Many law firms invest significant time defining values around collaboration, teamwork, and shared ownership. Yet those same firms often struggle to see the behaviours they want emerge in practice. The reason is rarely a lack of intent. It is structural.

As law firm partnerships head into another remuneration season, Moray McLaren reflects on why disputes about pay are rarely really about money, and what partner reviews reveal about trust, judgment, and governance inside the firm

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

Legal departments are undergoing significant change, though much of it remains invisible as it takes place behind the scenes. invisible as the work takes place behind the scenes. Artificial intelligence is a major driver of this transformation. As legal departments push forward on their transformation journey, they are increasingly confronted by an uncomfortable question: Is the traditional legal service model still fit for purpose?

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

En un mercado altamente globalizado, las firmas de abogados siguen debatiendo sobre el mejor modelo de internacionalización para poder servir a sus clientes fuera de sus fronteras. Establecer una buena relación con abogados de otras jurisdicciones puede ser clave para desarrollar canales de crecimiento recíproco derivando clientes. Analizando nuestros proyectos desde incios de año, el 47% de los encargos de clientes a Lexington Consultants se centran en la expansión e interna

El clásico experimento de Solomon Asch sobre el conformismo individual frente a la opinión de grupo, es una excelente manera de comprender la dinámica de muchos de los bufetes de abogados. ( Extracto artículo de Opinión en Expansión Jurídico. Autora: Mari Cruz Taboada) Recientemente escuchaba un interesante podcast sobre el trabajo del psicólogo Solomon Asch donde, con sus experimentos, demuestra que las personas devalúan y rechazan a quienes no se ajustan a sus juicios de va

As the end of the year approaches, we wanted to share with you the preliminary conclusions from the research Lexington is undertaking with the IBA’s Law Firm Management Committee on recent trends within law firm ownership and remuneration. What should law firm leaders be doing? Looking back, the priorities listed by the 200 law firm leaders participating in the 2020 survey reflect the challenges of the time. Watch more below. Needless to say, your input is very important. Alt

After the shock of the pandemic, some firms in the Spanish legal market demonstrated great resilience achieving great financial results, with double digit revenue growth. The Newspaper El Confidencial, publishes an annual report with law firm rankings by revenue in Spain. When analysing 2021 results, it is interesting to observe the "Top 20" law firms and compare to the year before. In this occasion, Perez Llorca was one of the winners with an increase of 32.9%, surpassing Gó

This remarkable time of growth and change introduces a new age for the Indian legal industry. Many large and mid-sized law firms are aiming to build a pan-India presence, adding more practices and expanding their reach by acquiring teams and smaller firms. At the Agenda India 2022, participants shared their views on how the market is consolidating and specialist firms are growing their practices with the wider client needs. Different approaches are required in different geogr

While political volatility continues across Africa, law firms are seeking a renewed optimism despite the increasing global challenges. At the Agenda Africa session in Miami, partners from leading law firms around the African region agreed that retention of young talent is the biggest challenge that they are currently facing. Second and third generations of lawyers are empowered and taking the lead, pushing for hybrid working and expecting to be rewarded for their long working

When looking at succession planning or leadership transition in law firms, the challenge is challenge is how to best build on strong foundations and drive growth into the future. Our theme at the Leadership Breakfast during the IBA Annual Conference in Miami. focused on the transition from Founders to Firm, with selected participants from 15 countries around the world sharing their personal experiences and lessons learned. ​ ​ Stephen Revell and Moray McLaren shared a case st

An extract from Inspire magazine issue 5, from Möller Institute at Cambridge University. The people challenges facing businesses as we emerge from Covid only serve to highlight the many tensions within traditional approaches to reward and remuneration. Going forward, how should we be defining "success" within partnerships and adopting approaches that can better deliver on our promises to our people and clients?

The challenge of joint strategy within law firm partnerships by Moray McLaren. Published at Modern Lawyer magazine. How can law firms, based on the partnership model where individual success is central, also develop strategies needed to succeed as organisations? Moray McLaren explores the issues faced and some possible solutions. Read the full article here.

We contributed a special project by The Moller Institue at Cambridge University.

“Will pitching change post COVID-19?” is a question we’re being asked by lots of our clients and contacts.

As Africa´s law firms are coming to terms with Covid-19 some are feeling more optimistic about the consequences than others. The only certainty is that the market will return. The challenge is, therefore, which law firms will emerge from Covid-19 in a stronger or weaker position than before.

Lexington advises law firms across the fast-changing and frontier markets. COVID-19 is posing a number of challenges and we wanted to share our current thinking on the issues we are seeing globally. Click here to read Lexington Q4 newsletter.