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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”

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Sponsored briefing: COVID-19 and its effects – Frequently asked question in context of labour law

Nowadays, witnessing the heavy effects of Covid-19 (Coronavirus), described as a ‘pandemic’ by the World Health Organization (WHO), on employee-employer relations, we share our evaluations regarding the issues put on the agenda by any employees and employers, here in this article in the form of frequently asked questions.

1. What sort of precautions can be taken in the workplace due to the pandemic?

Enterprises should determine the measures to be taken in the workplace and work areas, take decisions and implement them immediately such as providing and positioning disinfectants, following the hygiene rules and supplying masks through gathering the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) committees. Necessary precautions should to be taken in terms of hygiene and cleaning, by working with occupational safety specialists and workplace doctors. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: COVID-19 and its effects – Frequently asked question in context of labour law”

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Comment: Allen & Overy’s election delivered an all-star line-up but have the big issues been resolved?

Wim Dejonghe

Towards the end of 2019, Legal Business remarked that the issue at the heart of Allen & Overy (A&O)’s looming leadership election was if the process would resolve whether the winners could achieve the right to genuinely lead the City giant. Now that the election has concluded, with the re-election of Wim Dejonghe (pictured) as senior partner and the elevation of projects and energy head Gareth Price as managing partner in place of Andrew Ballheimer, it is far from clear that the point has been settled.

That is not a criticism of the calibre of the candidates and winners. Generally regarded as the best managed of the Magic Circle’s four internationalists, A&O certainly attracted a line-up of heavyweight candidates, by no means a given in law firm leadership run-offs. This was most obvious in the contest between Dejonghe and banking co-head Philip Bowden for senior partner and Price and litigation head Karen Seward for the managing partner brief. Continue reading “Comment: Allen & Overy’s election delivered an all-star line-up but have the big issues been resolved?”

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Sponsored briefing: Effects of Covid-19 pandemic on private sector employment and applicable methods

As we stated in our publication dated 16 March 2020, the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic indicates that it is one of the most important projections on the employment relations between employer and employee. Under current circumstances; many employers have been carrying on or will carry on remote working (homeworking) in regard to their white-collar employees either for all of them or alternately until a further notice is made. The current status of the pandemic and the applicable solution methods particularly in the scope of employment relations in terms of the uncertainty of the pandemic’s spreading speed and the precautions taken by the government are examined in this publication.

1. The Solution Methods That Could Be Applied in Terms of Continuation of Employment Relation

Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Effects of Covid-19 pandemic on private sector employment and applicable methods”

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Sponsored briefing: Precautions and measures taken against Covid-19 pandemic-II

In order to prevent the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19 (Coronavirus), which has spread to the whole world, many precautions are being taken by governments, institutions and organisations. The precautions and measures taken in Turkey were examined in our previous article published on 23 March 2020 with the title ‘Precautions and Measures Taken against Covid-19 Pandemic’. As a continuation of our previous article, we hereby wish to mention the measures taken recently in light of the current developments.

I. MEASURES TAKEN BY LAW

‘The Law Amending Certain Laws numbered 7226’ (the Omnibus Bill) was published on the Official Gazette dated 26 March 2020 and numbered 31080. The measures taken to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak in our country have been enacted by the Omnibus Bill. In line with the measures taken in relation to the pandemic, regulations have been made on many issues such as the Ceasing of Proceedings, Conditions for Benefiting from the Short-Term Work Allowance, Compensation Time, and Lease Payments. You can reach the detailed content related to the Omnibus Bill from our article published on 27 March 2020 with the title ‘The Law Amending Certain Laws Numbered 7226 and Its Legal Reflections to Business Life’. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Precautions and measures taken against Covid-19 pandemic-II”