Corporate clients opting for in-house over fee increases; Slater & Gordon plans to expand

Fee increases pushing more Australian legal work in-house
Corporate clients are taking more legal work in-house due to excessive fee increases by some of Australia’s biggest law firms. That’s the assessment of Peter Slattery, of Johnson Winter & Slattery, who says this has been the case for the last decade. In an article in The Australian, Slattery says that a year or so ago there were firms pitching to clients at very low rates in a bid to combat the shift towards using in-house teams but that now work rates are busier, although his firm is using structure where senior lawyers are taking on more work that would have previously have been handled by juniors.
 
Slater & Gordon continues expansion
One of Australia’s top law exports Slater & Gordon is continuing its expansion overseas. The firm has confirmed that it is in talks to acquire Welsh firm Leo Abse & Cohen. Slaters now has more staff in the UK than in Australia after a number of acquisitions in recent years.
 
Dentons picks up team from King & Wood Mallesons
Dentons has hired a partner and four associates from King & Wood Mallesons’ Paris office. The team will boost Dentons’ restructuring team which lost two partners earlier in the year.
 
Lawyers with tattoos risk career damage
Could having a tattoo damage your career prospects? Katherine Maxwell a partner at UK firm Moore Blatch thinks it could. The head of the firm’s employment law practice says that currently UK law allows refusing to hire someone with a tattoo and dismissal of an employee who gets one during their employment or refuses to cover it up. There are exceptions but Maxwell advises that those thinking of getting a tattoo consider the possible effect on their current and future job prospects. Surveys have suggested that clients would not look favourably on lawyers with tattoos.