Global 100: a little bit of life before Lehman returns. But only a little

For all the improving signs, glancing at our annual Global 100 report shows headline performance largely comparable with 2013. The group increased billings by 4% to $88.63bn, a rise of 4% and the same growth rate achieved in 2013.

As with last year, the result was flattered by several large mergers – but top 100 firms have in contrast this year kept a tighter grip on headcount.

As such, firms have seen a 2% rise in revenue per lawyer – tracking just behind inflation, while profit per equity partner is up 7%. For all the talk of giving clients value, top law firms remain intensely focused on margins.

Continue reading “Global 100: a little bit of life before Lehman returns. But only a little”

Comment: Partner recruitment – better but still a case of buyer beware

If the oxymoronic notion of partner recruitment didn’t exist who would invent it? On one level, of course, its emergence in the legal profession was inevitable given wider changes in careers and attitudes to work. Without some form of partner mobility law firms would become inflexibly segmented and partners effectively bound to a single employer. Continue reading “Comment: Partner recruitment – better but still a case of buyer beware”

Partner recruitment: buyer beware

If the oxymoronic notion of partner recruitment didn’t exist who would invent it? On one level, of course, its emergence in the legal profession was inevitable given wider changes in careers and attitudes to work. Without some form of partner mobility law firms would become inflexibly segmented and partners effectively bound to a single employer.

But, as has been noted with increasing frequency in recent years, the returns on partner recruitment can be wildly uneven and often deliver only moderate or poor benefits. The emergence over the last 15 years of a sideways recruitment market for so-so partners moving between similar law firms – as opposed to a start-up or better platform – is also a challenge for law firms in retaining their own partners. No wonder one prominent legal consultant recently wrote of the lateral ‘arms race’ – denoting a contest fraught with difficulty and danger that parties still feel they have no choice but to enter.

Continue reading “Partner recruitment: buyer beware”

A bit of hustle, a bit of love – GCs expect attention and pitching from advisers

In our focus on Nabarro this month the firm comes in for some criticism at the hands of an important client for its failure to engage, to make the client aware of its strategy, or simply to make the general counsel (GC) feel sufficient love.

While this is just one client and Nabarro could undoubtedly rustle up on the spot a dozen others that have a different take on their client service levels, this prestigious client legal head says: ‘I’ve spoken to other GCs about it and they have similar issues, it’s bewildering.’

Continue reading “A bit of hustle, a bit of love – GCs expect attention and pitching from advisers”

The last word – strategic recruitment

From disastrous due diligence to delusions of grandeur, leaders from LB100 firms and senior recruitment specialists give their take on making lateral hires work.

Bigger picture

‘Be patient and think long term. Moving firms isn’t easy for anyone. It never works out exactly how you’d planned it and the client market can shift significantly, but if the character fit, quality, strategic fit and business fit were right at the outset, then it should come good in the long term. In the meantime, the profit-sharing system needs the flexibility to accommodate this.  Continue reading “The last word – strategic recruitment”

Guest post: Pfizer’s placebo promises (why AstraZeneca may have been right to reject the ‘final’ takeover bid from Pfizer)

In front of the Commons Business committee last week, Ian Read, chairman and chief executive of Pfizer, made two points in relation to Pfizer’s commitments, assuming it were to succeed in acquiring the Anglo-Swedish drug manufacturer AstraZeneca. Continue reading “Guest post: Pfizer’s placebo promises (why AstraZeneca may have been right to reject the ‘final’ takeover bid from Pfizer)”

Guest post: Sorry tech apostles – law firms do get Twitter (that’s the whole problem)

People occasionally ask me if I tweet (I don’t) and what role I think Twitter has in law firm marketing (none).

I probably owe an explanation.

I believe Twitter has always been a niche service and always will be; it will never go mainstream in the way that (say) Facebook or LinkedIn has. Continue reading “Guest post: Sorry tech apostles – law firms do get Twitter (that’s the whole problem)”