Georgina Stanley

May 30, 2013 | International Edition

Sometimes law firms' efforts to boost female representation in the partnership can seem a little trite. We all know the statistics – more than half of new trainees are female and yet many City firms are struggling to get women to make up 20% of their partnerships, despite numerous initiatives in recent years to try to rectify the problem. And the higher up the chain you go the worse the problem inevitably becomes, meaning you don't even need all the fingers on one hand to count the number of female leaders of top 50 law firms. Mentoring, women's groups and flexible working are all now on offer to some degree at most firms in a bid to meet the challenge, with a few going further and introducing targets for the percentage of female partners they want or for women in management roles.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

May 16, 2013 | Legal Week

Employment prospects may be dwindling as law firms continue to scale back trainee intakes and slash associate ranks through redundancy consultations, but this seems to have done little to dent law students' confidence in their higher education. This year's Law Student Report shows 10 UK institutions receiving an average overall score of good/excellent from their own students when questioned on a range of factors including employability, value for money and quality of teaching, with 17 law faculties rated above average.

By Georgina Stanley

4 minute read

May 16, 2013 | International Edition

Employment prospects may be dwindling as law firms continue to scale back trainee intakes and slash associate ranks through redundancy consultations, but this seems to have done little to dent law students' confidence in their higher education. This year's Law Student Report shows 10 UK institutions receiving an average overall score of good/excellent from their own students when questioned on a range of factors including employability, value for money and quality of teaching, with 17 law faculties rated above average.

By Georgina Stanley

2 minute read

May 02, 2013 | International Edition

Recent weeks have presented a somewhat divided picture of the upper echelons of the legal market. On the one hand, against the backdrop of a relentlessly tough market, many of the UK's largest law firms have announced predictably reduced partner promotion rounds – with the magic circle, for example, making up nearly 20% fewer new partners this year than last. On the other, Slaughter and May this week played a strong hand in terms of salaries, with the firm's across-the-board rises for junior lawyers likely to set the bar for its City peers.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

May 02, 2013 | Legal Week

Recent weeks have presented a somewhat divided picture of the upper echelons of the legal market. On the one hand, against the backdrop of a relentlessly tough market, many of the UK's largest law firms have announced predictably reduced partner promotion rounds – with the magic circle, for example, making up nearly 20% fewer new partners this year than last. On the other, Slaughter and May this week played a strong hand in terms of salaries, with the firm's across-the-board rises for junior lawyers likely to set the bar for its City peers.

By Georgina Stanley

8 minute read

April 25, 2013 | International Edition

As law firm collapses go, Cobbetts has neither the partner infighting of Halliwells nor the sheer scale and alleged top-level mismanagement of Dewey & LeBoeuf to generate popular appeal. What Cobbetts does provide, though – far more so than the more extreme examples above – is a salient lesson to all law firms about how quickly and easily things can go wrong in today's ever-uncertain economic climate.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read

April 25, 2013 | Legal Week

As law firm collapses go, Cobbetts has neither the partner infighting of Halliwells nor the sheer scale and alleged top-level mismanagement of Dewey & LeBoeuf to generate popular appeal. What Cobbetts does provide, though – far more so than the more extreme examples above – is a salient lesson to all law firms about how quickly and easily things can go wrong in today's ever-uncertain economic climate.

By Georgina Stanley

7 minute read

April 18, 2013 | Legal Week

If someone were to set out now to create a new elite City law firm from scratch, chances are it would bear little resemblance to the form most leading UK firms currently take. Junior staffing levels, remuneration systems and equity partner numbers would all be very different to those commonly in place today.

By Georgina Stanley

6 minute read

April 18, 2013 | International Edition

Integreon president of business development John Croft has left the outsourcing giant to launch a UK arm for recently formed alternative legal services provider Elevate Services. Croft, who joined Elevate as president yesterday (18 April), has launched the new operation in London, through which the company will target law firms and in-house legal departments across Europe. At Integreon, Croft was responsible for signing high-profile deals with law firms including CMS Cameron McKenna and Osborne Clarke, both of which have recently been revised.

By Georgina Stanley

2 minute read

April 18, 2013 | International Edition

If someone were to set out now to create a new elite City law firm from scratch, chances are it would bear little resemblance to the form most leading UK firms currently take. Junior staffing levels, remuneration systems and equity partner numbers would all be very different to those commonly in place today.

By Georgina Stanley

3 minute read