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Practice management tech: Made to measure

digital tape measure

The successful application of technology to a law firm’s business ultimately hinges on one key question: is it technology that drives the business or business that drives the technology? Most of the main IT decision makers argue that it must be the latter, while questioning whether technology should even be the main consideration.

‘Technology is an enabler, but being innovative isn’t just about bringing in technology,’ says Bryant Isbell, managing director of Baker McKenzie’s global e-discovery and data advisory group. ‘It can also be about redesigning a process and looking at different ways to reimagine a solution’. Continue reading “Practice management tech: Made to measure”

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E-discovery: Cloud atlas

tech cloud binary concept

No matter how much technology accelerates cumbersome processes like document review, the human element must always be hovering in the background. When it comes to e-discovery, there are five essential stages to the process: find, collect, review, redact and produce. The further up the chain, the greater the need for human judgement and sign-off.

This may reassure lawyers feeling threatened by the rapid proliferation of legal technology, but it comes with one obvious drawback. A carefully crafted algorithm can be undone in seconds by that oldest of human failings: error. Ultimately, nothing is foolproof. ‘This isn’t a situation where robots will replace the attorneys,’ says Dechert partner and e-discovery specialist, Ben Barnett. ‘Even with all the advances in machine learning, the algorithms are predicting relevance based on human input (coding). You still need smart people who can distinguish a smoking gun document from one that is merely relevant and current programs can’t do that. The potential pitfalls from over-reliance on machine learning run the gamut from missing key documents to production of privileged documents.’ Continue reading “E-discovery: Cloud atlas”

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Beckwith ruling a wake-up call for profession as regulators close in on #MeToo complaints

Solicitors Regulation Authority

Ruling sends strong message but Nathalie Tidman finds unease over watchdog’s shifting remit

October’s prosecution of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Ryan Beckwith highlights awkward truths for the profession as regulators increasingly target claims of harassment and sexual misconduct in law. The ruling on 10 October, the most high-profile scalp yet after a string of embarrassing post-#MeToo disclosures for the UK legal profession over the last 18 months, has already produced a bout of soul searching across the City along with many lurid headlines. Continue reading “Beckwith ruling a wake-up call for profession as regulators close in on #MeToo complaints”

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Whatever happened to the PR as managing partner consigliere?

Alex Novarese

For a pundit often claimed to be dismissive of the PR community, the subject of this leader may surprise. The reputation was never that accurate – I’ve always said skilled comms professionals are an asset to major law firms – but let’s put that to one side for now. The topic is something I’ve been noticing for some time: the slow decline of the PR professional as consigliere to law firm leaders. While the breed was never plentiful, it wasn’t that long ago that there was a sizeable group of battle-hardened comms hands that had judgement, integrity, long contact lists and who were effective as support and sources of information to managing partners. Plenty had worked outside the legal industry – indeed, they were usually more adept if they had in their junior years – but they had built strong knowledge of the dynamics of the profession and the realities of working for partnerships. They could make things happen and tell partners what they didn’t want to hear.

At their best they were a useful bridge to the outside world and there to help the firm push the message outwards, ever outwards, be that to clients, potential clients, or the wider industry. The best were also facilitators, focused on hooking up management and a Praetorian guard of headline-friendly partners with the better, relevant journalists and helping relationships flourish. Continue reading “Whatever happened to the PR as managing partner consigliere?”

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The Last Word: The values are everything

Ray Berg

Law firm leaders discuss the challenges of putting values on their corporate agenda and how to balance purpose with the profit motive

Heads out of the sand

‘Most firms realise the importance of values. I don’t think I’ve spoken to a single managing partner who isn’t doing these things. There are two basic drivers – what are your clients asking of you and what are your people asking of you. Anyone who thinks this isn’t important is burying their head in the sand.’
Continue reading “The Last Word: The values are everything”

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Israel: Anti-fragile

Tel Aviv

Thriving in the face of adversity as politics and security play an integral part in everyday life is a default position for Israel. The data backs this up: recent OECD reports describe Israel as stable with strong economic growth: annual GDP has consistently risen by three to four percent over recent years to reach nearly $400bn in 2019. This, despite a protracted leadership battle taking place with two general elections in six months bringing the nation no closer to a conclusive result.

