Irritating habits include eating and drinking or interrupting those speaking, research finds
It would seem good communication is a must-have skill for the vast majority of lawyers. Yet, new research reveals they are among some of the worst when it comes to over the phone dealings.
A whopping 82% of lawyers (that’s one in four of those surveyed) admitted to demonstrating bad manners while on the blower. Although they’re worse than doctors, nurses and dentists (81%), and accounts (77%), lawyers are not as bad as those in marketing and PR (85%) or HR (87%), the industry which topped the survey of over 2,000 UK workers for the worst phone manners in the UK.
The study, carried out by research agency The Leadership Factor, revealed some further interesting findings.
The telephone no no’s lawyers admit to being guilty of include putting people on speakerphone, while being distracted with other tasks, and eating or drinking whilst on the phone, with 18% (one in five) ‘fessing up to these bad habits. Fourteen percent admitted the tendency to interrupt is their worst mannerism.
The survey also revealed the top five telephone habits that lawyers find most irritating. They are being put on hold (50%), having a conversation with another person in the background (46%), being interrupted while speaking (41%), being put on speakerphone (32%), and loud music playing in the background (32%).
Commenting on the research, Mark Pearcy, head of marketing at 4Com, the telecommunications firm that commissioned the research, said:
“While texts, emails, social media, and all other forms of communication all have their benefits, speaking on the phone is perhaps most effective at passing on your message. As they allow you to hear the speaker’s tone of voice, phone calls help to avoid, for example, the risk of innocent phrases sounding passive aggressive, jokes being taken the wrong way, or sarcasm interpreted as serious thoughts.”
He added: “Hopefully this research will help people realise their phone habits can be considered rude and make chatting on the phone smooth sailing for people who work in the legal industry.”
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Lawyers from Hogan Lovells and Goldman Sachs on the vital role support networks play in the fight against discrimination
Sian Owles and Tuvia Borok
Early on in her career, Sian Owles recalls feeling unsatisfied: like many LGBT+ lawyers, she spent a lot of time and energy concealing the fact that she was gay to all but a few colleagues. Owles’ experience is not uncommon. According to 2018 YouGov research, last year 35% of LGBT+ people in the UK had hidden their identity whilst at work for fear of discrimination. But if young professionals attempt to mask their behaviours and mannerisms, rather than focus on being themselves when they start their working life, they are at risk of “going back into the closet”, Owles believes.
Luckily for Owles, three days into a new City job with Hogan Lovells, she attended a huge LGBT+ event hosted by the firm: “I was suddenly surrounded by people who were out and being celebrated in a positive way”. Plus, seeing other LGBT+ lawyers progress through the firm was encouraging for Owles, who is now partner in the firm’s corporate real estate team and co-chair of Hogan Lovells’ UK Pride network. It highlighted for her that success and authenticity weren’t mutually exclusive.
Central to an accepting and open culture where LGBT+ lawyers feel confident they can be their authentic selves is the presence of LGBT+ role models. When Goldman Sachs executive director and senior legal counsel, Tuvia Borok, first qualified nearly twenty years ago, such role models were scarce, especially in the legal profession. Instead, there was an assumption that all male lawyers were straight and married, and probably with kids. “No one talked about diversity, there was no thinking around such progress and chances of being discriminated against for being different were very high,” he recalls. Office culture back then would often include the commonplace use of homophobic comments.
Now, Borok, who is openly gay, takes it upon himself to be the role model absent during the early stages of his career. Although stressing he is a “lawyer that happens to be gay rather than a gay lawyer”, Borok finds that being open about his sexuality in the workplace encourages others to be comfortable with their own identity. Being someone that people can relate to is especially important: “I understand what you’re going through because I’ve been there and we’ve walked in the same shoes — and that’s really powerful to feel some commonality,” he explained.
LGBT+ lawyers themselves are not the only ones benefitting from role models. Through reverse-mentoring, Borok has also spent time with senior members of firms seeking advice on how to confidently approach sensitive LGBT+ topics — from sexuality to the correct pronoun to use. As a gay single adoptive parent, for example, Borok often gets asked how he came to have a child. Questions, although not asked with malice, he says, can come across insensitively and inappropriately for the workplace. Through reverse mentoring, Borok adopts an “open and blunt” approach to discussing the right language to use, how to respond to unexpected answers, when to apologise and when not to.
The importance of role models, and being authentic, is at the centre of the Goldman Sachs Legal Insight Programme, a four-week rotational programme for first-year LBGT+ law students founded by Goldman Sachs, alongside Hogan Lovells, accountancy outfit EY and hospitality giant Hyatt. Participants spend time with each City-based organisation shadowing, amongst others, the LGBT+ professionals within them.
