Send us a text

Law firm listings are out of fashion, but private equity interest in firms has never been higher. 

With more deals already struck this year, The Lawyer Podcast crew sets out the state of PE investment in firms, debates the benefits and challenges of PE involvement, explores the experience of DWF, and ponders what the future will bring.

Send us a text

Dynamic. Modern. Exciting. From Revolut to Bloom & Wild, Darktrace to Fever, startups are increasingly the place to be in the UK - and that is the case for lawyers too.

So as the potential avenues for a career in law grow and grow, Catrin Griffiths and Christian Smith are joined on The Lawyer Podcast by Tech Editor Lucie Cruz – and some special guests –  to discuss what it takes to be a lawyer at a startup.

Send us a text

Poland’s GDP per capita could surpass Japan’s next year and may exceed the UK’s by the end of the decade.

Such statistics help explain why the Eastern European nation is seeing an influx of international business - and legal work.

Addleshaw Goddard is to take over Linklaters’ office in Warsaw in April, Clyde & Co is keenly poaching from Dentons, while Wolf Theiss and Schoenherr are also on the hunt for talent.

So what is driving this change, why does Addleshaws want in while Linklaters wants out, and what could that signal for the rest of the magic circle?

Check out the new episode of The Lawyer Podcast with Catrin, Christian, Alex and Michal to find out.

You can read more about the Central and Eastern European legal market in The Lawyer’s new Central and Eastern Europe: Opportunities and challenges for growth report here.

Send us a text

£20m is a number most recently associated with top private equity partners, but that’s the amount a team from Willkie Farr & Gallagher has been paid for its work on the iconic Merricks v Mastercard litigation.

Now as the case wraps up, Catrin and Christian are joined by deputy litigation editor Annabel Tinson to discuss the story behind the case and its controversial settlement, and ask: what will its legacy be?

Is the class action regime working fairly, or are the critics right and it’s just a scheme to enrich the lawyers and litigation funders? And who will make the Netflix series?

Send us a text

As Donald Trump and his allies put corporate ESG on both sides of the Atlantic in their crosshairs, is now the time for law firms to stand up and prove that their sustainability programmes are not just all for lip service?

To mark the launch of The Lawyer’s Sustainability Hub, the podcast team discuss the future of law firm sustainability, which firms need to up their game, why the Slaughters’ partner dining room is progressive, and why Linklaters (or “Stinklaters”) actually deserves credit for what it is doing on the environment.

The Sustainability hub is here to help you discover how your law firm is reducing its impact, benchmark one firm’s progress against its peers, uncover what more is needed to drive meaningful change across the industry, and much more.

Send us a text

Losing more than a dozen partners in a year isn’t good for any firm, but it’s particularly bad if you are a top of the market type practice like Latham & Watkins.

But after such a stumble in London and across Europe last year, which saw the firm recalibrate its partner remuneration and bonus structure to hold on to top talent, the time has come to ask: should Lathamites be worried, or is a little turbulence all part of life for a global elite firm?

Join Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith, Matt Byrne and Rachel Moloney as they discuss Latham’s place in the emerging global elite market.

Send us a text

The Lawyer Podcast is back with for 2025!

Every January for the past 15 years, The Lawyer has published its Top 20 Cases to look out for in the coming year. Each year’s list boasts of the skill and depth of the legal market, and the high drama of the English courts.

So what makes this year different, and what can it tell us about the current state of law, business and politics? Well to kick off the New Year, Catrin and Christian are joined by senior litigation reporter Annabel Tinson to discuss the lessons from this year’s top cases.

Send us a text

It's less than a week until Christmas and across the country, fires are blazing, trees are twinkling and pigs in blankets are roasting. But in offices, lawyers still have their noses to the grindstone. 

For those who celebrate it, the Christmas break can be a time to put your feet up and relax. But many still need to work over the festive season, and many still find it difficult to stop. So for our final podcast of the year, The Lawyer looks at workaholism and why lawyers so susceptible to it. 

Joining hosts Catrin Griffiths and Christian Smith to highlight the growing awareness around workaholism in the legal profession are James Browning, an academic researcher into addiction, and psychotherapist counsellor Paul Arnold.

Send us a text

Editors Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith and Richard Simmons are back to reveal the five firms in the second hundred of the UK200 they are watching in the coming years – for good or for ill.

Tune in as we discuss firms from around the country: RBG, Lawrence Stephens, Enyo Law, FBC Manby Bowdler and Simpson Millar.

And please remember to like and subscribe on your favourite podcast platform.

Send us a text

The announcement that Herbert Smith Freehills would merge with US firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel has got chins wagging across the transatlantic market.

But is this a new mega-firm in the vein of A&O Shearman, a shrewd building block for HSF to make advances in the US, or a bit of an anti-climax?

What is clear is that HSF will need to prove to markets on both sides of the Atlantic why the Kramer Levin deal makes sense.

Tune in to the new episode of The Lawyer Podcast as Catrin and Christian are joined by the team leading The Lawyer’s new “global elite” coverage, Matt Byrne and Nikhil Raj Aggarwal, to assess the numbers, drivers and rumours behind the latest transatlantic tie-up.