Opinion
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Editor's comment: ...with a small 'c'
By Alex Novarese | April 28, 2010
Given that the current Parliament seemed, even at its start, focused on when it would finish, it's understandable that there has been a sense of weariness regarding next month's election - one that has certainly been shared by the legal community. Yet by any objective yardstick - and particularly from the perspective of City professionals - the general election will be one of the most important the country has faced in the last 30 years.
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How you look at it - partners and associates see the future differently
By Alex Novarese | April 21, 2010
There's much talk of the future of the legal profession these days, but it seems that the majority of lawyers working in the commercial sector - meaning the associates - see things rather differently to partners whose views are better-aired. That seems to be the central finding of a new report from Legal Week Intelligence on the future of the profession, which suggests that associates in some cases have grappled more fundamentally with what seismic changes to the profession would mean. In contrast, there is a trend for partners to view what law may look like in 2015 or 2020 through the prism of partner profits - meaning how the business can be reshaped so they'll still get to earn as much and have as much control.
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Editor's comment: What the kids know
By Alex Novarese | April 15, 2010
A few weeks back, when writing about the storm in the teacup that accompanied the Superbrands rankings, I argued law firms have wider brands that reflect the general awareness of their business, which can be very different to the views of those with direct dealings with the firm. To follow up on that point, probably one of the best benchmarks any law firm can get of that wider brand is how students see them. After all, it is widely acknowledged that students, while being considerably more clued up than earlier generations about the bruising realities of commercial practice, still find it very hard to distinguish between individual law firms. (You can't hold that against them, since many clients have the same problem.)
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What the kids know - some brands reach students, some don't
By Alex Novarese | April 14, 2010
A few weeks back, when writing about the storm in the teacup that accompanied the Superbrands rankings, I argued law firms have wider brands that reflect the general awareness of their business, which can be very different to the views of those with direct dealings with the firm. To follow up on that point, probably one of the best benchmarks any law firm can get of that wider brand is how students see them. After all, it is widely acknowledged that students, while being considerably more clued up than earlier generations about the bruising realities of commercial practice, still find it very hard to distinguish between individual law firms. (You can't hold that against them, since many clients have the same problem.)
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Editor's comment: The grate debate
By Alex Novarese | March 30, 2010
At a recent Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) briefing, one official asked me how the body could get more engagement when consulting on policy. It's a question I've been asked before by regulators and representative bodies and I gave the official the same answer: do less consultations - a lot less. The other answer I could have given would have been to look at the wording of all documents you issue and make a drastic effort to turn your words into plain English. Not that I'm singling out the SRA - this excess of convoluted consultation has been symptomatic of Whitehall, local authorities and all manner of quangos and regulators for years. Until recently this trend had yet to fully take hold of the legal profession but the jostling ahead of the Legal Services Act changed all that. Legal bodies now issue a dizzying number of consultations, in many cases attracting derisory response levels as diminishing returns kick in.
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What really props up charge-out rates
By Alex Novarese | March 24, 2010
Will the post-recession world of the New Normal cause long-term change in the pricing of high-end transactional legal services? Or, put more directly, does it mean that the sharp rises in the level of fees charged by M&A and banking lawyers in the two decades running up to the credit crunch will now halt or reverse? There is certainly no shortage of theorists and consultants arguing just that, with varying degrees of credibility.
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Legal Week Law - it's a client thing
By Alex Novarese | March 24, 2010
This week sees an important launch for our title in the shape of Legal Week Law, a searchable online database of legal briefings targeted specifically at clients. The concept appeals to me for a number of reasons. For one, it chimes with the direction we have sought to take the magazine in recent years: providing more of the kind of balanced and in-depth content that decision-makers at law firms and clients can rely on. The kind of reporting we aspire to do should be a business tool for our audience as much as quality journalism. As such, it seems natural for us to build our core media operation to provide more tools to help readers make informed decisions about their careers or run their businesses. In this context, Legal Week Law will hopefully earn a place alongside our growing research and events businesses.
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Editor's comment: A drug problem
By Alex Novarese | March 17, 2010
You only have to glance at an industry going through real structural change to see how hollow are the claims repeatedly made for the 'revolution' hitting the legal services market. Take the drugs business, which is chronicled in this month's in depth feature, for instance. The market that allowed large Western pharmaceutical companies to sustain heavy investment in research and development (R&D), leading to lucrative, high-margin products, is under intense pressure on a number of fronts.
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Editor's comment: Gameplan needed
By Alex Novarese | March 10, 2010
Law firms don't generally have strategies. This basic point often gets lost in the commentary about the legal industry. What firms in many cases actually do is what they want to and then rationalise that as strategy. To a certain extent this course will be shifted by the client and labour markets and the fashionable business ideas of the day. But the pedestrian on this path will basically head where he wants to go, at least until he runs out of road or the conditions render the path impassable.
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Editor's comment: Branded, good and bad
By Alex Novarese | March 3, 2010
'Eversheds and Superbrands - really? I mean, really?' The email I received last week from an acquaintance on another publication summed up the mood of dismissive ire that greeted the news that Eversheds outranked the entire magic circle in the annual Superbrands poll.
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