Through this it is hoped their fears of discrimination will be dispelled. The programme is designed to reinforce the belief that firms, like Hogan Lovells, are not aiming to recruit “cookie-cutter candidates”, but instead recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all lawyer, Owles stresses. Borok agrees and adds that the programme is important because often with only fancy brochures and websites to go by, aspiring lawyers have to witness this in action before they actually believe it. “We realise ‘seeing is believing’ and we want LGBT+ students to see they do not need to hide their authentic selves to be a success in the City,” he says.
Being comfortable with your identity is also important when delivering legal services, Owles argues. As clients are becoming more openly diverse, they are now expecting their lawyers to reflect this. For LGBT+ lawyers, being open and comfortable with your client will allow for a better relationship — meaning you can be a better lawyer. She explains:
“We are all the product of our own experiences, our gender identity, our sexuality, our ethnicity, our own thoughts and ideas. Every one of us is unique. And it’s our uniqueness which is our strength. Different perspectives make for better teams, better decisions, and better, more successful businesses.”
The programme, which will commence this summer, hopes to create a City network for top LGBT+ talent and equip participants with key skills they can share with their fellow students. This isn’t the first LGBT+ network that Hogan Lovells has been part of launching — it is one of 14 firms participating in the annual DiverCity In Law City law graduate recruitment initiative for LGBT+ candidates.
It is hoped that as the legal profession continues to evolve and become more diverse, such LGBT+ initiatives will become redundant, Owles says. That being said, networks should be understood as fluid — adapting to the changing needs of the lawyers themselves. As Borok explained, while LGBT+ lawyers may initially seek support in being authentic, later down the line other pressures may arise, such as starting a family.
Online scammers have used the name of one of Clifford Chance‘s most senior lawyers in a bid to swindle unsuspecting members of the public.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) confirmed that a number of emails have been sent misusing the name of Clifford Chance and Michael Bates, the magic circle player’s UK managing partner. The phishing-style emails invite recipients to review an attachment, which isn’t attached, regarding a client matter, according to the regulator’s alert.
Michael Bates
The SRA warning goes on to note that the internet wrong’uns, who clearly did some research, spelt the banking and capital markets specialist’s forename incorrectly, signing off their emails “Micheal”.
Legal Cheek would like to make it absolutely clear that the real Bates, who was elevated to the role of UK managing partner last year, is in no way connected to the fake emails.
A spokesperson for Clifford Chance said:
“We are aware of recent emails impersonating the firm as part of an attempted email scam, and have both published an alert on our website and worked with the SRA to ensure the details are available for anyone to easily verify. We recommend that anyone receiving a suspicious email deletes it and does not reply or, if there is genuine ambiguity, to contact us.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time the identities of lawyers and City firms have been used in this way.
As report reveals that Google search tool is naming sex crime victims
The government has set up a hotline to social media giants to get them to take down posts that could collapse a criminal trial.
The Solicitor General, Robert Buckland, told MPs yesterday that his office now has a “special point of contact” at Google, Facebook and Twitter if officials spot a contempt of court online.
Buckland, along with Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, published a report the other week, which he said found “no systemic undermining of the court process” by social media. But, he went on, if posts discussing the guilt or innocence of a defendant or naming the victims of sex crime aren’t clamped down on, “the integrity of the trial process could be undermined”.
The Welsh barrister told MPs on the Justice Committee yesterday morning that the big digital players were now onside — having been more resistant to government interference several years ago. Buckland said:
“We had meetings last year and they all agreed to provide a special point of contact for the Attorney General’s office — a named person in the organisation who my officials can get in touch with rapidly to get particular items taken down as quickly as possible”.
The contempt report also revealed that Google has made changes to its Autocomplete search tool — which can reveal the names of anonymised sex crime victims. It said that “the name of a victim of a sexual offence may appear when the offender’s name is typed into the search bar. Whilst this is not a common occurrence, Google has made improvements to their Autocomplete tool to help protect against inappropriate Autocompletes”.
There are no figures yet on how quickly things are being taken down under the new system. There was widespread horror last month when a video of the Christchurch massacre went viral online, with some criticising that platforms that played host to it. BuzzFeed News reported that “Since the incident, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter have all struggled to keep video of the massacre from spreading, playing a game of digital whack-a-mole as users uploaded content that continued to avoid the detection of algorithms and content moderators”.
The sometimes arcane rules on contempt of court hit the headlines last year when far-right activist Tommy Robinson was jailed for filming defendants outside Leeds Crown Court. Robinson’s media law training session with Kingsley Napley didn’t cut the mustard, with the former English Defence League founder facing fresh charges despite an contempt finding being overturned by the Court of Appeal.
A partner at a top City law firm has reportedly passed on a provocative piece of advice to unsuitably dressed trainees.
Speaking at Thomson Reuters’ ‘Transforming Women’s Leadership in the Law’ conference yesterday at London’s Hilton Tower Bridge hotel, the unnamed partner told juniors, “Don’t wear brown shoes with a blue suit”, legal affairs journalist Catherine Baksi reports.