Michael Barnea, managing partner of Barnea, Jaffa, Lande & Co, develops the point: ‘The environment is surprisingly robust considering the political instability that we’ve experienced for a considerable time. Investment, both from overseas into Israel and in the local market, is extremely strong and gives every appearance of being confident in the future.’ Continue reading “Israel: Anti-fragile”

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New Law needs a new dictionary to get that promised break through

Man looking at walkie talkie

For more than a decade now technology and innovation jargon has been pushing its way inelegantly into the legal sphere. But with what result? Certainly, it has led to industrial levels of hype as cloying Silicon Valley-speak took hold in even the most inhospitable arenas. But more to the point for the development of the industry is the endemic confusion it has sown. Without re-treading this month’s cover feature on the substance of law firms’ New Law divisions, it is clear that the industry struggles enormously to articulate these services, both at conventional law firms and pure-play providers.

This explains the widespread confusion in the minds of general counsel about what is on offer and how it differs from Old Law. ‘Platforms’, ‘solutions’, ‘suites’ and an avalanche of weird brand names are present, but as to explaining the products on offer, it is just not cutting through. Continue reading “New Law needs a new dictionary to get that promised break through”

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Dentons rejigs US structure in bid to create first ‘truly national’ American dream team

Joe Andrew

He may have overseen more than 50 law firm combinations over the last decade – 12 since July alone – but Dentons chair Joe Andrew (pictured) is adamant that the double US tie-up his firm pulled off at the beginning of October is something completely different.

Pending approval by the partnerships, the 10,000-lawyer globetrotter will in January add another 300 bodies to its sprawling verein as it combines with 175-lawyer midwest firm Bingham Greenebaum Doll and 140-strong Pennsylvania-bred Cohen & Grigsby. Continue reading “Dentons rejigs US structure in bid to create first ‘truly national’ American dream team”

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DWF brings post-float sales pitch to Germany as it seals Düsseldorf deal

Düsseldorf

DWF Europe chair Ulrich Jüngst aims to triple German lawyer headcount and launch in Frankfurt after opening the firm’s second international office since listing on the London Stock Exchange. DWF announced its fourth German base in Düsseldorf in October after taking over six-lawyer corporate boutique Marccus Partners.

While Marccus is not listed in any of the recognised legal directories for Germany, Jüngst described it as ‘a good fit with what we have’. ‘We want to cover the western regions in Germany and it’s much better to do that with integrated offices in Cologne and Düsseldorf,’ he told Legal Business. Continue reading “DWF brings post-float sales pitch to Germany as it seals Düsseldorf deal”

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Paul Hastings withdraws from Milan as K&L Gates loses eight-partner employment team in Australia

Milan, Italy, cityscape

Paul Hastings is shutting up shop in Milan as its office head leaves for a US rival while K&L Gates has seen an exodus of partners in Australia.

Bruno Cova has been a corporate partner at Paul Hastings for over 14 years and currently chairs the firm’s operation in Milan. However, Cova is set to leave the firm for Studio Legale Delfino e Associati Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Though the hires have not yet been finalised, Cova is expected to join alongside litigation partner Francesca Petronio. Continue reading “Paul Hastings withdraws from Milan as K&L Gates loses eight-partner employment team in Australia”

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CAT rules in favour of claimants and funders as trucks cartel dispute intensifies

truck

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has today (29 October) laid down a marker in the ongoing trucks cartel dispute, giving the go ahead for claimants to bring their case to court through litigation funding.

The truck cartel dispute concerns six of the world’s largest truck manufacturers facing collective action claims. The European Commission dealt a €2.9bn fine in July 2016 for price fixing, which led the way for compensation claims from those who purchased or leased trucks from 1997 onwards. Continue reading “CAT rules in favour of claimants and funders as trucks cartel dispute intensifies”

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Comment: Women in The Legal 500 – A step in the right direction but we need your help

Denise Gibson

When I joined the UK Legal 500 a year ago, one of the main ambitions I set out was to improve diversity in our rankings and, in particular, the proportion of cited women. The reason was obvious – women are under-represented at senior levels in law firms and this has also historically been the case in many of our rankings.

