It is too early for history to judge, but judgements are still being made. Despite the noise and clamour of the moment with commentators and experts at every twist and…
A very good friend of mine was somewhat nonplussed by an announcement a few years back; he had heard that the Law Society in England & Wales had set up…
It is said that what doesn’t kill us provides a learning experience; but deciding what we learn in our professional lives is not always easy to discern. The pace of…
Even in the best of times some support functions in many law firms suffer from a downplaying of their value by their lawyer colleagues simply because their teams are not…
Speaking with one general counsel the other day, I was asked a not untypical question: “What can you tell me that I could implement today that will help me and…
To read some lawyers’ contributions to the legal blogs you might be forgiven for thinking that becoming a lawyer today was not the shrewdest career choice one could make. It…
The difference between what is a “leader” and what is a “manager” and what is “leadership” and “management” is the stuff of consulting heaven! It is a debate that has…
There is a phenomenon in the world of systems development and software that might just have the most enormous impact on the future of legal services. As we all know…
Some very notable minds down the ages have suggested that “the only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history”…At this time particularly this seems…
The last few months have been awful… Whatever your political leaning, whatever your own perspective on how things should have been and how they should be, we are all clearly…
There is much talk around the world of consolidation in legal services; the globalisation strategies of some high profile law firms is mimicked by firms in individual countries and across…
“Change” is more than a business school process. We must shape the discussion, influence, challenge, adhere to values and inspire. Walk around any bookstore and sooner or later you will…
We ran a networking event recently in a regional centre far, far away from the capital city…we thought lawyers would be pleased to have an opportunity to meet friends and…
I received an innocuous little message the other day… “Can you please tell us what you do in less than one hundred words?” It was for a law firm’s newsletter…
Have you ever filled in a customer satisfaction survey? The ones where you tick the box that best describes the service or value received. They come with a promise that…
No New Year is complete without a thought to introducing some change into our lives… it might be personal (I will try to lose the weight I lost once before…
Talking to one City law firm partner the other day I was left a little nonplussed by an assertion of economic hardship? ?You would not believe? he said ?how hard…
If you are not into marketing then the notion of rebranding can seem like a vacuous and pointless expense. As the old (adapted) joke goes: ?How do you make a…
I was having a coffee the other day with an in-house lawyer new into her first role; she was interesting and thoughtful and her conversation was engaging and full of…
General Counsel must ensure that their preferred law firms provide value for money and that relationships are developed to their full potential. In doing so, some General Counsel look to…
Is it me? Or will there come a time in everyone’s life when ranting at the television becomes normal behaviour? Almost every day now I find myself becoming agitated at…
?I ache all over? said the old badger. ?I ache so much, it hurts to breathe? ?Oh dear? said the young fox ?whatever have you done?? ?He has done nothing…
Seeing into the future therefore for legal services and the legal profession is similarly constraining? We can all have a vague, speculative thought about legal services becoming ?quicker, easier, cheaper??…
Cue the Ambassador?s residence, a dinner party for glamorous and sophisticated people, soft lights, romantic music, and a beautiful young woman approaches her impossibly handsome host ?Ahh Mr Ambassador you…
There is an old line about the inexact science of marketing? The apocryphal Marketing Director declares that at least half of the money spent on marketing is fantastically successful ?…
In business we are constantly told that change is inevitable, ?adapt or die? slogans are bandied around and there is a whole industry of publishers, presenters and consultants with clever…
In the olden days it was all so straightforward. The young tyro worked hard at law school, secured a good training contract, worked like a pit pony for a few…
?We live in such a fast paced competitive world. We have to earn every pound we invoice – sometimes more than every pound – and client loyalty is barely a…
Law firms lose people too easily. Trainees come and go like fallible components in a greedy machine and qualified lawyers move on so readily that they seem not so much…
The inconvenience caused to our daily lives is managed ? it would be churlish to grumble after all, but the sense of fear is palpable and I resent that very…
Speak to any General Counsel today and ask them what keeps them awake at night and two things are typically mentioned: ? The company?s businesses decisions are made today on…
If you speak to any General Counsel working in-house today or any senior partner in a law firm, two recurring themes will emerge that concern them greatly: ? The performance…
In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, one theory is now famously established; it is that the answer to “Life the Universe and Everything” is 42. This, as I am…
“I’ve got a great idea” said the bright young thing. “It’s brilliant in its simplicity, clever in its concept and cannot fail to succeed”. Then the idea died; stopped dead…
Last month the Legal Director Benchmarker survey revealed clients’ growing concern over the levels of fees charged by law firms. It is time, writes Paul Gilbert, for in-house lawyers to…
Once upon a time in-house lawyers were thought to have a cushy number…nine to five, nice office, nice pension and if anything tricky came along they could always outsource it.…
I am sure you are all aware of a book written a few years ago by Stephen Covey called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”… Over years the company…
Finding a law firm that thinks it needs advice on the better management of client relationships is like trying to find a man who will admit to being a bad…
Too often what we really want eludes us and what we get is a compromise. The job, the house, the car and, dare I say, in personal relationships as well.…
As a small boy, one phrase that was indelibly impressed on to my consciousness at this post Christmas time of year was “It is the thought that counts”. It was…
Your attention momentarily grabbed by this perhaps alarming headline, I’must first make clear (particularly to Lisa my partner) that I have not slept with any lawyers when researching this article.…
Your career as a solicitor might last thirty-five, even forty years. That is an awfully long time and must seem a daunting prospect when standing at the start line wondering…
With their antiquated business practices and lack of customer service, are law firms in danger of being left behind? Paul Gilbert says that it’s definitely time for a revolution. People…
Every now and again I find myself driving along the A40 into London pondering the unpalatable thought that unless my alarm goes off at 3am I really will spend years…
In most important debates there will be several different points of view all of which will have some validity. People hold to their particular view for a variety of reasons:…
“Daddy, what job do you do?” “I’m a solicitor sweetheart” “Oh…what’s one of those?” “A solicitor is someone who helps people” “Like the lollypop lady at school, or like a…
The Chinese have a saying “You cannot stand still in a moving river”. It will evoke a familiar feeling for in-house lawyers everywhere. The dynamics of the business world today…
The Law Society, so the perception goes, is out of touch, irrelevant to the vast majority of solicitors and their firms and generally just not very good. The Big Question…
In-house lawyers should be a hugely influential constituency whose voice should carry enormous weight. But, says Paul Gilbert, their response to date to changes in the legal profession has been…
I was sat in the wine bar the other day reminiscing with an old friend. We had both qualified as raw recruits to the legal profession in the mid nineteen…
“I’m sorry, did you say it was an elephant?” “No, I said it was irrelevant” …I really do hesitate to write this piece… just how many times can someone write…