'Don't wear brown shoes with a blue suit.' – partner at a top international law firm passes on advice given to unsuitably dressed trainees, @TRLegalUKI#TRTWLL conference.
It’s fair to say the partner’s fashion pointer created quite a stir among the legal Twitterati.
“This is silly,” pointed out Matthew Richardson, a family law barrister at Coram Chambers, while another user wrote, “sounds like lack in sense or fashion; or quite possibly both. People should wear what they want. The partner should get out of others’ wardrobes, or just get out more. People see an expert for his/her expertise, not for their dress sense”.
sounds like lack in sense or fashion; or quite possibly both. People should wear what they want. The partner should get out of others' wardrobes, or just get out more. People see an expert for his/her expertise, not for their dress sense.
While Howard Kennedy media law partner Mark Stephens simple wrote, “Sh*t”, before posting an image of himself (embedded below), and presumably taken the same day, of him wearing brown shoes with a blue suit!
Turning it back on the partner at the subject of the controversy, David Hughes, a civil and public law barrister at Phillips, a law firm based in Gibraltar, asked “Was he well dressed?” before adding, “Brown shoes — of the right shade — are right for a blue suit.”
Another user had a stern piece of advice to throw back at the City partner:
Here’s some advice from someone who chooses between large international law firms. Stop all dressing the same. You look like boring automatons. We don’t want drones, we want people.
This isn’t the first time a lawyer has posted controversial remarks to do with corporate dress. Katherine Cousins, a City solicitor, had in 2013 written a fashion blog for the then-named Berwin Leighton Paisner‘s intranet during her time there as a trainee. The blog was later pulled by the firm (which has since merged and is called Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner) over concerns it was inappropriate.
Her advice, which includes “skinny ties are for Hoxton bars” and that men should punt for a “dark blue, charcoal or grey” suit — “black is only for funeral attendees and bouncers” — and smart shoes that are “not too pointy” nor worn without socks can be found in her 115-page debut novel, Successful Solicitor: Get Ahead of the Game as a Junior Corporate Lawyer.
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A panel of lawyers reveal their unconventional routes into law
From left to right: Asim Khan, Rachael Armstrong, Chrissie Wolfe, Sam Karim QC and Rebecca Keeves (image credit: Sarah Ramsey)
To be a successful lawyer, be prepared to forge your own path — no matter how long or how hard it may be. This was the resounding message offered by the panel at last week’s student careers and commercial awareness event, ‘Secrets to Success’, at The University of Law’s (ULaw) Birmingham campus.
This was exemplified by Cornwall Street Chambers barrister, Rebecca Keeves, whose “unusual route to the bar” took over 12 years, including her undergraduate degree. Despite knowing she wanted to be a barrister since the age of 13, Keeves’ career journey experienced difficulties when, like so many others, she failed to obtain pupillage. After attending a school where teachers were overworked with class sizes and discipline issues, Keeves went on to study history and psychology at Coventry University. Unfortunately, having spent most of her second and third year of university in hospital, Keeves graduated with a 2:2. The problem? Not seeking support. “I refused to ask for help. Don’t do that. If you have a problem, ask for help. It is not a sign of weakness,” she explained.
Undeterred, Keeves went on to complete a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), a Bar Vocational Course (now the Bar Professional Training Course) to then be awarded an LLB (Hons) at the University of Law (then the College of Law). Having not secured pupillage and being aware of the limitations from her first degree, Keeves pursued qualification through the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) — the third, and often overlooked, branch of the legal profession. During the day, Keeves worked as a CILEx graduate member and then fellow, managing her own caseload. Come the evening, Keeves completed an LLM in legal professional practice (commercial law) and the Legal Practice Course (LPC) with an MSc in law, business and finance, eventually achieving a distinction in both. Using her fellowship as an exemption from a training contract, Keeves qualified first as a solicitor with higher rights in criminal and civil law. However, Keeves stuck to her bar dream and, after obtaining a full pupillage exemption, began tenancy at Cornwall Street Barristers.
“A lot of people on the bar course with me have said, ‘You’re mad! Why have you spent all this time doing this?’ I say, ‘Because I get the rest of my career to do something I love’,” she told the audience of 45 students.
The panel also demonstrated that being a top lawyer doesn’t require an undergraduate degree from a Russell Group university. Like Keeves, panellist Sam Karim QC, a public law and arbitration barrister at Kings Chambers, completed his law degree at Birmingham City University. After fifteen years in practice, Karim applied for silk in 2017 — a “daunting but rewarding” process where his ability to handle complex, high-profile cases, including those he took while representing the government as a member of the Treasury Counsel panel, was assessed.
