Zoe Harvey

🚨 Simmons & Simmons has launched what it says is the UK’s first dedicated AI law internship. The two-week programme starts in April 2026 and will take eight students into Simmons’ London AI team. Interns will work on "projects shaping the future of AI law and governance, as well as AI enablement and transformation." Top-performing interns could be in line for a future role at Simmons, with the firm keeping opportunities open for "outstanding individuals" on the programme. Global AI lead Minesh Tanna said: "This is the only dedicated AI internship of its kind in the UK - offering young professionals a rare opportunity to work at the heart of a law firm with world-class expertise in both AI law and governance, and legal technology." https://lnkd.in/epJ7QYG6

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Introducing Mishcon de Reya's latest guide, providing a concise overview of the key competition law principles under UK law relevant to start-ups and growing companies. Download your copy for practical guidance to help new businesses operate legally and ethically while fostering innovation and growth, from Gwen Ballin-Reeler and Chanelle Cattin: https://lnkd.in/gZQay-35

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The UK Supreme Court judgment on the payment of commissions by finance lenders to motor dealers https://lnkd.in/exCGz7Ww is a great read:   1) important remarks on the interlinkages between common law/equity and private law/sector regulation. (1A From a comparative law perspective the judgment supports Pierre Legrand’s claims about the difficulty of convergence between common and civil law. https://lnkd.in/eeTwui_Q) 2) Somewhat surprising to me that policy considerations played a relatively limited role in the decision. 3) Could the claimants have been more successful by making a competition law claim? See Allianz Hungaria https://lnkd.in/eR4WmqHu   which suggested that agreements between insurance companies and car dealers/repairers by which the remuneration paid by the former to the latter depends on the number of insurance contracts that the dealer has sold as intermediary for that insurance company may be deemed restrictions of competition by object. A competition law framing might have allowed a deeper exploration of the commercial rationality (if any) of the deals between finance companies and dealers: might these payments have been efficient? 4) From a private enforcement lens, worth noting that the industry regulator is moving towards a compensation scheme.  https://lnkd.in/eDMVJz8u Lessons for competition damages claims perhaps? Sometimes follow-on damages claims could be processed more efficiently through such schemes - any Member State want to take the lead? 🙂      

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#Legal-Leadership to Boardroom Influence: Insights from Prof Nigel- Queen Mary University of London Participating in the Legal Leadership session led by Professor Nigel Spencer at Queen Mary University of London was both thought-provoking and energising. The sessions offered deep insights into how legal leaders must adapt their mindset and methods in an age defined by complexity, globalisation, and rapid technological change. As someone who has led legal, compliance, and governance functions for over three decades and continues to serve on corporate boards, it was enriching to explore frameworks that strengthen legal influence in strategic decision-making and boardroom dynamics. The highlight of the event was receiving a signed copy of the insightful book, "Managing Your Leadership Career in Law," authored by Professor Nigel himself with Mike Mister. This thoughtful and practical guide distils decades of experience into actionable wisdom for legal professionals navigating leadership roles. Today's legal leadership requires more than just education and experience; it also requires vision, resiliency, and the capacity to integrate and connect law with business, ethics, and new international standards. I am grateful for the opportunity and experience to learn from a true pioneer- Special thanks to Prof (Dr) Avinash Dadhich, Ajit Mishra, #UKILP, and #DASol for their program facilitation and coordination. #LegalLeadership #QueenMaryUniversityofLondon #ProfessorNigelspencer #Boardmember #StrategiclegalCounsel

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How successful is Lawfront? Reading through The Legal 500 UK 2026 rankings, I found myself asking: what impact have we had on the market for regional legal services in England? The answer surprised me. The Data Across our six member firms—Brachers, Farleys, Fisher Jones Greenwood, Nelsons, Slater Heelis, and Trethowans—we've secured 81 Legal 500 rankings in regional England (excluding London). Based on my reading, that's greater breadth than any legal services business in England for regional law! For context: - 14 Tier 1 rankings - 29 Tier 2 rankings - 53% of all rankings in the top two tiers Coverage spans South East (35 rankings), North West (20), East Midlands (19), and South West (14) What Legal 500 Rankings Don't Tell You Here's what matters as much as the numbers: these rankings reflect six firms that still operate as Brachers, Farleys, Fisher Jones Greenwood, Nelsons, Slater Heelis, and Trethowans. Local partnerships intact. Regional identities preserved. Client relationships maintained. What changed: shared technology infrastructure (Project Drive, Katchr, ShareDo), operational standards, knowledge management, and the ability to recruit at platform scale rather than as individual 150-200 lawyer regional firms. Rankings measure recognition. They don't measure client satisfaction, profitability, lawyer retention, or operational efficiency. They're one signal among many. A Challenge to the Market I'm genuinely curious: has anyone achieved higher combined Legal 500 recognition in regional England outside London? If you're operating a similar model and you've scored higher, I'd like to know about it. What Constitutes Success? This is the real question. Is success measured by: - Total rankings breadth? - Tier 1 concentration? - Revenue growth? - Lawyer satisfaction scores? - Client retention rates? - Something else entirely? I'd argue it's all of these. For Lawfront, success means proving that regional firms can perform at national level without sacrificing local identity or client relationships. The Legal 500 results suggest we're moving in the right direction. Your Perspective? If you're operating in regional legal services—as a firm leader, managing partner, or platform operator—what metrics matter most to you? And if you've achieved stronger Legal 500 performance than our 81 combined rankings in regional England, I'm genuinely interested in hearing about it. The market needs more transparency on what works, not just who ranks where. https://lnkd.in/emzNXEp9

