Near pressure

Legal business is busily disaggragating – and that’s an opportunity to disperse. Law firms explain which literal directions they’re heading off in around the country to set up nearshore hubs, and what to expect along the way –with Reed Smith, Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Norton Rose Fulbright and Baker McKenzie

THE BIG IDEA

Lower-cost centres in high-talent cities sound like a no-brainer, but there’s a lot of work involved before the legal work even starts. A brand new location is also perhaps a particularly good opportunity to think afresh about how the firm could do all kinds of things that might help to boost business productivity.

MERGER MASTERY

A year on from the big merger day, the BD, marketing and communications team of CMS reflect on how far they’ve come. There was a certain opportunity to start from scratch, but collaboration on how that new entity would come alive was key. Kayli Olson hears all about it.

STEPS UP FOR GDPR

With the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation finally in force, Ruth Napier, director of business development at Cripps, reflects on the process of turning a period of especially challenging regulatory change into opportunity to build stronger client bridges.