With such a successful career to date, it may come as a surprise that law wasn’t his first choice of career — it was only after Karim failed to get into medicine that he decided to pursue a career at the bar. “It has turned out pretty well overall,” the Birmingham-based barrister reflected. Similarly, Irwin Mitchell solicitor, Chrissie Wolfe, revealed she had other plans before the law. She studied biological science at the University of Birmingham in the hope of becoming a vet. Initially reluctant about a career in law, for fear it was “all paperwork and corporate offices”, Wolfe found herself drawn to personal injury law — a huge part of Irwin Mitchell’s overall practice. This area, which often requires an understanding of medical and scientific knowledge, was the perfect opportunity to apply the skills she picked up from her STEM degree.
Now practising in Irwin Mitchell’s international personal injury team in Birmingham, Wolfe also runs a popular law and lifestyle YouTube channel, Law and Broader, which enables her to help others pursuing a career in law. When the pressures of having a full-time job left Wolfe little time to offer mentorship in person, offering advice through vlogs was a convenient alternative. “I see vlogging almost like online mentoring because I get to speak to all of my subscribers which I like to think of as my mentees,” she explained.
For aspiring lawyers without a training contract or pupillage lined up, there are other ways to get into legal practice. One alternative route is to become a qualified secretary. This path was recommended by Veale Wasbrough Vizards (VWV) partner, Rachael Armstrong, who during her year out completed a secretarial course before going to study law at De Montfort University in Leicester. After finishing the LPC, Armstrong secured a job as a legal secretary and within four months was offered a training contract. “You get your foot in the door however you can and you prove yourself — you do a better than great job,” stressed Armstrong, who is now based in VWV’s private client practice. Going the extra mile means using your initiative and seeking out work rather than waiting for it to be handed to you, she added.
There’s also the paralegal route to practice. This is a good opportunity for a firm to get to know you and vice versa, said Asim Khan, in-house legal counsel for global financial technology business IRESS. Prior to moving in-house, Khan secured a paralegal role, before going on to complete his training contract and qualifying as solicitor in private practice. Aspiring lawyers should, however, be cautious of falling into the paralegal trap, warned Khan, who studied law at Lancaster University. This is where a firm recruits you as a paralegal and, because you perform so well, they rather keep you in that position than see you move out of the paralegal role, he explained.
If you’re struggling to find a legal job, opportunities can be found elsewhere, Khan advised. While studying the LPC, Khan worked full-time in a National Grid call centre, handling gas emergencies. Through this Khan was able to secure a month’s work experience in the National Grid’s legal department. “See what opportunities there are within the company you’re working, and where you might be able to get some work experience,” he advised.
Regulator confident lawyers’ attitudes to non-disclosure agreements have changed
An individual solicitor at magic circle firm Allen & Overy has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) by the regulator in connection with a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), the regulator’s chief executive revealed today.
During a moment of high drama in an open session of the House of Commons’ Women & Equalities Committee today, its chair, Maria Miller MP, questioned Paul Philip, chief executive at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), about its investigation of Allen & Overy (A&O) over the use of an NDA when the firm was acting for Harvey Weinstein’s company, Miramax. The NDA formed part of a financial settlement between the company and Zelda Perkins, Weinstein’s former London-based personal assistant.
Miller asked Philip directly when and whether the findings of that investigation would be made public. Philip confirmed that “the solicitor involved has been referred to the SDT”. The SDT must now decide if there is a case to answer.
It all started when an article was published in the Financial Times in 2017 at the height of the Weinstein furore, that revealed how Perkins was asked to sign an NDA following an allegation of sexual harassment made against the movie mogul way back in 1998.
A&O advised Miramax, the US entertainment company co-founded by Weinstein, at the time. Perkins was then represented by Simons Muirhead & Burton. She accepted £125,000 as part of the settlement with Miramax.
The broader issue for the Committee has been the use of NDAs in sexual harassment cases and whether NDAs have, in the past, included punitive clauses which have the potential of limiting what an individual could say about events in the past in any subsequent criminal legal process. The Committee has been scrutinising the legal profession’s role in drafting such clauses.
Miller expressed astonishment that the SRA referral was only made last week despite the fact that the SRA was aware of the existence of the Weinstein NDA as long ago as 2017. In response, Philip said that the investigation had taken “ten months” from the time that the SRA had had sight of the actual NDA itself and that it had “interviewed everyone, and gave people the opportunity to make representations.”
The session also investigated whether or not there is or has been any change in the way lawyers use NDAs since the SRA issued a warning notice on their use in March 2018. Jess Phillips MP queried how effective the notice had been. Philip confirmed said there is a “heightened awareness” of not misusing NDAs. He also confirmed that there have been 13 reports made to the SRA: “We have discussed it widely within the community and we are dealing with a number of reports. There is no doubt that we would not have got that number two years ago.” He continued: “I think law firms are behaving differently” though conceded this was “anecdotal” evidence only.
A spokesperson for A&O said it was unable to “comment on an ongoing investigation”.
