Legal Business

A buzzword, sure, but one with edge

Macfarlanes’ Charles Martin reviews Heidi Gardner’s much-discussed new book on collaboration in professional services

Collaboration within a law firm is as self-evidently a good thing as motherhood and apple pie. But then you might think the case for global warming is pretty clear too. So, despite the wave of professional recognition Harvard Law School professor Heidi Gardner (pictured) has received for her work on teamworking, her new book, Smart Collaboration, has the considerable challenge of getting lawyers past the outskirts of platitudinal praise and towards the town centre of actual working habits.