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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

International Edition

Management: Instant rapport

What is it that separates the excellent advocate from the average one, where both were called to the Bar at the same time and have similar academic track records? My background of working as a communications consultant to the legal profession, coupled with my interest in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), led me to explore some of the answers to these questions.
8 minute read

International Edition

Lucid language

Plain language need not mean dumbing down. Clear, well-drafted advice makes things easier for clients, raising the chance that they will call on you more frequently.The moment you become overly reliant on a thesaurus or get carried away with archaic terms is the moment you risk losing your reader. This is not to say you cannot use technical language or clarify your points, it just means thinking of your reader at all times and making sure you communicate difficult or complex topics clearly. It is all about readability, not just the vocabulary you use. That means organising the structure so that it is logical and straightforward.
6 minute read

International Edition

The online brief

During the past 12 months there have been numerous articles in the legal press concerning the growing discontent over the levels of private practice lawyers' fees. However, driven by the greed that has gripped the City over the last 10 years, the majority of City law firms have failed to take any notice. While most in-house lawyers would agree that high quality specialist legal advice doesn't come cheap, many City law firms are charging clients top whack rates (of anything between £275 to £550) for general commercial or transactional overflow work.
5 minute read

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