Archived Event Details
Legal Week Independent Law Firms Forum
- Event details |
- Programme |
- Sponsors |
- Date Description:
- 23 April 2008
- Venue:
- Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel, London
- Sponsors:
- Acritas, Beiten Burkhardt, Brodies, Sponsorship Opportunities
Independent law firms entered 2008 in a bullish mood. A survey of 80 European firms, published by Legal Week in November, found 98% of the respondents planning to grow this year. A significant majority (60%) also predicted that the market share of independent firms would increase in their home jurisdictions. Firms across the Continent revealed plans to open new departments in practice areas ranging from project finance, to energy, to business crime.
It is a picture of health that gives the lie to predictions at the turn of the century that independent firms would be swept aside by their international rivals. Several factors have worked in favour of the independent firms. Conflicts of interest mean there will always be a limit to the number of clients that the leading multi-office international firms can chase, while the geographical footprint of these firms has not been as large as some have predicted: independent firms continue to prosper in regions as distinct as Central and Eastern Europe, Italy and South Africa.
For their own part, many of the most successful independents have made a conscious effort to learn from their international rivals by adapting their management practices for their own ends.
In recognition of the achievements of this sector as well as the challenges ahead, Legal Week is delighted to present the inaugural Legal Week Independent Law Firms Forum.
Featuring speakers from many of the world’s leading independent firms across fifteen jurisdictions, this one-day conference is aimed at the sector’s most senior lawyers, providing them with an opportunity to share ideas, debate the major issues and network.
Topics to come under the microscope include recruitment and retention, training, cost control, marketing, expansion and succession planning.
But the forum will also look at the bigger picture, setting out to predict how the legal market will develop over the coming years and ask how independent firms must adapt in order to deliver on their confident predictions of growth for 2008 and beyond.
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