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.
Even with current efforts to get people into the office, there can be no doubt that the pandemic upended working practice norms within the profession. One of the consequences of this is that for a growing number of associates, becoming a partner is not the career pinnacle it once was. Many simply don’t want to […]
“There are more questions than answers,” says managing partner John Joyce as Addleshaws prepares to spend big on the tech innovation.
For a growing number of firms, the route to profitable growth means becoming increasingly international. While law’s titans hunt for profits in the US, several mid-tier firms are busy bulking up across Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia. This is particularly true for firms with a passion for private wealth lawyers where competition for […]
To stick or twist: that is the decision for many partners when it comes to choosing law firm leaders. Inside the UK Top 50, most are likely to want a new senior partner after two terms, but there are firms that prefer a bit of continuity in their executive. Kennedys’ senior partner Nick Thomas, for […]
Hurrah for Hogan Lovells. At the 2021/22 year-end it was just shy of its target of having 30 per cent female representation in the partnership – 26 per cent to be exact. And guess what, it bettered that figure this year by – hold onto your hats – 0.5 per cent. We’re not saying that […]
Of the 191 law firm tie-ups in the UK last year, Clyde & Co’s takeover of the ailing BLM was the biggest. This deal was destined to be given the pricing pressures applied to the defendant insurance market by major clients in recent years. Clydes’ aim, at least in the UK, was to cement long-lasting […]
To understand where firms are betting their future, look to where they’re promoting. After the dearth of promotions during 2020 and 2021, the number of newly-anointed partners is rising again. The trend is visible across Europe, where several UK firms are starting to carve out strategies that outrightly declare that growth in the US is […]
It has been a period of upheaval for Stephenson Harwood partners under the tenure of chief executive Eifion Morris. Since he was elected in 2019, Morris has shuttered offices, refreshed the global leadership team and given lawyers a new strategy that, he pledges, will double revenue by 2028. But Morris knows targets and strategies alone […]
More than two-thirds of legal professionals have experienced mental health issues, and one in five have been bullied or harassed at work. This was the truth laid bare by LawCare back in 2021 after a snapshot survey of 1,700 legal professionals at the end of 2020 – the first pandemic year. A chief concern about […]
The hire of a global energy and infrastructure duo from Latham & Watkins by Clifford Chance last week is symbolic of a strategic divergence emerging between the UK firm and its US City peer. Coming after Clifford Chance (CC) opened in Houston, the arrival of partners Craig Nethercott in London and Chirag Sanghrajka in Dubai […]
The lower down The Lawyer UK200 rankings your firm sits, the more difficult it is to grow. The revenue gap between the Top 10 firms and those outside the Top 50 was £1.14bn in 2022/23, but all that separates the firm ranked 50th (Browne Jacobson) and 100th (Payne Hicks Beach) is £66m in revenue. It […]
A period of radical change has descended on the profession, with firms contending with a raft of organisational challenges. Major tax reforms are underway for the 2023/24 year, with many firms expected to issue cash calls to satisfy the income tax bills from HM Revenue & Customs. But this one-off hit is little compared with […]