Alex Novarese

April 27, 2010 | International Edition

It seems the legal profession faces what will in policy terms be by far the most significant general election since 1997 like much of the general public: confused about which way to go. For once, that is not because the election will be of little relevance to the hardened City lawyer; it is a long time since an election campaign has been so heavily focused on issues directly affecting the Square Mile.

By Alex Novarese

24 minute read

April 21, 2010 | International Edition

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.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

April 15, 2010 | International Edition

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.)

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

April 14, 2010 | International Edition

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.)

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

March 30, 2010 | International Edition

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.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

March 26, 2010 | International Edition

For many City firms, terms like size and shape mean getting smaller. In Ashurst's case, as this week's analysis makes clear, the business has been genuinely refashioned over the last two years. So while around 30 partners have been managed out through two rounds over the last 16 months, no less than 26 have joined the firm. The expansion is directly linked to Ashurst's desire to build its international practice, which until recently contributed only a third of the firm's revenues, almost all of which came from Europe. The firm can now point to a sizeable US business and rapid expansion in Hong Kong and Singapore.

By Alex Novarese

4 minute read

March 24, 2010 | International Edition

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.

By Alex Novarese

4 minute read

March 24, 2010 | International Edition

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.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

March 17, 2010 | International Edition

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.

By Alex Novarese

3 minute read

March 15, 2010 | International Edition

Having personally failed to find much evidence that Linklaters will face more than the flakiest class action litigation for its walk-on role in the Lehman Brothers collapse, I'm instead returning to the theme of a recent leader, which argued that many law firms don't have a strategy but pretend they do. So, in no particular order, I've come up with the following handy elements for the 'doesn't suck' strategy:

By Alex Novarese

4 minute read