In January 2005 DLA hooked up with US duo Piper Rudnick and Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, triggering a debate that looks no more resolved as I type these words in January 2015. The issue boils down to: what is a firm? And can unions between legal practices maintaining separate finances, partnerships and governance be considered by clients, staff, peers and regulators to be a single institution?
Pinsents and the confidence dividend – successful law firms need a spring in their step
There are lots of factors that are supposed to have a major role in the success of a law firm that on closer examination are hard to sustain. Issues in this camp include remuneration models, culture, strategy and a specific practice mix. What this list has in common is that there is no right answer – all that matters is what you are doing is appropriate to what you are trying to achieve and the markets that you are working in (and even then it’s less central than supposed). You can be lockstep, eat-what-you kill, collegial or aggressive – it works for some and flops for others. Just look at the extent that the Magic Circle has elevated one particular model of lockstep into some half-baked sacred tenant, with disastrous consequences.
What a ‘combination’! Dentons Dacheng pushes the concept of a firm
In January 2005 DLA Piper hooked up with US duo Piper Rudnick and Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, triggering a debate that looks no more resolved as I type these words in January 2015. The issue boils down to: what is a firm? And can unions between legal practices maintaining separate finances, partnerships and governance be considered by clients, staff, peers and regulators to be a single institution?
The debate has only become more intense given the string of verein-based tie-ups since 2009. Hard and fast rules are elusive. In reality some – notably Hogan Lovells and in recent years DLA Piper – operate as a single institution. But with some other firms, discerning the nature of the merger, sorry ‘combination’ – the word increasingly bandied around to reconcile these conflicting realities – is a challenge.
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New year, new privacy and security strategy
PwC Legal’s Stewart Room argues that 2015 is the year for companies and advisers to stop the denial of the realities of cyber security
New year is traditionally the time to change our ways. As we reflect back on the year just gone, perhaps we see that an inch has gone on to the waistline, or we’re more out of breath as we run for the train, or the savings have diminished even further. All good prompts to change our ways and come up with new life strategies?
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A crisis in law but not the one many claim
Akin Gump restructuring veteran James Roome argues those seeing a threat to the legal industry have mis-read the markets
Ever since the start of the financial crisis you haven’t had to look very far to find expert opinion pieces predicting the end of growth for law firms. The observer will tell you that this is because of the commoditisation of transactional services, the pressure of client expectations of price, staffing and delivery, new entrants in the market, cyclical downturns in the economy, challenging career paths, anti-social hours and so on.
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What if ‘best practice’ is wrong?
Baker Tilly’s George Bull warns of possible flaws
There was once a poster at Watford Junction railway station, just outside London. Advertising the local shopping centre, it read: ‘Little blue dress, little blue dress, my life would be complete if only I could have that little blue dress.’ So it is with best practice: people within a firm readily incline to the view that, if they are adopting best practice, then professional life will be complete. What can possibly go wrong for the firm? Continue reading “What if ‘best practice’ is wrong?”
Guest post: Dentons/Dacheng – A theory and rationale
I wasn’t going to write about Dacheng/Dentons until I was. When I first heard about the mega tie-up creating the largest law firm in the world – records are made to be broken, as any number of athletes will happily confide in you – I had only two thoughts: First, this will get everyone’s attention; and second, there is no way any rational person can forecast whether it will succeed or fail or muddle through.
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The Friday Edit: New year, new partners and a new world order in finance
Happy New Year and welcome to the first Friday Edit of 2015, our weekly review of the top stories to emerge from Law Land over the past five days. Click here for full access to Legal Business or email mark.proudley@legalease.co.uk for more information. Corporate subscribers can also access our premium reporting firm-wide online and via our iPad edition as well as print copies.
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The 2014 edit – My favourite Legal Business pieces of the year
Having joined Legal Business as editor-in-chief in early 2013 with a brief to update and expand the title, we have since made a substantial number of changes and investments, many of which we had the time to either unveil or develop through 2014. That meant expanded coverage of in-house counsel and continuing to build out the title’s online platform, both its website and iPad edition, which is freely available to subscribing law firms. More than 30,000 people also get our email briefing, which is sent out at least four times a week. This push has had a dramatic impact on our online readership, increasing our daily audience ten-fold since we re-launched the site in April 2013. I’m expecting to build on that substantially again in 2015.
In the meantime, I’m signing off with a look back at our favourite pieces and projects of the year.
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The Friday Edit: Nostalgia, greed and DLA – celebrating 25 years of Legal Business and other animals
With Legal Business gearing up for its Christmas lunch, it’s once again time to look back on the notable events of the week – and 25 years in this case – with The Friday Edit, our informal take on current legal happenings. For subscriber content, click here for full access to Legal Business or email ‘mark.proudley@legalease.co.uk’ for more information. Corporate subscribers can also access our premium reporting firm-wide online and via our iPad edition as well as print copies.