Most innovative law firms 2015: Top 10 European game-changers of the past 10 years
DLA Piper
Latham & Watkins
Axiom
Slater & Gordon
Allen & Overy
Berwin Leighton Paisner
Eversheds
King & Wood Mallesons (EU)
Bird & Bird
Garrigues
Description
Score
Firm
FT.com Innovative Lawyers
43
Pioneer of the Swiss verein structure, under which
affiliates remain separate entities, the firm led in
showing the profession how to achieve ambitious
internationalisation without the pain of a full merger.
DLA tied up with US law firm Piper Rudnick in 2005 and
has since expanded its number of offices from 49 to
88, covering 30 countries. It also led in listening to
clients and positioning itself as a business-led law
firm.
43
The firm has built practices in New York and London to
rival incumbent leaders. Its growth strategy,
commitment to innovation and effectiveness in lateral
hiring have seen it ruffle feathers in key markets,
particularly in finance. It has shown that elite firms can
build market-leading practices in competitive
jurisdictions from scratch.
42
The contracts management business is revolutionising
the way big corporations create and manage
commercial contracts. Axiom employs lawyers, project
managers and process engineers who, together with
its own technology, provide clients with an alternative
to traditional law firms that raises standards for the
profession.
42
The first law firm in the world to float, Slater & Gordon
originated in Australia but has gone on to build a
significant UK business with the acquisition of nine
firms over the past three years. It is changing the way
in which consumer law is practised and how lawyers
are perceived in the consumer market.
40
The winner of FT overall law firm innovation awards in
four of the past 10 years, Allen & Overy leads the way
in showing elite law firms a route to combine premier
legal practices with alternative service models such as
its online legal services business, aosphere. It bucked
the market trend to downsize in the wake of the
financial crisis and has increased its number of offices
by 92 per cent and partner headcount by 100.
40
The LOD (Lawyers On Demand) service showed the
way for law firms to offer flexible staffing. The scheme
has now been copied by 30 per cent of the top 20 UK
law firms. LOD has grown 700 per cent over the past
five years. BLP has integrated LOD into a service
delivery model.
38
A series of innovations saw Eversheds enter into the
profession's first comprehensive single-supplier
relationship with Tyco in 2006, and set up business
process engineering in the early 2000s before the
disaggregation of legal services was accepted as a
market necessity. It set up general counsel initiatives
before most law firms saw the importance of the inhouse lawyer.
38
The first leading international law firm to be
headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region. The tie-up
between Chinese law firm King & Wood with Australian
firm Mallesons sent waves through the profession and
within two years has resulted in a further spate of
Anglo-Chinese tie-ups. The subsequent merger with
London-based SJ Berwin means it is the first European
firm to be able to offer advice from mainland China.
37
The firm grew beyond its boutique roots to become an
international player that sticks to the media,
technology and life science industries. The focus on
industry sectors and related practice areas became a
legal profession trend in the late 1990s. Bird & Bird
has been doing it for longer and shows how such a
strategy pays dividends for a focused law firm.
36
The firm leads the way on the Iberian peninsula and in
Latin America in terms of working differently. It has
benefited from the days of its tie-up with Arthur
Andersen and is not afraid to experiment with multidisciplinary teams, technologies and a professional
approach to running its partnership. One of the first
Iberian firms to publish a social responsibility report in
2006, it continues as an all-equity partnership that
regularly occupies the top non-UK European law firm
slot in the FT reports.
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