Legal Week

May 20, 2009 | International Edition

Since its launch five years ago, the Employee Satisfaction Survey - Legal Week's annual report on the attitudes, priorities and morale of lawyers at major law firms - has always been interesting reading. But for several reasons this year, it promises to be even more so. Firstly and most obviously, major law firms have engaged in an unprecedented round of job cuts since the last report was conducted. The long-term impact of that is as yet largely theoretical, as the legal industry has so little experience of widespread job losses. Law firms are quite logically calculating that tending to the whims of assistants is less pressing in a recession, when staff become less full of their own importance and rather happier to just have a job.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

May 19, 2009 | International Edition

In the frenzied week after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on 15 September last year, lawyers for Lehman (a group that included bankruptcy counsel at Weil Gotshal & Manges, Lehman's longtime outside counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and a team from Sullivan & Cromwell) worked around the clock with lawyers representing Barclays to arrange the sale of Lehman's prized US assets.

By Legal Week

4 minute read

May 19, 2009 | International Edition

Want to be a partner but unsure how to get there? You are not alone. My experience suggests that there are two problems here - and both have been created by lawyers themselves. First, law students and junior lawyers are selected for their academic abilities only, with the focus of their education and training on legal theory and legal skills. Business development or management aspects of legal practice are not explained and no training is provided. As a result, it sometimes comes as a surprise to many juniors that a law firm operates as a business. But that's the reality, and the first hurdle for any firm is to find a client to advise. Only then can they deliver the advice.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

May 17, 2009 | International Edition

I passed my LPC with Distinction just over seven years ago. Since passing the LPC I have worked as a paralegal in an in-house legal department, specialising in media. Recently I decided to vigorously pursue a training contract (prior to this, I just made sporadic applications). I'm 36 years young - what's the likelihood of success in obtaining a TC after all this time?

By Legal Week

1 minute read

May 17, 2009 | International Edition

The Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, took the opportunity last week to defend the Government's record of legislative reform. He argued that "the general view is that [Labour] should be much more self-confident" when promoting some of the landmark statutes passed in the last decade, such as the Human Rights Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000.

By Legal Week

4 minute read

May 17, 2009 | International Edition

Houston-based manufacturer FMC Technologies is looking to update its roster of outside counsel and hire firms that embrace innovation, technology and, especially, alternative billing arrangements. But its general counsel, Jeffrey Carr, isn't holding an auction or putting out a request for proposals to find them. Legal OnRamp.jpgHe's using Legal OnRamp, a social networking site for lawyers that works much like Facebook and LinkedIn. Carr calls it the FMC Technologies 1st Law Litigation Value Challenge. "We love change. We love challenges," Carr says. "We like doing things differently. Some people call us grenade throwers. Some people call us crazy. But it works."

By Legal Week

4 minute read

May 14, 2009 | International Edition

As a paid-up law firm watcher, there is a thought that's been bugging me in recent months: I can't work out the point of offshoring in legal services. I'm referring mainly to the model of sending support services to countries such as India on the basis that you can slash costs by hiring much cheaper but highly-qualified staff. Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt the size of the talent pool in India, nor that staff are a lot cheaper than in expensive cities like London. But I can't get around the fact that such initiatives have high upfront costs and cause major disruption. And all that to probably ultimately reach a lower standard of work than you had before.

By Legal Week

3 minute read

May 13, 2009 | International Edition

Linklaters' Michael Voisin on a drunken debut partner retreat, drafting from long-hand and AAA nonsense

By Legal Week

4 minute read

May 13, 2009 | International Edition

Want an example of just how much the world changed in 2008? Look no further than The Am Law 100's top revenue per lawyer (RPL) gainers and decliners. Cravath Swaine & Moore was the year's biggest loser, posting an 18.2% drop in RPL, to $1.2m (£810,000). A year earlier, Cravath posted a 9.2% gain. By contrast, 2008's biggest RPL increase, 15.2%, was seen at Howrey; in 2007 that firm's RPL slid 8.5%.

By Legal Week

4 minute read

May 13, 2009 | International Edition

What has the world come to when Cravath Swaine & Moore has a terrible year? The firm that has served for decades as the touchstone for prestige in the profession last year suffered a 13% drop in revenue and a 24% plunge in profits per equity partner (PEP), and has asked incoming first-year associates to delay their start dates.

By Legal Week

6 minute read