On January 10th, the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown Law and the Thomson Reuters Institute released their 2023 Report on the State of the Legal Market, which seems more relevant than ever as we go into a year of uncertainty. The report confirms this (and I’ll delve into a few specific points), but overall, I’d like to remind readers that we’ve been here before – contractions in the legal industry are nothing new. The good news is that hopefully, firms have learned the lessons of 2008/2009 and haven’t forgotten them. Will there be some casualties? Yes, but that’s the nature of business. And make no mistake – the law is still a business. Continue Reading State of the Legal Industry: No Need to Panic – We’ve Been Here Before

Our final guide of the week is also the biggest one!

The International Lawyers Network’s Corporate Specialty Group is delighted to announce the ninth release of its corporate publication, “Establishing a Business Entity: An International Guide.” This collaborative electronic guide offers a summary of key corporate law principles in 40 countries across the globe, serving as a quick, practical reference for those establishing an entity in these jurisdictions.
Continue Reading ILN Releases 9th Edition of Corporate Publication, Offering a Summary of Key Corporate Law Principles in 40 Countries

Guide number 2 is out this week, and it’s our Real Estate Guide!

The International Lawyers Network’s Real Estate Specialty Group is excited to announce the seventh release of its real estate publication, “Buying & Selling Real Estate: An International Guide.” This collaborative electronic guide offers a summary of key real estate law principles in 30 jurisdictions across the globe, serving as a quick, practical reference for those buying and selling real estate in these locations.
Continue Reading ILN Releases 7th Edition of Real Estate Publication, Offering a Summary of Key Real Estate Law Principles in 30 Jurisdictions

This Friday, I have the pleasure of joining some fantastic legal industry colleagues on a panel at the Legal Marketing Association’s Northeast Regional Conference. We’ll be addressing the topic: “The Best Influencer is a Good Story” and you’d better believe it’s one of my favorites. I’m tickled to be speaking with one of my favorite people, Adrian Lurssen, Co-founder, VP Strategic Development, JD Supra, and joined by the brilliant Paula Zirinsky, Co-Founder & Chief Strategist, Structura Strategy Group LLP who is moderating the panel and Steve Cohen, Partner at Pollock Cohen LLP, who is delightful and will tell us all about how he ended up going to law school at 58.
Continue Reading The Best Influencer is a Good Story

Brendah Mpanga is the founding partner of BNM Advocates in Kampala, Uganda, which is also one of the ILN member firms. In this episode, Brendah and Lindsay discuss the deep gender inequalities that African women are facing, as laid bare by the pandemic, the steps that the government and powerful women leaders have taken to rectify those inequalities, and how Brendah, as a leader herself, of a primarily female firm, has navigated some challenging times. This is a not-to-be-missed episode!

You can listen to the podcast here, or we’ve provided a transcript of the highlights below.

Continue Reading Law Firm ILN-telligence Podcast | Brendah Mpanga, BNM Advocates

Have you ever heard the saying “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?”

Well, the counter-argument could be made that to get new results, you need to build new habits. It has been said that you need 21 days of doing something to make it a habit – so if you start now, by the end of October, you’ll have some new habits built into your routine!

What do I mean by that?
Continue Reading Build New Habits to Get New Results

Martino Canal is a labor partner at Ferrari Pedeferri Boni Studio Legale Associato in Milan, Italy, which is also a member of the International Lawyers Network. In this episode, Lindsay and Martino cover the importance of adaptability and communication, the balance between innovation and privacy, and the value of humanity mixed with professionalism. And don’t miss finding out Martino’s secret identity!

You can listen to the podcast here, or we’ve provided a transcript of the highlights below.

Continue Reading Law Firm ILN-telligence Podcast | Martino Canal, Ferrari Pedeferri Boni Studio Legale Associato

We all know the adorable adage about lawyers that they don’t want to be first, but they want to be first to be second.

Having worked in legal for almost 18 years, I’ve seen this proven to be true over and over again. And as a result, it means that we can learn a lot from what our competitors are doing. It doesn’t mean that we copy them, by any means, but it does mean that when we ask ourselves some challenging questions in the context of our own firm or business activities, we can improve our own goals and focus.

I’ve found there are four key questions that we can ask about our competitors that help us identify what we could be strengthening in our own firms and businesses, and when we review these regularly, we can stay ahead of the marketplace. As a note, when you’re reviewing your competitors, you want to limit this to 3-5 of them, since these are in-depth tactics.
Continue Reading Four Key Questions to Ask About Your Competitors

It’s the dregs of August. It’s hot and humid. You may be in the office or you may not be. But if you are, this may be the time of year when you start to feel…stuck.

August is like the 4 pm of the day, the Sunday of the week, and while there are beautiful descriptions of how to languish in a porch rocker, listening to the crickets and cicadas while sipping a cool drink as you watch the condensation slowly make its way down the glass…I am not an August person.

Also, some of us may be stuck in the frozen tundra of an air-conditioned office and not sitting languorously anywhere and so the need to feel “unstuck” is a very real one – alas, for me, my home office is the hottest room in my house, so that’s not me either. I’m more like an office hobbit, hunched in front of my laptop, dreaming of crisp fall days and pumpkin-spiced lattes (only a week away!).

But, I digress.
Continue Reading Two Ways to Become Unstuck