Georgina Stanley

March 20, 2014 | International Edition

It's Budget week and one of the few certainties in life alongside death and taxes is that the general public share an unhealthy interest in how much other people earn.

By Georgina Stanley

1 minute read

February 27, 2014 | Legal Week

It isn't often that we would devote our leader column to changes at Legal Week itself, but this week is different. As you can see, this issue – whether you are reading the print or the iPad edition – marks the final step in our evolution from breaking news in the magazine. Our strategy has long been to direct our energy on breaking news online rather than in the pages of Legal Week, so the move to a picture front and a focus on comment and analysis is simply the last stage of this journey.

By Georgina Stanley

6 minute read

February 27, 2014 | International Edition

It isn't often that we would devote our leader column to changes at Legal Week itself, but this week is different. As you can see, this issue – whether you are reading the print or the iPad edition – marks the final step in our evolution from breaking news in the magazine. Our strategy has long been to direct our energy on breaking news online rather than in the pages of Legal Week, so the move to a picture front and a focus on comment and analysis is simply the last stage of this journey.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

February 13, 2014 | Legal Week

For a law firm leader, Wragge & Co senior partner Quentin Poole is very approachable. Neither colleagues nor rivals seem to have a bad word to say about him and, as the firm's long-awaited London merger draws closer, he has more reason than ever to be cheerful. Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co may not exactly roll off the tongue, but the tie-up goes some way towards giving Wragges the London traction it has been struggling to build organically for many years. Not to mention a shiny, relatively new office in More London – albeit, an office more synonymous with merger partner Lawrence Graham's financial difficulties than anything positive. The union, which goes live in May, takes Wragges from Birmingham firm to UK player and represents a shift in its approach to the UK legal market and beyond. It's a deal that makes sense for both firms even though it does not come near to delivering the finished article.

By Georgina Stanley

11 minute read

February 13, 2014 | International Edition

For a law firm leader, Wragge & Co senior partner Quentin Poole is very approachable. Neither colleagues nor rivals seem to have a bad word to say about him and, as the firm's long-awaited London merger draws closer, he has more reason than ever to be cheerful. Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co may not exactly roll off the tongue, but the tie-up goes some way towards giving Wragges the London traction it has been struggling to build organically for many years. Not to mention a shiny, relatively new office in More London – albeit, an office more synonymous with merger partner Lawrence Graham's financial difficulties than anything positive. The union, which goes live in May, takes Wragges from Birmingham firm to UK player and represents a shift in its approach to the UK legal market and beyond. It's a deal that makes sense for both firms even though it does not come near to delivering the finished article.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

February 06, 2014 | Legal Week

Given the frequency with which law firms make both management changes and partner hires, there's a tendency for many to get lost in the crowd. But every so often something a little bit different happens. So it was when Slaughter and May last month made its first-ever lateral partner hire in its 125-year history and when DLA Piper pulled off the rare feat of hiring into a management position with the recruitment of former Linklaters managing partner Tony Angel in 2011. Perhaps it was a desire to recreate the excitement around this hire that prompted DLA to invite editors to London's Landmark hotel to unveil details of Angel's successor – and indeed the rest of its global management team.

By Georgina Stanley

13 minute read

February 06, 2014 | International Edition

Given the frequency with which law firms make both management changes and partner hires, there's a tendency for many to get lost in the crowd. But every so often something a little bit different happens. So it was when Slaughter and May last month made its first-ever lateral partner hire in its 125-year history and when DLA Piper pulled off the rare feat of hiring into a management position with the recruitment of former Linklaters managing partner Tony Angel in 2011. Perhaps it was a desire to recreate the excitement around this hire that prompted DLA to invite editors to London's Landmark hotel to unveil details of Angel's successor – and indeed the rest of its global management team.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

January 23, 2014 | Legal Week

On the surface a lot can change in the legal world in six months. In the time since I went on maternity leave last summer, SJ Berwin has agreed and gone live with its much-trailed combination with King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), Lawrence Graham has finally found a merger partner in the shape of Wragge & Co, and CMS Cameron McKenna? Well, it hasn't yet managed the US link it has publicly set its sights on, but it has agreed a deal with ailing Scots firm Dundas & Wilson. In many respects though, these developments – with the exception of the KWM merger – seem unlikely to be transformational. Even in KWM's case, the impact it makes will be intrinsically linked to the extent to which the firm can integrate and overcome sizeable cultural differences. Meanwhile, UK mid-market merger activity is increasingly just business as usual for a host of firms scrabbling to improve – or simply maintain – their position in a saturated and highly competitive market.

By Georgina Stanley

6 minute read

January 23, 2014 | International Edition

On the surface a lot can change in the legal world in six months. In the time since I went on maternity leave last summer, SJ Berwin has agreed and gone live with its much-trailed combination with King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), Lawrence Graham has finally found a merger partner in the shape of Wragge & Co, and CMS Cameron McKenna? Well, it hasn't yet managed the US link it has publicly set its sights on, but it has agreed a deal with ailing Scots firm Dundas & Wilson. In many respects though, these developments – with the exception of the KWM merger – seem unlikely to be transformational. Even in KWM's case, the impact it makes will be intrinsically linked to the extent to which the firm can integrate and overcome sizeable cultural differences. Meanwhile, UK mid-market merger activity is increasingly just business as usual for a host of firms scrabbling to improve – or simply maintain – their position in a saturated and highly competitive market.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

June 27, 2013 | International Edition

As new research reveals lawyers are finding their jobs more stressful than ever, Georgina Stanley asks whether law firms are doing enough to combat work-based anxiety and other mental health issues Statistics on mental illness speak for themselves. Every year, about one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem, with about 10% of the population suffering from depression and anxiety issues. Figures from Mind, a UK mental health charity, suggest that 8% of those suffering from mental health issues in any year will require specialist psychiatric help, while 2% will have problems so severe they require in-patient treatment.

By Georgina Stanley

9 minute read