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Technology has taken the City by storm this year, capturing the imaginations of lawyers using futuristic fantasies of how legal practice may evolve.
Tech-savvy law firms, keen to stay ahead of the competition, are racing to provide “ground-breaking, innovative and efficient solutions to client service delivery” — or so their marketing teams tell us…
But are lawyers on the ground really living the lawtech dream? In a video premiered at the Legal Cheek Awards 2019, we take a look at what’s actually happening — with the help of a special guest.
Enjoy!
Further reading: ‘I want some lawtech experience before I start my magic circle training contract’ [Legal Cheek]
Human rights specialist pleaded guilty last month to assault and being drunk on an aircraft
A human rights lawyer who verbally abused cabin crew staff after being denied a fourth bottle of wine during a flight has been jailed for six months.
Simone Burns, known as Simone O’Broin, hit headlines last year when footage emerged online of her yelling: “I’m a f****** international lawyer”, before reportedly describing cabin staff as “f****** Indian money-grabbing c****”.
The 50-year-old is also said to have spat in the face of a cabin supervisor and smoked a cigarette in the toilets.
Burns, from Hove, was flying as a business class passenger on an Air India flight from Mumbai to Heathrow last November when the incident occurred. After landing at Heathrow she was arrested by officers.
As reported by Legal Cheek, Burns pleaded guilty at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court last month to being drunk on an aircraft and assault by beating.
Appearing earlier today at Isleworth Crown Court, Burns was jailed for six months for being drunk on an aircraft, and two months for assault, both of which will be served concurrently.
Judge Nicholas Wood reportedly said: “This was a prolonged series of events while the aircraft was in the air — an offence of this type is more serious than when the aircraft is on the ground. Those who become drunk on an aircraft and behave in such a way must expect a custodial sentence. The experience of a drunk unrepentant irrational person in the confines of an aircraft is frightening, not least on a long-haul flight and poses a risk to safety.”
Burns was also ordered to pay £300 compensation to a member of cabin crew staff.
Accountancy giant EY has taken a further step onto lawyer turf this week with the acquisition of a managed legal services business from Thomson Reuters.
Ramping up its legal offering, the Big Four player has agreed to purchase Pangea3, a legal process outsourcing business which has more than 1,000 employees across eight sites, for an undisclosed sum.
The deal, which is due to be finalised later this year, follows EY’s purchase of legal innovation outfit Riverview Law. At the time, the accountancy player said the move underlined its position “as a leading disruptor of legal services”.
Commenting on its latest deal, EY’s global vice chair for tax, Kate Barton, said: “The EY Law practices will connect the practice of law with the business of law globally. Legal departments recognise that the future lies in aligning more closely with broader business transformation and we are uniquely positioned to offer a globally consistent, leading approach across the enterprise.”
EY’s foray into legal service kicked off in 2014 after it was granted Alternative Business Structure (ABS) status by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). It has since gone on to launch a training contract scheme with no minimum educational requirements and build a network of over 2,000 lawyers across the globe.
This will all come as welcome news to the Lord Chancellor. Speaking at the launch of TheCityUK legal report back in November, David Gauke said the Big Four’s foray into legal services benefits consumers, drives innovation and helps maintain the UK’s reputation within the global legal market.
Exclusive: News of the closure comes just weeks after firm’s flotation on London Stock Exchange
DWF’s Milton Keynes office
The Milton Keynes office of international law firm DWF is to close next month, Legal Cheek can reveal.
It is understood that staff at the office were called into a meeting earlier this week and informed of the closure. DWF has 17 members of staff in Milton Keynes, including one partner.
News of the decision comes just weeks after the outfit floated on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in a move which reportedly raised around £95 million.
A spokesperson for DWF told Legal Cheek:
“DWF has decided not to renew the lease on its Milton Keynes office when it expires on Friday, 31 May. This decision has been taken to ensure that our office portfolio continues to support the strategic objectives of the business.”
The spokesperson confirmed that “where possible, colleagues will be given the option of working agile or to relocate to another office.” Legal Cheek understands there are no plans to close any other offices.
In response to media speculation, DWF confirmed last summer it was considering “a number of strategic options”, including the “possibility” of an initial public offering, in a bid to achieve its strategic “objectives more quickly”. The firm formally announced its intention to float back in February and listed on the LSE several weeks later, with a share price that valued the international player at £366 million.
The Manchester-headquartered outfit has 27 offices across the globe, including 11 in the UK, and offers around 40 training contracts each year — none of which are in Milton Keynes.
Over 6% of junior lawyers have experienced suicidal thoughts within the past month, new research has revealed.
The survey, part of the Junior Lawyers Division’s (JLD) ‘Resilience and Wellbeing Survey Report’, found that almost half of respondents (48%) experienced mental ill-health, whether formally diagnosed or not, within the last month — up from 38% on the year before. However, just 19% of junior solicitors who said they were struggling with mental ill-health had reported it to their employer.
