Hackers, social mobility, bias, the cost of justice, and more...

A series of unfortunate cyber events

Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy (A&O) – soon to be A&O Shearman – is the latest major firm to fall victim to a ransomware attack, during which cybercriminals used malware to attack the firm’s systems and threatened to publish private data from the firm’s files on 28 November. This tweet on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter from 8 November states that the hacking group in question is infamous ransomware group LockBit, although A&O has not confirmed this.

The firm reported that the cyber security incident impacted its storage servers but assures us that core systems like email and document management remain unaffected and that any affected clients have been notified. A&O has also insisted that it has taken immediate action to contain the incident and continues operating with minimal disruption.?

A number of law firms have been targeted by hackers in recent years, including a major attack on global law firm DLA Piper in 2017 by Petya ransomware. If you’re a devoted Si’s Matter reader, you may remember I mentioned in this previous edition that in June this year, the National Cyber Security Centre issued a report urging legal practices to strengthen their cyber defences after finding that the multitude of firms (seven out of ten) lacked strong cyber security. Perhaps A&O’s memo simply got lost in the post…

Individuals writing in the comments section of this Financial Times article stated their concerns about the alarming nature of the A&O hacking incident, with one, in particular, finding little comfort in the firm’s attempt at reassurance by emphasising the small number of servers affected: “‘a small number of servers’ could surely hold a huge number of documents, I'd be worried if I were a client”. Another commentator mused that “law firms often don’t have particularly secure systems and have a considerable amount of money”, which would make them prime targets for these attacks.

Quoted in the aforementioned article, A&O has stated that it “appreciates that this is an important matter for our clients, and we take this very seriously. Keeping our clients’ data safe, secure, and confidential is an absolute priority”. For their sake and that of their clients, I hope they beef up their systems even more after this incident – although I cannot help musing on a phrase involving bolted horses and stable doors.

Legal limbo for junior City lawyers

The Institute of Student Employers (ISE) has revealed stark differences in starting salaries for graduates compared to starting salaries for newly qualified (NQs) solicitors in London, with the former falling at an average of ￡33,000 and the latter being nearly quadruple this amount at an average of ￡125,000.?

It isn’t all fun and games for these new NQs though, as this very impressive starting salary comes with many a cost: demanding hours, working late nights, weekends, and holidays, consequently leaving them bereft of a healthy work-life balance.?

Of notable mention is the London office of Kirkland & Ellis, a Chicago-based practice — one of the wealthiest on the planet — that reported the longest working hours for junior lawyers. The results of the ISE’s survey, as published in this Times article, stated that the firm’s junior lawyers logged 12-and-a-half-hour days on average, finishing at just after 10pm every night and often working at weekends. Despite the high pay, the issue of work-life balance is gaining attention, prompting calls for mid-tier firms to offer challenging work but also focusing on a sustainable work-life balance.?

Simmons & Simmons was the highest-paying domestic English firm for NQ’s salaries. Junior lawyers here notched up an hour less than their counterparts at Kirkland & Ellis — but were also paid slightly less, with an average junior salary of ￡107,500.

I’ve recently done some research and calculations of my own, and found that as a newly-qualified lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis, you earn ￡1,000 more annually than a London NQ at Milbank LLP, but have to do an additional 8.9 hours of work per week to earn it. What was shocking to me was that this extra ￡1,000 costs the NQs 400+ hours a year, and for those extra hours, it works out at a shockingly miserly ￡2.50 an hour. I know tooth fairies who pay more than that!

The 93% Club – diversifying the legal industry, one law firm at a time

I will always advocate for any work relating to the fantastic 93% Club.?

Founded by the remarkable Sophie Pender, the 93% Club is a UK-based organisation that originated at the University of Bristol in 2017 and has since expanded to encompass clubs at over 40 universities across the UK. Its mission is to address and break down the structural barriers to social mobility and work toward creating a fairer future for the next generation of ambitious, state-educated individuals.?

Slaughter and May is the latest firm to join the burgeoning list of law firms that have partnered with the 93% Club. However, alongside Boston Consulting Group, Ernst & Young and JLL, Slaughters has taken the partnership one step further by establishing a new professional network – 93% Professionals.?

