The Lawyer Podcast

Send us Fan Mail On the surface, litigation funding and class actions are booming in the UK. Over the past five years, dozens of class actions have been filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and just at the start of this month, a new £5bn action was filed against Google. The 60 cases now in the CAT are said to be worth more than £160bn. And they are all backed by a litigation funder. But...

Send us Fan Mail News broke last week that the first ever AI law firm had been given the green light by the SRA. The rush by law firms to adopt Artificial Intelligence has been the standout feature of the past two years. But amongst all the hype, the promises, the bizarre naming of internal chat bots (we’re looking at you, Mishcon de Reya), it’s difficult to get a handle on who is doing what – and...

Send us Fan Mail Trump’s attacks on some of America’s most famous law firms has set in motion a chain of events that has thrown the world of BigLaw into chaos. In episode three of The Lawyer Podcast's mini-series on Trump v BigLaw, Christian, Catrin and Richard assess what the crisis means for the junior members of the legal profession. The team speaks with Rachel Cohen, whose resignation on...

Send us Fan Mail Trump’s attacks on some of America’s most famous law firms has set in motion a chain of events that has thrown the world of BigLaw into chaos. On this second episode of our podcast mini-series, Catrin, Christian and Richard look at how firm managements are responding to Trump’s targeting. The team speaks to former Ashurst senior partner Charlie Geffen and former Weight Watchers an...

Send us Fan Mail Trump’s attacks on some of America’s most famous law firms has set in motion a chain of events that has thrown the world of BigLaw into chaos. Across the course of three episodes, The Lawyer Podcast will be talking to figures across the political and legal spectrum on both sides of the Atlantic, from Trump supporters to liberal academics, senior partners to students, associates to...

Send us Fan Mail Law firm listings are out of fashion, but private equity interest in firms has never been higher.  With more deals already struck this year, The Lawyer Podcast crew sets out the state of PE investment in firms, debates the benefits and challenges of PE involvement, explores the experience of DWF, and ponders what the future will bring.

Send us Fan Mail Dynamic. Modern. Exciting. From Revolut to Bloom & Wild, Darktrace to Fever, startups are increasingly the place to be in the UK - and that is the case for lawyers too. So as the potential avenues for a career in law grow and grow, Catrin Griffiths and Christian Smith are joined on The Lawyer Podcast by Tech Editor Lucie Cruz – and some special guests –  to discuss what it tak...

Send us Fan Mail Poland’s GDP per capita could surpass Japan’s next year and may exceed the UK’s by the end of the decade. Such statistics help explain why the Eastern European nation is seeing an influx of international business - and legal work. Addleshaw Goddard is to take over Linklaters’ office in Warsaw in April, Clyde & Co is keenly poaching from Dentons, while Wolf Theiss and Schoenher...

Send us Fan Mail £20m is a number most recently associated with top private equity partners, but that’s the amount a team from Willkie Farr & Gallagher has been paid for its work on the iconic Merricks v Mastercard litigation. Now as the case wraps up, Catrin and Christian are joined by deputy litigation editor Annabel Tinson to discuss the story behind the case and its controversial settlemen...

Send us Fan Mail As Donald Trump and his allies put corporate ESG on both sides of the Atlantic in their crosshairs, is now the time for law firms to stand up and prove that their sustainability programmes are not just all for lip service? To mark the launch of The Lawyer ’s Sustainability Hub , the podcast team discuss the future of law firm sustainability, which firms need to up their game, why...

Send us Fan Mail Losing more than a dozen partners in a year isn’t good for any firm, but it’s particularly bad if you are a top of the market type practice like Latham & Watkins. But after such a stumble in London and across Europe last year, which saw the firm recalibrate its partner remuneration and bonus structure to hold on to top talent, the time has come to ask: should Lathamites be wor...

Send us Fan Mail The Lawyer Podcast is back with for 2025! Every January for the past 15 years, The Lawyer has published its Top 20 Cases to look out for in the coming year. Each year’s list boasts of the skill and depth of the legal market, and the high drama of the English courts. So what makes this year different, and what can it tell us about the current state of law, business and politics? We...