Elsewhere, 93.5% of the 1,803 respondents had experienced work-related stress within the last month, with almost a quarter describing the level as “severe/extreme”.
One-fifth (19%) of respondents admitted to regularly feeling unable to cope, while 33% reported ‘occasionally’ feeling unable to cope within the past month. Breaking the results down by gender, 21% of women said they regularly felt unable to cope as a result of stress, compared to 13% of men.
The top triggers for stress cited by respondents were high-workloads and client demands, although the report notes that the proportion of junior lawyers giving these responses is down on 2018 figures.
The most commonly cited experiences of work-related stress were disrupted sleep and negative impact on mental health including anxiety, emotional upset and fatigue. Worryingly, more than 100 junior lawyers (6.4%) admitted experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Over three-quarters (78%) of respondents believed their employer could be doing more to support their wellbeing, while 38% did not know of any organisations that were there to help if they wanted to discuss stress or mental ill-health at work.
Struggling with stress? You can contact LawCare by calling 0800 279 6888 in the UK or 1800 991 801 in Ireland.
US titan Jones Day has found itself facing a multi-million-pound legal claim after six female former associates accused it of sex discrimination, court papers reveal.
In their group action, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the six lawyers allege that their former firm’s “black box” compensation model is used to pay female partners less than their male counterparts. Moreover, the women claim that the best work goes to the firm’s male lawyers and that they are paid better and promoted more often “even when their legal skills are notably deficient”.
The action is being brought by Nilab Rahyar Tolton and Andrea Mazingo, who were both based in Jones Day’s office in Irvine, California (pictured top), until last year, along with four other unnamed women. The claim seeks $200 million (£150 million) in damages.
“Jones Day’s fraternity culture presents female attorneys at Jones Day with an unpalatable choice”, the explosive claim reads. “Participate in a culture that is at best inhospitable to women and at worst openly misogynistic or forego any hope of success at the firm.”
It goes on to allege that for a female associate to succeed at the firm, “she must at least tolerate the stereotyped expectations of the firm’s male power brokers. To challenge these expectations by word or deed, even in settings ostensibly provided for ‘honest’ feedback, is career suicide.”
The complaint describes how at one unidentified office, “male partners allegedly kick off the firm’s holiday party by encouraging drinking in the office, followed by alcohol-fuelled dancing, during which male managers ‘gawk’ at dancing female associates for amusement”, Law.com reports. In another alleged incident, a male summer associate was “applauded and high-fived” by senior members of staff after he pushed a female summer associate into a swimming pool during a party held at a partner’s home.
In a lengthy statement, Jones Day, which has 43 offices around the world, including London, said it was “proud of its success in promoting a diverse group of outstanding lawyers.” It continued:
“Our partnership includes approximately 240 women, many of whom have become leaders in the firm and the legal profession. The success of Jones Day’s women lawyers has been supported by our inclusive culture that rewards talent, teamwork, integrity, and mutual commitment to our clients and the firm.”
Fuse’s Shruti Ajitsaria among 14 City lawyers to get nod
Shruti Ajitsaria
The head of Allen & Overy’s (A&O) tech innovation hub, Fuse, has been promoted to partner in the firm’s latest batch of promotions.
Shruti Ajitsaria, who has led Fuse since 2017, is one of 14 London-based lawyers to have been elevated to partner level. These form part of the magic circler’s global round, which has seen 34 promotions across its international offices — spanning Europe, Asia, the US and the Middle East.
Ajitsaria’s promotion, which is effective from 1 May, is understood to be the first time an innovation lawyer has been made partner — a move which demonstrates how the London-headquartered firm regards the tech hub as increasingly central to its business model.
Speaking to Legal Business, Ajitsaria said: “After training at A&O, I think it’s fair to say I have taken a slightly alternative career path. The success of Fuse is testament to the spirit of innovation which runs throughout the firm — from management to our trainees and across our global offices.”
Launched by A&O in 2017, Fuse, a hipster-esque tech incubator located within the firm’s plush London HQ and just a stone’s throw from Shoreditch, offers select tech-led entrepreneurs, among other things, free office space and exclusive access to some of the City player’s top legal minds. Last year saw Fuse welcome its second cohort of tech-start ups — one of which was later acquired by social media giant Facebook.
This year’s round of partner promotions exceeds that from previous years. Only 20 lawyers were promoted in 2018, which was a slight decrease from the 24 announced in 2017.
Cambridge-grad Ajitsaria is one of eight female lawyers to have been made partner at A&O — nearly a quarter (24%) of this year’s global round. This figure draws closer towards A&O’s target that by 2021, 30% of its partnership is female.
Alongside heading up Fuse, Ajitsaria has managed a portfolio of investments in the food industry, having previously invested in award-winning London group, JKS restaurants. This saw her star as an angel investor in BBC 2’s restaurant reality series, The Million Pound Menu, in which budding restauranteurs and chefs pitch their ideas to the UK’s most well-known restaurant investors.
