Law firms are not keeping up with their clients, says chair of international law firm… International firm launches rival to Peerpoint… Baker McKenzie appoints chief knowledge officer… Promotions at Skadden…
Warning! Your clients are changing faster than you are
Law firms are not keeping up with their clients. That’s according to the chair of international law firm Seyfarth Shaw. Writing for Bloomberg BNA Stephen Poor says that he believes there is a gap between the value that buyers of legal services think they are getting and the value that law firms think they are delivering. He says that gap must be closed in order to keep the profession healthy.
Poor, who has recently started using Twitter and writing on Medium.com, highlights a recent survey where 63 per cent of law firm leaders said they were not considering a change to their business model because clients weren’t requesting it. He also notes that clients are increasingly using their own in-house teams and concludes that rather than clients not asking for change law firms just aren’t hearing them. Poor is calling for more discussion about how the law business needs to change and warns that the profession is lagging the changes being made by clients. You can follow him on Twitter @stephen_poor.
International firm launches rival to Peerpoint
Allen & Overy have Peerpoint, Pinsent Masons has Vario, Freshfields has Continuum and now another international law firm is entering the contract lawyer space. DLA Piper has announced that it will be offering a new enterprise by the end of this year. It is being spearheaded by co-CEO Simon Levine and service delivery director Stephen Allen.
Baker McKenzie appoints chief knowledge officer
Mark Ford has been appointed global chief knowledge officer at Baker McKenzie. Ford joins after more than 20 years at Clifford Chance where he held a similar role. He is a qualified solicitor and has racked up significant achievements in his time at CC.
Promotions at Skadden
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has promoted 21 attorneys to counsel including two in Asia-Pacific. In Hong Kong Andrew Foster is promoted in the European Union/International Competition practice; and in Beijing corporate lawyer Andre Zhu is promoted. There is one promotion in London with the others all in the US.
