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11 November 2010
Issue: 7441 / Categories: Legal News
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Counsel set to profit

In-house lawyers can play a key role in generating revenue for their companies.

Legal teams can create vast amounts of profit by asserting legal rights to recover lost value, according to a report by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell. “The profitable legal department: how legal departments can prosper by generating revenue for their company.”

Standard Life’s legal team, for example, preserved £101m for its company by asking shareholders to forego a cash dividend and increase their shareholding.

“This latest report highlights how in-house counsel who assert their company’s legal rights, have delivered a real return on investment for their organisations through effective legal work,” says Derek Benton, director, international operations at LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell.

“The recovery programme approach does not advocate increased litigation, rather a change of mindset for the business, from a passive approach of conflict avoidance, to one that asserts its legal rights to ensure that business-to-business agreements are honoured.”

The report looks at different methods of generating revenue in an ethical way and through negotiation rather than litigation.
 

Issue: 7441 / Categories: Legal News
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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