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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 realise we had only the most tenuous grasp of why we believed it so fundamental to the business of professional services all along.

Yet the office will never be the same. Continue reading “Comment: Welcome back to the office? Re-thinking law’s real estate for the post-corona age”

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If crisis elevates GCs, then 2020 will be an inflexion point for in-house counsel

The legal profession is as I write a matter of weeks into the lightning-fast escalation of the coronavirus outbreak from background concern to the biggest shock to hit the global economy since World War Two. With the outbreak by mid-March having sent European nations and economies into lockdown-induced convulsions, some assessment can be made of the legal industry’s initial response. And it is clear that sizeable commercial law firms have so far gotten off comparatively lightly in the first stages of an onslaught that is estimated to have shut a third of economic activity in the UK and major European counterparts. As with the banking crisis, the profession has at least benefited from emergency triage work for major clients, triggering strong demand for employment, finance and restructuring work as companies struggle with crisis response. Even cash flow and collections were holding up surprisingly well by late March at most top 30 UK law firms.

Continue reading “If crisis elevates GCs, then 2020 will be an inflexion point for in-house counsel”

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Remote controls

‘How does an organisation maintain resilience when everything it designed and built was for a different way of working?’ asks DWF’s global head of data protection, privacy and cybersecurity, Stewart Room. As the world battles a pandemic, organisations around the globe are turning homes into offices and personal devices into office tools. The sudden change in the way businesses operate brings with it added cyber and information security risks, particularly via emails to spread malware, as workers in many organisations access confidential business data remotely.

Continue reading “Remote controls”

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Education, education, education

Julie Brannan, Solicitors Regulation Authority: It certainly is an important moment for the training of the profession, so it is sensible to start with a reminder of what it is all about. First, better assurance of high professional standards is at the heart of this. Protecting consumers of legal services by making sure everybody we admit as a solicitor is competent to practise is a core part of our regulatory duty. It is also the platform supporting the standing of the profession in this country and abroad. SQE [Solicitors Qualifying Examination] is about assuring high professional standards. Continue reading “Education, education, education”

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Eye of the storm

‘Insurers are trying to remain profitable in a hard environment – it’s still a difficult and competitive market,’ notes Katherine Coates, head of insurance at Clifford Chance (CC), assessing the UK insurance industry a few days before the coronavirus outbreak was classed as a global emergency.

Continue reading “Eye of the storm”

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Comment: Law firm leaders already know a lot about the post-Corona world but dare they take advantage?

What we do not know about the surreal period we’re in thanks to the coronavirus pandemic would fill the proverbial book for law firm leaders, or actually several. I won’t presume to speak to medical/scientific issues, desperate as we are to have some clarity; I’m sticking with the economic/business/strategic issues.

What we don’t know, or don’t know with any degree of confidence, are: Continue reading “Comment: Law firm leaders already know a lot about the post-Corona world but dare they take advantage?”

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Comment: Gauging the profession’s Covid-19 response – Turns out five years of spouting values wasn’t just puff

Casting my mind back to the ancient history of mid-March when I penned my first piece assessing the impact that the coronavirus crisis would have on the profession, I was forced to rely on guess work and recent history as a guide. London was in semi-lockdown, the official death toll from the virus hovered around 10,000 globally – taking a view on how it would play out was a matter of gut, contacts and an anorak’s grounding in the business model of law.

My core case was that the profession would be one of the least-impacted major industries but would take a major hit in what was clearly going to be a deep recession. The other contention was that the pandemic would put the lofty values and soft issues that law firms have become increasingly inclined to promote to a brutal test, a benchmark many would fail. Continue reading “Comment: Gauging the profession’s Covid-19 response – Turns out five years of spouting values wasn’t just puff”

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Sponsored crisis management focus: A View From Cyprus – Carrying on in the face of the Covid-19 crisis in Cyprus

Stavros Pavlou | Senior & Managing Partner
Stella Strati | Partner-Corporate, Tax, Private Client

The Covid-19 crisis is first and foremost a humanitarian crisis and one that raises fears for the health of ourselves, our loved ones, our families, our co-workers and friends. The cohesion of society itself is at risk and the survival of vulnerable people and businesses threatened. Institutions such as the health services, governmental authorities, banks, even organised religion are all tested and many are found seriously wanting. Continue reading “Sponsored crisis management focus: A View From Cyprus – Carrying on in the face of the Covid-19 crisis in Cyprus”

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Risk management survey 2020 – Crooked timber

Sponsored by Marsh.

The ongoing #MeToo saga within in the legal profession was only a few chapters old last year when our annual risk and professional indemnity report with broker Marsh went to press. Fast forward a year and law firm risk managers and general counsel are faced with a harsher environment to navigate on many fronts. Not least is the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)’s tougher stance on sexual misconduct allegations and calls for firms to have better procedures in place for handling internal complaints, as laid out in the regulator’s new Standards and Regulations (StaRs) rulebook last September.

Continue reading “Risk management survey 2020 – Crooked timber”

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The slaughter of innocence – A&O’s former chief on the stark staffing choices facing crisis-hit law firms

David Morley

Law firms around the world are being forced to contemplate something a good many have never had to face before, even during the 2008/09 financial crisis – letting partners and staff go at scale.

Fat profit margins and a paternalistic partnership ethos have traditionally insulated law firms from concerns that are relatively commonplace for their clients. Managing partners often recoil at such barbarous conduct. Yet the global coronavirus crisis is rapidly shredding that rulebook. Continue reading “The slaughter of innocence – A&O’s former chief on the stark staffing choices facing crisis-hit law firms”

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Disputes Yearbook – online pdf

broken scales

While much of the country works from home we are providing an additional online option for you to access your copy of the Disputes Yearbook 2020. Please see below for a link to an online pdf of the Disputes Yearbook 2020. This will only be accessible to subscribers. Please make sure you are logged into the site to see the link.

Legal Business subscribers will be receiving their physical copies of the Disputes Yearbook once Legal Business resumes normal circulation.

Continue reading “Disputes Yearbook – online pdf”

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Covid crystal ball – A&O’s former chief sets out the post-lockdown dynamic awaiting the legal elite

No-one knows the robustness or timing of the economic restart, but many now predict a deep second quarter contraction followed by a spluttering restart over the subsequent three. That may underestimate the impact of the shock and the reactions of both client businesses and households.

A dramatic surge in unemployment will encourage households to slash spending. Many clients are focused on conserving cash and rebuilding balance sheets. Aftershocks of reinfections, further lay-offs, tight working capital and insolvencies as businesses struggle to get in shape when activity starts to pick up seem probable. Continue reading “Covid crystal ball – A&O’s former chief sets out the post-lockdown dynamic awaiting the legal elite”

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Sponsored briefing: Practical Information for Businesses in the Face of COVID-19

After the first novel coronavirus case in December, COVID-19 has gradually, yet rapidly, expanded and finally has managed to bring the entire world to a collective halt. Social restrictions and containment measures continue to increase to take the pandemic under control and to eliminate its fatal consequences, both on civilians and economies.

Under these circumstances, it has become obvious that the COVID-19 pandemic started to trigger substantial legal consequences predominantly on i) Contractual Obligations, ii) Employment and iii) Data Privacy. Accordingly, this article aims to provide an efficient guide on the repercussions of the novel coronavirus, from a practical perspective. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Practical Information for Businesses in the Face of COVID-19”