This year’s Legal Business 100 firms continue to grow in revenue, but how much is performance in foreign markets masking woes at home? LB finds out Things have changed in the Legal Business 100 this year. At least seven firms have merged with others, either overseas or at home, while another three have bolted on …
Three litigation partners left Addleshaw Goddard last year to set up a conflicts-free, disputes-only boutique. LB finds out how well the model is working. For many, it’s a depressingly familiar scenario. You’re an experienced litigation partner handling financial services and contentious civil fraud disputes, advising corporates, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals. A senior in-house lawyer from …
The past 12 months have been marked by a steep increase in industrial action impacting a number of major corporates. LB talks to the small group of firms manning the picket lines It’s all a long way from beer and sandwiches at Number 10. Now, more than ever, large corporate employers are fighting threatened strike …
With risk management teams struggling to cope with cost and time pressures, the move to outcomes-focused regulation is stretching resources to their limits, despite the best intentions of the SRA.
After getting Beachcroft fit for the modern age, senior partner Simon Hodson and managing partner Paul Murray will run the firm for five more years. Time for a progress report Beachcroft senior partner Simon Hodson (see left) often has his tongue firmly in his cheek when commenting on the industry, but this time he’s deadly …
In just under two years Simon Davies has restructured Linklaters’ partnership, cut lawyers and offices and ridden the financial crisis. Time for a new strategy Simon Davies sees his job in simple terms. ‘The most important task is developing the strategy and then implementing it,’ says Linklaters’ managing partner. Since April of this year he’s …
Reckless ambition, inept management and greed: a case study in how not to run a law firm In February 2009, this magazine published a cover feature charting Halliwells’ dramatic fall from grace. Entitled ‘The Flight of Icarus’ (see LB191), it revealed how, through what proved to be a fatal combination of reckless ambition, ineptitude and …
Claire Rowe took over as Shoosmiths’ chief executive a year ago, after the worst period of the firm’s recent history. Can she turn things around? Shoosmiths’ chief executive Claire Rowe is no larger-than-life extrovert. She smiles politely; fields questions admirably; and gamely takes part in the photo shoot. But with her neat crib sheet and …
Eight years after its formative merger, Taylor Wessing remains divided. With a new strategy and rebrand in the offing, has the firm finally laid its integration demons to rest, or is it just a new logo and a different shade of green? Modern law firms are complex machines. In a perfect, well-managed example, the inner …
One year since he became Eversheds’ chief executive, Bryan Hughes is reshaping a business badly bruised by the downturn. Can he be the firm’s new messiah? For a moment the persona slips. The studied slouch stiffens. The I’m-the-man-for-a-crisis composure loses its gloss a little. ‘We’ve got a fairly emotive brand for some reason; we do …