Send us Fan Mail It's less than a week until Christmas and across the country, fires are blazing, trees are twinkling and pigs in blankets are roasting. But in offices, lawyers still have their noses to the grindstone.  For those who celebrate it, the Christmas break can be a time to put your feet up and relax. But many still need to work over the festive season, and many still find it diffic...

Send us Fan Mail Editors Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith and Richard Simmons are back to reveal the five firms in the second hundred of the UK200 they are watching in the coming years – for good or for ill. Tune in as we discuss firms from around the country: RBG, Lawrence Stephens, Enyo Law, FBC Manby Bowdler and Simpson Millar. And please remember to like and subscribe on your favourite podcas...

Send us Fan Mail The announcement that Herbert Smith Freehills would merge with US firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel has got chins wagging across the transatlantic market. But is this a new mega-firm in the vein of A&O Shearman, a shrewd building block for HSF to make advances in the US, or a bit of an anti-climax? What is clear is that HSF will need to prove to markets on both sides of...

Send us Fan Mail It is a moment of change for the European legal market. With firms like Kirkland and Paul Hastings making major recent moves in the EU, US firms are starting to seriously disrupt the European order. This is most visible in Germany, France and the Nordics. So on this episode of the The Lawyer Podcast, our international editor Alex Taylor joins us after a recent visit to Oslo to dis...

Send us Fan Mail In part two of our two-part podcast series, celebrating the 20th edition of The Lawyer's UK200, editors Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith, Matt Byrne, Katy Dowell and Richard Simmons are back to reveal the five firms they are watching in the coming years – for good or for ill. With a list of 200 law firms, it’s not difficult to find some which pique our interest…but why have...

Send us Fan Mail If this year's UK200 is anything to go by, the majority of UK law firms are in robust health. Indeed, they are finally fighting back against the growth of US competitors. So why are so many upending their partnership models? In part one of our two part podcast series celebrating the 20th edition of The Lawyer's UK200, editors Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith, Matt Byrne...

Send us Fan Mail Last week, A&O Shearman set out post-merger plans to close its legacy Allen & Overy base in Johannesburg, reduce its partnership by 10 per cent by the end of the financial year, and sell its consultancy business Consulting by A&O Shearman. So is this a sign of things already going wrong, or is this all par for the course for big mergers? In this new episode of The Lawy...

Send us Fan Mail Football law has typically been the domain of sports specialists. However, in recent years, there has been a growing number of large, elite firms and chambers entering the football market. Clifford Chance and Freshfields act for Manchester City, and Slaughter and May and Linklaters represent the Premier League. Latham and Watkins worked on the Chelsea sale, sports boutiques like N...

Send us Fan Mail The associate recruitment market has tightened up over the past year or two. For trainees looking to qualify, that means finding a home in their preferred practice area is more difficult too. But qualification and, specifically, which team you qualify into, can be one of the most crucial moments in a solicitor’s career.  So on the final episode of The Lawyer Podcast before the sum...

Send us Fan Mail Labour won. Now what? As Sir Keir Starmer walks into Downing Street, The Lawyer Podcast boils up a vat of coffee and brings you an election results show for lawyers. With special guests including former Clifford Chance partner and tax celebrity Dan Neidle, we discuss which lawyers are in and out of Parliament after a night of change, look at what will be on the desk of the new Jus...

Send us Fan Mail The doom of the middle market has long been foretold.   As global mergers grab attention and smaller, boutique firms blossom, many question whether there is any role for mid-market practices in law’s future.   But, on Tuesday evening, Addleshaw Goddard marked a remarkable, decade-long turnaround as it was crowned Law Firm of the Year at The Lawyer Awards.   And Addleshaws is not t...

Send us Fan Mail Law firms have long had a problem with gender equality. Partners and senior leaders are weighted heavily towards men, with an average of 2.35 male partner to every female partner in the UK's top 100 firms. However, that number is actually much improved on five years ago, when it was 2.83 male partners to every female. The number of female senior and managing partners is also...

Send us Fan Mail O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Last week, The Lawyer reported that time-poor lawyers are struggling to date in a profession where time is money. Longer hours for junior lawyers, compounded by a waning London dating market, is only adding to the problem. So on this episode of The Lawyer Podcast, editor Catrin Griffiths and litigation editor Christian Smith are joined by...