‘One of the things I’ve learnt from the pandemic is individual wealth and freedom is nothing without collective wealth and freedom.’
Gareth Price, Allen & Overy
LB100 leaders give their views on another remarkable year and offer their prognosis on the 12 months ahead
It is hard to introduce a column on female leaders without sounding trite or – as a woman – vaguely condescending to those featured. In a blatant attempt to side-step this quandary, I will start with an admission of guilt. In our haste to speak with the new wave of non-male leaders for our cover feature, we had all but neglected to speak to any men. ‘Well, I bet you’ve never had that problem before!’ correctly guessed more than one industry contact as we belatedly, and sheepishly, canvassed them for some token male views.
Meeting many of the new leaders over Zoom, some for the first time, has been an energising experience. Even allowing for the inevitable professional veneer, there is a sense of genuine dynamism among this new cadre of women at the upper echelons of law, and much enthusiasm about their impact on the future of the industry. Continue reading “Time to stop sneering at the leaders recognising the value of humanity”
Law firms spend big money making sure they have the best junior lawyers. A newly qualified lawyer at a Magic Circle firm can expect to take home over £100,000 a year.
But what do clients really think of those highly paid associates? Continue reading “Why giving associates exposure to clients could be a win-win scenario”
‘To be a hugely successful law firm, you have to have diversity. Clients are not all white middle class men.’ Kathleen Russ, Travers Smith
Following on from our feature on the rise of female leaders at the highest echelons of law, some of those leaders give their take on the direction of travel
Three letters seem to be everywhere you look these days: ESG. Law firm after law firm seems to be offering environmental, social and governance advice and even new practice teams to corporates on a weekly basis. Press releases talk about helping clients ‘navigate the regulatory requirements’ and ‘lead the way’. The fastest land animal is arguably not the cheetah, but instead a lawyer jumping on the ESG bandwagon.
Excuse me for sounding a little jaded. It’s just that we’ve been here before with three little letters: CSR. At first that was all about good intentions, firms demonstrating their commitment to corporate social responsibility. But it soon descended into a cynical PR exercise, with those that did a bit of pro bono, an occasional charity bake-off and remembered to turn their lights off once in a while touting themselves as the epitome of CSR best practice. This was before the global financial crisis came and took many of those good intentions away. Continue reading “This time, walk the talk behind the ESG bandwagon”
Two observations from the GC of BT Technology, Chris Fowler, stand out in our innovation feature, ‘Arrested development’. One: ‘If the work is repeatable and needs delivering to certain set outcomes at a certain price point, you become agnostic as to who is actually doing the work’ – suggesting the sacred cult of the individual may be diminishing in the eyes of clients. Two: ‘It always appears to us that the partner wins the work, the partner prices the work, and the partner delivers the work. I struggle with that in today’s world.’
While partnership and megalomania can go hand-in-hand, we have come a long way from the days when power-play behaviour from individual partners could actually hurt firms. Control has been ceded in many areas, recognising that allowing business professionals to play their part and junior lawyers to develop on the job enhances the offering that clients receive. Continue reading “Letting go: anathema to a control-freak partner”
‘Our corporate practice now is the strongest it’s ever been. We feel confident about the future.’
Roland Turnill, Slaughter and May
Following on from our Legal 500 M&A feature, we ask leading London corporate partners what is driving the growing dominance of US firms in public M&A
City business has had cause to take heart in recent months with a clear display of political will behind an overhaul of UK listing rules that could see London shake off its Brexit and pandemic woes and reassert itself as a global financial hub. Our Global London report finds US and European firms alike concerned about the status of their London offices now that Brexit is a hard reality.
Proposals set out in the UK Listing Review in March, led by Lord Hill, will particularly pique the interest of anyone tracking the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) market. Indeed, the ubiquity of those deals has made them difficult to miss. There has been much talk of London jumping on the bandwagon in a fit of FOMO as other listing destinations, especially the US and Amsterdam, pile into that frothy market with gusto. However, to say that London has been lagging competitors in the US, Europe and Asia for too long is an understatement, and any shake-up to expedite parity with peers has not come a moment too soon. Continue reading “Hope floats for City listing overhaul but American audacity is vital”
If 2020 was about surviving coronavirus and lockdown, 2021 is most certainly about rebuilding and making up for lost time. With the Covid-19 vaccine rollout progressing well, and pubs and shops reopening ahead of a supposed return to normality by late June, going back to the office is becoming a reality.
As The Legal 500 UK editor Georgina Stanley points out in ‘Living at work’, the past year has seen the stigma that working from home is less productive than long office hours eradicated, but we have also lost the benefits of spontaneous social interaction with clients and colleagues and the ease of separation between work and home life. As for the younger generation of lawyers, they are suffering from a lack of face time with clients and partners, losing out on crucial training and development. Continue reading “The work from home dilemma – get creative”
‘A year ago, the penny was beginning to drop about the significant challenges of the pandemic. The strength and diversity of our practices and people have helped us as we navigated through with our clients.’ Oliver Brettle, White & Case
To mark the launch of our 2021 Global London report, we asked senior figures at leading US firms for their thoughts
