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26 March 2021 / Declan Vaughan
Issue: 7926 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Person first, lawyer second

Good lawyers are ten a penny, but clients expect & deserve more. Declan Vaughan outlines the values underpinning his firm’s ‘National Powerhouse’ strategy

If all you want from your lawyer is technical excellence, then you are spoilt for choice. However, clients want and expect more than that. Today, a ‘good’ lawyer is defined by their broader business knowledge and empathy for their client, resulting in pragmatic advice and counsel grounded in commercial reality. And more. As the growing movement around the O shaped lawyer testifies, businesses want an attitudinal shift in how we as advisers approach our relationships. As the programme says, it is the person they want to see first and the lawyer second.

That is why in Browne Jacobson one of the leading pillars of our new ‘National Powerhouse’ strategy is to demonstrate our personality to the world and to build into all that we do our espoused values of inclusion, ambition, collaboration, pragmatism, fairness and a down to earth approach to all our relationships.

But nice words alone will not cut it and will sound increasingly hollow if we do

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

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International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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