Our unprecedented examination of business services staff ratios was the most-read story on TheLawyer.com this week, as we revealed that DLA Piper employs more support staff than any other UK 200 firm.
The news that DLA is the biggest employer of business services staff came coupled with an analysis of what the optimum ratio for fee-earners to support staff should look like – although not everyone agreed that such a ratio exists.
One of the firm with the lowest business services staff ratios is Irwin Mitchell, after it outsourced much of its support services a few years ago. On confirmation of Irwin Mitchell’s upcoming merger with Thomas Eggar, it emerged that a similar outsourcing exercise may happen again.
Meanwhile Irwin Mitchell’s rival Slater & Gordon saw its Australian-listed share price drop 52 per cent after George Osborne’s Autumn Statement threatened changes to the personal injury market.
Litigation boutique Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is a very different sort of firm, and last week’s leadership interview with London co-managing partners Richard East and Sue Prevezer QC proved a popular story. The duo expressed their desire to keep on being “bigger, better, faster, harder” in London.
In the in-house sector, this week’s in-house interview with Made.com’s Lisa Gan Tomlins was a hit with readers. Gan Tomlins talked about her approach to being the company’s first in-house lawyer and working in a fast-moving, fast-developing sector.
Panel reviews are always popular news stories and this week was no exception as Dixon Carphone general counsel Nigel Paterson said he was launching the first panel since the merger which created the company. Over at Capita, Addleshaw Goddard, DWF and Pinsent Masons were among the firms to win spots as the company completed a commercial panel review.
Client relationships are key to a firm’s success and since the announcement of its merger with Canada’s Gowlings Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co has risen up the listed client rankings. It gained 23 listed clients since August, according to the latest Adviser Rankings data, although Slaughter and May still tops the list.
The top 10 stories this week were completed with the news that the Royal Bank of Scotland Shareholders Action Group is considering suing Lloyds Bank and Investec, which left the group, over non-payment of fees. And our weekly real estate blog featured Linklaters real estate finance partners Steve Smith and Trevor Clark on the team’s strategy.
The top 10 stories in full:
1. Revealed: DLA Piper has highest number of business services staff worldwide
2. Quinn Emanuel’s East and Prevezer on being “bigger, better, faster, harder”
3. Slater & Gordon’s shares plummet 52 per cent following Autumn Statement
4. In-house interview: Lisa Gan Tomlins, Made.com
5. Dixons Carphone to launch first panel since merger
6. Irwin Mitchell and Thomas Eggar confirm £250m merger
7. Capita completes panel review with Addleshaws, DWF and Pinsents winning spots
8. Wragges merger sees gain of 23 listed clients as Slaughters leads rankings
9. RBS shareholders may sue Lloyds and Investec over non-payment of fees in £4bn battle
10. The real estate blog: the growth of Linklaters’ real estate finance practice