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Delighted to see that Edwards Gibson's research on female partner hires in law firms was featured in the weekend Financial Times, and it was a pleasure to share my thoughts with Suzi Ring for this important piece. The article highlights that, despite genuine efforts by commercial firms to address the gender imbalance — which, to be fair, is evident in the raw data at the junior partner level — women still account for only a fifth of hires in the most lucrative practice areas: corporate and finance. Drawing on various sources, the article explores the reasons behind this disparity, focusing on the challenges of balancing primary carer responsibilities with the long and unpredictable hours required for deal-focused roles. It also touches on another factor that we, as headhunters, know well: the methodology law firms use to assess a partner’s value, while ostensibly objective, tends to favour men over women. This is because — contrary to what some firms claim — external partner hires are rarely about “filling skill-set gaps” and almost always about “buying books of business.” A partner’s value is therefore largely determined by their personal business case. And the reality is that women, who are often more risk-averse (or less inclined toward hyperbole!), tend to understate the size of their portable practice compared to men. As I mention in the article: “Men tend to be far more optimistic about the size of their client followings — this is both an emollient for the hire itself, and it often results in them achieving higher compensation … as a general rule, we multiply a man’s business case by 0.8 and a woman’s by 1.2.” For the full Financial Times article: “Corporate law firms hire mostly men for highest-paid roles” click here: https://on.ft.com/4mDtiTb #biglaw #womeninlaw #recruitment #lawfirm #partnership #london #lawyers #privateequity #genderpaygap 

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There's a huge discrepancy in General Counsel salaries, which often frustrates people. But in reality, there's a reason for this, and I think it's because there are three levels to being a GC. Level one is to provide top quality legal advice. You tell the business what they need to know, providing legal insights. That's good stuff, and necessary for a business, but in reality a significant amount of your time is managing external counsel. Level two adds in strategic input - what's good for the business' goals, offering actionable risk insights, and bridging that gap between legal and the commercial side of the business. But level three is something else entirely, they do two key things: 1) they sense problems early and prevent them from happening. It's not about saying 'we've looked at the facts and here's our solution to this'. It's about saying 'don't worry, we already knew this might happen, we prepared our legal and business tactics to mitigate this 2 years ago, and we've already fixed it'. 2) they're psychologists. They translate complex challenges into clear, manageable information, but the key is that their communication is outstanding. They know how to manage the CEO's ego, how to work with sales to keep their energy high during a collapsing transaction, how to understand the CFO's financial motivations whilst still explaining that something isn't long-term the right move. They guide leadership and colleagues without threatening their autonomy and freedom to make commercial decisions. The CEO still feels in control, the business stays focused on profits, and legal risk is handled long before it becomes a commercial distraction. Want to keep your budgets low? That's ok, you'll get good lawyers and good strategists. But when you pay top-dollar, you get someone who can take bad news and make it a highlight of your day, meaning you continue to be able to focus on the things that matter to you.

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Legal teams are losing credibility fast. And it has nothing to do with your legal expertise. A General Counsel confided in me recently: "The board trusts my legal judgement completely. They just don't trust me to run an efficient operation." We've perfected the art of legal analysis whilst completely neglecting the basics of business operations. The evidence is everywhere. Finance directors demanding justification for every legal pound spent. Chief executives bypassing legal because "it takes too long." Board papers questioning whether legal adds value or just adds delay. Here's the brutal reality - exceptional legal advice delivered through dysfunctional operations equals irrelevance. You might draft the perfect contract, but if it takes three weeks to turn around, that's what gets remembered in the boardroom. The legal functions that command real respect have cracked something the rest haven't - they run like businesses, not academic departments. They measure what matters. They eliminate waste ruthlessly. They deliver predictably and professionally. They've recognised a fundamental truth: credibility comes from operational excellence as much as legal excellence. Their stakeholders don't just trust their legal judgement - they trust their ability to deliver results efficiently and cost-effectively. The transformation isn't complicated. Start treating your legal function like the business operation it actually is. Track performance metrics that matter to the business. Optimise processes that create value. Manage resources like every pound counts. Because in today's environment, legal competence without operational competence equals professional suicide. The question isn't whether you're a good lawyer - it's whether you're running a credible business function. #legalops #generalcounsel #legalleadership

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