With continued pressure from human rights organisations and socially conscious shareholders, investors, clients and employees, there is little doubt that every law firm must have environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues at the core of its business strategy. However, the implementation of an ESG strategy should not be a box-ticking exercise; rather, it requires firm-wide commitment and involves the full integration of ESG criteria into the strategy, operations and ethos of the firm, in relation to both the firm itself and its dealing with clients. Increased regulation, stronger business ethics and attitudes to climate change, environmental protection, employment standards, sustainable finance, risk and governance, community engagement, corruption and human rights are evolving at an unprecedented rate. As a result, the development of robust, long-term ESG initiatives in these areas can provide law firms with manifold benefits, including the opportunity to: gain competitive advantage; retain their license to operate; make cost savings due to operational improvements; attract, engage and retain clients and employees; increase value and service offerings to clients through advising them on their own sustainability transformation; and enter new markets. This Special Report looks at the business drivers for sustainability in law firms and offers a practical toolkit to guide law firms on their ESG journey. It will make essential reading for all lawyers, law firm leaders and management teams who are involved in implementing sustainability strategies at both a firm and practice group level.

Intellectual property has always played a key role supporting the protection and exploitation of technology and brands of businesses operating in the energy sector. The management of IP is arguably more important than ever as we transition to more renewable energy sources and reduced emissions, and see an energy market increasingly disrupted by start-ups challenging the dominance of the traditional oil and gas majors. This Special Report looks at the challenges and opportunities that intellectual property issues present for different areas of this broad and rapidly changing sector, including: Upstream: exploration and production of hydrocarbons across the full lifecycle of oil and gas fields. Downstream: oil and gas processing technology and resulting differentiated fuel and lubricant products. Renewables: a look at the role of IP in supporting renewables businesses, with a spotlight on a solar start-up. Digitalisation: the transformational impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning on the sector as a whole and how IP rights underpin this. Standard Essential Patents: how patents on wireless interoperability, at one time solely the domain of the telecoms industry, are increasingly applicable in the energy sector, and the licensing challenges this raises. Brand and reputation: how energy businesses seek to protect and exploit their brands and reputations as well as their technology, in order to differentiate themselves in an intensely competitive market. This report is essential reading for legal advisers and anyone in a commercial role dealing with the energy sector who is seeking a deeper understanding of the vital role intellectual property plays in shaping and achieving business objectives.

There is a widespread and growing acceptance in legal services organisations worldwide that dealing with stress and burnout is not just the responsibility of the individual lawyer. The mitigation and prevention of excessive stress in the legal workplace are now being recognised as critical management responsibilities. This expectation has serious measurable implications and consequences for managing partners, general counsel and other leaders. This practical guide summons lawyers, leaders and managers to greater alertness about stress-producing factors in the workplace and to more effective applications of practical responses and methods in the special conditions and circumstances of the practice of law in today's often intense and highly competitive environment. It is written expressly for professional colleagues who want to work together in common cause to bring greater awareness to wellness needs and to minimise excessive stress or distress in the legal workplace, positively impacting workplace culture, professional relationships, firm reputation, talent retention and profitability. Written by a world-recognised counselling psychologist, who has worked exclusively with the people and organisations in the legal services industry for more than twenty-five years, it focuses on actions, not theories and philosophy, that any leader and legal services organisation can begin to use immediately to make sustainable investments in the well-being of its people.

Following a relatively slow start to embrace the direct application of concepts that have revolutionised the tech and manufacturing sectors, law firms are increasingly placing 'Agile' - described as "the best kept management secret on the planet" - on their business development agenda. In response to Covid-19, many firms have proven their capacity for agile decision making and have accelerated their development of a more agile working model. But this requires more than digitisation and remote working. This Special Report is the essential guide for every law firm leader who wants to move beyond the reactive to the strategic adoption of proven agile principles. Being able to adapt smartly to client needs, competitor threats and employee expectations are at the core of this report, which is built around a self-assessment tool and practical framework for implementing Agile. This Special Report covers: *What is Agile and how has it been used across industries? Explores the most important uses of agile thinking and models, from those that have transformed the worlds of technology, consumer products and complex projects, to the hybrid agile working model that many law firms seek to adopt post-Covid-19; *Why Agile? Looks at where adopting agile principles in your firm will make a difference and how these ideas connect with client value, digital transformation, innovation and collaboration; *Where can we utilise Agile in law firms? Examines the different parts of a law firm and explains which agile models and tools can be used where, using legal sector case studies; *How Agile are you? Outlines a practical diagnostic for assessing your level of agility in each area of the firm; and *What next? Covers planning and implementing an agile programme, from mindset and language change to organisational design and client engagement. The report also provides examples of Agile programme outlines for law firms large and small which can be adapted depending on individual needs. In short, this report includes everything law firm leaders need to get started on their own agile journey.

