header-logo header-logo

01 December 2021
Issue: 7959 / Categories: Legal News , Profession
printer mail-detail

View from the top 20 in Ireland

Recruitment and retention are the key concerns of all Top 20 firms in Ireland and 70% of Dublin’s law firms, according to professional services firm Smith & Williamson’s Annual Survey of Law Firms in Ireland

More than one in three firms increased staff numbers over the past 12 months, whereas 23% of firms reduced staff numbers. The survey found employees reprioritising their work/life balance after working from home and looking for more remote working and flexibility. In contrast, while most of the Top 20 firms are facilitating remote working, one-third of regional firms and one-fifth of smaller Dublin firms said they are unlikely to do so.

On the financial side, turnover remains below pre-pandemic levels for two-thirds of law firms across the water while more than half of Ireland’s law firms (58%) report their profits remain below pre-Covid levels and more than a quarter (29%) have experienced a significant reduction in revenue. 

Issue: 7959 / Categories: Legal News , Profession
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
back-to-top-scroll