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Law firms: ethics v profit

16 February 2024 / Dana Denis-Smith
Issue: 8059 / Categories: Features , Career focus , Profession
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Junior lawyers are the partners of the future. Firms need to listen to their ethical concerns, argues Dana Denis-Smith

Profits per equity partner has for a long time been the definitive measure of law firm success, but that is changing, with a growing realisation that there are other ways to measure success. Law firms and their clients are increasingly focused on ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues, and junior lawyers in particular are putting pressure on the profession to shift to a business model that prioritises sustainability over profitability.

My organisation Obelisk Support’s latest report, ‘World in motion: why the legal profession cannot stand still’, found that nearly three-quarters of junior lawyers agreed that they would not join an organisation whose values did not match with their own, even if they were offering more money. An even higher proportion said they were looking to effect positive change in society through their work as lawyers.

Nearly two-thirds of junior lawyers wanted the right to refuse to work on certain matters

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
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