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International Edition

Law firm management: The hard sell

"A consultant is a man who asks you for your watch and then tells you the time with it." Probably one of the more polite descriptions by one managing partner of the band of consultants circling law firms as the recession batters a profession that had grown used to unbroken growth. Though the legal sector has not been a major target for the consultancy industry until very recently, there are an increasing number of widely varying consultants aiming to advise firms on everything from marketing, client relationship management, IT general strategy and everything inbetween.
14 minute read

International Edition

DLA makes new round of layoffs in Middle East as market slumps

DLA Piper has made a new round of job cuts in the Middle East, with the firm set to make another 9% of staff in the region redundant in response to the continued deterioration in the markets. The latest round of cuts, which follow a review of the business, equate to seven lawyers and 10 support staff losing their jobs with effect from Monday (7 December). The firm did not provide a breakdown of the job losses but said the majority of the layoffs were in Dubai and affected the construction, real estate, project finance and development projects teams.
2 minute read

International Edition

CMS Moscow cuts 30 jobs in Russian capital in second round of layoffs

CMS Moscow has laid off 30 members of staff, including 10 fee earners, in a redundancy round which closed last week (27 November). News of the latest cuts comes as it emerges that the Moscow office has cut a total of 29 fee earner positions and 32 support staff roles throughout 2009, combining the current job losses with a previous round which closed in June.
3 minute read

International Edition

CC set to make more City layoffs as capital markets team faces cutbacks

Clifford Chance (CC) has made another round of job cuts in London, with eight fee earners set to be laid off, Legal Week can reveal. The redundancies will affect eight lawyers in the firm's City capital markets practice. The firm has stated that no other offices or practice areas will be affected. The process, which started earlier this week, will see affected fee earners consulted with on an individual basis. All of the redundancies are compulsory.
2 minute read

International Edition

Law firm management: Consulting 2.0

Deloitte's David Hawley assesses how consultants can offer more to lawyers than rising blood pressure and an overdose of PowerPoint
5 minute read

International Edition

Editor's comment: Blue sky shrinking

For a breed supposedly shy of all things management-related, law firms have become rapid converts to the joys of leadership training. Doubtless that has something to do with the fact that the courses are relatively short and usually give partners a chance to get away from the office (as any teacher can tell you, getting students in a receptive mood goes a long way towards successful schooling).
3 minute read

International Edition

Law firm management: The capital question

Nearly every law firm today is organised as a private partnership, or something similar. In most countries this is required by laws that prohibit law firms from having external shareholders on a public or private basis. The fundamental reason for this is, because law is a profession, lawyers have an obligation to put their clients' interests ahead of their economic self-interest. Of course, legal work must be properly compensated to ensure a return to the firm and short-term economic sacrifices in serving a client can have large longer-term benefits in terms of future work because of the client loyalty that is generated. Having external shareholders, the argument goes, creates a potential conflict of interest between clients' needs and shareholders' needs. However, external shareholders can provide capital for growth. Since this has historically not been available in the legal profession, the industry is highly fragmented and comprised of a large number of relatively small firms in every country. And there are only a handful of practices - Clifford Chance, DLA Piper and Linklaters - that come close to being global law firms.
5 minute read

International Edition

Law firm management: Learning to lead

Harvard started a revolution in leadership training for law firms in the 1990s. Alex Aldridge and Alex Novarese tell the story and assess what management training can offer
26 minute read

International Edition

Mishcons finalises redundancy consultation with 16 staff laid off

Mishcon de Reya has completed its second redundancy consultation with 16 people losing their jobs. The consultation, which concluded in July, has seen eight support staff lose their jobs alongside eight fee earners in the firm's corporate and real estate groups. No salaried partners were affected by the redundancies.
2 minute read

International Edition

Removing the human interference

Do you want to know how your customer relationship management (CRM) database could do much of your marketing admin for you, as well as automatically ensure you target the right people with the right information at the right time and in the right way? Let's take a look at one contact in your CRM database. James is a good contact - he is in a position to instruct your firm, so he's someone you communicate with regularly.
5 minute read

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