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International Edition

India - still an outsourcing haven?

India's outsourcing sector comprises both business process and IT outsourcing, and it has been growing at an annual rate of about 37% over the last few years. Growth has jumped from approximately $3.1bn (£2.17bn) in 2004 to nearly $11bn (£7.7bn) in 2008. Yet, despite such a strong market to protect, a senior Indian special forces source described the response to the Mumbai terrorist attack as having "far too many command centres, with each one trying to best guess the other, [leading] to confusion and delayed operations", adding: "there appears to have been a lack of detailed, precise planning".
5 minute read

International Edition

Woman's world

While people will be unanimous in their congratulation of an older single mother, Rachida Data, the French Justice Minister, on the birth of a daughter, women may find themselves reluctant to rejoice in the example she has set in returning to work just five days after the birth by caesarean section. As the world economic downturn continues to deepen, the headlines did not highlight the dedication of a woman to work and duty in troubled times, nor even the reason that lay behind her decision to attend the meeting called by her boss, President Nicholas Sarkozy. Instead, they focused on how attractive she looked and how well she walked in her high heels. This says it all that even in such extraordinary times the focus is not on the vital role that high-performing and high ability women can play, but on how women can best detract from their inadequacies. When so many women are choosing law as a career, firms concerned about utilisation need to start at the most obvious place, and look at what they are doing to nurture women - who make up nearly half of their talent - towards success. Like their corporate commercial counterparts (who are addressing the debate through mentoring programmes and leadership coaching courses) firms need to grasp the nettle and take the first small step towards grooming the next generation of legal leaders, as well as signalling to the markets that gender is no longer an issue.
5 minute read

International Edition

Management: Neutral territory

Businesses are increasingly looking at reducing their carbon emissions. The reasons for this are as varied as the companies implementing the changes. Cost reduction will be part of the picture - especially as the recession bites - but so too will differentiation, reputation management and, increasingly, supply chain pressure. The key drivers for law firms to 'take on' climate change is a mix of commercial and moral imperative.
7 minute read

International Edition

Confidence in IT teams takes a hit

As belt-tightening across the legal profession notches up another level it is not surprising that IT departments have joined the list of casualties as a result of cutbacks.Legal Week Intelligence's fourth annual Information Technology Survey shows lawyers' confidence in their IT departments dipping for the third successive year, with just 11 of the 42 different categories seeing improved grades this year. At the report's launch earlier this month, delegates lucky enough to have signed off systems upgrades in last year's budgets breathed a sigh of relief as they listened to their counterparts' problems after orders to reign in costs for the foreseeable future. While the general sentiment was that projects that would lead to rapid, demonstrable cost savings would still get signed off, the majority of equipment and software upgrades were likely to be put on hold.
4 minute read

International Edition

The right pitch for a profit

Reports from the legal sector suggest that panel reviews are increasing in the current downturn. Invitations to pitch are being created as clients seek to review their professional services expenditure and look for cost savings where possible. Given the time and energy required for each pitch, a law firm could quite easily burn a hole in its profitability when it comes to client acquisition. So how do you select the pitches you have a realistic chance of winning? And how do you avoid repeatedly wasting energy and writing off valuable time?
7 minute read

International Edition

Damage limitation

With economic predictions for the professional services sector looking increasingly bleak as the year draws to an end, it would have come as little surprise to any observer of the legal market that almost a quarter of the UK's top 50 law firms are considering making redundancies - as reported by Legal Week on 6 November. So, what issues should those managing this sensitive issue be thinking about? With more and more information being held electronically by law firms, the scope for acts of workplace computer sabotage and vandalism by disgruntled employees, as well as the destruction of incriminating evidence, has dramatically increased. Consequently, it is vital for firms to implement sound procedures when employees are laid off.
6 minute read

International Edition

Make yourself heard

Although academic preparation is fundamental to legal practice, succeeding as a lawyer takes an altogether different type of education. In the real world legal practitioners must learn how to deal with the needs of individual clients, be savvy with business administration and regularly engage in creative advertising - the latter, of course, being a relative newcomer to the range of skills fashioned by modern-day practitioners.Until deregulation of solicitor advertising in the mid-1980s, self-promotion through advertising was an entirely foreign concept to the legal sector. Traditional methods of sourcing clients involved developing a reputation for delivering results, and providing sound advice and excellence in service. Today, however, many of these ideals have faded behind the bright lights of law firm branding. While television campaigns, directory listings, and newspaper and radio advertising have done much to bolster the image of some law firms, the hype generated by their marketing departments often fails to reflect the reality in terms of what individual lawyers can provide.
6 minute read

International Edition

Mass appeal?

One of the most significant trends in the international legal arena is the increasing number of lawyers who are moving overseas. Why the mass departures? Which are the most popular jurisdictions? And should you consider an overseas move for yourself?To answer the first question, we borrow one of the slogans from former President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign: "It's the economy, stupid." The unravelling of financial markets and tightening of credit around the world has caused a slowdown of legal work in traditionally dynamic markets like London and New York, while emerging and growth markets continue to see lots of deals.
6 minute read

International Edition

Cut to the chase

One inevitable consequence of the credit crunch is that the weight and scope of regulation facing companies will increase. Even before the current crisis, regulators of all kinds - from the Financial Services Authority and Serious Fraud Office, through to the European Commission - had already been given enhanced powers to investigate potential corporate misfeasance. The credit crunch has persuaded the government to give these bodies yet further powers - and provide a framework that can be seen to attempt to provide economic stability. For lawyers and their clients, this presents a significant logistical challenge.
6 minute read

International Edition

The pursuit of happiness

As a specialist on happiness in the workplace, I have worked in a wide variety of sectors. Out of all the clients I have sat across the table from, lawyers have been consistently the most unhappy.The current economic climate is hardly likely to allay this melancholy. Furthermore, a recent study by recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark found that more than a fifth of law firms have had to lay off employees as a result of the current economic -climate. Worries over finances are likely to get worse in January when firms have to pay their partnership tax bills.
6 minute read

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