Law Firm Management

Information overload

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | August 8, 2007

Information overload is a problem for all of us: too many emails, too much data, too many magazine articles to read. Sorting the wheat from the chaff is a major challenge. And if lawyers are to focus on the right information, a lot of the sorting has to be done for them. How can firms approach this challenge?

1 minute read

Creative coaching

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | August 1, 2007

There are good clients and better clients. This is a situation most law firms will recognise - the better ones are profitable. Yet how do you work out which clients are valuable to the firm? And how true is the accepted premise that you should nurture small clients because they grow into substantial fee generators and pay back the initial investment you make in them?

1 minute read

Merger mechanics

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | July 25, 2007

Over the past five years there have been significant developments within the legal services sector in the major global offshore jurisdictions, in particular the creation of multi-jurisdictional offshore law firms representing a dramatic change from the traditional offshore law firm model.

1 minute read

Professional Development: The learning zone

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | July 25, 2007

A recent Legal Week roundtable, in association with LexisNexis, addressed the crucial issue of professional development and how law firms with modern, effective training structures can steal a march on their rivals in the war for talent. Scott Appleton reports

1 minute read

Financial Management: Building the future

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | July 18, 2007

In helping many law firms win and retain business during the past 10 years, practice areas such as litigation have told us they are finding it increasingly difficult to predict where their next instructions are coming from. Changes such as the Woolf reforms are affecting the size of their market and the potential it offers. Some lawyers even contend that the nature of their work means they can only react to their market. We disagree.

1 minute read

Financial Management: The right measure

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | July 18, 2007

The recent debate among managing partners about whether law firms should be focusing on wider issues than profits per equity partner (PEP) has highlighted the question of what really drives firms forward and whether robust financials are, in isolation, a good indicator of a firm's long-term health.

1 minute read

Staying power

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | July 18, 2007

A recent report by the Law Society, The Great 'Quality of Life' Debate: Best Practice in Staff Retention and Job Satisfaction revealed several worrying trends with two in particular highlighted. Of the firms surveyed, 73% said there were problems with employee retention and 58% identified problems with employee engagement. These are significant and concerning findings.

1 minute read

The backup plan

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | July 18, 2007

Family law specialists 29 Bedford Row recently took the unusual step (for a barristers' chambers) of outsourcing its whole IT support and disaster recovery solution. Will more chambers follow suit in the attempt to ditch the 'quill and ink' image that so many outside the profession believe still persists?

1 minute read

Plan of action

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | July 18, 2007

A law firm with offices in London and the West Country recently experienced a power blackout at 4pm as a result of a failure at an electrical sub-station. At that very time, the firm was on the brink of closing a film business deal worth close to £20m. Fortunately, the firm was able to implement its contingency plans, work around the blackout and close the deal, even though it was nearly two days before power was restored.

1 minute read

Lateral thinking

By a:1:{i:0;s:1:" ";} | July 11, 2007

A recruiting law firm can face more than it bargained for when making a lateral hire. A recent House of Lords decision clarifies how economic torts can be used to hold a recruiting firm liable in damages to the lateral hire's original firm. The recruiting firm has deeper pockets than the lateral so is often included in any claim.

1 minute read

The American Lawyer

The Four Types of Firms Vying For the Top Work and Who Will Win Out

By Brad Hildebrandt and Tony Williams | March 9, 2018

Law firm consultants Brad Hildebrandt and Tony Williams have identified four types of firms competing for the global work that keeps firms the busiest, and they identify which models are working and which have staying power.

1 minute read

Law.com

Pulling the Occasional 'All-Nighter,' Sidley Austin's Heidi Levine Is a Legal Machine

By Leigh Jones | March 9, 2018

"I keep my calendar up-to-date every day. If it's not on my calendar, it doesn't exist in my life."

1 minute read

New York Law Journal

Dismissal, Sanctions Upheld in Ex-Allen & Overy Lawyer's Sexual Harassment Suit Against Firm

By Jason Grant | March 9, 2018

The lawsuit brought by Deidre Holmes Clark, once a senior attorney at the firm's Moscow office, was thrown out after she repeatedly refused to submit to a court-ordered psychological exam.

1 minute read

The American Lawyer

Berwin Leighton Managing Partner Lisa Mayhew on the Value of Diversity

By Major, Lindsey & Africa | March 8, 2018

She opens up about gender targets and how diversity of thought improves a firm's decision-making.

1 minute read

The American Lawyer

Polsinelli Posts Positive Financials and an Increased Head Count

By Scott Flaherty | March 8, 2018

The growing firm saw some of its lateral hiring pay off in 2017, when it posted positive financial metrics across the board.

1 minute read

Pro Mid Market

Sandberg Phoenix MP Says Project Management, Collaboration and Commoditization All Factors in Firm's Future

By Lizzy McLellan | March 8, 2018

Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C. is a Midwest law headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri with offices in Kansas City, Missouri and Southern Illinois.

1 minute read

Texas Lawyer

One-Third of Texas Law Firm Leaders Say They Are Open to Merger Talks

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys | March 8, 2018

A new survey finds that 82 percent of Texas law firm leaders have been approached over the last year about a potential combination, and 32 percent say they are open to considering it.

1 minute read

International Edition

Transatlantic Legal Awards 2018 launch with call for entries

By Legal Week | March 8, 2018

Submissions deadline of 9 April; awards to take place in London on 14 June

1 minute read

International Edition

'All men have a role to play' – how firms are engaging male lawyers to drive real change for women in law

By Anna Ward | March 8, 2018

How firms are engaging male lawyers to drive real change for women in law

1 minute read

The American Lawyer

Stephenson Harwood CEO Sharon White on Bonding With Clients

By Major, Lindsey & Africa | March 7, 2018

The firm leader opens up about retaining your personality and the importance for women of seeing other women in senior roles.

1 minute read