Counsel Culture: The Business of Law Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This week Meg is joined by Joint Managing Director Ben Girdlestone to discuss the return of deals, Kirkland & Ellis Partner moves and diverse lawyers being used as “window dressing” in client pitches. 

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 This week, Meg is joined by Associate Director Liam McCafferty to discuss how the legal industry (and others) can use the Labour Cabinet as an example for increasing socio-economic diversity, what an increase in UK-focused infrastructure and planning work means for law firms and A&O and Linklaters' financial results announcements.  

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This week, we have the privilege of welcoming a very special guest, Camille Vasquez, a Partner and Co-Chair of the Brand & Reputation Management Group at Brown Rudnick. Camille, who has worked with a number of high-profile clients, gained global recognition for her successful representation of Johnny Depp in a televised defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard two years ago.

The team drew on Camille's experience to discuss the importance of litigation teams seeing themselves as storytellers for their clients, how they can help rebuild a client’s image during and after a trial, the main differences between UK/US defamation trials and litigation funding regimes, whether the latter should be regulated, among other topics.

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This week Meg is joined by Stefan 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. They also speak about how AI can help reduce that figure and its wider use in the legal industry.

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Today, Meg is joined by Gus and Dina for the next instalment of our Disputes and Investigations Monthly series. They discuss the Christian Horner case, the latest legislative proposals regarding SLAPPS, the FCA planning to name firms being investigated earlier and more often and the SFO offering monetary compensation for whistleblowers to come forward.

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 This week Meg is joined by Steven Barrett from Radcliffe Chambers to discuss when barristers should call themselves barristers and whether judges should be banned from using social media. They also spoke about Latham & Watkins' decision to cut off automatic access to its international database for Hong Kong lawyers and Freshfields asking lawyers to opt for lower-class travel to meet sustainability targets. They concluded the episode by examining Pogust Goodhead’s new “synthetic equity program”. 

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This week Meg is joined by John Hyde, Deputy News Editor at The Law Society Gazette. They sat down to discuss the latest developments in the Post Office Inquiry including what the next phase looks like, the impact on the victims and the SRA’s involvement. They also spoke about the latest on Axiom Ince, analysing Pragnesh Modhwadia's property company being shut down, the SRA's review into consumer protection and the compensatory fund. Finally, they touched upon National Apprenticeship Week and how important apprenticeships have been for the legal industry. 

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This week’s episode marks the first instalment of our Disputes and Investigations monthly series. Meg is joined by Byfield Founder Gus Sellitto and Dina Hudson, Senior Consultant in our Disputes and Investigations practice, to discuss Byfield’s updated Disputes & Investigations PR service offering, the highlights from The Lawyer's Top 20 cases for 2024, PR considerations amid investigations and legal disputes, Law360's corporate crime cases to watch this year, and the importance of having a strong communications and PR strategy ahead of a cross-border trial. 

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This week Meg is joined by HSBC’s Head of Professional & Business Services, Victoria Ritchie.

They discussed various aspects of HSBC's annual law firm strategy report for 2024 including, how law firms are planning for the impact of the basis period reform on their finances, how they're investing in ESG, overseas expansion and technology and how banks are helping them facilitate those investments.  They also explored the relationship between in-house lawyers and external advisers when considering the ESG requirements for working with certain law firms or banks.

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This week Meg is joined by Joint Managing Director Michael Evans to discuss the new black box partner remuneration model at Paul Weiss, Slaughter and May announcing it will name and shame those who work from home full time, SSB Law going bust and owing £200m to litigation funders and the government reversing the July PACCAR decision for the Post Office Inquiry.

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