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International Edition

Lawyers on Demand project management service may answer BLP's outsourcing conundrum

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is mulling the use of a new legal project management service being piloted by Lawyers on Demand (LoD) as an alternative to launching its own outsourced process centre. LoD – BLP's flexible working business – is launching a trial of a new service that will see it provide full teams of lawyers to take over the routine work on larger projects, with LoD acting as the project manager. The LoD service currently provides individual lawyers to clients either on a secondment basis or a pay-as-you-go service dubbed LoD On Call, giving clients access to legal help remotely to manage surges in workload.
3 minute read

International Edition

A&O looks to deepen ties with global network through support services plan

Allen & Overy (A&O) has launched a new service to give its relationship firms access to magic circle level support functions, in a push to strengthen ties in jurisdictions including Libya and Scotland. The magic circle firm launched the initiative at its fifth annual global relationship conference earlier this month, with firms in its informal relationship network offered access to its services in areas including IT, training, marketing and finance. The event saw the firm host representatives from more than 140 relationship firms across 94 countries, with 11 new jurisdictions represented for the first time this year – Scotland, Libya, Paraguay, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guernsey, Kyrgyzstan, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Zambia.
2 minute read

International Edition

The school-leaver lawyers – how law firms are benefitting from taking on talented young apprentices

Soaring university fees are proving to be a boon for some law firms, which are stepping in to offer apprentice jobs to talented youngsters barred from traditional degree-led routes into the profession...
11 minute read

International Edition

Dropping the jargon – why law firm training courses should focus less on the law and more on how to practise it

Formal training courses aimed at developing the legal skills of lawyers are often not effective learning tools at all. In order to improve, law firms must invest more time and resources into designing training sessions that use case studies, simulation and experience sharing. It is also important that greater investment is made in the training of facilitators so that they are more effective in coaching participants during a session. Traditional training methods have too great a focus on the law itself, rather than how to practise it. To be good lawyers, fee earners must learn key skills such as how to apply and give legal advice that is relevant to the client and their business, as well as how to present to a client without bamboozling them with law jargon. Speaking in the language of the client is crucial. If a formal training framework is a pre-requisite, that alone is not sufficient. The most effective and beneficial method of learning professional practice – and lawyers are not so different from other professions such as auditors or consultants – comes from shadowing and being coached by more senior lawyers.
7 minute read

International Edition

Simmons, Bakers and Bird & Bird turn up the heat on £12bn smart meter contract

Simmons & Simmons, Baker & McKenzie and Bird & Bird have landed roles on the UK Government's £12bn programme to install 'smart' utility meters across Britain by the start of 2020. Simmons is advising Telefonica's UK arm which has been granted a £1.5bn contract by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to provide smart meters for central and southern UK. Bakers client, communications company Arqiva, won a £625m contract for the north and Scotland.
2 minute read

International Edition

Simmons funds partner exits for Schulte Roth & Zabel

Simmons & Simmons funds partner Steven Whittaker has left the firm to join New York hedge fund specialist Schulte Roth & Zabel. Whittaker was made up as partner at the firm thirteen years ago after he started at the firm in 1992. He will join a team of nearly 20 funds lawyers at the US firm's City practice, which includes 10 partners. His departure date has not yet been confirmed.
2 minute read

International Edition

Freshfields and Herbert Smith settle £142m London Underground claim

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Herbert Smith Freehills have settled a £142m claim from London Underground (LUL) relating to advice the firms gave the company in 2002. The original claim was issued by LUL in the High Court in January 2011 and relates to the company's public-private partnership (PPP) with collapsed transport company Metronet.
2 minute read

International Edition

Slater & Gordon launches £1m mainstream advertising campaign

Listed Australian law firm Slater & Gordon is spending more than £1m on TV, print and digital advertising, in what the firm hopes will be a "major step to becoming a household name" in the UK. It is the first time Slater & Gordon - which has made a string of law firm acquisitions in the UK this year - has advertised on British television, although the brand is well known in its native Australia. The TV campaign will be supported by print advertising and digital activity through search and pay per click.
2 minute read

International Edition

Cobbetts administration bill reaches £1.7m for six months' work

The administration of Cobbetts, a regional law firm that collapsed this year, incurred expenses of £1.7m between 6 February and 5 August, according to a six-month progress report by administrators KPMG. These include £352,289 in legal costs, of which £169,367 was paid to Pinsent Masons for its work for the LLP prior to KPMG's appointment.
2 minute read

International Edition

Clifford Chance scores with Rugby World Cup contract

Clifford Chance (CC) has been appointed the official law firm of the Rugby World Cup 2015 after wining a competitive pitch process. CC will provide legal services to Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) over the course of the next two years in the run up to the tournament, which kicks off at Twickenham on 18 September 2015.
2 minute read

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