Alex Novarese

December 14, 2010 | International Edition

For me it started in a waiting room at Kingston Crown Court. Having been called up for jury service just before Christmas last year, I was forced to spend nine days in wintry February shuttling between a room that looked like a small airport departure lounge and a courtroom. I know a lot of people see the idea of jury service as fascinating, but personally I found being lawfully detained at Her Majesty's pleasure as a captive audience for a bunch of lawyers about as welcome as a root canal procedure. The court stuff is fine, but all that hanging around...

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

December 07, 2010 | International Edition

Earlier this week, a consultant I know pretty well took me to task for arguing recently that clients are, despite often complaining about law firms, largely failing to push through change in the legal industry. But I stand by the case that I made then: much of the current innovation is coming from law firms looking to gain an edge on their rivals rather than being forced through by clients.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

December 06, 2010 | International Edition

There are things you can tell from a numerical grade, but there's a limit. But if it's numbers you want, the 2010 Client Satisfaction Report from our independent research arm Legal Week Intelligence (LWI) certainly delivers. This year 1,265 senior clients at major companies participated in the report, the largest ever, including 71% of the FTSE 100. There are rankings for 71 major law firms.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

December 01, 2010 | International Edition

Sometimes law firms make it hard for themselves. Take Ashurst, which has been looking well off its game for over a year now without an obvious cause for its malaise. The firm argues that there is nothing wrong with its strategy or performance relative to its peer group –and it is largely right. Likewise, its belief that it belongs in a club of premium, internationally-credible firms alongside Herbert Smith and a dozen or so US practices - and that this will be a good place to be as the market evolves - is broadly correct, even if Ashurst will have hustle over the coming years to remain in that select company.

By Alex Novarese

4 minute read

November 26, 2010 | International Edition

I had meant to take on something a bit less dry today, but here I am again on the scintillating subject of law firm mergers structured with Swiss vereins, or, if you strip away the jargon, unions that maintain separate profit pools. Thank you, Norton Rose. The first observation to make regarding the debate on the City firm's tie-up with Canada's Ogilvy Renault and South Africa's Deneys Reitz is how polarised the arguments are on both sides. Indeed, the same points have been deployed with the rash of other deals that have fallen short of full financial integration.

By Alex Novarese

4 minute read

November 23, 2010 | International Edition

It's far too easy to ridicule the Bar's attempts at modernisation, but I usually don't let that stop me. So it's personally disappointing that the Bar Council, under Nicholas Green QC, has moved to ditch the cosmetic attempts at flogging Brand Bar in favour of something far more substantive. The focal point of this was the blueprint Green unveiled in June in a wide-ranging report, The Future of the Bar. Don't let the title put you off - the 85-page report lives up to it in scope and ambition. The vision Green puts forward is relatively simple. The publicly-funded branch of the Bar is set to contract, alternative business models are needed to complement (but not replace) chambers and barristers must be ready to hugely expand their efforts to advise clients directly.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

November 18, 2010 | International Edition

While I'd personally be quite happy to run an awards ceremony that saw Legal Week hand out prizes to our mates in smoke-filled, bribe-strewn rooms, wiser counsel has prevailed in recent years meaning the British Legal Awards has had the benefit of an independent judging panel, drawn up largely of senior clients. However, one of the main areas in which Legal Week's editorial team is involved in the awards is in drawing up the shortlist for the Firm of the Year award. So, in this spirit of regrettable transparency, the following blog is an edited version of the notes we'll be providing to the judges to help them make their decision, including why the firms were shortlisted.

By Alex Novarese

6 minute read

November 16, 2010 | International Edition

Back in June 2009, in the wake of news that Norton Rose was set to take over mid-tier Australian firm Deacons, Legal Week noted the wall of negativity that greeted the City stalwart's trip down under. Gauging the feedback following Norton Rose's dual takeover of Canada's Ogilvy Renault and leading South African practice Deneys Reitz reveals an interesting shift - while there is plenty of sniping, there is now more grudging admiration and some of the doubters seem to be rather going through the motions.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

November 12, 2010 | International Edition

"The talks [between SJ Berwin and Proskauer Rose] remain at a relatively early stage but with the UK firm's strategy becoming increasingly public, neither party is expected to needlessly draw the process out." That line from a blog in May certainly isn't going to go down as one of my more astute predictions because, of course, the pair did go on to draw the process out, before today (12 November) announcing the end of the protracted merger discussions.

By Alex Novarese

4 minute read

November 09, 2010 | International Edition

It's a depressing week for doom-mongers because the first indications on the half-year results for 2010-11 are pretty clear: business is picking up pace for commercial law firms. Earlier research from Deloitte had already shown that fee income was up 5% annually in the first quarter of the current financial year, though that came against a weak previous quarter. In contrast, the full half-year included the second quarter of 2009-10 as a comparison point, which was the first period in which many firms began to see signs of modest recovery after a prolonged battering in the wake of the banking crisis that gripped the markets in late 2008.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read