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31 October 2019 / Dan Reed
Issue: 7862 / Categories: Features , Profession , Legal services , Technology
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Beyond outsourcing

Dan Reed reports on the brave new world of enterprise legal services
  • Law firm spend and its impact.
  • Realising the potential for law firm transformation.
  • Steps to take for a win-win outcome.

Corporate legal spend has increased significantly in recent years as litigation and other risk has shot up the boardroom agenda. And control of that spend is a constant conversation topic between GCs and their C-Suite bosses, with knock-on impacts for the firms that advise them. Much has been written about the rise of innovative outsourcing and managed legal services arrangements, and of course the advent of legal super-tech, all focused on delivering more value in the legal supply for less money. It’s a brave new world of law being done differently, and with the right imagination the possibilities seem endless. But the opportunities are so much bigger than lawyers currently envisage. Done the right way and pushed to its full potential, the terms ‘outsourcing’ and ‘managed legal services’ don’t even cover it. Indeed, these descriptors become entirely inadequate.

Ambition

Lawyers need to be far more ambitious about what

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Partner hire strengthens global infrastructure and energy financing practice

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Legal director bolsters international expertise in dispute resolution team

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Corporate governance and company law specialist joins the team

NEWS

NOTICE UNDER THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925

HERBERT SMITH STAFF PENSION SCHEME (THE “SCHEME”)

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND BENEFICIARIES UNDER SECTION 27 OF THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925
Law firm HFW is offering clients lawyers on call for dawn raids, sanctions issues and other regulatory emergencies
From gender-critical speech to notice periods and incapability dismissals, employment law continues to turn on fine distinctions. In his latest employment law brief for NLJ, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School reviews a cluster of recent decisions, led by Bailey v Stonewall, where the Court of Appeal clarified the limits of third-party liability under the Equality Act
Non-molestation orders are meant to be the frontline defence against domestic abuse, yet their enforcement often falls short. Writing in NLJ this week, Jeni Kavanagh, Jessica Mortimer and Oliver Kavanagh analyse why the criminalisation of breach has failed to deliver consistent protection
Assisted dying remains one of the most fraught fault lines in English law, where compassion and criminal liability sit uncomfortably close. Writing in NLJ this week, Julie Gowland and Barny Croft of Birketts examine how acts motivated by care—booking travel, completing paperwork, or offering emotional support—can still fall within the wide reach of the Suicide Act 1961
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