Rising to the challenge – tough market rewards for firms with clearest focus

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Rising to the challenge – tough market rewards for firms with clearest focus

‘Challenging market conditions’ – a quick search of the LB news archives finds that phrase, or some variation of it, coming up time and time again over the years.

But while the legal industry has faced many challenges since the turn of the century, from the global financial crisis to Brexit, Covid and beyond, the good times have, in the main, outweighed the bad, with resourceful firms turning adversity into opportunity. Continue reading “Rising to the challenge – tough market rewards for firms with clearest focus”

High achievers – private equity is changing; meet the elite GCs at the vanguard of the transformation

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High achievers – private equity is changing; meet the elite GCs at the vanguard of the transformation

From dating apps to entertainment venues, airports to music collections, there’s almost no industry left untouched by the multitrillion-dollar private equity market.

And, with these secretive organisations continuing to diversify their business into new asset classes such as infrastructure and credit, it’s an industry that is not only still changing but also still growing. Continue reading “High achievers – private equity is changing; meet the elite GCs at the vanguard of the transformation”

Making an ESG lawyer – law firms search for the magic formula

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Making an ESG lawyer – law firms search for the magic formula

‘I don’t believe there is such a thing as an ESG lawyer’ – the words of one environmental, social and governance (ESG) practice head in an interview for this month’s lead feature aptly sums up one of the key challenges for firms trying to establish themselves at the top of this much-hyped market.

That individual is not alone in this view; it has also been a repeated refrain in the research interviews for the Legal 500’s first UK ESG rankings, which will be published later this year. And it’s not a stretch to see why this opinion persists, given the myriad practice areas that fall under the ESG umbrella – from greenwashing disputes to sustainable finance, and regulatory matters to ESG transactions; not to mention the traditional environment and governance work that make up two letters of the acronym. Continue reading “Making an ESG lawyer – law firms search for the magic formula”

The Last Word: ESG to the fore

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The Last Word: ESG to the fore

‘Flexible working is something I hope to see the legal profession increasingly support. I’m a single parent of two five-year-old girls. I couldn’t do this job unless I was more often than not taking them to school.’ Lisa O’Neill, Milbank

As part of our annual ESG report, management at top law firms give their views on ESG’s importance to both lawyers and clients

Continue reading “The Last Word: ESG to the fore”

Talk of the town: Why Kirkland/Paul Weiss underlines the value of controlling the management message

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Talk of the town: Why Kirkland/Paul Weiss underlines the value of controlling the management message

Clandestine conversations, a recruitment strategy on steroids, eye-watering salaries and internal politics galore, the Paul Weiss/Kirkland story has enough drama in it to keep the attention of even those outside the legal market.

For City partners, the interest in what’s going on has been off the scale. Continue reading “Talk of the town: Why Kirkland/Paul Weiss underlines the value of controlling the management message”

After the party – market slowdown pushes US leaders to take stock in London

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After the party – market slowdown pushes US leaders to take stock in London

The easy narrative is that the party is over. After years of rapid expansion by international law firms in London, 2023 saw lawyer headcount at Global London firms inch up by just 1.8% – a figure which appears to provide confirmation that the City interlopers are finally starting to apply the brakes in London as deal volumes dry up.

And that narrative does bear up to scrutiny – to an extent. Last year more than half of the 50 Global London firms saw headcount in the capital flatline or decrease, and across the largest ten, combined headcount fell by 1%, with big firms such as White & Case, Baker McKenzie and Reed Smith all seeing London lawyer count dip. Continue reading “After the party – market slowdown pushes US leaders to take stock in London”