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KC Legal Insight on Groups: Group Organisation and Work Allocation, a new way in London.

The hot topic regarding specialisation for Associates across UK and US international law firms continues to be debated amongst legal industry experts. White Shoe law firms are considering changing their group structures meaning Associates are going to have to specialise in narrow areas of practice. However, other international US firms feel a move in the other direction with a model of general disputes and general transactional lawyers is what suits the firm best. They wish to keep their Associates from NQ – 3 year PQE generalist in Corporate, Regulatory or Litigation similar to some of the magic circle firms before offering the opportunity to specialise. This naturally brings a raft of positive but also potentially negative outcomes for Associates to consider as they think about their longer term career prospects.

Robert Hanna, Founder & Managing Director of a top flight legal recruitment firm KC says:

“It is clear that progression may potentially become more limited with the narrowing of scope of work for Associates in some large US law firms. Associates in all firms have concerns that firms are dividing large practice group areas (e.g. Dispute Resolution) and then expanding the individual groups significantly. Other points to note is that Associates will encounter less variety of work and an increased level of competition for the reduced number of positions viable. As such, I think that Partners are very keen to hang onto Associates, an increasingly negative environment may see a trend of more Associates looking in the market for more enhanced platforms with more variety.”

Contact Robert on [email protected][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]