When the sun is setting on a role, and dark clouds cloak our view, what stories do we tell ourselves about the truth we thought we knew? When emperors have…
Packing away one of our LBCambridge residential events, as we did again last Tuesday evening, is a time when reflection and exhaustion compete quietly for my attention. The banners are…
What is ambition? What is its shape and colour? What is ambition’s energy force? How does it compel you? I am fascinated by the word and how it alters our…
It’s easy for me to rise from my armchair residency, to climb on board my hobbyhorse of choice and pontificate. As a mere commentator, it should also be easier for…
It was a Tuesday, and the date was 27 March 1962. The Shadows had the number-one record in the UK hit parade with “Wonderful Land” but in a maternity ward…
Last year I wrote about why booking too far in advance can be dangerous for your business, and this concept of margin so eloquently captures what I had recognized had…
Today must still be navigated even with milk running low in the fridge, a looming meeting in the diary that fills the heart with dread and a car with an…
The world is not totally fucked up, but as we tenuously cling to the outer edges of our planet, it is easy to allow thoughts of helplessness and despair to…
One day, a long time ago, the school bell rang and within seconds the corridor was its normal state of total chaos. Kids running into each other and by each…
I am a left of centre, liberal-minded, social democrat. I was a Labour Party member for most of my adult life, and in the 2015 General Election I had the…
Some of the qualities of leadership I most admire are revealed in the small knowing moments where to have noticed and to have cared come together and a small change…
A workplace culture is observable. It always happens in plain sight, and the most important people in maintaining a dysfunctional culture are those who enable the harm to continue. It…
It’s January, and another year (thank goodness). Wherever you are and however you feel, I hope this year unfolds with kindness and care. I am long past wanting to heap…
Nick Wallis has written what feels like the most important book I have ever read. “The Great Post Office Scandal” begins with a short foreword by Seema Misra, a victim…
In the last few days, I have heard stories from and about all kinds of leaders. I have heard about ignorant and hurtful leadership, of confusing and missing-the-point leadership, but…
As we tentatively move into a new age of seeing the world as something to be nurtured and not exploited, and as we need to find more certain and comprehensive…
The ideal career appears to be a highly curated timeline of elegantly held roles, on an always upwards trajectory, with greater and greater reward on each and every gilded step.…
My friend wanted to tell me about something that was happening at his work. Let’s call him James. He is responsible for delivering a significant project and had a talented…
What should we expect of the most senior lawyer employed in a business, or charity, or public institution in the UK? She is called Jane and she is a thoroughly…
“I fundamentally disagree” said John Cocksure, shaking his head in the exaggerated manner of someone comfortable in the limelight of their own making. He then lolled backwards on his chair,…
There were a number of reasons why I came away from social media earlier this year. In part, filling my mind with the relentless sadness and struggles of the world…
There are signs of recovery, with an accompanying sense of normality, in the conversations I am having with people going for new roles and being excited about the possibilities of…
A letter between friends is a rather old-fashioned idea, but one that still carries a sense of something a little more thoughtful, personal and caring. The act of writing a…
Legal Department metrics? I am not that bothered. Count what you like, present it how you like, extrapolate it all you like, the things we count have largely been chosen…
The need for speed pervades all we do. We are bombarded with advertising and influencers wanting us to lose weight fast and be beach ready in 14 days. Or the…
Social media is an odd place. It has been, and often still is, a cheerful distraction, full of insight and generosity; and it can be an extraordinary force for good.…
“Do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die.” A few days ago, I wrote about the Post Office scandal: https://www.lbcwisecounsel.com/resources/articles/article/resigning-is-not-enough/#.YMPSLKhKhPY I made clear my view…
…The Captain then made her usual pre-flight announcement. As she handed over to the cabin-crew she reminded us that her colleagues “are here for your comfort, but mostly for your…
You do know you are amazing? A story in the making, full of joy, sadness, hope and vulnerability. An inspiration, even if you feel small and incomplete. How do I…
It was just another ordinary day. I was probably three weeks into my first General Counsel role. The calls and messages of support and congratulations had passed. This call was…
It was probably about four years ago deep into a parched rainless summer. After a stiflingly hot, slow Tube ride and then a longer walk than was ideal in a…
Earlier We were all standing slightly apart from each other on Tuesday. A quietly shuffling group of people, and a cold wind forcing hands to be pushed deep into coat…
I have observed and worked with in-house lawyers ever since my very first day as an in-house lawyer on Monday 2 January 1989. Then I was a wet-behind-the-ears new recruit…
In the light of the Post Office prosecutions scandal, this is the email I hope every in-house legal team will consider sending to their Board and Executive colleagues now: “Dear…
Being innovative is a really bad idea in most situations. In most situations relying on tried and tested is best. I accept entirely that if you had been on Apollo…
When I was seven and in Mrs Davies’s class at St John’s primary school, I wrote a story about our family caravan holiday. I mentioned the sand sculptures on Weymouth…
There is a constant conundrum for introverts on social media. Some days all I see is the din of opinion, the puffery of self-promotion and a constant strident flow of…
Occasionally I hear myself say something in the course of a conversation, and I think “that sounds quite good, I should write it down”. What usually happens then, of course,…
As the sun shines and daffodils appear, with all the talk of vaccines and our current lockdown lifting, I think I am allowed to blink into the Spring light with…
This note is on time. If it’s not too late. Time, for me, has never been an ever-expanding universe that I can fill with whatever I like. I suspect time…
I ran a workshop last week that had no content and it went quite well. We talked about listening, about poetry, and about places and spaces that gave us peace.…
In the UK we are coming up to a year. Hope is tiptoeing around our anxiety trying not to wake our tired fears. Thoughts dart between future plans and painful…
What value do you bring to your role? What is the value of your contribution? Is the value you bring the value that is being measured? The things we tend…
When words catch the winds of change, we do not just hear them, but we feel them too. It has been a more comfortable week for rhetoric. Bombast, aggression, unkindness…
I do not often write about lawyers being lawyers. I write about them mostly as leaders, managers, colleagues and humans. However, occasionally I like to write about what it means…
