Welcome to The London Lawyer Briefing, a new weekly email analysing the industry's recent news and trends in the U.K.

New Approaches To International Women's Day

There has been no shortage of law firms holding events and preparing statements for International Women's Day this Sunday. But while the topic is not new for the legal industry, the range of approaches being taken is.

Two women from the Employment Lawyers Association are conducting research to find out why so few female barristers are instructed. Only 15.8% of QCs are female – perhaps those instructing them are in the habit of fishing from the same pool: men.

Mexican law firms have rallied around a call for women to "become invisible" for a day as part of a protest to raise awareness of gender violence. Nearly a dozen firms, including Hogan Lovells and a Lex Mundi affiliate will join the strike.

Shoosmiths took the inadvisable step of having a predominantly male panel to discuss gender diversity, which was ridiculed on social media. The firm pointed out that it was actually a programme developed by the National Conference of Women's Bar Association focusing on what men can do to help women. Though talking about men as 'champions of women' could easily be viewed as counterproductive. Are we back in the medieval era?

And yet there are practical things men can do to help address the diversity issue, such as taking parental leave more, according to our interview with a range of senior women in the industry. They shared several interesting thoughts with reporter Hannah Roberts on the topic: women must not be scared to be authentic, firms should focus on retention and promotion as well as mentoring programmes, and everyone should consider their unconscious biases. Check it out here.

Going Viral

Baker McKenzie may have reopened its London office after a coronavirus scare last week but the rapid spread of the virus prompted other firms to take action. Linklaters took the same decision as Latham & Watkins last week and cancelled its annual partner conference, which it now intends to do 'virtually'. Simmons & Simmons also cancelled its conference.

Norton Rose Fulbright excluded lawyers from certain locations, including China, from its partner meeting in the U.S. last week.

With stories of lawyers being infected in Austria and New York and predictions that the U.K. could suffer an epidemic, it is a fair guess that a number of commercial lawyers will suffer from the virus so it makes sense to cancel such events.

A lot of partnership conferences are set to take place in the summer so other firms will have the benefit of waiting to see if things improve. In the meantime, disaster scenario action plans are being rolled out across the city.

If a worst-case scenario materialises and one in five of the U.K. population is infected, law firms will be among those severely disrupted. Eversheds Sutherland, for example, has more than 1,000 lawyers in the U.K., meaning it could have over 200 ill at the same time. And it is not like a smaller number of people can simply operate the machinery that offers legal advice.

Keep informed of daily updates from around the world on Law.com International.

Too Many Counsel

General counsel always want to ensure their panel of legal advisers is the right size, but what number should they aim for?

It is obvious when it is too big: FTSE 250 company GVC Holdings, which owns gaming brands including Ladbrokes Coral, has slimmed down its roster from more than 40 to 11. Its GC said the process took a while because it "effectively had four or five sets of relationships with different legal advisers".

But sometimes 11 is not enough. We also brought you news of FTSE 250 electronics retailer Dixons Carphone adding a few firms to its panel. It did have 11, but now has 14.

And sometimes just one adviser is just right when the job requires a particular skill: Linklaters has won a contract worth up to £6 million to advise the Department for International Trade on its free trade agreement negotiations with the U.S.

Slaughter and May has also won plenty of Brexit-related work, which is perhaps comforting in some ways – despite the advancement of U.S. firms in the U.K. there are some roles that still suit a very traditional British institution.

Other big stories

I Thought it Was Impossible to be a Lawyer in London And Not Drink — I Was Wrong

Market Report: Germany Remains Busy, For Now

A&O Calls Time On Decade-Long Romania Association

Clifford Chance Frankfurt Office Raided As Cum-Ex Investigations Continue

MoFo Boosts London Office With Top QC Hire