The likelihood of Clifford Chance’s (CC) next senior partner being based outside London has surged after the first round of voting.
UK-based insurance head Katherine Coates and former capital markets chief David Dunnigan have dropped out of the race to become Malcom Sweeting’s successor at CC, after none of the five candidates secured more than 50% of votes in the first round. Continue reading “Two European candidates remain as CC’s senior partner contest goes down to three”
A number of contacts have been telling me of late that Legal Business is gaining a reputation for being ultra-bearish on the Magic Circle. So entrenched is this view becoming that one Freshfields partner has apparently taken to claiming to colleagues that LB is talking down the Magic Circle in favour of US players because recruiters tell us to.
For the record, we have a church-and-state divide here and if any commercial partner wants to try to dictate our editorial line, I’d say: ‘Give it a try… and see what happens.’ But, more to the point, such comments misconstrue the basis on which we critique top City firms. London leaders have been a huge success story for corporate Britain – one that has failed to get the credit it was due in business circles. And, as a born Londoner, in as much as I get attached to law firms, there is an instinctive leaning towards wanting the local boys to do good. In short, we are not pointing out City leaders have faltered to revel in that failure. It is to make constructive arguments about what must be addressed if they are to renew themselves. We come not to bury the Magic Circle but to save it. Continue reading “Comment: We come not to bury the Magic Circle but to save it”
In a busy week for the legal watchdog, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced it is postponing the implementation of its new centralised assessment, dubbed the ‘super-exam’, until September 2021.
The new Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) was originally slated for a 2020 launch, but the SRA has postponed plans after law firms and education providers indicated a ‘strong preference’ for a delay. Continue reading “SRA defers super exam until 2021 as costs of new assessment revealed”
In a significant easing of practice rules, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has approved divisive plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to allow solicitors from unregulated businesses to offer unreserved legal services.
Crucially, permitting solicitors outside of the SRA control to offer services means consumers could have no guarantees on insurance pay outs or compensation. Continue reading “‘A giant opening for competitive forces’ – Controversial SRA handbook overhaul given green light as Passmore steps down”
The Law Society has called for uniformity in law firms’ gender pay gap reporting in a bid to ‘get ahead of the curve’ of what has proven a sluggish pace in tackling gender pay disparities.
The Law Society’s recommendations for a common set of standards were published as part of a guidance document today (6 November), with the standout focus being on how partner remuneration is included in gender pay gap reporting. Continue reading “Law Society pushes firms for increased transparency on partner pay gaps”
Consider this a call to arms or an acknowledgement that I can use all the help I can get but our team has begun turning its mind to the next Enterprise GC summit, the flagship in-house event from our parent company Legalease. It is, and has been, a group effort spanning teams across The Legal 500 and GC magazine, but this year a little more of the initial work on the conference agenda is falling to the Legal Business editorial team than in the previous three years of the event and we do not want to let the side down.
My hope is that we build on a successful event because there is no point bothering with a two-day residential GC get-together if you do not put your shoulder to the wheel, given the number of such events these days. Continue reading “Enterprise GC 2019 – Our flagship in-house event returns bigger, better and with a lot more bluechip GCs”
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has condemned a Government plan to mutually recognise international legal qualifications as part of post-Brexit trade deals.
The Department for International Trade had opened consultations on its tactics for free trade agreements (FTAs) with Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Continue reading “SRA shoots down Government plans for post-Brexit mutual recognition of legal qualifications”
There were a number of lateral hires in the London last week, with Stephenson Harwood, Ropes & Gray and Osborne Clarke all strengthening their City benches. Meanwhile internationally HFW bucked the recent trend of downsizing in the Middle East with a senior hire from Bird & Bird.
Stephenson Harwood’s hire came in its energy group as the firm secured partner Marc Hammerson from Akin Gump. Hammerson returns to Stephenson Harwood having been a partner at the firm between 2006 and 2011, bringing back his experience in advising on upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas and infrastructure projects. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Stephenson Harwood and Ropes make moves in a busy City recruitment round as HFW expands in Abu Dhabi”
I used to believe the UK legal profession was more imaginative than it got credit for – now I find with an increasingly jaded eye what fresh thinking there is has become stretched ludicrously thin. The vast majority of technology and new models are deployed to make the existing law firm a little more efficient to defensively preserve partner profits.
On one level, you can salute the hard-headed focus on margin. On the another, there are increasingly ominous questions about what worship of margin above other considerations will do to the legal industry at a time of structural pressure. You do not have to be devotees of Peter Drucker or Clayton Christensen to believe that aspiring to run law firms on 50%-plus margins creates a huge amount of competitive space for new entrants to operate and forge potent beachheads. It seems highly debatable that the legal industry will over the next 10 to 20 years sustain large swathes of providers operating on such fat returns. Continue reading “Comment: The great distraction – The innovation bandwagon has hobbled law’s market forces”
Linklaters has bolstered its technology clout with the hire of Ashurst’s well-regarded head of global IT, Bruna Pellicci.
Pellicci becomes the Magic Circle firm’s chief technology officer (CTO) after more than 11 years at Ashurst, five of which were as the firm’s global IT director. Continue reading “Linklaters finishes tech jigsaw with hire of Ashurst’s global IT head”
In another stark example of the disparity in the treatment of men and women within City law, Macfarlanes has revealed an average gender pay gap of 55% at partner level.
On a median income basis, the gap between the firm’s male and female partners is even higher: a stark 73%. A key factor making this gulf so pronounced is the feeble female representation in its partnership ranks: in the 2017/18 financial year just 12 of Macfarlanes’ 85 partners were female. Continue reading “Macfarlanes holds hands up to significant gender pay gap at partner level”
