The Lawyer Podcast
Hosted by editor Catrin Griffiths and litigation editor Christian Smith, every second Thursday The Lawyer Podcast brings you our take on the top stories, trends and views moving the legal market.
For more news, analysis and data, go to www.thelawyer.com. The Lawyer Podcast can be contacted at podcast@thelawyer.com.
Episodes
68 episodes
Freshfields, Lewis Silkin and the C-word
Lewis Silkin and Freshfields are two very different law firms.But they now have one thing in common – they won one of the two big awards at The Lawyer Awards 2025 last week.Now, The Lawyer Podcast is not typicall...
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37:06
Paul Weiss’s growth is just the tip of the iceberg
We have never seen such rapid investment in the London legal market like Paul Weiss’s recruitment spree since 2023.Between 2023 and 2024 alone, the firm's London headcount tripled and its estimated turnover grew by more than 550 per cent...
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33:26
Have litigation funders been chasing a busted flush?
On the surface, litigation funding and class actions are booming in the UK. Over the past five years, dozens of class actions have been filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and just at the start of this month, a new £5bn action was fi...
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27:05
What law firms aren’t telling you about AI
News broke last week that the first ever AI law firm had been given the green light by the SRA. The rush by law firms to adopt Artificial Intelligence has been the standout feature of the past two years.But amongst all the hype, the prom...
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31:19
Trump v BigLaw, part three: Where's your line in the sand?
Trump’s attacks on some of America’s most famous law firms has set in motion a chain of events that has thrown the world of BigLaw into chaos.In episode three of The Lawyer...
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54:50
Trump v BigLaw, part two: Deal or no deal?
Trump’s attacks on some of America’s most famous law firms has set in motion a chain of events that has thrown the world of BigLaw into chaos.On this second episode of our podc...
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50:33
Trump v BigLaw, part one: Crisis
Trump’s attacks on some of America’s most famous law firms has set in motion a chain of events that has thrown the world of BigLaw into chaos.Across the course of three episode...
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1:06:07
Your firm may not be interested in private equity, but private equity is interested in your firm
Law firm listings are out of fashion, but private equity interest in firms has never been higher. With more deals already struck this year, The Lawyer Podcast crew sets out the state of PE investment in firms, debates the benefits a...
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27:21
Could you hack it as a startup GC?
Dynamic. Modern. Exciting. From Revolut to Bloom & Wild, Darktrace to Fever, startups are increasingly the place to be in the UK - and that is the case for lawyers too.So as the potential avenues for a career in law grow and grow, Ca...
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26:30
Does Linklaters’ exit spell the end for the Magic Circle in Eastern Europe?
Poland’s GDP per capita could surpass Japan’s next year and may exceed the UK’s by the end of the decade.Such statistics help explain why the Eastern European nation is seeing an influx of international business - and legal work.A...
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22:00
Absolute scenes: Freshfields, Willkie and how Merricks v Mastercard bankrolled the litigation market
£20m is a number most recently associated with top private equity partners, but that’s the amount a team from Willkie Farr & Gallagher has been paid for its work on the iconic Merricks v Mastercard litigation.Now as the case...
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29:34
Law firm sustainability in the age of Trump
As Donald Trump and his allies put corporate ESG on both sides of the Atlantic in their crosshairs, is now the time for law firms to stand up and prove that their sustainability programmes are not just all for lip service?To mark the lau...
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32:43
We need to talk about Latham
Losing more than a dozen partners in a year isn’t good for any firm, but it’s particularly bad if you are a top of the market type practice like Latham & Watkins.But after such a stumble in London and across Europe last year, which s...
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31:58
When litigation gets big, who you gonna call?
The Lawyer Podcast is back with for 2025!Every January for the past 15 years, The Lawyer has published its Top 20 Cases to look out for in the coming yea...
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25:00
Christmas Special: Is someone you know a workaholic?
It's less than a week until Christmas and across the country, fires are blazing, trees are twinkling and pigs in blankets are roasting. But in offices, lawyers still have their noses to the grindstone. For those who celebrate it, th...
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30:30
Five smaller firms to watch for good or for ill
Editors Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith and Richard Simmons are back to reveal the five firms in the second hundred of the UK200 they are watching in the coming years – for good or for ill.Tune in as we discuss firms from around the co...
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32:39
The HSF merger: Two firms do not a transatlantic powerhouse make
The announcement that Herbert Smith Freehills would merge with US firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel has got chins wagging across the transatlantic market.But is this a new mega-firm in the vein of A&O Shearman, a shrewd buildi...
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31:00
How Kirkland is shaking up the European order
It is a moment of change for the European legal market.With firms like Kirkland and Paul Hastings making major recent moves in the EU, US firms are starting to seriously disrupt the European order.This is most visible in Germany, ...
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25:03
UK 200 Special: What we really think of Freshfields, BCLP and Osborne Clarke
In part two of our two-part podcast series, celebrating the 20th edition of The Lawyer's UK200, editors Catrin Griffiths, Christian Smith, Matt Byrne, Katy Dowell and Richard Simmons are back to reveal the five firms they are watching in the co...
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30:10
UK 200 Special: UK law firms fight back
If this year's UK200 is anything to go by, the majority of UK law firms are in robust health. Indeed, they are finally fighting back against the growth of US competitors.So why are so many upending their partnership models?In pa...
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28:26
Is the A&O Shearman honeymoon over?
Last week, A&O Shearman set out post-merger plans to close its legacy Allen & Overy base in Johannesburg, reduce its partnership by 10 per cent by t...
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30:56
Why lawyers now control football
Football law has typically been the domain of sports specialists. However, in recent years, there has been a growing number of large, elite firms and chambers entering the football market.Clifford Chance and Freshfields act for Mancheste...
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34:50
Qualification: the end of your career?
The associate recruitment market has tightened up over the past year or two. For trainees looking to qualify, that means finding a home in their preferred practice area is more difficult too.But qualification and, specifically, w...
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26:45