The Lawyer Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Last week, all eyes were on A&O Shearman, a union hailing Big Law and its future. But in this week’s episode, we consider why so many solicitors are pursuing another future: opening their own firm. A survey from Censuswide on behalf of Harbour Litigation Funding last year found that half of UK firm partners had ambitions to set up their own firm – up 10 per percent on 2021. So...

Send us Fan Mail The wait is finally over. In just under a week, the transformational merger between Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling will go live. But while the deal is done, the job is only just beginning. So on this episode of The Lawyer Podcast, Catrin and Christian look at how the merger will play out in the next week, the next year and beyond? They are joined by director of insi...

Send us Fan Mail The Lawyer 's Christian Smith, Catrin Griffiths, Richard Simmons, Katy Dowell and Charlotte Lear are joined by College of Legal Practice CEO Giles Proctor for this emergency episode of The Lawyer Podcast as they discuss the latest Solicitors Qualification Exam debacle : marking errors that led to 175 students being incorrectly told they had failed. What went wrong, who's...

Send us Fan Mail Regional offices have long been critical to some of the UK’s biggest law firms. The essential components of today’s DLA Piper came from across the country, legacy Eversheds was formed of four firms from outside London, and Pinsent Masons was a Birmingham and Leeds outfit before it opened in London. But in recent years, some of those firms’ regional offerings have started to look l...

Send us Fan Mail Grabbing the attention of aspiring solicitors and spectators alike, criticism of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination has torn through the media over the weeks following the most recent set of results. From City firms dropping training contracts from offer holders after failing on their first attempt, to questions over whether the exams really equip candidates for life as a newly...

Send us Fan Mail Law firms leaders love saying they don’t want growth for growth’s sake, but the truth is, without any growth at all they soon find themselves floundering. So as the financial year draws to a close, litigation editor Christian Smith and deputy editor Rich Simmons are joined by head of insight Matt Byrne, Horizon editor Katy Dowell and international editor Alex Taylor to look at wha...

Send us Fan Mail The new episode of The Lawyer Podcast is out now. Last week The Lawyer reported that claimant firm Pogust Goodhead could pay its newly qualified associates up to £2m (if it wins its cases), making them by far and away the highest paid in the country. Yet although Pogust Goodhead is offering more money than anyone else, the move is also a sign of what is an exciting and diverse mar...

Send us Fan Mail London has become the biggest referral market in the world - and the Brits are nowhere The rise and rise of American firms in London’s private equity market – and the challenge that has presented to UK firms - has been well documented, particularly here at The Lawyer . But their increasing dominance is now also threatening UK firms across Europe, as European relationships in Londo...

Send us Fan Mail Linklaters seemingly started the year strongly with a six partner hire from Shearman & Sterling in New York. So why then has it come in for so much negative attention? From an absent US strategy to a stream of senior partner losses, many in the market now believe Linklaters is losing its sparkle. On this episode, Catrin and Christian are joined by director of insight Matt Byrn...

Send us Fan Mail The Lawyer Podcast is back for 2024 and we’re kicking things off by delving into the lessons the legal profession can glean from the Post Office scandal. The Post Office scandal has already become one of the biggest stories of the year and few groups are so closely tied to it as the legal profession. With that in mind, editor Catrin Griffiths and litigation editor Christian Smith...

Send us Fan Mail Every law firm and his dog seems to be moving into a green office at the moment, but how important is that really when it comes to a law firm's impact on the environment? Well with COP28 well underway in Dubai, for the last episode of The Lawyer Podcast for 2023, we dive into one of the great challenges for this generation of lawyers: how can firms manage their relationship w...

Send us Fan Mail The new episode of The Lawyer Podcast is out now! Across the UK and Europe, new types of litigation are booming – and the money is pumping in. On this episode of The Lawyer Podcast, Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith and Alex Taylor sit down to debate what the future holds for the once maligned practice area, and whether litigators are proving themselves more creative than their tr...

Send us Fan Mail Salary wars are so 2022. Or are they? On Tuesday this week, The Lawyer ’s deputy editor (UK) Rich Simmons revealed the largest firm pay gaps between London and the regions . Did you know that Hogan Lovells’ Birmingham newly qualifieds (NQs) are paid £45,000 less than their London colleagues ? And Eversheds Sutherland’s regional NQs are all paid £33,000 less than those in the City?...

