In a blow for traditionalists, our latest cover feature eschews profiling a group of hard-working, smart, highly-confident men who are talented lawyers to instead profile a group of hard-working, smart, variably-confident women who are talented lawyers. Radical stuff. But then the career cycle for too many ambitious female deal lawyers remains nasty, brutish and short. While …
In a blow for traditionalists, our latest cover feature eschews profiling a group of hard-working, smart, highly-confident men who are talented lawyers to instead profile a group of hard-working, smart, variably-confident women who are talented lawyers. Radical stuff. But then the career cycle for too many ambitious female deal lawyers remains nasty, brutish and short. …
Continue reading “Women deal stars: plenty to celebrate so ditch the understatement”
LB: What have been the big wins for Herbert Smith Freehills [HSF] over the last two years? Mark Rigotti (MR): It has been the shift from integration. That’s by definition backwards-looking so it’s good to move on. We’ve been strengthening some of the smaller offices. We’re different from the Magic Circle that have long-established European …
Continue reading “Being great at one thing is not enough – remaking a City leader for the times”
‘Turnover for vanity, profit for sanity.’ How many times have you heard that phrase or variations of the theme espoused in the legal industry? A lot since the banking crisis recast the profession. Commercial firms are forever chasing the grail of higher profitability to the extent of fashioning strategy around the notion of slashing the …
Continue reading “Slashing to victory – the most dangerous myth”
Given that it has been so well telegraphed that the $10m lateral was coming to the Square Mile, the shock among City peers at the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer private equity veteran David Higgins (pictured) has been, well, shocking. ‘Outrageous’, ‘obscene’ and ‘mildly appalling’ are among the reactions from peers. One hopeful partner at …
Continue reading “A shock to the system as Freshfields heavyweight departs”
Referencing the Presidents Club fallout last month, LB noted that the profession’s record on sexual harassment would receive much tougher scrutiny in the era of #MeToo. While optimists argued post-Weinstein that the profession is now less tolerant of bad behaviour than 10 or 15 years ago, the jaded maintain that the status and rewards handed …
Well, 2017 promised to be a challenging year and it did not disappoint with its disappointment. With the Brexit vote upsetting an already-delicate balance in key markets, an inconclusive general election in the summer managed to ramp up the uncertainty further.
Despite a recent overhaul of its partnership to reward top performers, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has lost private equity heavyweight David Higgins to Kirkland & Ellis in one of the most expensive lateral hires ever in the City. Higgins is set to join the US law firm as London co-managing partner in a deal worth around $10m …
Everyone knows the legal industry has been a different place since the banking crisis but it is only when you take the long view that you realise how dramatic these changes have been. For this month’s cover feature, we looked at three mid-tier law firms that have sustained above-trend growth for ten years. To identify …
Continue reading “Comment: Super growth or decline? Which firm are you?”
‘Lockstep in its current form has to go. It’s just not working.’ Legal Business, June 2015 ‘The current incarnation of lockstep is an overly restrictive model that was a child of its time…. The failure to substantively adapt the model… has increasingly threatened to shatter a system that still delivers considerable benefits.’ Legal Business, October …
Continue reading “Comment: Ditching lockstep – better too late than never?”
