28 September 2010: “Party is over” law firms warned at forum hosted by College of Law
General counsel from some of Europe’s leading corporations have warned law firms that “the party is over” and they must share the pain caused by the financial crisis with their clients.
Legal heads from top companies including Royal Dutch Shell, British Airways and Nokia Corporation outlined their measures to drive down expenditure on law firms in a bid to ease financial pressures at a breakfast forum hosted by The College of Law in London last week.
These included changes to billing methods, the move towards fixed fee arrangements rather than hourly billing and reductions in the number of law firms on their books.
Also taking part in the discussion on how the relationship between general counsel and law firms had shifted as a result of the global economic downturn were senior members of major law firms, including Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Denton Wilde Sapte, Linklaters, Norton Rose and Schillings.
The forum was organised by the Madrid-based IE Law School, one of the world’s leading law schools, as a launch event for its new Lawyers’ Management Program, the first global leadership programme for senior lawyers. The College of Law has recently formed a strategic partnership with IE and will host part of the programme at its London Moorgate centre.
The discussion points centred on the extent to which the financial crisis had brought about changes in the delivery of legal services, whether the leadership skills required by law firm managers and general counsel had changed and what the longer term impact to legal services would be once the dust had settled.
It was chaired by Peter Cornell, Managing Director of private equity firm Terra Firma. Participants included:
- Tony Angel, Executive Managing Director EMEA, Standard and Poor’s
- Soledad Atienza, Professor of Law, IE Law School
- Rod Christie-Miller, Chief Executive, Schillings
- Maria Da Cunha, General Counsel, British Airways
- Stephen Denyer, Global Markets Partner, Allen & Overy
- Beat Hess, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Royal Dutch Shell
- Richard Macklin, Co-Head of Corporate, Denton Wilde Sapte
- Peter Martyr, Group Chief Executive, Norton Rose
- Robert Millard, Senior Strategy Manager, Linklaters
- Fernando Pelaez-Pier, President, International Bar Association
- Louise Pentland, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Nokia Corporation
- Stuart Popham, Senior Partner, Clifford Chance;
- Prof. Nigel Savage, Chief Executive, The College of Law
Watch edited highlights of the event above
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