Operating both online and in person, the 93% Professionals network facilitates knowledge sharing among state-educated professionals, fostering a pay-it-forward model to invest in professional growth and provide opportunities for future talent.?

Slaughter and May's Andrew Jolly emphasises the firm's commitment to reducing inequalities in the legal sector through this initiative: “We are delighted to be a founding member of 93% Professionals, as we continue to drive forward our commitment to reduce inequalities in the legal sector and ensure that everyone, no matter their background, has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.”?

Quoted in this LawCareers.net article, 93% Club founder Sophie Pender comments: "It’s time to transform what it means to be state educated in the workplace. As we continue our mission to empower state-educated people, we recognise the need to address the challenges they face once they enter their careers. 93% Professionals addresses these challenges through the power of community.”?

If you’re interested in learning more about the least exclusive members’ club in the UK, you can read an article written by my PR assistant, Cara, who recently attended a networking event in Bristol run by the 93% club. We’re signing up today.?

Bias on the bench: a year on

Last November, the University of Manchester (UoM) published a report that yielded shocking results about racial bias in the judiciary, based on surveys of those in the legal profession: over half of those surveyed stated that they had observed at least one instance of a judge displaying racial bias during their legal careers.

A year on, the authors of the report recently came together in London and assessed the progress of diversity and equality of the bench within the last year. At the event, attendees were reminded of the report’s key findings, chief among which is the prevalence of a dismissive attitude on the part of judges towards racial issues, leading the report’s authors to emphasise the need to revise the ‘Equal Treatment Bench Book’.?

This is a manual given to judges and magistrates upon their appointment, and which the report’s authors feel needs more representative authorship and an increase in the number of editors from black communities, who are themselves experts on racism and who are not judges. Astonishingly, however, there have been no amendments or updates to the book, with the authors of the previously mentioned report highlighting the lack of response and action from the book's editors.?

Lead author Eithne Quinn, professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester, told attendees of this month’s follow-up event in London that when judges take a dismissive approach to reports of racism, it becomes hard to challenge, stating in the Law Gazette that the Bench Book “crystallises the wider problem of racial silencing unconsciously” and lacks “concerted coverage of the racism experienced by black people”.

Over the summer, the Manchester report’s authors approached nine leading race experts for their thoughts, including head of the Race Equality Foundation, Jabeer Butt OBE, who said: “Without modification, the Bench Book perpetuates the biases of the existing system”.?

The report’s authors have used the responses to write a letter to the Bench Book’s editors, in hope they take the desired action. I sincerely hope so too – it would strike me as remarkably tone-deaf on the part of the editors not to heed this call to make the requested revisions.

What price justice?

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has stirred up some contention this week, announcing plans to generate an additional ￡34 million to ￡42 million annually by increasing court fees by up to 10%, in order to produce more income for the HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HCTS).?

The proposal, outlined in this consultation document, aims to ensure that court fees keep up with rising costs for the HM Courts & Tribunals Service, while emphasising a fair balance between user contributions and the financial challenges faced by households. Although the government has been quick to point out that this increase is much less than the 17.8% consumer price index rise since the last round of increases (in 2021), protestors remain unimpressed.?

In the 2022/23 fiscal year, court and tribunal fees constituted ￡727 million of the overall ￡2.3 billion budget for HMCTS, with the remaining funding sourced from general taxation. The proposed fee increases are slated to be implemented next spring, coinciding with the introduction of revised fee remission schemes later this year.

Justice minister Mike Freer is cited by the Law Gazette, saying that the 10% rise “creates a fair balance between more closely aligning user contributions to growing HMCTS costs and recognising the ongoing financial pressures on households as a result of increases to the cost of living.”

The comment sections of articles dealing with controversial announcements are always an insightful and informative place and this one is no different. One impassioned individual makes this interesting comparison: “So the royal mail gets fined millions for failing to meet delivery targets. Why should the HMCTS not be subject to the same scrutiny. Their performance has been shocking for years.”

Another speaks about the unbalanced dilemma of offering justice as a pay-per-use service in a democratic society: “This is yet another sign of policymakers' total lack of common sense. “If the problem is the increasing cost, the solution is to engineer a system of justice that is less expensive and that can be financed through general taxation, not to keep the existing system with its ever increasing costs and make it less accessible”.?

