Byfield Bytes: Your Monthly Digest of the biggest stories from the Business of Law – March 24

Byfield Bytes: Your Monthly Digest of the biggest stories from the Business of Law – March 24

Byfield Bytes: Your Monthly Digest of the biggest stories from the Business of Law – March 24 1200 801 Sean Cullen

Welcome to the March Edition of Byfield Bytes- bringing you the biggest stories and issues impacting the business of law.

The Easter Weekend is finally upon us – and with it, the promise of more Bank Holidays to come. Before we get there, let’s dive into the noteworthy happenings of the past month.

Obviously, headlines in the legal press have been dominated by the devastating conclusions of the Vanessa Ford inquest. A number of law firm partners have since come forward to talk about their own challenges with mental health. Expect there to be much more discussion, over the next few months, about how firms can support their people with burnout and stress. Paul Hodkinson, from Law.com, ran an interesting LinkedIn poll which suggests that difficult conversations with clients might be on the horizon.

It is also the season of US law firm financials which, as expected, showed some spectacular performance. There were plenty of headline-grabbing results, including a number of firms showing <10% growth in revenue, such as Gibson Dunn and Paul Weiss, and Kirkland being the first ever firm to break the $7bn mark in global turnover. All eyes will now be on the UK results as we approach the summer, with a particular lens on A&O as it begins to finalise the blockbuster merger with Shearman & Sterling.

In litigation, the European conference hosted by Brown Rudnick put a spotlight on how litigation funding will continue to shape the disputes landscape. Obviously, this has been a huge story here, with the fallout from the Post Office scandal – especially the legislative reaction to a Supreme Court decision affecting funding agreement enforceability. The drive to liberalise liberal environment for litigation funders has been driven by the case for access to justice which, in turn, should lead to a greater number of claims – particular group actions. The part not being said out loud, however, is that this will also benefit those firms with strong defendant practices – and the status of London as a global disputes hub altogether.

There has also been some movement in the wider regulatory world, with the FCA Chief Executive making a number of flagship speeches to set out priorities for the year ahead – and evidence that we will continue to see a hardening of rules and enforcement for both financial and non-financial misconduct. It is also the month that Tom Hayes, the former trade for UBS and Citigroup, lost his appeal against his Libor manipulation conviction.

Back to the realm of law firm management, HMRC’s new guidance, especially regarding the classification of fixed-share partners, will interest Managing Partners – and their CFOs – everywhere. This signals a tightening grip on employment status and associated tax obligations. Coupled with the forthcoming basis period reforms, this could have significant cashflow implications for some firms, especially those without stacks of it in the bank.

Law firms’ financial strategies and the broader partnership model: Notably, firms proactive in adapting to these changes may navigate the evolving landscape more adeptly. Katy Dowell ran a great summary of the upcoming changes in The Lawyer.

This week also aired the final ever episode of Law in Action, the iconic BBC Radio 4 show that Joshua Rozenberg has hosted for over 20 years. It has provided such an important service to the public and the community over that time, as was rightly noted in Parliament this week. A disappointment for sure, but a hat tip to Joshua for his tremendous work over the years.

Big Questions for April

  • How will firms seek to proactively tackle issues around burnout and stress?
  • What do the latest US financial results mean to the delicate balance of power between US & UK origin law firms in London?
  • Will we see firms opt for partner cash calls to tackle the HMRC tax shortfall?

Post of the Month

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7178688526148870144/

Lawyer Quote of the Month

Our quote of the month comes jointly from Emma Danks, Head of UK corporate and M&A at Taylor Wessing and Sam Jardine, Partner at Fieldfisher, who spoke to Law.com about how they deal with Stress:

https://www.law.com/international-edition/2024/03/27/how-i-deal-with-stress-top-partners-open-up/

Byfield Spotlight

Things you might have missed… 

  • We sat down with Account Executive, Evie Harrington, to discuss how she arrived in legal PR, what achievements she’s most proud of and what she wants to do next at Byfield in our latest Q&A.
  • In our second Counsel Culture episode in March, Meg was joined by Stefan M. Ciesla, Co-founder of ayora, a company that provides AI for legal revenue management. They discuss Ayora’s report called “Addressing the $36bn value gap in law firms: a primer for innovative law firms” which claims that the legal industry is losing up to $36 billion a year due to sub-optimal revenue and working capital management.
  • March began with another instalment of our Disputes & Investigations Monthly series on the Counsel Culture with Dina and Gus joining Meg to discuss the Christian Horner case, the latest legislative proposals regarding SLAPPS, the FCA planning to name firms being investigated earlier and more.
  • In another episode of Counsel Culture, Meg was joined by  Ana Carolina Salomão Queiroz, CIO, Partner and Head of Litigation Finance at Pogust Goodhead. They spoke about the firm’s compensation case against BHP over a collapsed dam in Brazil; seeing ESG as a business opportunity; group actions and collective redress trends across Europe and the Litigation Funding Agreement (Enforceability) Bill 2024.
  • I shared insights from my annual visit to New York where I had the chance to connect with clients, contacts in law firms, journalists and our friends and colleagues in PR agencies Stateside.