Editors' Blog
John Malpas
Editor in ChiefA whole new kind of recession
30/06/2009
Incisive Media's professional service division, of which Legal Week forms a part, recently gathered together senior figures from the recruitment industry to discuss the current malaise affecting the sector over a glass of wine or two. Although clients and...British Legal Awards: First impressions count
20/10/2008
How can I put this delicately? There were some law firms that submitted entries to the British Legal Awards that didn’t exactly make much effort to the meet the criteria for the categories.This slapdash approach is hard to fathom, given...Beiten's festival friends
7/10/2008
A couple of Chinese tourists thought they’d struck gold at the Munich beer festival the other day. For there, kitted out in lederhosen, was none other than Harry Potter. Actually it was Berwin Leighton Paisner competition partner Beckett McGrath. But...Tender mercies
30/09/2008
Talk about saying the wrong thing. The reaction of a bunch of in-house lawyers to a law firm partner’s advice on how to improve the tendering process was telling. “Sometimes,” the partner had observed, “legal departments send invitations to tender...How free-market are lawyers feeling as public solutions turn the tide?
19/09/2008
The commentator Polly Toynbee came in for some predictable stick from readers recently when I highlighted an extract from her latest book in which she quizzed a group of senior lawyers on their deeply hostile attitudes towards taxation as a...Maxwell, Barings... Lehman - are litigators to return to centre stage?
17/09/2008
Maxwell, Lloyd’s of London, Barings, BCCI… in recent years, if these cases were mentioned at all it was in the context of the decline in big-ticket litigation and the need to clamp down on spiralling legal costs. But at the...Unjust rewards?
6/08/2008
I can’t imagine that many senior business lawyers read The Guardian, so they may have missed an article on Monday that analysed attitudes towards privilege, the poor and wealth redistribution among a group of partners at an unnamed law firm...Shaking hands in Dubai
3/07/2008
You don’t have to go to Dubai to appreciate the dynamism of the place. You can get a sense of that by talking to senior UK business lawyers, who are falling over themselves to get a piece of the action.But...Complacent law firms get a helping Hand
9/06/2008
‘Law firms to sell shares’. It is the kind of headline we are currently seeing a lot of as the ‘legal Big Bang’ gets ever closer.In fact, it’s a headline I remember reading well over a decade go. What started...One reform too far
6/11/2007
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, has just had a pay rise. As of 1 November, he is £2,025 a year better off, his salary having jumped by just under 1% to £230,400, representing the second stage of a review...Big Questions, bigger issues
2/11/2007
“I’m a sucker for the magic circle brand.”That admission - made privately this week by a senior businessman - will ring true across the City of London. It helps explain why business lawyers in firms that aren’t in the magic...Lives less ordinary
31/10/2007
At The American Lawyer Awards they hand out no fewer than eight lifetime achievement gongs. But it doesn’t feel like overkill when you learn what the recipients have got up to during their long – and I mean long – careers....Demob happy
4/10/2007
The trick for any good leader is to get out when the going’s good. Current market conditions and the wave of favourable press the UK’s magic circle is receiving suggest that Messrs Tony Angel and Guy Beringer, who will both shortly...Judging panel with teeth chews over the City’s finest
26/09/2007
It looks like some firms might get some work off the back of their entries for the British Legal Awards, even if they do not ultimately win a gong.Following the judges’ meeting yesterday, at least two judges have resolved to...Litigators start to lose those BCCI blues
19/09/2007
I wouldn't want to accuse litigators of delighting in the miseries of others, but there is a definite spring in the step of the delegates at today's Legal Week Litigation Forum, which is taking place in London throughout the day.Last...Time is ripe to judge the judges
12/09/2007
My personal brushes with the judiciary have been few and far between. As a cub reporter, I was once ticked off at Crawley Magistrates Court by a particularly stern magistrate for chewing gum in court. In fact, I was chewing...Maher viewed from the other side of the pond
10/09/2007
Opinion on this side of the Atlantic about top US firms is often heavily shaped by the profile of their London offices. It stands to reason that it is easier to test the pulse of a US firm’s City operation...British Legal Awards have no smoke but lots of fire
