Kill the Billable Hour? A British Response

Kill the Billable Hour? A British Response
This merits a mention, in part, because, when both London and New York start thinking the same way on a topic, it becomes much more likely that it is going to take hold. I think, however, that some of the comments seriously understate the ease with which lawyers and their clients will be able to agree on the value of a transaction. However, the positive aspect is that, once there is agreement, it is more likely that payment will follow as agreed. This growing debate about the billable hour merits close attention, because, if it takes hold in major international transactions, this will provide considerable impetus to implement it more broadly.

Law.com - Clifford Chance Set to Lay Off up to 80 Lawyers in London

Law.com - Clifford Chance Set to Lay Off up to 80 Lawyers in London
It would seem that our London colleagues are no more immune from the current economic difficulties than we may be. When this year's projected reductions are coupled with last year's, the number of reductions is getting quite large and represents what appears to be a reduction of more than 10%. It will be interesting to see what happens as the effects of the current economic difficulties start to ripple out to some of the foreign branch offices. This may present a tough set of choices.

Clifford Chance Eyeing Indian Nuptials

Clifford Chance Eyeing Indian Nuptials
Here is an example of a "best friends" approach to the Indian legal market. This is the only practical way to exploit that market given the extremely restrictive rules about foreign legal practice that exist at the moment. As a general rule, I normally prefer the best friends approach over the physical presence approach. In India, as noted, the physical presence approach is not feasible in any case.

Will Tough Economy Push Companies to Outsource Legal Work?

Will Tough Economy Push Companies to Outsource Legal Work?
This article provides some interesting insights into the problems and benefits of legal process outsourcing, which is rapidly emerging as a means for some major US corporations to reduce their legal costs. The article draws an important distinction between business process outsourcing (back office functions, such as accounting) and the more recent phenomenon of legal process outsourcing, which essentially means turning over complete legal functions to the outsourcing firm. In some cases, companies like Microsoft and GE claim to have achieved significant savings with a superior work product. Of course, the recent ABA ethics opinion (also briefly mentioned in the article) requires a qualified attorney to accept responsibility for the outsourced work. That seems to be the major concern, as, for the time being, legal process outsourcing seems to require a considerable amount of oversight.

Economic Crisis Shifts Asian Spotlight to Litigation

Economic Crisis Shifts Asian Spotlight to Litigation
Much of the information in this article is anecdotal, but it is not surprising. As the large, integrated, global firms see the traditional business of their foreign offices dwindle due to the current economic uncertainties and lack of transactional business, they are being faced with hard choices about what to do with these expensive offices. Not surprisingly, they are trying to adapt them to the available business and to new opportunities, which often means a radical departure from previous traditional business mix. This raises some interesting questions, because this new business also appears to require a different staffing mix than the traditional transactional staff mix. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Law.com - Berwin Leighton Paisner Set for Russia Launch With Moscow Merger

Law.com - Berwin Leighton Paisner Set for Russia Launch With Moscow Merger
This is an interesting bit of news that comes at a time when most of the news of the legal community is dominated by salary cuts, bonus reductions or eliminations, reductions in staff, sometimes severe, or, worse still, simply going out of business, such as Heller and Thelen. There is some of that in this article too. Obviously, however, the breakup of one firm is another firm's gain. Nevertheless, in these difficult times, it is curious to see that, even though both firms appear to be well acquainted with the "best friends" concept, they did not chose that option and, instead, opted for a more costly, higher risk linkup.

A Tale of Two Emirates in the Financial Crisis

A Tale of Two Emirates in the Financial Crisis
This article in another example of the great mobility of the "global firms" to chase opportunity. However, there are ominous storm clouds on the horizon, but the firms still seem to keep coming despite these clear warning signs, which include a 40% decline in property values. While there may still be a belief that anyone can make money in Dubai, and its neighbor Abu Dhabi, experience has taught us that, as the competition grows, not everyone can or will, particularly those who established a presence there without having a real plan or a real need for that presence. Fortunately, mobility expertise may make it easy to withdraw as rapidly as one came, provided the warning signs are appropriately perceived and acted on in a timely fashion.