Tell your people where they stand

Interview with: Vanessa King

O’Neal Webster’s managing partner talks talent retention, EU blacklisting, launching a New York office, and the difficulties of having an open door policy

How do you define your firm’s culture and how important is that culture to you? We have a very collaborative, supportive, family-based culture in the firm. I am not saying this because I am the managing partner, but it has been described as such by outsiders who have observed us and it is a culture …

Success off map

Country spotlight: New Zealand

Too small, too far away, but a good place to be. Asia Pacific deputy editor Andrea de Palatis considers New Zealand’s steady legal market

New Zealand is a country that has a long history of being left off the world map, including on wall maps sold by Ikea and displayed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. Producers of A-level geography books and board games are also guilty of the omission. Are New Zealanders offended? Not quite. They respond …

Law is still a people’s business

Technology

Lawyers are ‘totally safe’ from the threat of being replaced by robots, argues Anne-Karin Grill of Vavrovsky Heine Marth

Legal tech is probably the most eminent buzz word in the legal community these days. It has become a recurring conference topic and, in some areas of the legal advisory industry, tech tools have indeed long been integrated in the process. In essence, they are relied upon to increase efficiency, most notably where large volumes …

For BAME students, the struggle to get into law is very real

Diversity and inclusion

The Law Society’s committee member Umar Kankiya
recounts his personal journey into the profession and how law firms can be more diverse and inclusive environments

At 34-years old, I have six-and-a-half years post qualification experience (PQE), am married with two children under the age of four, and am a department head of a Legal 500-recognised law firm. Sounds like life is pretty plain sailing. Yes, life is pretty good, but the struggle to get to where I am now started …

#MeToo and law firm reputation – the PR response

The big issue

Working cultures will need to adapt and evolve if reputations are to be preserved, writes Gus Sellitto, managing director of Byfield Consultancy.

In its first year, the #MeToo movement has had a profound impact on almost every industry, including the legal sector, shining a much-needed light on how we deal with sexual harassment in the workplace and in wider society. The days of quietly brushing sexual harassment under the carpet are gone and the media continues to …

Arbitrating in India? You may be better off elsewhere

Editors' views

Leading lawyers speak to John van der Luit-Drummond about amendments to India’s arbitration law and the impact they may have on a nascent disputes hub

With almost 30 million cases – no that is not a typo! – currently pending before the courts, and some commercial claims taking up to 15 years or more before judgment is given, it is no surprise there is an increasing appetite for arbitration in India. However, the ad hoc nature of India-seated arbitrations, whereby …

A moment to make real change

The big issue

Christina Detsch takes a closer look at the omnipresent trend that is #MeToo and the impact it has had on the US workplace environment.

Speaking to employment law specialists in Sweden during the 2019 EMEA research, one thing struck me as particularly interesting: all noted a ‘wave’ or ‘explosion’ of discrimination and harassment lawsuits, as well as numerous large internal investigations, at the beginning of 2018 just as the #MeToo movement was getting into its stride. However, by the …

In the eye of the storm

Editors' views

Caribbean editor Amy Ulliott talks to BVI-based firms on how they were affected by Hurricane Irma and the lessons learned since the devastating Atlantic storm

In the autumn of 2017, Hurricane Irma, a 650-mile wide Category 5 storm, made landfall on the British Virgin Islands (BVI). In the early afternoon of 6 September, the storm’s eye travelled over Virgin Gorda, Tortola, and Jost Van Dyke, three of the major islands in the group. Irma’s direct hit left a devastated BVI, …

Remediating, mitigating, and managing a crisis

The big issue

US editor Seth Singh Jennings talks to Kirkland & Ellis partners about advising corporate clients about reputational risk in the era of #MeToo.

An issue for businesses that has skyrocketed in importance in recent years is sexual abuse in the workplace, which of course is largely due to the success of the #MeToo movement. The origins of ‘Me Too’ in the context of sexual harassment and assault stretches back to 2006, but the movement, as we now understand …

Investment in Latin America

Events and awards

On 14 February, The Legal 500 held its Private Equity in Latin America Summit at the prestigious Institute of Directors in London. Moderated by deputy editor and veteran investment funds researcher Will Tolcher, and sponsored by Brazilian firm Demarest, the event brought together an expert panel with a diverse range of knowledge from across the …