Katy is The Lawyer’s Horizon editor. Returning to The Lawyer after a three-year break in 2020, Katy initially covered litigation and the Bar and was the publication’s senior writer between 2014 and 2017.
Few UK start-up firms have experienced the same meteoric rise as Knights. Its position as a mid-tier disruptor and consolidator has been largely unchallenged, helping it to lift revenue by a market-topping 185 per cent over the last five years. With so many sub £50m firms contending with the twin issues of a cashflow crunch […]
Mid-market firms have been forced to re-evaluate their hiring strategies in the face of greater competition for partners. With lawyers more likely than ever before to switch firms, these firms have to move fast to secure the right talent, and one handy way to achieve that is to recruit from outside the partnership. Where first-time […]
At times, Clyde & Co appeared dangerously close to squandering the growth opportunities presented by its July 2022 acquisition of BLM. The firm’s most recent financials, however, suggest BLM was the fuel Clydes needed to grow in the UK. Not that it has been without casualties, with a significant proportion of former BLM partners having […]
When Stephenson Harwood chief executive Eifion Morris set a target for doubling revenue to £400m by 2027, he knew it would be a tough challenge. “A profitable growth strategy will probably take more than individual lateral joiners and internal promotions to achieve,” he told The Lawyer back in 2021. This protective view came as the […]
The annual promotions round is a calendar highlight for many firms, but, for a growing number of junior lawyers, joining the partnership is no longer a career high. A recent LexisNexis report, Disloyal lawyers: has the partner track lost its lustre?, found a quarter of associates do not want to make partner in their current […]
Osborne Clarke has awarded its UK staff and lawyers a 5 per cent profit share bonus following a record financial year. It has been a strong year for Osborne Clarke with UK revenue up 11 per cent from £217.3m to £240.5m. International revenue, meanwhile, was up 19 per cent from €442m to €525m. An increased […]
Dentons may have already found its next generation of leaders, even if the hunt for its next global chief executive is taking an age. The development of the firm’s first shadow executive shows Dentons is keen to forge closer ties between management and the junior ranks. It is a fundamental recognition that Gen Z and […]
The transformation of Addleshaw Goddard over the last decade from lagging mid-tier wannabe to mid-market pioneer shows a firm bristling with confidence and vigour. The revival of the mid-tier firm has not happened by luck, it has required strong leadership, a united partnership culture and a dose of entrepreneurial spirit. Addleshaw Goddard is leading a […]
TLT’s expansion into Birmingham provides a textbook example of how to quickly build critical mass in a new city, while at the same time upsetting the local competition. The target for TLT in Birmingham has been Shoosmiths, a local stalwart that back in 2021 shifted its attention to London. Shoosmiths has made 44 hires in […]
“Partners want to maintain the partnership as a ‘special’ thing, and that is their right as owners of the business. However, you’ve got to be careful that it doesn’t become some sort of exclusive club – that only alienates people.” This is the sentiment of one UK managing partner who’s concerned that some associates are […]
Deloitte Legal likes to make a lot of noise about its dabbling in the legal sphere. The 2020 acquisition of Kemp Little was proclaimed as “ground-breaking” by the auditing giant. More recently, the 2023 hire of a four-partner real estate team from Shoosmiths suggested a significant gearshift in its legal operations. Pre-pandemic, such a move […]
Any firm that has occupied the national scene will know that the multiple office network can be politically charged. Management might talk about ‘one firm, one culture’, but most lawyers are aware of a pecking order with London in lead position. The annual promotions season provides a snapshot of how firms are prioritising those networks, […]