Editors' views
Australia’s much-needed infrastructure boom is stretching legal teams to the limit, finds The Legal 500 deputy editor Andrea de Palatis
On 7 August 2018, Australia’s population surpassed the 25 million mark, but as the populace increases so does the need for modern infrastructure. Current traffic volumes exceed the capacity of outdated and decades old railways, bridges, tunnels, ports and metro systems. Australians in urban areas agree that on most days, provided everything goes well, ‘it …
Continue reading “Where are all the construction lawyers?”
Country spotlight: Sweden
EMEA editor, Ella Marshall, looks back at The Legal 500’s recent rankings and talks to leading law firms to consider the changing nature of Sweden’s legal market
A lot can happen in a short space of time, and Sweden is certainly proof of that. In a country where Volvo, Ikea and H&M gave way to Abba and Zlatan (*not technically true, I grant you) as the country’s most successful exports, that crown looks likely to pass to any one of Sweden’s tech …
Continue reading “Tech, that’s the name of the game”
Editors' views
Like rush hour in Delhi the Supreme Court of India’s ‘fly-in, fly-out’ judgment leaves the move towards liberalisation at a crawling pace, writes Asia Pacific editor John van der Luit-Drummond
The highly anticipated decision on the ‘fly-in, fly-out’ rule certainly had lawyers’ chins wagging when I visited Mumbai and New Delhi in March. Upholding a decision by the Madras High Court, appeal judges ruled that foreign law firms still cannot set up permanent offices in India, but are allowed to fly in and out of …
Continue reading “India liberalisation: a question of when, not if, for law firms”
Interview with...
Luther’s co-managing partners, Elisabeth Lepique and Dr Sebastian Lorenz, discuss Germany’s talent war, nurturing future partners, and the challenge of managing entrepreneurial lawyers
How would you define your Luther’s culture? How important is firm culture to you? At Luther, we are living an open, teamwork-oriented, and business-driven culture with a clear focus on the needs of our clients. We also encourage an environment of continuous learning. The firm culture is very important since it holds us together and …
Continue reading “Bridging the gap between independence and management”
Leadership focus
J Stephen Poor outlines how the interaction of senior leadership with clients leads to more efficient legal advice and solutions still undertakes client-facing work
This spring, together with a couple thousand others, I had the opportunity to attend the CLOC conference in Las Vegas. The conference was all about expectations around service delivery and the changing needs of the legal operations profession. Seems pretty on point in a profession undergoing change. A couple of things struck me, however. First, …
Continue reading “Think Outside-in”
Interview with...
Brad Karp explains how he finds the time to bill so many hours, run a top-level law firm and still be meet with firm clients every day
How would you define your firm’s culture? How important is firm culture to you? The Paul, Weiss culture is grounded in our shared values of professionalism, collaboration and deep mutual respect. We value transparency and collegiality, and we share a longstanding and passionate commitment to diversity, pro bono and public service. Our commitment to inclusion …
Continue reading “Brad Karp: I don’t sleep much!”
Interview with...
Vinson & Elkins’ Chairman talks about the ‘V&E family’ and why he believes it makes a huge difference in the firm’s ability to attract and retain talent
How would you define your firm’s culture? How important is firm culture to you? Culture is vitally important to our Firm and to me personally. We often talk about the V&E Family, which I believe is real. Our lawyers and administrative staff become part of that family when they join the firm. We have a …
Continue reading “Mark Kelly: Our culture sets us apart”
Interview with...
Holland & Knight’s managing partner outlines issues clients need to understand regarding the current administration, and where the trend of
government investigations work might be heading
The notion of government work has risen in recent years, with general counsel realizing how critical it is – do you see this trend continuing? Yes, we do. Our country has weathered the Great Recession and now has fully emerged from those historically tough economic times. Even so, our national focus continues to be on …
Continue reading “Rich Gold: every administration brings to Washington its own style and cadence”
Interview with...
Walker Morris’ managing partner talks about being pigeonholed as a firm, the largest professional services relocation in Leeds for almost 15 years, and how to stand apart in a crowded market
How would you define your Walker Morris’ culture? How important is firm culture to you? If I had to summarise our culture in one word it would be collaboration. By that I mean not only collaboration internally and with clients, but also with other professionals, including from other law firms. Having all our employees based …
Continue reading “Malcolm Simpson: Misconceptions don’t hold us back”
Practice area spotlight: M&A
Ireland’s M&A market has remained buoyant, despite Brexit and international politics stateside, explains Arthur Cox’s Geoff Moore, Christopher McLaughlin and Brian Doherty
Please give us an overview of the current legal market in Ireland and how any recent developments have impacted your practice? M&A activity in Ireland has been strong and both domestic and international buyers have been active with a number of inbound and outbound strategic acquisitions being made, including by Allergan, CRH, Eir, and Mallinckrodt. …
Continue reading “Taking advantage of uncertain times”