Ahead of healthcare, education and finance, research suggests
In what won’t come as a surprise to many of our readers, new research has suggested that nearly two-thirds of lawyers are struggling with stress.
The findings, produced by insurance provider Protectivity, found that 63% of legal professionals feel stressed, compared to 54% in the retail, catering and leisure industry. The only sector to rank higher than law on the stress-o-meter was HR, with a whopping 79%. Other industries to feature include IT/telecoms (53%), healthcare (52%), education (51%) and finance (46%).
Manufacturing appears to be the sector with the most chilled out workers, with just 32% reporting feeling the pressure.
Researchers also produced a breakdown of stress levels by UK city, with Cardiff (55%) taking the top spot, ahead of Edinburgh (53%), Manchester (53%) and Southampton (51%). Rather surprisingly, London could only muster tenth position with a stress score of 44% — anyone travelling on the tube during rush hour will surely disagree.
Elsewhere, researchers found that over half of respondents (53%) watched TV or films to combat stress, while 46% listened to music. Other stress-busting activities included eating snacks and sweet treats (25%) and consuming alcohol (19%).
Meanwhile, research published yesterday by the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) found that one in 15 young solicitors had experienced suicidal thoughts within the past month.
Feeling stressed? You can contact LawCare by calling 0800 279 6888 in the UK
The London office of international law firm Baker McKenzie has posted a spring trainee retention score of 71%.
From a March qualifying cohort of 17, Bakers made 14 offers, 12 of which were accepted. The two newly qualified (NQ) lawyers who declined offers will join smaller teams in other firms, Bakers confirmed.
Three NQs join the firm’s corporate team, a further three are employment-bound, EU, competition and trade gain two new solicitors, and two will join Baker’s IP and tech group. The final two will start lawyer life in the banking and dispute resolution teams.
Arron Slocombe, training principal at Bakers, said:
“We are very pleased to welcome another strong group of trainees into permanent roles as qualified lawyers across both our transactional and advisory departments. Our retention rate remains high this Spring, although not quite at the level we have seen previously. Attracting and retaining the best talent is crucial to grow our business and that’s why we give our trainees the best opportunities for a successful and fulfilling career.”
The latest recruits will start on an NQ salary of £77,000, putting them on the same levels of cash as their peers over at DLA Piper and Norton Rose Fulbright. Trainees at Bakers currently receive £45,000 in year one, rising to £49,000 in year two.
The firm, which offers around 33 training positions each year, scored well in our Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, securing an A* for peer support and As for training, quality of work, partner approachability, perks and social life.
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But Labour peer’s actions ‘not compatible with the rule of law’, says Lord Chief Justice
The House of Lords standards commission has dismissed a complaint that Lord Hain failed to declare he was a “remunerated” adviser to Ince Gordon Dadds, the law firm that represented The Telegraph in the Sir Philip Green injunction case, when he named the business tycoon as the man at the centre of harassment allegations.
I took the decision to name Sir Philip Green in my personal capacity as an independent member of the House Of Lords. I categorically state that I was completely unaware Gordon Dadds were advising the Telegraph regarding this case. https://t.co/FWEWRfIbga
Following our story, Green’s lawyers, Schillings, criticised Hain for, among other things, not disclosing his links to the firm.
However, the complaint against Hain has now been dismissed after the Lords standards commissioner, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, “accepted his assertion” he was unaware of the firm’s role in the legal proceedings, albeit that Ince Gordon Dadds’ name appeared on the front page of the judgment.
Moncrieff added: “It would be unreasonable to censure him for failing to declare an interest of which he was unaware. The complaint is dismissed.”
Responding to the commission’s finding, Hain said:
“Sir Philip’s complaint always was a malevolent ruse to divert attention from the harassment allegations against him by his employees. I’m grateful to the standards commissioner for finding that the complaint was entirely false.”
Green, who denies all the allegations against him, dropped his legal action against The Telegraph earlier this year.
Despite being given the all clear by the commission, Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice of England Wales, believes Hain’s actions were “not compatible with the rule of law”. Delivering a speech on parliamentary privilege in Livingstone, Zambia, earlier today, the top judge said:
“I do not for a moment doubt the genuine belief of the parliamentarians in question that they were acting in what they thought was the public interest. Yet in effect to nullify the order of a court on the basis of an individual view, however genuinely felt, is not compatible with the rule of law.”
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Dani McCormick, director of solutions at global legal resource company LexisNexis, will feature during the headline morning session on cross-disciplinary skills and the coming together, in particular, of law and computer science. McCormick, a former commercial litigator, leads Lexis Draft, a legal document drafting tool designed to increase lawyer productivity.
