Kennedys extends footprint and LatAm capabilities… Reed Smith adds regulatory expert in Hong Kong…
What law firm support staff wish you would improve
Too much time is wasted communicating between lawyers and support staff and it might be your fault.
A global survey of support staff from law firms in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, has found that just 3% of respondents felt that work assigned to them included all the information they need to complete it accurately the first time.
Most (85%) said that up to 60% of their support tasks need clarification, with the extra communication with lawyers resulting in significant delays.
The survey was conducted by legal industry software supplier Big Hand and revealed that 59% of respondents still believe that the way work is submitted to them is not as efficient as it could be, with 73% acknowledging that they have to pass work to their colleagues at least once a week.
Almost three-quarters of respondents said that work had to be moved from one resource to another at least once a week; 50% said that is because of capacity or workload issues while 20% said it was incorrectly delegated in the first place.
The top 5 things that support staff said would improve their job are: Better processes, enhanced technology, better clarity of tasks, better team structure, and more capacity.
The full study is available at bighand.com
Kennedys extends footprint and LatAm capabilities
International firm Kennedys has added Chilean law firm Peralta & Gutiérrez to its Santiago office.
The additional capabilities in Chile consolidates the firm’s advisory and litigation teams in the country with the 6-strong team of four lawyers and 2 support staff adding their insurance-focused practice to Kennedy’s specialist team.
In March, Kennedys extended its footprint to ten territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, by forming three associations in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Panama. The firm now has the largest reach of any insurance law firm for the region.
Reed Smith adds regulatory expert in Hong Kong
Reed Smith has hired Mark West as a partner in the Hong Kong office.
The former co-head of regulatory at Kennedys in the region joins the litigation practice with extensive experience in advising and representing Hong Kong listed companies, multinational companies and high net-worth individuals on a wide array of regulatory investigations, high-value and complex commercial litigation and arbitration, white collar crimes and fraud investigations and prosecution defence.
