Law firms are from Mars, GCs are from Venus?
Men think they understand women; women disagree. Law firms say they understand their clients’ needs; do they? A new survey aimed to find out just how closely the needs of external law firms meet those of general counsel. The UK-based General Counsel Exchange asked 125 in-house general counsels, mostly at firms with at least 1000 employees and a turnover of more than AU$2 billion. They also polled 120 of the UK’s top law firms.
To start the survey, participants were asked whether law firms understand their clients’ needs; on a scale of 1 (not very confident) to 5 (very confident) 41 per cent of both law firms and GCs put 4 or 5.
There are greater divisions in some of the other findings; 74 per cent of law firms believe that the buying of legal services are handled by clients’ procurement teams; 80 per cent of GCs are confident that is not the case. On project management skills for law firms 60 per cent of GCs say it’s very important but only 17 per cent of law firm partners felt the same.
On alternative fee arrangements there is also disparity with 76 per cent of law firms saying they believe that clients want to move away from the billable hour while only 58 per cent of GCs say they do.
Taylor Wessing merges with Dutch firm
International law firm Taylor Wessing has merged with Dutch firm Deterink. The additional of 7 partners and 47 lawyers brings Taylor’s headcount to 1,200.
Baker Botts adds three to HK/Beijing team
Global law firm Baker Botts has hired three lawyers from Jones Day for its Hong Kong and Beijing team. Michael Arruda, Joanne Du and Phillip Georgiou join the firm as it seeks to boost its international capabilities.
Holman Fenwick Willan announce death of Paris partner
Tributes have been paid to Edouard Tay Pamart, a partner in the Paris office of Holman Fenwick Willan who has died at the age of 46 after a short illness. He joined the firm in 1994. A statement on the firm’s website says “Our thoughts and condolences are with Edouard's family and friends at this very sad time.”