I encourage your comments too – lawyers, MoJ workers, or anyone who wants to share their opinion about the proposal to increase court fees. Should there be exceptions? Is there a fairer way to generate this extra funding? Feel free to share your thoughts below.??

In other news

￡400m? Going once, going twice, sold!

Inflexion, the UK-based private equity firm, has agreed to sell legal rankings provider Chambers and Partners to the US investment group Abry Partners, valuing Chambers at over ￡400m. The acquisition was spearheaded by Paul Hastings LLP, which is strengthening its footprint in London's private equity and credit sector by securing the mandate to represent Abry in this movement.?

Chambers is a legal research company that provides rankings of lawyers and law firms in more than 200 countries. Chambers’ work is renowned within the legal industry, as the rankings serve as a concise guide for businesses, especially private equity firms, identifying top lawyers and law firms globally. It will be interesting how this shift in ownership overseas guides the rankings provider in new directions.

Read more about the acquisition here.

British Business Bank unleashes ￡70m to fuel SME success in Northern Ireland

The British Business Bank has announced a ￡70m investment fund in Northern Ireland, engineered to support businesses from all sectors and aiming to target start-ups that may have struggled to access finance elsewhere.

This new fund seeks to address a recognised funding gap in Northern Ireland by enhancing the availability and variety of early-stage finance for small businesses. This initiative pioneers a series of national and regional investment funds being launched by the Bank, which will deliver a ￡1.6bn commitment of new funding to smaller businesses across the UK.

Find out more here.

CMS’s Great Scandi expansion

Global law firm CMS is expanding its Nordic presence by obtaining two Swedish offices through a merger with Wistrand, a Stockholm-headquartered firm. The move follows CMS's partnership with Norwegian firm Kluge nearly two years ago, bringing its Nordic partner headcount to around 100.?

The merger positions CMS in an increasingly competitive market, with seven international law firms already established in Stockholm, including Eversheds Sutherland and Osborne Clarke

Read more here.

Shearman’s saving grace

By now, I’m sure most within the legal field are aware of the impending merger between Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. News this week has highlighted the stability that A&O’s indispensable aid has brought to Shearman & Sterling, which has seen fewer departures since the announcement of the merger.

While Shearman's transactional teams have seen reductions, its antitrust team has been growing, providing valuable expertise for the potential integration with A&O, and a significantly higher number of associates especially have been retained rather than lost.?

For further information, read more here.?

Freshfields launches investigation into historical ties to slavery

Magic Circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is conducting an investigation into its historical connections to slavery. This follows revelations that one of its founding partners, James William Freshfield, benefited financially from serving as a trustee for West Indies slave-owners, spanning from its founding in 1743 all the way to 1840.

Freshfields is also simultaneously funding an independent research project at Oxford University, examining the way that the City’s network of legal, financial, insurance services played a? role in enabling the transatlantic slave trade, alongside active investigations into any further historical links the firm itself may have to the slave trade.?

Find out more here.

The move comes a mere 3.5 years after this exposé by Catrin Griffiths of The Lawyer about Freshfields’ wealthy roots.

Dates for your diary

• 6 December - The Culture Conundrum - What do the regulatory changes around workplace culture from the SRA and FCA mean for those in professional services and law firms? ?The SRA has introduced an obligation on solicitors to treat colleagues fairly and with respect and a separate requirement for senior managers (law firm partners) to challenge breaches of this obligation earlier this year. Bellevue Law’s founder Florence Brocklesby, who is a specialist employment lawyer, will be joined by Bellevue Law’s senior consultants, Steve Melrose and Sarika Rabheru, and Chief People Officer at top-100 law firm Moore Barlow, Katherine Allison. Online event.?
• 6 December - Family Law Practitioners: Strengthening relationships between family law solicitors and their clients - Find out how you can help your clients to achieve a financial remedy outcome either through the court or by an alternate dispute resolution forum. Gain advice on how to help your clients with finance-related issues with the help and support of a financial planner. Online event.?
• 12 December - Female Lawyers Breakfast Networking - The fourth FLBN event in London aimed at all lawyers together with all cross-industry supporters of diversity and inclusion on a quarterly basis. This is also aimed at supporting junior members of the profession looking to gain new contacts and networking experience. Online event.

I hope that you enjoyed this week's edition.

Si

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