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‘Events, dear boy' will define the legal revolution

The question I'm probably most often asked these days by senior people in the profession is what I believe will happen when law firms are allowed to take external investment or utilise new business models. It's a timely debate in the month that Irwin ...

21 Apr 2011 | 12:24

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inner image Does school mean smart? – the profession should decide which side of the fence it sits on with social mobility

Having irritated a fair chunk of my senior contact-base by recently saying City law firms don't much care about diversity and social mobility, I wasn't planning to return so quickly to the subject, but this dog just won't stop barking. Only this we...

07 Apr 2011 | 14:56 | 16 comments

inner image Popham, Djanogly, Saul, Todd QC, Eisenberg, Glover, Moulton, Leydecker... we like to give young talent a chance

As Legal Week has a large events business, our editorial team is often asked for input on conference programmes, meaning suggested topics and speakers. This usually results in our conference producers having to put up with another mind-numbing speech ...

03 Mar 2011 | 17:21

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Lateral hiring – totally disastrous (except when it’s a roaring success)

It's the most common tool law firms reach for to upgrade their practice - a fact underlined by a Legal Week article yesterday that showed that 2010 was the most active year yet for US law firms hiring partners in the UK. And, yet, there is surprisingl...

25 Feb 2011 | 17:23 | 3 comments

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Blogging - can it help your legal career?

For many in the legal profession, blogging remains something of an alien concept, an attitude encapsulated by media lawyer David Allen Green last week when recalling the reaction of a partner to his suggestion that more lawyers should blog: "Some of u...

21 Feb 2011 | 13:53 | 16 comments

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Mind your own business – should clients be telling law firms how to run their shop?

A recent article on Legal Week about an adviser review at Deutsche Bank reminded me of a concept that has gained traction in recent years: the notion that clients should get actively involved in the business model and inner workings of their external ...

18 Feb 2011 | 17:52 | 5 comments

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Legal Week's blogroll - the five most-read and five tips to be the most read

Around the time of Alex Aldridge's blogging feature and Sofia Lind's complementary article on lawyers and social media in October last year, a worrying addiction to Twitter had begun to develop in Legal Week's sumptuous Soho offices. Much time spen...

16 Feb 2011 | 14:22

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The $10m question - how long can partner comp buck the global pay race?

Feeling light on inspiration, I'm indebted to The Wall Street Journal and Adam Smith, Esq for giving me something to get my teeth into with a prominent piece this week from The Journal. The article charts the dramatic increase in the size of pay packa...

11 Feb 2011 | 13:36 | 5 comments

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A&O’s hard facts of life

On one hand so bold, on the other, so familiar. Here we are two years on, with Allen & Overy (A&O) announcing another restructuring that borrows ideas from rivals - with booster rockets attached. Consider the history. In February 2009, A&O unveils ...

03 Feb 2011 | 13:14 | 14 comments

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Dismal in so many ways

No wonder they call it the dismal science. After a 2010 in which economists loudly fretted about double-dip recessions and imploding bond markets, the economy obliged by, er, growing robustly over the summer while buyers of government debt piled into ...

26 Jan 2011 | 15:17

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Five things... part II - the legal directories

In a recent blog about five delusions commonly shared by law firms, I was greeted by the unusual experience of readers agreeing with the points I made... with one exception. This was my claim that law firms shouldn't kid themselves that clients ignore...

21 Jan 2011 | 15:09 | 6 comments

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Locking out older partners? The least-defended minority in the Square Mile

Given the level of debate generated by law firms' treatment of gays, ethnic minorities and women, a neutral observer wandering into the Square Mile might wonder why there is so little comment on the deal dished out to older lawyers. After all, many...

14 Jan 2011 | 14:33 | 1 comment

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Five things law firms believe that usually aren't true

What better way of shaking off the holiday funk as you emerge blinking and overindulged (or flu-ridden in my case) into 2011 than a good old-fashioned list piece? It's a timeless standby for those moments when you're not yet back into the swing of thi...

05 Jan 2011 | 10:15 | 13 comments

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Oh come all ye bloggers... some new contributors for Legal Week

For me it started in a waiting room at Kingston Crown Court. Having been called up for jury service just before Christmas last year, I was forced to spend nine days in wintry February shuttling between a room that looked like a small airport departure...

14 Dec 2010 | 12:56 | 4 comments

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Does the global law model help or hinder the top-level adviser?

Can lawyers also be strategic advisers? It's the question that keeps on giving despite the huge changes in the profession over the last 20 years that have fostered a more commercial outlook. Yet while lawyers undoubtedly think of themselves more as bu...

07 Dec 2010 | 06:58

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