It’s high time we moved on – why legal education fails the key test

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Nigel Savage argues that legal education is falling further behind the realities of the industry Let’s get this in context right off the bat. The Training for Tomorrow proposals by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) represent the most radical change in legal education for over 20 years. When one considers the massive structural changes in …

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Singapore swing – a credible threat to the dominance of English law

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English lawyers have long had an edge over their US and continental colleagues. English law was established early as the law of trade, business and increasingly projects – a throwback to the days of the Empire. This was a major driver of growth for UK-based firms in recent decades, but it is well known that …

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‘A watershed moment for enforcement’ – sizing up class action competition reforms

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Cleary’s Sunil Gadhia and Paul Gilbert on the much-touted reforms of competition disputes We have begun a journey into the unknown. The new collective action regime for competition litigation, which came into effect on 1 October, has set the market abuzz with speculation. For example, in the wake of the recent benchmark manipulation scandals, what …

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The Legal 500 view: more choice and competition defines market

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The UK legal market now offers more choice than ever, and this is reflected in the 2015 edition of The Legal 500, which has never seen more movement. Specialist outfits with non-traditional business models are a credible alternative to classic full-service rivals. In dispute resolution, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Stewarts Law and Enyo Law …

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The Last Word: Fighting your corner

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Our recent International Arbitration Summit in London provoked lively discussion and, ahead of a full report on the debate next month, here is a taster of some of the key points SELF-AWARENESS REQUIRED ‘The once preoccupying debate about what issues you can arbitrate has become of ever-diminishing relevance in the modern world. Almost all commercial …

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What can you be sure of as the LB100 goes down the rabbit hole?

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It’s common in the legal industry to talk about unprecedented change but there are many rules of professional gravity unchanged for 20 years to keep feet on the ground and most lawyers in their place. For one: top-tier City firms were far larger, more international and at least twice as profitable as their mid-tier and …

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The Global 100: so much for the City comeback as US leaders land the big blows

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Having spent a reasonable chunk of my pundit duties over the last three years noting significant shifts against London’s elite on the global stage, I confess I had expected financial results this year to break that pattern with City leaders managing a more confident showing. Unfortunately for London’s finest and my own credibility, that expectation …

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Legal boutiques: unheralded, thriving and coming after your lunch

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The rise of boutiques has been yet another development shaping the legal industry that no-one predicted. Conventional wisdom for years held that law firms should go global or specialise but that was largely in the context of mid-tier players becoming more tightly defined around a handful of profitable practice areas (which pretty much hasn’t happened …

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The window opens for Addleshaws but only for so long

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One of the biggest mysteries of the UK legal industry since the wipe-out of 2008/09 is whatever happened at Addleshaw Goddard. The firm had a fine pedigree, the best partnership in the North West, a client-base to die for and a credible City merger under its belt in 2003 when it hooked up with Theodore …

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