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.
“The Government is using HMRC as an attack dog,” says a senior accountant. “It looks like a stealth tax raid on the professions,” chimes another partnership lawyer. These partnership specialists have been fielding calls from panicked financial directors (FDs) because fixed-share partners (FSPs) might not qualify as self-employed in the eyes of HM Revenue & […]
The rush by firms to have their net zero targets verified by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) exemplifies a desire to have gold-plated climate pledges. Clarke Willmott became the latest firm to join the SBTi crew this week with its 2040 net zero plan. In setting the 2040 goal, it joins a climate conscious […]
A wave of cash calls could be triggered following guidance from HM Revenue & Customs on the tax status of fixed-share partners. Managing partners told The Lawyer that the new Salaried Members Rules Guidance, published just days before the Spring Budget, would cause “headaches” and “confusion” for firms already contending with basis period reforms. One […]
London may be the epicentre of the talent wars, but its reverberations are widely felt. Outside the capital, rates for newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers have rocketed. Mass hybrid working has heated the pot and the talent pools available to regional giants are no longer geographically constrained. At the same time, regional firms know that they must […]
Welcome to The Hearing, your weekly insider’s guide to the UK litigation market. This week, a litigation funding special. After the UK Government announced (again) its intention to overturn the Supreme Court’s July decision on litigation funding in PACCAR, we look at why funders are not totally thrilled about the announcement. Plus, why are some […]
Imagine the scene: interest rates are rising with inflation running at 10 per cent, hiring talent to meet an unanticipated demand boom is costlier than ever, and your ringfenced budget for new trainees has tripled in the last few years. At the same time, HM Revenue and Customs is overhauling how your equity partners – […]
Staying relevant is an unrelenting pressure among the mid-tier firms. Sustained growth is the preferred method for easing that pressure; the method for achieving growth, however, varies. For an example of how that looks in practice, look at the rising revenues being produced by the West Country duo, Foot Anstey and Clarke Willmott. This pair […]
Disputes lawyers are back in fashion, yet being a litigator can hinder a lawyer’s partnership prospects. Corporate lawyers are more likely to switch firms than their litigator friends, and they are rewarded for that by being made up to partner at a much faster rate, analysis from The Lawyer Practice Analysis shows. The snapshot view […]
Top of the priority list for Pinsent Masons’ new managing partner, Laura Cameron, will be a plan to reinvigorate growth. Last year’s firmwide revenue rise of 14 per cent disguises a longer-term growth malaise that is eroding the UK partnership ranks. Pinsents is facing a competition squeeze from peers that are ramping up international growth […]
A new era of investment and growth is underway at Foot Anstey. But the biggest hurdle for the south west firm to overcome is itself.
Utilising debt to finance growth is an uneasy concept for the legal profession. The booming cash reserves of the last year have done little to assuage this; lawyers would prefer firms use that money to make investments rather than take it from a lender. Bucking the trend here is a Top 30 duo that has […]
Appetite for generative AI tools that manage menial, yet important, tasks has risen rapidly, with new data showing that adoption rates have doubled in the last six months. But it isn’t just private practice lawyers who are embracing the latest tech explosion, clients are too. There’s no denying that, while appetite is high, law still […]