Leadership
Sarah Nelson Smith is the Regional General Counsel for WeWork, an international company that transforms buildings into collaborative workspaces and communities. While in her previous role as Chief Legal Officer of Kentucky Fried Chicken, she helped to steer the company successfully through the #chickencrisis of 2018, when a distribution failure led to the closure of the majority of the KFC restaurants in the UK. In an exclusive extract from her new book You Didn’t Mention The Piranhas, Sarah writes candidly about how it feels to be in the middle of a PR crisis
In the second week of the crisis, the snow came. It had toyed with us for several days, threatening a festive dusting, but then changed tack and engulfed the country in a thick white blanket, mocking the valiant efforts to get trucks loaded and onto the roads by rendering many of them impassable. I needed …
Continue reading “The importance of supportive leadership”
Interview with...
Kennedys’ first global managing partner discusses the priorities of her new role, highlights the firm’s recent international expansion, and reveals what gives her the most job satisfaction
What will you be focusing on as global managing partner, and what do you hope to accomplish or change at the firm that will benefit its lawyers, staff, and clients? As global managing partner, I will be working closely with Nick Thomas, our senior partner, on the strategic and operational management of Kennedys’ global network …
Continue reading “Suzanne Liversidge: Leaders should be true to themselves”
Interview with...
Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle’s Oman managing partner discusses collegiality, why the Middle East shouldn’t be a training ground, and advises junior lawyers on why they shouldn’t solely focus on getting ahead
How would you define your firm’s culture and how important is firm culture to you? Curtis is the world’s longest established international law firm. It is New York headquartered, but extremely international in its outlook. Curtis recruits the brightest lawyers from diverse backgrounds a large proportion of our partners in the US and elsewhere are …
Continue reading “Simon Ward: The importance of local knowledge”
Interview with...
Responsibility and independence at an early stage is a great way to retain talent and also sets you apart from the competition, says Friedrich Graf von Westphalen’s managing partner
How would you define your firm’s culture? How important is that culture to you? Every individual in our firm trainees, assistants, associates, and partners – shows a high degree of responsibility and independence; we define management as a coordination and service point for our partners; our leadership works bottom up instead of top down; we …
Continue reading “Dr Barbara Mayer: Lawyers develop best if given freedom”
Interview with...
Be less emotional and more rational, although at times it is just as rewarding to be emotional, the Camilleri Preziosi partner tells his younger self
What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capacity? The greatest professional achievement in my career is having started from a small two-man show and to build, together with Henri Mizzi, Camilleri Preziosi into the top-tier, highly-respected law firm it is today. From a purely personal perspective it’s having been a first …
Continue reading “Louis de Gabriele: Add more value to your advice”
