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”
Marketing
Deborah B. Farone, former Cravath, Swaine & Moore
CMO, talks to fivehundred about her highly anticipated new book, the US rainmakers she admires, and why
managing partners cannot totally delegate their
marketing responsibilities.
In your new book, Best Practices in Law Firm Business Development and Marketing, you write that you’ve seen a number of large-scale changes in the legal ecosystem that law firm leaders and marketers need to address. What are the most pressing changes you’ve seen that will impact legal marketers? I think the most significant changes …
Continue reading “The secrets of law
firm marketing”
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”
Recruitment
With today’s associates more likely than ever to switch
jobs – and willing to question the benefits of the partnership track – Definitive Consulting’s Craig Hoyland explores how law firms can retain the next generation of leaders.
A millennial (or generation Y) is typically classed as anyone born between 1980 and 1994. Therefore, in the legal profession this group includes both the junior partners and senior associates who are now close to or about to make the step up to partner, which is easier said than done in the current climate. More …
Continue reading “The millennial bug”
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 big issue
US editor Seth Singh Jennings talks to fintech specialists on the evolution of their practice and what the future holds for financial institutions and their lawyers .
When The Legal 500 United States 2019 launches in May 2019, it will include, for the first time, a dedicated ranking for fintech practices. Unless you’ve been living on Mars for the past five years, you’ll be very familiar with the term – as well as some examples such as cryptocurrency and peer-to-peer lending – …
Continue reading “Lawyers learn new tricks”
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”
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”
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”