Category Archives: Globalization

Mind the dragon

By Jordan Furlong | Published: May 19, 2010
I’ve written fairly extensively about India and its continuing and future impact on the legal services marketplace. I’ve not paid as much attention to China, but that country’s effect on the legal industry in the 21st century will be profound and could happen sooner than is widely expected. This is a brief note to acknowledge [...]
Posted in Globalization | 1 Comment

India: Beyond legal process outsourcing

By Jordan Furlong | Published: January 9, 2009
The symmetry was remarkable. Magic Circle icon Clifford Chance caused major waves in the mainstream legal media this week by announcing plans to cut up to 80 lawyers from its flagship London office, about 10% of the legal professionals there. The move, following layoff notices issued to 20 litigation associates in CC’s New York office [...]
Also posted in Outsourcing | 1 Comment

Globalize your thinking

By Jordan Furlong | Published: October 6, 2008
It’s with some reluctance that I link to The American Lawyer’s Global 100 rankings (or at least, to the article about the rankings — the actual list is subscriber-only). I have an aversion to anything that roughly equates “law firm success” with “profit per equity partner,” which most of these rankings tend to do, because [...]
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Eversheds: how to set new client standards

By Jordan Furlong | Published: January 29, 2008
I was jazzed a year ago when Eversheds struck a deal with Tyco to become the service and manufacturing multinational’s primary outside counsel, reducing Tyco’s complement of law firms for most legal matters from 250 to 1. Those who doubted the wisdom of the arrangement at the time worried that Tyco would miss out on [...]
Also posted in Big Firms, Innovation | Leave a comment

Pro bono without borders

By Jordan Furlong | Published: January 17, 2008
A press release came my way today from McCarthy Tétrault, announcing that the firm is the first Canadian “Partner Without Borders” of the Quebec division of Avocats Sans Frontieres. [Edit] ASF is an international NGO devoted to providing legal assistance and representation to vulnerable individuals and groups in developing countries or those in crisis. The [...]
Also posted in Purpose, Talent | 2 Comments

Offshore reflections

By Jordan Furlong | Published: January 8, 2008
It’s a few weeks late, but this article about offshore legal services published early last month in The Hindu is worth a read, although it’s not offered on the basis that all its contents should necessarily be taken at face value. It comes across rather as a corporate Q-and-A for SDD Global Solutions, an Indian [...]
Also posted in Billing, Ethics, New Lawyers, Outsourcing | Leave a comment

Law practice in the 21st century

By Jordan Furlong | Published: January 8, 2008
This article was first posted at Slaw on September 29th, 2006. Earlier this month, I visited San Francisco for the first time. I’d long been fascinated by the thought of a city built on a geological time bomb, and walking its streets was quite an experience. Everyone knows there’ll be a massive seismic rupture underneath the city [...]
Also posted in Competition, Generations, Small Centers | Leave a comment

Moving targets

By Jordan Furlong | Published: January 7, 2008
Mobile lawyering, international trade mechanisms, and Asian outsourcing all revolve around twin forces — technology and globalization — that have reduced the significance of physical distance and national borders for legal practice. The four walls of a lawyer’s office no longer contain a practitioner, and the borders and coastlines of our nation no longer impede [...]
Also posted in Technology | Leave a comment

A to Z: 26 trends for the legal profession

By Jordan Furlong | Published: January 7, 2008
This article was co-authored with Mélanie Raymond, then-Senior Editor of National, and appeared as the cover story in the April/May 2006 edition of the magazine. The legal profession is turning upside down, and many of the familiar landmarks are disappearing or bring replaced by brand-new structures. There are so many changes afoot that National’s editorial team [...]
Also posted in Billing, Clients, Competition, Generations, Innovation, Law School, Leadership, New Lawyers, Satisfaction, Technology | Leave a comment

China syndrome

By Jordan Furlong | Published: January 7, 2008
China is shaping the world we live in — along with India, Wal-Mart, Google, RSS, Wikipedia, wireless, and the World Wide Web 2.0. It’s not just manufacturing jobs moving to Asia, it’s white-collar professional work, too. And that’s just the start of it. From what I can tell, we’re poised on the edge of great upheaval: [...]
Also posted in Competition, Innovation, Technology | Leave a comment

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