The Bar: Carolyn McCombe
4 Pump Court’s Carolyn McCombe considers the evolution of the chambers CEO role and tells John van der Luit-Drummond why she has recently returned to her clerking roots.
Described in the latest edition of The Legal 500’s UK Bar guide as ‘a major force’ who has ‘built up an excellent set’, Carolyn McCombe’s career in chambers – like many other standout leaders in law – took a more circuitous route. When studying law at Cambridge, McCombe recalls how ‘all of the most intelligent …
Continue reading “A different skillset”
Interview with: Andrew Leaitherland
DWF’s managing partner and CEO on rewarding lawyers based on merit, implementing the latest tech for the benefit of clients, and the power of partners’ buy-in
How would you define DWF’s culture and how important is that culture to you? Culture is incredibly important. It sets the expectation for how our people work together and, in turn, how we work with our clients. Our culture is underpinned by our values which prioritise innovation, collaboration and high performance, and which give us …
Continue reading “Delivering value isn’t about ‘more for less’”
In conversation
Since 2015, a barrister practising criminal law in the UK started blogging and tweeting under the pseudonym ‘The Secret Barrister’. The aim was to shine a light on the inadequacies, and indeed failings, of the criminal justice system.
This culminated in 2018 with the publication of Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, which became a surprisingly mainstream success, remaining in the Sunday Times Top 10 bestsellers list for twenty four weeks, selling over 165,000 copies across all formats. The content would surprise many readers outside of the UK, which is frequently …
Continue reading “The Secret Barrister”
Hall of Fame
Deutschland editor Anna Bauböck talks to members of The Legal 500’s Hall of Fame on the past, present, and future of the legal profession
‘Associates today think one is talking about the Stone Age when describing how you spent nights at the fax machine because no evening support staff was available and email did not exist’, says Dr. Werner Meier, head of Simmons & Simmons German finance and restructuring practice, when asked about starting his legal career in 1992. …
Continue reading “That was then, this is now”
Editors' views
Following her research trip to Oslo, Amy Ulliott investigates why international law firms have yet to invest in Norway’s legal market, leaving domestic firms to dominate the space.
In many ways, the Norwegian legal market looks like any other; a mixture of large full-service firms and smaller boutiques simultaneously jostling and working together to gain as much work as possible from the national industries they rely upon, while also feeling the impact when those same industries struggle. Upon closer look, however, you begin …
Continue reading “Why Norway lacks a Big Law presence”
Editors' views
Editor Amy Ulliott takes a closer look at the newly
published 2019 rankings to see how the region’s law firms have performed this past year.
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that The Legal 500’s latest Caribbean rankings have recently been published online. In addition to coverage of Bermuda, the Cayman Islands (Cayman), and the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the 2019 rankings saw the introduction of the Bahamas into the guide. A new practice area was also added with a new …
Continue reading “Lawyers of the Caribbean: A rankings guide”
Diversity and inclusion
CEO Obelisk Support and former Linklaters lawyer, Dana Denis-Smith who founded the First 100 Years
project, explains what inspired her to celebrate the
journey of women in law and why law firms must do
better to right the scales of equality.
A wonderful group image captured my imagination in November 2013 – it was a photograph of the partners of City law firm Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills), dating from 1982, marking the firm’s centenary at Grocer’s Hall in London. In the middle of the group of 50 or so men, there was a blue-clad …
Continue reading “100 years and counting”
Country focus: Australia
New international entrants, unsustainable fee structures,
legal service innovation are all under the microscope as
deputy Asia Pacific editor Andrea de Palatis analyses ’s Australia rankings.
G’day from Australia, where the term jurisdiction commonly refers to a state, not the entire country. Outlining common trends is therefore a challenge. Australia does not have one economy, or booming sector. In fact, whatever can be said about Australia, the opposite is also true – somewhere. Many international firms, among them Allen & Overy …
Continue reading “A market of contradictions”
The Bar
Ahead of the 2020 research, UK Bar editor John van der Luit-Drummond examines the current rankings to see which sets came out ahead in 2019.
It’s been just over a couple of months since we launched the 2019 UK Bar guide, and in only a couple of months’ time our research team will begin work on the 2020 edition (I know, I know, no rest for the wicked!). Ahead of our March submissions deadline, I wanted to take another look …
Continue reading “Chambers by numbers”