The path to net zero: the legal sector’s blueprint for climate leadership and competitive advantage

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The path to net zero: the legal sector’s blueprint for climate leadership and competitive advantage

With a wave of environmental disclosure legislation on the horizon – CSRD, SECR, and many more – legal firms are filling a new niche: advising clients and organisations with sustainability compliance, greenwashing-proof marketing, and financial communications with new emissions line items. And more than ever, legal firms are recognising the need to implement their own carbon reporting and to build meaningful reduction plans.

This article will explore the main drivers and benefits of carbon emissions reduction in the legal sector, as well as the challenges organisations face and a path forward. Continue reading “The path to net zero: the legal sector’s blueprint for climate leadership and competitive advantage”

Guest post: Getting relationships right in-house

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Guest post: Getting relationships right in-house

Juliet Oliver, general counsel of the Solicitors Regulation Authority

A panelist at our recent conference for in-house solicitors compared the client-lawyer relationship to a romantic one. If private practice is a fling, working in-house is a marriage.

As someone who has worked both in-house and in private practice, I can say that both rely on the ability to build and maintain strong long-term relationships, balancing the need for familiarity with independence, trust with due inquiry. Continue reading “Guest post: Getting relationships right in-house”

International Women’s Day 2023 – ‘Don’t ever ask a female colleague a personal question you wouldn’t ask a man’

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International Women’s Day 2023 – ‘Don’t ever ask a female colleague a personal question you wouldn’t ask a man’

Addleshaw Goddard trainee solicitor Lucy Nock (pictured) talks to Legal Business about why the way women are spoken to in the industry must change to achieve genuine equality.

Picture the scene. Continue reading “International Women’s Day 2023 – ‘Don’t ever ask a female colleague a personal question you wouldn’t ask a man’”

Q&A with Investec: Banking for law firm partners in times of change

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Q&A with Investec: Banking for law firm partners in times of change

Making partner is a huge step up for any lawyer and it’s one that can have a major impact on your earning profile. Here, Private Banker Emily Bernstein and Financial Planning Lead Simon Bashorun from Investec talk about the unique challenges they could help you overcome.

Continue reading “Q&A with Investec: Banking for law firm partners in times of change”

Guest comment: The post-pandemic recruitment race

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Guest comment: The post-pandemic recruitment race

Nathan Peart, managing director at Major, Lindsey & Africa, says firms must become flexible or lose their best associates.

Without much choice, the legal industry got flexible last year. Even firms that snubbed working from home pre-pandemic had to get on board. Through the lens of recruitment, this has laid bare the realities of law firm life – without the fancy offices, wining and dining and team camaraderie, associates have reflected on the core of their job and what they get in return for mounting workloads and blurring lines between work and home. Many are questioning whether their firm is all it is cracked up to be. Continue reading “Guest comment: The post-pandemic recruitment race”

Guest comment: the global/local leadership conundrum

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Guest comment: the global/local leadership conundrum

Leading a professional firm with offices spread across multiple countries always creates a tension between global and local priorities. Professor Laura Empson and David Morley argue that what feels like a leadership challenge, is actually a deeper and very human struggle.

In our podcast –Leading Professional People – and in these blogs, we find ourselves frequently grappling with a timeless and very human paradox that sits right at the centre of what it means to lead a professional firm. Continue reading “Guest comment: the global/local leadership conundrum”

Guest comment: Whatever happened to the heroes?

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Guest comment: Whatever happened to the heroes?

Traditional leadership models suggest people hanker for a hero in time of crisis. That’s an unfamiliar and uncomfortable role for law firm leaders say Professor Laura Empson and David Morley

What do people look for in their leaders when crisis strikes – especially one as profoundly disconcerting, enduring and uncertain as the current Covid-19 pandemic? Continue reading “Guest comment: Whatever happened to the heroes?”

Talking sheds – A&O’s former chief on why the personal touch is critical in a crisis

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Talking sheds – A&O’s former chief on why the personal touch is critical in a crisis

In March last year – as the Covid-19 crisis gathered pace – I wrote in Legal Business that if you’re a leader when an emergency happens, you need to act like one. I added that, as the leader, you are also communicator-in-chief.

Talking to leaders over the last few months, it’s striking how acting like a leader has meant adapting their style as this crisis has rolled on. A more approachable, informal and open approach that connects more personally with their people has become key. Continue reading “Talking sheds – A&O’s former chief on why the personal touch is critical in a crisis”

Guest post: How should in-house counsel lead? It’s all about purpose

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Guest post: How should in-house counsel lead? It’s all about purpose

To be a leader as an in-house lawyer today is to be faced with a bewildering array of ideas, strategies and influences. Reports are written with grim regularity, it is impossible to read them all. Conferences are organised with grim regularity, it is impossible to attend them all. Consultants always have the next great idea with grim regularity, it is impossible to take a sharp stick and poke them all.

The quality of leadership in-house is nothing like as strong as the quality of the legal work our in-house lawyers do or the quality of the people who are the in-house counsel. Collectively we need to get better at leadership. Continue reading “Guest post: How should in-house counsel lead? It’s all about purpose”

Guest post: You’re masterful, Mr President: Standards of proof debate takes odd turn

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Guest post: You’re masterful, Mr President: Standards of proof debate takes odd turn

There are some interesting comments highlighted in a story on Legal Futures this month  by the president of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) regarding a BSB consultation.

‘The SDT will remain the master of its own destiny in this debate. Its membership will do what it believes to be right in a rational, informed, evidence-based manner. Continue reading “Guest post: You’re masterful, Mr President: Standards of proof debate takes odd turn”