Unconscious bias has long served as a barrier to entry for many talented female lawyers who were in many instances not being put forward for recognition, either by their firms or peers. However, with diversity increasingly on law firms’ agenda it was important for us to play our part by raising the profile of talented female lawyers who may otherwise have gone unmentioned in our research. Continue reading “Comment: Women in The Legal 500 – A step in the right direction but we need your help”

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Revolving doors: DLA wins back Proskauer real estate partner as Macfarlanes and Dentons make City hires

DLA Piper

City lateral recruitment picked up pace again last week as DLA Piper won back a real estate partner from Proskauer Rose, Macfarlanes hired for its financial services team and Dentons strengthened its employment bench.

Joanne Owen rejoined her old firm DLA after a three and a half-year stint in Proskauer’s City corporate team, having previously worked at DLA for nearly 20 years. She advises on institutional and corporate property matters and cross-border corporate real estate transactions. She has acted for leading private equity houses, sovereign wealth funds and private high net worth investors. Continue reading “Revolving doors: DLA wins back Proskauer real estate partner as Macfarlanes and Dentons make City hires”

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Government backs University of Oxford legal tech research as Magic Circle trio form data consortium

working in a lightbulb

The University of Oxford has been awarded £213,000 to fund a study into the legal tech ecosystem as a trio of Magic Circle firms join Latham & Watkins in creating a financial data consortium.

The University of Oxford project – funded by the UK Government’s Economic and Social Research Council – will analyse the career trajectories and typical skillsets of start-up founders and law firm innovation leaders. The study will also assess the role of funders and buyers in the market, with such information crucial to start-ups chasing scale. Continue reading “Government backs University of Oxford legal tech research as Magic Circle trio form data consortium”

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Freshfields secures trophy four-partner US deal team as debate over leadership continues

In what it hopes will signal a breakthrough for its US business, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has secured the hire of a four-partner M&A team in Wall Street from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

The hire of the team – led by prominent M&A veteran Ethan Klingsberg and including partners Meredith Kotler, Pamela Marcogliese and Paul Tiger – will be seen as a trophy acquisition for Freshfields’ US corporate offering, which has struggled to gain momentum in recent years. Continue reading “Freshfields secures trophy four-partner US deal team as debate over leadership continues”

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In-house: SSE launches first panel review as Balfour Beatty GC departs after just six months

Liz Tanner

Big Six energy company SSE is reviewing its legal panel for the first time since setting up its debut roster in 2014, while the general counsel (GC) of construction company Balfour Beatty has left after just six months.

SSE appointed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Addleshaw Goddard, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswan, Osborne Clarke, Gillespie Macandrew, Thorntons and Kennedys to its inaugural panel five years ago, under the directorship of legal head Liz Tanner (pictured), who featured in this year’s GC Powerlist. Continue reading “In-house: SSE launches first panel review as Balfour Beatty GC departs after just six months”

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‘Kirkland is a raw, Darwinian force’ – LB’s take on the pre-Brexit City law market

City with red sky and planes

On occasion, they let the head of Legal Business take a break from the glamorous job of proofing features to go meet and greet. One such occasion saw me last month pop along to a major UK firm’s partnership conference to provide the LB perspective on the funny old game we call law.

Below is an edited version of my notes, jotted down to help organise my thoughts in response to the outline questions ahead of the event. Obviously, I wasn’t reading my notes during a two-way discussion, so I often rambled on about other stuff – I vaguely recall a monologue about the ‘Napoleon phase’ of managing partners that go on too long before going crazy. But for LB readers, these notes represent a decent summary of our current view of the industry at a particularly turbulent moment. I’ve removed all identifying references to the firm generous enough to host me. Continue reading “‘Kirkland is a raw, Darwinian force’ – LB’s take on the pre-Brexit City law market”

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Slater and Gordon’s long-running £637m Quindell action settles for paltry sum as office closures continue

Slater and Gordon

The long-running saga around Slater and Gordon’s (S&G) invidious Quindell acquisition settled on the eve of trial this week for a slither of the initial claim.

A tough week for the national firm was then compounded by the closure of its Leeds office and consultation over a further closure at its Watford call centre. Continue reading “Slater and Gordon’s long-running £637m Quindell action settles for paltry sum as office closures continue”