I’ve always suspected that, like politics, careers in journalism largely end in failure. Here is how mine ends. After 20 years covering the legal industry, it’s time to do something else. Given that length of time, I hope my four ...
Read More »Author Archives: Alex Novarese
Feed SubscriptionComment: City law shows remarkable crisis immunity (but managing partners aren’t ready to spread that message)
Everybody likes to go along with the crowd, in business as much as life. So as the global economy is battered by the coronavirus fallout and many business sectors are on their knees, it’s inevitable that the legal industry has ...
Read More »Comment: Apocalypse never – City leaders’ 2020 results show resilience to test the most confirmed Cassandra
Given the savaging that Covid-19 has done to our collective sense of time, forgive a quick history lesson on the halcyon days of 2019. Pulling together the LB100 report for the 2018/19 period, Legal Business reflected: ‘After a credible performance, ...
Read More »CC becomes third City leader to achieve post-pandemic growth as revenues climb £110m
With the coronavirus pandemic still wreaking havoc across many industry sectors, London’s legal elite has continued to buck the dire wider market with the third Magic Circle firm announcing revenue growth. Results announced today (21 July) from Clifford Chance (CC), ...
Read More »Linklaters edges revenue up despite global slump as City results start flowing in
Legal Business Blogs Traditionally, like the proverbial London transit, you wait ages for one set of Magic Circle results and then they start coming in like buses. Hot ...
Read More »A&O shrugs off lockdown to hike revenues 4% to £1.69bn in first post-pandemic results from UK law elite
There has been much speculation about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the profession but the first set of results from a leading law firm has confirmed the gist of months of market chatter: they’re doing fine. Allen & ...
Read More »CC breaks ground with 15% ethnic minority target for partners but can the profession follow through?
Is the next front on diversity in the profession targets for ethnic minority representation? The industry looks to be slowly moving that way with the news that Clifford Chance (CC) is committing to a host of new targets aimed at ...
Read More »Comment: Are stressed junior lawyers being struck off too easily? It’s time for watchdogs to consider a more flexible approach
In my line of work you’re supposed to pretend ideas come out of nowhere but this column was triggered by a well-argued piece by my former parish noting the contrast between senior lawyers let off with fines for regulatory breaches ...
Read More »Signs of intent – Freshfields shrugs off US caution to secure high-stakes West Coast launch
Observers of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have grown used to the City giant undercutting bold claims for its US strategy with half-hearted execution but the London leader has belied that image to announce an audacious launch in the key West Coast ...
Read More »Resetting associate comp – Better to bend than break but a rethink is still overdue
While it’s surprising in some regards that it took this long, Allen & Overy has done the UK legal market a favour by substantially re-setting compensation bands for its junior lawyers. The move, confirmed on Monday (22 June), will see ...
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