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NLJ this week: Modernise the pricing, partnership & long-hours model

12 January 2024
Issue: 8054 / Categories: Legal News , Profession
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Nigel Clark, director and shareholder at Nexa, a platform for consultant solicitors, proposes a change of approach on client fees, billing targets, the partnership model and long-hours culture, in this week’s NLJ

Could lawyers switch to a system where they’re paid by results or value-added—for example, ‘a corporate lawyer advising on the purchase of a business could be paid a percentage of the reduction in the price they are able to negotiate’? Clark warns that the lack of transparency in pricing can seem unfair.

Clark also considers how to respond to the gender pay gap and questions the value of the hierarchical partnership model—‘there is still a whiff of the Victorian mill owner around junior lawyers doing the work while partners share the profits.’ 

Issue: 8054 / Categories: Legal News , Profession
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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