As legal power shifts from London to New York, Europe’s law‑firm elite is being rewritten

At 2025 Leadership Circle hosted in Toronto, a selected group of over 100 law firm leaders explored how law firm can navigate today’s inflection point — where technology, talent, and trust intersect

When we talk about culture and high performance, these are often framed as opposites, culture being about being nice to each other, performance being about driving harder. In reality, the best teams show us they are two sides of the same coin.

This is the introduction to a three-part series by Moray McLaren, Professor at the LawAhead Centre on the Legal Profession, IE Law School, and consultant with Lexington Partners, on the two-tier partnership system many law firms are now employing

Partner Performance. As law firms get more sophisticated in evaluating lawyers and partners, there is a growing frustration amongst leadership about underperformers (in particular senior associates or junior partners) as they are the future of the firm.

The challenge for law firms is to take these seven levers, reflect on them, and implement changes that drive sustainable profitability. Although profitability is a key concern across all businesses, it can be particularly complex in law firms where factors such as recording hours, pricing models, partner compensation structures, and operational efficiency require careful strategy and ongoing management. The following Podcast series, led by Lexington's Katie Dignan and Paul Br

Reviewing and adapting the remuneration model in law firm partnerships is a highly sensitive issue.

What are the major changes that are we seeing in law firms around the world on what is expected from partners?

The success criteria for law firms have typically been internal not external and heavily weighted towards financial factors such as...

Es un factor clave para los despachos, pero el problema está en que actualmente no todos lo miden, ni tienen un modelo claro para analizarlo. Moray McLaren y Mari Cruz Taboada comentan en el reportaje del diario El Confidencial ( España). Click on the image to read the full article.

Video podcast recording where experts Paul Browne, Stuart Hopper, Mari Cruz Taboada, and Moray Mclaren dissect a real RFP (Request for Proposal) with a question from a client to understand better the incentives and law firm business model that would guarantee high-quality legal service.

After Mexican Elite firm Gonzalez Calvillo and Perez Llorca revealed their merger plans on 16th April 2024, the Legal Media got the initial market reactions from international legal experts. Mari Cruz Taboada , partner at Lexington Consultants , comments at Latin Lawyer that whilst Pérez-Llorca’s launch in Mexico represents a “natural next step” in the firm´s growth strategy, “opening through a merger was less expected.” She explains that the Iberian outfit has

Mari Cruz Taboada, comenta en un informe de Expansión Jurídico en España, cómo los despachos, al plantearse las operaciones corporativas, estudian las plazas en las que su futura pareja tiene mayor cuota de mercado, con Londres y Nueva York como grandes protagonistas de este proceso de concentración.

As part of Lexington Leadership Circle series of events with law firm Managing Partners and legal service delivery leaders in London, the team of Consultants - Moray McLaren, Stuart Hopper, Stephen Revell, Tony King, Paul Browne and Mari Cruz Taboada hosted a session on the impact of AI on legal services- We can´t predict but we can prepare.

Doing nothing is not an option. What do law firm leaders need to ask themselves? The impact of AI on legal services and the immediate leadership challenges were discussed during Lexington’s most recent #LeadershipCircle in London. The future is still unclear but legal services has reached a definite inflexion point. There are no simple answers and each firm has to work out their own way forward. Doing nothing is not an option. A group of 41 especially invited law firm leaders

Harvard Law School has published new research by Moray McLaren exploring recent trends in partner profit sharing, remuneration and rewards. The survey of 106 law firms, finds a continuing shift away from traditional Eat What You Kill and Lockstep approaches. Four priorities were highlighted: Gaining a better definition of partner contribution with an increasing adoption of non-financial performance indicators Introducing clearer guard rails within tighter performance bands Pr

Some say we need swifter and faster decision-making, and that the LLP partnership model needs either to adopt corporate structures or change governance so that faster decisions can be taken. It is certainly true that the LLP partner model can overly focused on this year’s PEP rather than on building long term value. We are seeing new business models – private equity, listed firms, and corporate structures. If you ever sat around a board table with a law firms owned by ventur

Lexington Leadership Circles Lexington hosted three Leadership Circles at the IBA Annual Conference 2023 in Paris. A series of...

Paul Browne at Lexington Consultants, introduces the key aspects to consider when moving from a partnership structure to a corporate culture.

Recent research by Lexington Consultants reveals that as law firms progress through their lifecycle, it becomes imperative for them to refine their business development (BD) structures. This refinement includes a strategic adjustment in the profiles and expertise of their BD professionals, aligning with the evolving demands of the firm. Astonishingly, a significant majority—over 70%—of BD professionals express the presence of palpable tension between their teams and the major