totallylegal

Recovering Markets Breed Optimism in the Middle East Legal Profession

From an economic standpoint, there is no denying that 2010 was a challenging time for the legal profession in the Middle East. Far from being immune to the financial crisis as was first touted by the media, the effects of the crisis were felt acutely in the region, particularly among the legal community. Many law firms abandoned the Middle East in their entirety, while others remained but downsized as the reverberations of the crisis continued to shake the profession.

However, it appears that in the wake of this difficult period, the recovering regional markets have instilled newfound optimism in the legal fraternity. This view is supported by a Salary Survey published last week; one of the first surveys to be conducted in the Middle East for the regional legal profession. 

The survey, which sought responses from 274 in-house lawyers across the GCC region, encompassed all major industry sectors including banking and finance, oil and gas, and real estate and construction. The results revealed that an overwhelming majority of in-house lawyers are optimistic about the economic future of the GCC, with optimists outnumbering pessimists by five to one.

The Future of the Bar?

The New Year means new leadership for the Bar Council. The new incumbent, Peter Lodder QC, has some big shoes to fill – and some big problems to address.

Firstly, the big problems. Chiefly, these relate to legal aid. The Coalition Government’s proposed changes arguably restrict public access to a system that was already struggling under the last Government.

The Ministry of Justice has plans for “fundamental reform” of the justice system, including cutting £350m from the legal aid budget, which risks leaving many vulerable people without representation. The Law Society is opposed – as is the Bar.

Can Mediation Save the Public Sector?

Every organisation has to tackle workplace disputes and grievances at some point. Whether it’s a problem with a member of staff who doesn’t pull their weight but objects to being challenged on their performance, or more serious claims of discrimination and wrongful or unfair dismissal, business owners, managers and HR personnel have to know what to do when a conflict arises.

How you handle such problems can mean the difference between an Employment Tribunal claim with legal expenses running into tens of thousands of pounds, or a mediated settlement dealt with quickly, without too much fuss, and at minimal cost.

The conciliation service at Acas claims to have stopped 8,988 workplace grievances becoming claims, saving employers a total of £46.7m. Taking a mediated approach to employee disputes and using mediation skills in all your dealings with employee grievances will protect your organisation against potential claims, too.

It’s not all about the marketing

Here we are then, 2011, the year of the ABS. If you don’t believe that implementation of the Legal Services Act will have a major impact on the legal market then don’t bother reading on, as nothing I can say will change your mind and neither will I attempt to do so.

There has understandably been a great deal of attention paid to the marketing power of the big brands that are sure to enter the legal services arena. Laudable marketing competition is emerging from the likes of Quality Solicitors and Wigster, but maximising marketing expenditure will not be enough to compete.

Some of the hyped big brands are also making the mistake of paying insufficient attention to the cost of production, and I believe that other as yet unheralded players who understand the importance of this will enter the field. The equation for commercial success is fairly simple and admirably expressed in Lord Alan Sugar’s autobiography, which found its way into my Christmas stocking. He wanted to know what his production costs had to be in order to sell his Amstrad products at a price attractive to the market, so he established this formula (which I have shortened for our purposes):

Happy New Year: Law and Order in 2011

It is that time of the year for hope against expectation, and New Year’s resolutions are ten a penny. The market leader, as always, is the definitive crash diet – how to lose ten stone in four weeks and all that garbage.

It is also that time of the year when our thoughts turn to law and order, and what can be done to improve the lot of the legal profession. I have a wish list that I would like to share with you:


1. Repeal the Human Rights Act. We don’t need it, we never needed it, and it’s making a laughing stock out of all of us. Even the legal luminaries seem to struggle to interpret it. It has become a 'one size fits all' piece of legislation for misfits, and we don’t need Strasbourg telling us about fairness and common sense.