Over the past several decades, the number of lawyers in large cities has doubled, women have entered the bar at an unprecedented rate, and the scale of firms has greatly expanded. This immense growth has transformed the nature and social structure of the legal profession. In the most comprehensive analysis of the urban bar to date, "Urban Lawyers" presents a compelling portrait of how these changes continue to shape the field of law today.
Drawing on extensive interviews with Chicago lawyers, the authors demonstrate how developments in the profession have affected virtually every aspect of the work and careers of urban lawyers-their relationships with clients, job tenure and satisfaction, income, social and political values, networks of professional connections, and patterns of participation in the broader community. Yet despite the dramatic changes, much remains the same. Stratification of income and power based on gender, race, and religious background, for instance, still maintains inequality within the bar.
The authors of "Urban Lawyers" conclude that organizational priorities will likely determine the future direction of the legal profession. And with this landmark study as their guide, readers will be able to make their own informed predictions.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is actively seeking ways for member countries to enhance their individual economic development within the context of overall regional advancement. Central to this is the creation of a regional intellectual property framework. This book examines the efforts to move beyond sovereign protections of intellectual property rights and establish meaningful inter-state cooperation on intellectual property issues. Rather than aim for IP harmonization, ASEAN recognizes its internal diversity and pursues an agenda of 'IP Interoperability'. The essays in this collection examine the unique dynamics of 'interoperability', analyzing the administration of intellectual property in a part of the world that is of increasing importance. The book enables the reader to compare and contrast the ASEAN model to other approaches in regional cooperation, such as Europe and Latin America, and also explores private international law as a potential vehicle for interoperability.

Traditional forms of mentoring and coaching have always been at the heart of the legal profession. It is not so long ago that in order to become a lawyer, one did not attend law school, but instead had to be mentored by a senior member of the profession for a fixed number of years. The requirement to attend law school is now universal, but the need for mentoring and coaching in the legal profession has not disappeared; it is developing at a high speed and for good reasons. Misconceptions about mentoring and coaching in law firms often prevent productive relationships from forming. These misconceptions include beliefs that mentoring is beneficial to mentees but does not add value to the mentors; an assumption that it is human resources' responsibility to develop people; and queries about why today's lawyers need coaching, given that they receive more formal training than previous generations. This practical new handbook, coordinated by Rebecca Normand-Hochman on behalf of the International Bar Association, explores and challenges some of these assumptions. Featuring chapters by well-respected experts in the field of mentoring and coaching, chapters cover topics including leadership coaching for law firm leaders; mentoring and coaching for lawyers at various stages of their careers; and mentoring and coaching for successful onboarding of lawyers, among other topics. The various chapters provide guidance and insight to law firm leaders and talent management managers for them to discover how they can turn mentoring and coaching into a source of competitive advantage by improving client service, attracting and retaining the best talent, and enhancing the utilisation of human capital. The book will also be of interest to lawyers seeking to discover how they can generate productive relationships to acquire the intangible skills and knowledge required to excel in today's practice of law.

What makes a great judge? How are reputations forged? Why do some reputations endure, while others crumble? And how can we know whether a reputation is fairly deserved? In this ambitious book, Richard Posner confronts these questions in the case of Benjamin Cardozo. The result is both a revealing portrait of one of the most influential legal minds of our century and a model for a new kind of study--a balanced, objective, critical assessment of a judicial career. "The present compact and unflaggingly interesting volume ...is a full-bodied scholarly biography...It is illuminating in itself, and will serve as a significant contribution."--Paul A. Freund, New York Times Book Review