24/07/2007
Would you be a judge? By that I don’t mean a 'judge' judge but an awards judge. I ask this because we are currently putting together the panel for the British Legal Awards, which this year replace the Legal Week...The curious case of Mr Justice Smith
17/07/2007
“This is a most unusual case.”That is how Sir Anthony Clarke chose to describe the circumstances surrounding Mr Justice Peter Smith’s refusal to stand down from a case involving an Addleshaw Goddard partner, despite the fact negotiations for the judge...Bar finds a seat in the last chance saloon
11/07/2007
There is a story going round the criminal Bar about a Crown Court judge who recently took exception to the increasing tendency of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to deploy its own barristers for court advocacy. Apparently, this off-message judge...Which Bar heavyweights could (or would) fill Goldsmith’s shoes
26/06/2007
That’s one down and - in all probability - one to go. Lord Goldsmith having tendered his resignation as Attorney General last Friday (22 June), the consensus is that the holder of that other Cabinet-level Government legal post - Lord...BSB shows it has a plan B
12/06/2007
So now they tell us. Until recently any suggestion that the Bar’s rules might be just a tad restrictive were met with howls of protest by the Bar Council. If it wasn’t evoking the imminent prospect of the UK becoming...A glimpse of the future
12/06/2007
Calling all partners. If one of your expensive gadgets breaks down, don’t - for Pete’s sake - call the head of IT.Delegates at the Legal Week Strategic Technology Forum in Portugal last week were at pains to point out that...Technology is still the key
22/05/2007
Tony Angel and David Morley were both at the FA Cup Final. I know this because they discussed last Saturday’s game as they waited to take part in a panel debate being filmed at Legal Week’s offices yesterday afternoon.The pair...City lawyers should be more thankful for Blair's legacy
8/05/2007
They say that time heals. And I suspect that Tony Blair’s reputation as a Prime Minister will start to recover once he has left office. After all, his record for winning elections for Labour is second to none. And while...Cab rank rule would suit firms, if not banks
3/05/2007
Remember when Citibank got the hump with Freshfields after the firm acted against it in a piece of litigation?That was back in 1999, with the row culminating in the magic circle’s firm’s ejection from Citibank’s panel (see story). The spat...Legal Week's change at the top
2/05/2007
Legal Week has a new editor. Long-time deputy editor Alex Novarese stepped up to the role yesterday. Alex joined the magazine shortly after its launch in 1999 and has played a key role in its development ever since, as well...Regulatory fears keep buy-out lawyers on their toes
30/04/2007
It was entirely appropriate that as delegates gathered for the inaugural Legal Week Private Equity Forum last Thursday in London, KKR was emerging as the victor in the £11bn takeover tussle for Alliance Boots.The publicity surrounding this landmark deal served...Winning the PR battle in the City pay war
24/04/2007
So when exactly was the starting gun fired on this year’s associate salary pay round? And which firm will emerge from the fray with the best publicity and the most associate brownie points?It was a lot simpler a few years...UK's law firms made of sterner stuff than merchant banking pushovers
23/04/2007
Writing in the Financial Times this morning, John Gapper heralds the global success of a class of City institution that would traditionally be regarded as having been staffed by ‘barrow boys’ (see article). While posh merchant banks such as SG...Join the Bar's diversity debate
19/04/2007
"We'll know we've made it when we have as many mediocre women in top jobs as mediocre men." This quote comes courtesy of one contributor to a lively debate about diversity that has been taking place on legalweek.com/talkback.In fact, two...Freshfields' fresh faces should watch Slaughters, not Links
2/04/2007
How convenient of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters to unveil their partner promotions on the same day (see Freshfields story, and Linklaters here). The two firms are so often compared with each other – and indeed so often compare themselves...Listening to associates is necessity, not democracy
29/03/2007
“We are not a democracy.” This used to be the stock response of a former colleague of mine whenever it was suggested that staff be consulted on a proposal.In the business world, law firm partnerships are about as close as...Field Fisher leaves its halfway-house
26/03/2007