She will compare insights with Jeremy Coleman, innovation manager at Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) for Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA). Coleman, a qualified solicitor who heads up the firm’s Newcastle innovation hub, will discuss NRF’s tie-up with a leading Russell Group university to launch a tech-focused LLB module.
McCormick and Coleman will be joined by Dr John Haskell, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Manchester. Revealed exclusively by Legal Cheek in June, Haskell will discuss the university’s law and computer science departments partnership with magic circle firm Freshfields to launch a lawtech module as part of its undergraduate curriculum.
Today’s speaker announcement comes as university law faculties across the country use the upcoming Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), which will replace the Legal Practice Course (LPC), as an opportunity to modernise their course offerings. The cross-disciplinary skills session also has an innovation theme and will aim to answer the question: should undergraduate law degrees be more focused on preparing students for practice?
It will be chaired by head of development (innovation technology) at BPP University Law School, Adam Curphey, who will also lead the session’s interactive design thinking activity and audience discussion. The former White & Case lawyer will be joined by Jonathan Kewley, the co-head of Clifford Chance’s tech practice and one of the leading figures behind the firm’s new IGNITE lawtech training contract and Freshfields chief legal innovation officer Isabel Parker, who will offer her perspective on the firm’s tie-up with Manchester Uni.
Decision comes after Gordon Caplan announced he’d plead guilty to fraud
Gordon Caplan
Top US outfit Willkie Farr & Gallagher has confirmed that its previously suspended co-chair, Gordon Caplan, is no longer a partner at the firm. The decision to cut ties with the high-flying lawyer comes after it was announced he’d plead guilty to fraud as part of the elite admissions scandal currently rocking prominent universities across the US.
Willkie has now confirmed Caplan is no longer a partner at the firm. “Caplan’s departure is a result of his involvement in the college admissions matter and his recent statement regarding his intent to plead to a criminal charge,” the firm said. “At Willkie, nothing is more important to us than our integrity and we do not tolerate behaviour that runs contrary to our core values. We remain focused on our responsibilities to our clients, partners and employees.”
The move comes after Caplan’s lawyers released a statement in which he said he took “full and sole responsibility” for his actions. Apologising to his family, friends, colleagues, the legal profession and students everywhere who have been accepted to college through their own hard work, Caplan said:
“I want to make clear that my daughter, whom I love more than anything in the world, is a high school junior and has not yet applied to college, much less been accepted by any school. She had no knowledge whatsoever about my actions, has been devastated to learn what I did and has been hurt the most by it.”
Caplan is understood to be one of 13 parents who agreed to plea deals. His agreement places his offence level at 11, which, according to Above The Law, means for someone with no criminal history, “a recommended term of eight to 14 months in prison.” The site, however, notes the court will “ultimately do its own assessment of any potential jail time”.
Other big names implicated in the scandal include Full House actress Lori Loughlin and Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman.
New York-headquartered Wilkie has ten offices, including London, and around 700 lawyers across the globe. The firm’s profit per equity partner (PEP) stood at $2.97 million (£1.74 million) last year, the 17th highest in the US.
Over a third considering career change as a result
Nearly half of UK lawyers feel the technology they use isn’t up to scratch, an industry survey has found.
The research, produced by professional services platform Intapp, found that 46% of UK lawyers surveyed were using tech that wasn’t meeting their working needs, with over a quarter (28%) reporting that the tech at their disposal was actually creating more work than it saves due to its complexity. By way of comparison, just over a third (35%) of US lawyers questioned deemed the tech they used fell short.
While 42% of UK lawyers believed law firms should be investing more in legal tech, researchers found that less than a quarter (20%) of their US counterparts felt the same. Nearly 260 lawyers were questioned for the survey, conducted in partnership with YouGov.
Elsewhere, 42% of lawyers questioned said their tech experience would be improved if they had access to more “intuitive software”, while 40% desired tech which had a “better user interface”. Almost half (48%) of the respondents suggested “software more tailored to the business of law” would improve their relationship with tech.
Artificial intelligence (AI) was rated highly among respondents, with 49% recognising its future value in tracking billable hours, while others felt the robot-style tech’s strengths lay in “conflicts clearance” (41%) and “compliance with client billing documents” (34%).
The research further revealed that over a third (38%) of UK lawyers, and 31% of US lawyers were considering a career change in the next year, with 19% citing their firm’s poor tech as a reason for the switch.
“When it comes to supplying technology solutions, there must be an appreciation of the processes and tasks that are unique to an industry and a specific employee’s role,” said Chris Turk, Intapp regional vice president. “This is reflected in our survey results, which demonstrate that there is a clear demand for technology used by law firms to be more intuitive and, ultimately, tailored to the legal industry in order to fit the needs of lawyers today.”
The report follows the release of Legal Cheek‘s short, satirical film, examining the legal innovation scene. Be sure to keep an eye out for a special cameo…
Sian Owles and Tuvia Borok
Michael Bates