Send us Fan Mail The Lawyer’s Horizon Live is due to kick off next month. We are launching a series of webinars, dinners and roundtables featuring some of the biggest names in law discussing the most prominent issues affecting the profession. To celebrate, on the new episode of The Lawyer Podcast, four of The Lawyer ’s editors present some of their favourite Horizons in recent times. The Lawyer ed...

Send us Fan Mail Profits are falling and costs are rising. On the latest episode of The Lawyer Podcast, the team chat about why profit isn't a dirty word: Love it or hate it, PEP is part of a firm's branding and the status of its lawyers; Profit matters for firms' long-term health and investment; Would-be partners should use PEP in tandem with intel on capital requirements to know w...

Send us Fan Mail Proposed redundancies at CMS and Taylor Rose have raised associate anxieties across the market, with many wondering whether they could be the start of wider trouble. Hosts Catrin Griffiths and Christian Smith are joined by director of insight Matt Byrne and deputy editor (UK) Rich Simmons to discuss what you need to know, and whether you should be worried.

Send us Fan Mail Why is everyone talking about Paul Weiss and Neel Sachdev? The Lawyer Podcast is BACK after the summer break and for the first episode of the new term, the team take on the hottest story of the summer: Paul Weiss and its big London play. Join hosts Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith and guests Matt Byrne and Rachel Moloney as they unlock the Chamber of Secrets to reveal what you ne...

Send us Fan Mail Like many of its listeners, The Lawyer Podcast is on its summer holidays. But hanging over the summer for partners at A&O and Shearman & Sterling is the question of whether they should vote through the two firms’ proposed merger. With the vote expected in the Autumn, whether the biggest firm tie-up in decades will actually go through is still a live debate. So if you’re lo...

Send us Fan Mail The last episode of The Lawyer Podcast before the summer break is out now! Join hosts Catrin and Christian as they speak with Horizon editor Katy Dowell about why so many firms are moving or upgrading offices, and why they don’t all agree on what the future office should look like. What do treasure chests, Robert the Bruce, Adam Smith, seduction and sedition have in common? Anders...

Send us Fan Mail The new episode of The Lawyer Podcast is out now! On this episode, Catrin and Christian preview next week’s The Lawyer Awards and take a look at some of the categories exciting them this year. Rachel Moloney, deputy editor (City), joins the podcast to discuss which firms retain talented senior lawyers in corporate when they're not making partner, while other firms just don’t...

Send us Fan Mail The new episode of The Lawyer Podcast comes to you live from The Lawyer ’s recent GC conference in Bedfordshire. Catrin and Christian are joined by a range of senior in-house leaders, along with journalists from The Lawyer to discuss what’s keeping GCs up at night. Sarah Binder from Lime and Kodak’s John O’Reilly explain how a bad economy is making life tough for in-house lawyers,...

Send us Fan Mail It looks set to be one of the most extraordinary deals in legal market history, ushering in a new era of global law, and so The Lawyer Podcast is here with an emergency edition to tell you what the A&O - Shearman & Sterling merger means. Hosts Cat and Christian are joined by deputy editor (City) Rachel Moloney to talk through why they have merged, why it is bold, and why,...

Send us Fan Mail On the brand new episode of The Lawyer Podcast , the coronation may be over, but law firms are still crowning new leaders and partners across the City. Our deputy editor (City), Rachel Moloney, joins hosts Catrin Griffiths and Christian Smith to discuss the trends emerging from the annual round of promotions.   Our other deputy editor (UK) Richard Simmons is also with us to explai...

Send us Fan Mail The latest episode of The Lawyer Podcast is out now! Tune in as hosts Catrin Griffiths and Christian Smith speak to reporter Maria-Ward Brennan about the downfall of the Ince Group, while Horizon editor Katy Dowell joins the podcast to reflect on previous law firm collapses. Director of insight Matt Byrne takes us on a tour of what the 2023 US Top 50 report reveals about some of t...

Send us Fan Mail On the new episode of The Lawyer Podcast, editor Catrin Griffiths and litigation editor Christian Smith speak to director of insight Matt Byrne, who reveals how litigation funder Harbour is evolving into something of a bank to law firms. Keep an eye out for Matt’s article next week. Meanwhile, in-house reporter Lucie Cruz brings all the goss on Paul Hastings’ controversial slide t...