Are European alliances going out of fashion?In 2003, Denton Wilde Sapte pulled the plug on its Denton International network, signalling the end of its attempt to build an alliance of like-minded firms in Western Europe. Last year, Lawrence Graham performed...EU offers more than red tape on 50th birthday
26/03/2007
The navel-gazing about the EU that has accompanied its decidedly low-key 50th anniversary celebrations reminds me of the gag in the film Monty Python's Life Of Brian asking "what have the Romans ever done for us?".For a decidedly more upbeat...Diversity is as elusive as ever
16/03/2007
A senior female QC confided to me the other day that she did not believe she could have achieved the equivalent status she now enjoyed – as well as having a family - if she had been a solicitor. This is...Law Society's IT review deja vu
12/03/2007
Given half the chance, a bureaucracy’s natural inclination is to find things to do.The Law Society is no exception to this rule and fought long and hard for the right to maintain its position as both trade union and regulator.Having...Beringer's broadside needs a PEP
9/03/2007
Is Guy Beringer’s broadside against profits per equity partner (PEP) as a measure of law firm performance a case of the lady – or in this case the senior partner – protesting too much?In an article on Allen & Overy’s website,...Mayer Brown cull is long overdue
6/03/2007
When Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw took the unusual step of appointing what was effectively a three-man committee to run the firm on the impending retirement of current chairman Ty Fahner, I noted that to many this would smack of...Between the devil and the deep blue sea
1/03/2007
If there was a prize for the most time-consuming application form on the planet, the one would-be QCs have to fill in would surely be in contention.It took newly made-up QC James Rowley, of Byron Chambers, a full five days...Time to reflect
27/02/2007
The debate on legalweek.com sparked by the death of the young lawyer Matthew Courtney has been a heartfelt one.One person who posted a response to my last blog entry was on the same course as Courtney at Oxford. “I remember him...The tragedy that fuelled an overdue debate
16/02/2007
If, as seems likely, the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyer Matthew Courtney did commit suicide, he will not have been the first UK lawyer to have taken his own life over the past year.Hilary Tilby, chief executive of the charity LawCare...In-housers should be careful what they wish for
13/02/2007
By the end of 2006 at least 15 senior corporate counsel in the US had lost their jobs in the wake of share option backdating investigations. Last month, William Sorin, general counsel at Comverse Technology, became the first general counsel...Olswang loses golden boy
5/02/2007
How much do you know about Mark Devereux? Or Kevin Munslow? Well, if you’re not too familiar with this duo yet, you are likely to become more acquainted with them in the ensuing weeks.Back in 1981, Devereux co-founded Olswang with...Public interest or private club?
30/01/2007
As we awaited the results of the Law Society’s absurdly long investigations into whether Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Derigner had breached the conflict of interest rules, I became aware of a potentially ludicrous situation.If the Law Society had...Clients maketh the merger
26/01/2007
While queuing up at the cloakroom in the Royal Courts of Justice for the Reed Smith Richards Butler party last night I got talking to a client of the firm who asked me whether I thought the merger effectively amounted...Homeland securities worrying US investors
24/01/2007
So it seems that the US firms cannot have their cake and eat it after all.UK lawyers have long cast an envious eye across the pond to New York, where the litigation departments of the top firms are typically double...'We will fight them in the high streets...'
17/01/2007
There wasn’t a seat left in the house for the Special General Meeting on legal aid at the Law Society this morning. Around 400 angry solicitors descended on Chancery Lane to rail against the Government’s criminal legal aid reform proposals...Could mellowed Angel be rival's missing Link?
15/01/2007
Tony Angel has his critics - particularly with regard to his management style - but there is no getting away from the success his particular brand of management has brought to Linklaters during his nine-year tenure.The key point about Tony is...
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- A whole new kind of recession30/06/2009
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- Beiten's festival friends 7/10/2008
- Tender mercies30/09/2008
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