Lex Conscientia

Read how 3 law firms are supporting their staff and partners on the mental health front. CMS Travers Smith Bristows LLP #mentalhealth #wellbeing #legalprofession #lawfirms https://lnkd.in/eqRWbcYQ

If you are not reading the blogs from 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫, maybe you should. This latest piece reminds lawyers and law firms about checking one's integrity when deciding whether to act or not. Highlight below: "𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘, 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑢𝑡𝑦. 𝐼𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑜𝑢𝑟, 𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝐼𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑦𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑗𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜. 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑥 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒. 𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑒, 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦." #law #lawfirm #lawyer #ethics #integrity https://lnkd.in/e5EBbBwi

News just in: law is still posh! …or posh-ish. Corporate law firms still struggle with social mobility, as our latest data shows. In fact, things could be getting worse for those from lower social economic backgrounds, upending the ‘progress’ narrative. But some firms are leading the way on social mobility, including Baker McKenzie, Gowling WLG, Eversheds Sutherland and Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, (with a notable mention for Slaughter and May which has taken significant steps in recent times). #socialmobility #lawfirms #corporatelaw #diversity

"Ricardo Castro might not have set out to enter the world of foundations, but after more than 25 years lawyering at some of the most influential nonprofit organizations in the world, he sees it as a pivotal pillar in society. 'I don’t know if you would call it a fourth column, maybe a fifth column, but it plays a really important role,' he says. 'Where government can’t or won’t act on certain issues, philanthropy can really step in and make a difference.'" We spoke with Castro, vice president, general counsel, and board secretary of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to understand what mission-driven lawyering means to him and other general counsel.

Is the profession dangerously willing to sacrifice the future in order to feed the present? Though an analysis of the US and Canadian Legal hiring market, this piece by Jordan Furlong is a must-read. There is an uncomfortable trend happening and the profession needs to think deeply about where tomorrow's lawyers will come from. "It doesn’t take Sherlockian deduction to see what’s happening here. Law firms are growing desperate for new lines of business, but they lack either the patience or the ability to develop enough of them internally. So they’re turning once again to the free-agent market, throwing time, attention, and resources into scouting and hiring away rainmaking partners or entire practice groups (or even entire firms, if the recent wave of merger announcements is any indication) to fill the gaps." There are solutions as laid out in the blog. Read about them here: https://lnkd.in/e8E6p-v2 #Legalrecruitment #Legaltalent #Lawyers

So true! Law firms’ climate-conscious credentials are now under the spotlight more than ever. Great one here by Anna Bauböck for the Legal 500 Green Guide which has seen a significant expansion of submitting firms wishing to participate in the research, with submission numbers almost doubling in various jurisdictions. Read here about some of the firms on a green mission. https://lnkd.in/eRV8EigC #Lawfirm #green #ESG #Sustainability #BizHumanRights

5 top tips for mastering law firm networking events

This makes for uncomfortable reading. Backed by data, it is revealed that large US #lawfirms are not doing well on the #DEI front according to this Financial Times article. “𝐸𝑡ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎 ℎ𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑛 2023 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝐸𝐼 (𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛) 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑠,” 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑. It seems firms were forced to scrap or widen their #diversity fellowships after being threatened with legal action by a group led by conservative campaigner Edward Blum. Read more about it here.