Guest post: Having an honest conversation with ourselves is the first step

Guest post: Having an honest conversation with ourselves is the first step

Intellectually we all understand that how we feel has an effect on us. We understand that most of the time that the feeling will pass. Not always but in most cases, the feeling is often fleeting. We are not talking here about the feelings that come from intense loss and grief or trauma, rather the …

‘Let’s tear up the rule book’ – Boies chief sets out her stall for a radical rethink of the elite law firm model

‘Let’s tear up the rule book’ – Boies chief sets out her stall for a radical rethink of the elite law firm model

If law firms are to survive and thrive, they must dramatically modernise the way they work and serve their clients; they must become more adaptable, flexible and collaborative if they are to prosper. While clients have accelerated and evolved in their respective sectors, the legal industry itself has failed – at best to keep pace …

Guest post: How legal services providers should be changing their models for the digital age

Guest post: How legal services providers should be changing their models for the digital age

Covid-19 continues to disrupt our personal and professional norms. In business – particularly, the legal industry – seismic shifts are occurring in how work is conceptualized and delivered. Corporate law departments and law firms that have not made digital a priority are considering all options in a new, decidedly digital world. Remote working and social …

Build Back Better: Two things associates need to know (and neither is ‘how to code’)

Build Back Better: Two things associates need to know (and neither is ‘how to code’)

The other day we were presenting a webinar on ‘The Lawyer of the Future’ to a firm’s summer associate class, now in the midst of their remote June and July programme, and the question came up, ‘What do associates need to know?’ Here’s where I suspect many were anticipating we would have headed straight to, …

Guest comment: An argument for outside investment in law firms for the post-Covid era

More than a decade after the 2008 global financial crisis, the world finds itself gripped by a pandemic and the resulting economic turmoil. As we saw in 2008, law firms won’t escape the impact of the recession, particularly as clients trim budgets and reduce demand for legal services. But unlike companies with diverse sources of …

Leadership in a crisis (or how to build the ship while sailing it)

Leadership in a crisis (or how to build the ship while sailing it)

The Covid-19 crisis is creating a lot of learning and insight across the legal sector and the wider communities in which we work and live. Much of this revolves around actions that organisations and their leaders are taking to navigate the crisis – including what leaders should do to manage uncertainty. A key feature of …

Comment: Letter from New York – Assessing the world’s top law hub now and after the crisis

Comment: Letter from New York – Assessing the world’s top law hub now and after the crisis

Regular readers are familiar with our custom of penning ‘Letters from…’ when we’ve spent time in a major city and want to offer some observations and commentary on that legal market. We’re not travelling. That can mean only one thing: Time for us to compose a ‘Letter from New York.’ Let’s start with some data, …

Comment: A triumph of hope over experience – Lateral hiring needs an upgrade for the post-Covid era

Comment: A triumph of hope over experience – Lateral hiring needs an upgrade for the post-Covid era

Law firm leaders are getting restless. They are beginning to look past Covid-19 to what comes next. Even if finances remain a concern, there are fewer ‘unknown unknowns’. The process for getting people back to the office is mapped out. Huge uncertainties and challenges remain, but a way forward is emerging. The question now is: …

Comment: Welcome back to the office? Re-thinking law’s real estate for the post-corona age

If we can already make a few forecasts about some aspects of the post-coronavirus world, currently pole position among things the legal industry abruptly realised will look radically different as of ten weeks ago are large-scale, grand, frightfully-expensive offices. It turns out that we were all used to the modern, shiny, flagship office and now …