All articles by Eduardo Reyes – Page 40
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Clients keep legal spending in-house
Commercial firms are competing in a static market as large clients grow their in-house legal teams rather than turn to external firms to deal with an increasing workload, research seen exclusively by the Gazette has indicated. An annual benchmarking survey of 124 heads of legal ...
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How the property market is changing as law firms weigh up office space
There is a strong sense that the property market is changing in important ways for law firms of all sizes as occupiers.
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Whitehall proposals ignore people who could fill civil legal aid void
The most common reaction to last week’s Ministry of Justice green paper on legal aid is shock. That shock is manifested among legal aid practitioners, clients and the groups that speak for clients.
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End of the public-private world
A few years ago, BBC journalist Mark Easton gave a talk to clients at DLA Piper’s London office. His title at the time was ‘home editor’ – a title with a breadth he liked. His basic theme was the informed ‘bet’ he had made that, in the future, the private ...
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‘Sluggish’ justice must be faster and cheaper
The criminal justice system is ‘sluggish’, stifles innovation, and is both fragmented and bureaucratic. Agencies including the Crown Prosecution Service need to share resources and innovate to shorten the time between arrest and sentencing, and increase the number of early guilty pleas. These are among ...
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The future is (almost) here
Last week I wrote about the role that automation could play in delivering legal services to the public, using products that firms of all sizes could buy in.
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EMI case: the judge and the jury
The attention of the business and legal worlds was drawn to Manhattan this week, where private equity baron Guy Hands lost his law suit against US bank Citigroup. This was a jury trial before Jed Rakoff, US district court judge for the Southern District of New ...
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Who's afraid of computer generation?
Significant parts of Richard Susskind's The End of Lawyers? focus on the role of technology and automation in the production of legal documents. In particular he looks at the use of software that enables the client, with the use of what is basically a decision tree, to generate employment contracts ...
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Budget cuts – the numbers game
As happens with the budget every year, the chancellor George Osborne’s Commons statement on the comprehensive spending review triggered a mad scramble to clarify and unpick the numbers referenced, and work out their significance.
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Lawyers must protect vulnerable from effect of budget cuts – Djanogly
Lawyers and the legal system will need to find efficiencies and new ways of working to protect the vulnerable from the effects of budget cuts, legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly told the Gazette this week. He said: ‘Our priority is not what lawyers do, or ...
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Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly on pro bono and the Big Society
While prime minister David Cameron’s idea of the ‘Big Society’ has left many people unclear as to what their own role or contribution to it could be, for lawyers the answer looks fairly simple: pro bono work can use lawyers’ skills, knowledge and professional standing to meet unmet need. The ...
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Banks to seek assurances from LLPs
The era of banks making unsecured credit freely available to firms may come to an end as banks review the risk profile of practices that have converted to LLP status, it was suggested last week. Chris Marston, head of professional practices at Lloyds TSB, told delegates ...
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Information to unlock bank finance
If there was a core message for attendees at last week’s annual 360 Legal Conference to take away from the day, it was the urgency of addressing financial questions.
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After PQE: wise beyond years?
Some law firms, having moved partners away from lockstep towards a more strict merit-based system, have now turned their attention to the way they price and reward assistants and associates. Unpicking the use of PQE to decide on fees and reward is a logical step, but as a piece of ...
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Injury claims carry a ‘social stigma’
The public’s ignorance of the law is one of the major obstacles that is preventing people from gaining access to justice through personal injury claims, and most believe that making a claim would be ‘working the system’, according to a report by National Accident Helpline based on a poll of ...
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Five firms ‘put in intensive care’ by banks
Five of the UK’s top-30 law firms have been put into ‘intensive care’ by banks, a top solicitor claimed this week. Mark Jones, chairman of national firm Addleshaw Goddard, told the second Global Managing Partners Summit conference in London that he fears another law firm failure ...
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Why the timidity around billing?
In the current economic environment, law firms, like other businesses, are keeping a close eye on cashflow. This is always a particular concern for professional firms, who are rarely paid up front for their services.
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Lib Dem minister faces economic reality
The justice system cannot escape the ‘realities of the economic situation’, Lord McNally, minister of state at the Ministry of Justice, said in an interview with the Gazette this week. The Liberal Democrat peer said he is relying on the ability of the legal profession ...
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Should lawyers get out more?
On any weekday, in reception areas from the high street to Herbert Smith, clients are giving their name, then waiting to see their solicitor. Depending on the firm, they might wait looking at a Howard Hodgkin poster in a clip frame, or wait looking at the genuine article – whatever ...
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Army cuts could hit support for Afghan operations
The defence spending and security review will result in cuts of at least 25% in the numbers of lawyers in the Army and Royal Air Force, the Gazette understands. The cuts will include lawyers who advise frontline troops and commanders on compliance with the Geneva ...