian and The Independent
Hot 100 alumni: Tamara Box, Reed Smith
Since appearing in The Lawyer Hot 100 two years ago Reed Smith’s Tamara Box has taken on a new role at the US firm
Hot 100 alumni: John McDonnell QC, Three Stone
John McDonnell QC was named in the Hot 100 in 2005 for his diverse practice, celebrity client roster and the launch of his new chambers, Thirteen Old Square.
Hot 100 alumni: Helen Croke, Travers Smith
Now in her 16th year at Travers Smith, Helen Croke has been key to the success of the firm’s private equity group. One of eight partners in the firm’s dedicated private equity and M&A team, Croke qualified at Travers in 2001 and moved up into partnership seven years later. The team has remained largely unchanged […]
Hot 100 alumni: Cathy Pitt, head of funds, CMS
Cathy Pitt is building CMS’ strength in the ever-changing world of funds
Hot 100 alumni: Jonathan Berger, Harbottle & Lewis
Jonathan Berger has found the ideal place to pursue his media work
Hot 100 alumni: Dan Oates, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson
Dan Oates is helping to build Fried Frank’s London private equity team
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My career story: “I left law to become a poet”
Mona Arshi is a prize-winning poet and former human rights lawyer. She recently won the Forward prize for best first collection. You began your training contract at JR Jones in the same week that Doreen and Neville Lawrence instructed the firm on the murder of their son Stephen. How did that time influence the rest […]
My career story: “I trained at a high street practice and ended up as GC at a legal recruitment company”
Hays general counsel for UK and Ireland Evelyn Styles tells The Lawyer why she chose a role in-house over private practice. Did you start your career in-house? I trained at a small high street practice and it gave me first hand experience of dealing with all aspects of legal maters, such as contract and commercial […]
My career story: Travis Perkins general counsel Deborah Grimason
Travis Perkins general counsel Deborah Grimason grew up around business – though she’d be the first to admit that her father’s bakery delivery business in rural Northern Ireland was a far cry from the FTSE 100 company she now guides through legal minefields. Grimason knew two things growing up: that she wanted to enter a profession […]
My career story: “I left the criminal bar to become a reputation management lawyer”
Natalie Sherborn left the criminal bar and is now a senior associate at defamation and reputation management firm Schillings. She tells us about how and why she made the move. What’s your background? I went to a state comprehensive school in Essex. I don’t know if anyone in our family even knew what a barrister was, […]
My career story: “I moved into private practice after being an in-house GC”
Maclay Murray & Spens partner Jill Reid entered private practice after 25 years in-house with Chevron UK, Shell and Dana Petroleum. Why did you make the move into private practice? I feel that my role [at Dana] as General Counsel and Company Secretary in an oil and gas operating company having assets in multiple jurisdictions with […]
My career story: “I moved into management”
Travers Smith’s David Patient gives his advice for those moving into a management role. Was moving into a management position always a career objective for you? It has certainly not always been a career objective for me, but something that evolved over time. I had the good fortune to have the opportunity to open our […]