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Leading ladies

Positive discrimination for men? Only in Turkey. Legal Business analyses a legal market where female commercial lawyers almost always top the class

The UK’s legal market has never been an easy place for female lawyers. This became abundantly clear in the 2009 LB100, which charts the UK’s top 100 law firms by revenue. Among these firms only 22% of the partners and 17% of the equity partners are female. Given that the overall percentage of female lawyers is 47%, it is hardly encouraging to see that only 37% of those promoted to partner in 2008/09 were women. These statistics do not make good reading for young British female associates, particularly if they are working at one of the Major City or Global Elite firms, where the percentage of female partners is 18% and 16% respectively. Continue reading “Leading ladies”

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Time for change

With some of the cornerstones of Swiss identity – banking and secrecy – under threat, the country’s law firms are caught up in the maelstrom. LB uncovers how Switzerland’s conservative legal community has been responding to the upheaval.

Switzerland recently encountered its most significant period of economic turmoil, and its lawyers are right on the front line. Although the consequences of the financial backlash were largely kept at bay through government intervention, hitherto unknown banking and investor losses were recorded. Continue reading “Time for change”

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Over a barrel

A recent victory in The Hague has green-lit a record-breaking $100bn claim by Yukos’ majority shareholders against the Russian Federation. Legal Business investigates an arbitration that could change the face of international investment forever

On 31 May 2005, Mikhail Khodorkovsky shuffled into the spartan confines of Moscow’s Meshchansky courtroom for the last time, his hands and feet bound in shackles. Alongside co-defendant Platon Lebedev, he was placed inside a steel cage, flanked either side by armed militsiya guards. He was not facing trial for murder or some other violent crime, but for alleged fraud and tax evasion as part of a wider case against Russian oil giant Yukos, of which he was CEO.

Continue reading “Over a barrel”

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Status quo

The past ten years have brought unprecedented change to the legal profession. As we enter a new decade, Legal Business and Dublin’s McCann FitzGerald hosted a round table discussion of some of the key issues affecting firms now.

As we leave behind one of the most tumultuous decades in the history of the legal profession, the overriding message from some of the industry’s thought leaders is keep calm and carry on. At the end of 2009, Legal Business and leading Irish law firm McCann FitzGerald gathered nine legal experts together for dinner and debate at the Gherkin. We wanted to hear their views on how the legal market will shake up in the next decade, particularly while we’re still in the jaws of a global recession. The responses were assuredly unflustered; the mood was anything but pessimistic.

Continue reading “Status quo”

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Flying colours

Responding to the relentless negative publicity directed at offshore territories, the International Financial Centres Forum was formally launched in London at the end of last year. Legal Business assesses the drivers behind this development and which offshore law firms have continued to expand despite the global economic crisis

‘The offshore world is tired of being the world’s whipping boy,’ says John Collis, chairman of Conyers Dill & Pearman. ‘Most of the negative publicity fired at offshore markets is simply wrong, and we now have a committed agenda to getting the story straight.’

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Breaking convention

Despite the lip service paid to renewables, fossil fuels are far and away the leading source of global energy consumption. In the first part of LB’s global energy focus, we analyse the current trends in coal, natural gas and oil

In December 2009 Copenhagen replaced beleaguered golf star Tiger Woods as the most popular search term on Google — a fact that the United Nations Climate Change Conference boasted proudly on its homepage — as, of course, the Danish capital played host to the environmental summit. In finding ways to conserve it and make it cleaner, energy is now officially top of the global agenda.

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Piece of the action

The legal sector has been warily assessing the possibility of outsourcing some services for several years. But with Slaughters now investigating the viability of LPOs, suddenly everyone is taking serious notice

As recently as a year ago, the prospect of Slaughter and May outsourcing legal services overseas seemed as likely as a US president winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet, as a new decade dawns, President Obama has his medal and legal process outsourcing (LPO), and notably offshoring, is being weighed up by leading law firms and corporate counsel alike.

Continue reading “Piece of the action”

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Are Franchisees Now Employees of their Franchisor?

A Discussion of the Consequences of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court and California Assembly Bill 5

Background

In an effort to remedy certain purported employment disparities caused by the so called ‘gig economy’ (e.g., Uber and Lyft drivers who operate as independent contractors without any of the protections and benefits of true employees), on September 18, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law ‘California Assembly Bill 5’ or ‘AB-5,’ which the state’s legislature had passed on September 11, 2019. AB-5 transformed hundreds of thousands of independent contractors into employees, virtually overnight. Continue reading “Are Franchisees Now Employees of their Franchisor?”

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Are Franchisees Now Employees of their Franchisor?

A Discussion of the Consequences of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court and California Assembly Bill 5

Background

In an effort to remedy certain purported employment disparities caused by the so called ‘gig economy’ (e.g., Uber and Lyft drivers who operate as independent contractors without any of the protections and benefits of true employees), on September 18, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law ‘California Assembly Bill 5’ or ‘AB-5,’ which the state’s legislature had passed on September 11, 2019. AB-5 transformed hundreds of thousands of independent contractors into employees, virtually overnight. Continue reading “Are Franchisees Now Employees of their Franchisor?”