Madrid annual report
service while coping with cost
pressures and with younger
lawyers not wanting to spend as
many hours working as previous
generations may have done”.
Menéndez continues: “We have
to be sensible about human
beings working in law firms and
therefore achieving top quality
and productivity requires an
improvement in efficiency.” With
regard to the issue of flexible
working, Díaz Hidalgo says
that if lawyers are offered the
opportunity to work from 9am to
5pm, for example, it is important
that, in practice, “this is fulfilled”
in the sense that law firms support
lawyers who want to work such
hours. “Flexible working is crucial
to their career,” he adds.
Berricano says given that the
amount of work available to law
firms will not grow substantially,
they need to be more successful at
“winning mandates and building
important considerations include
relationships, particularly in
ensuring the level of investment
competition with other firms”.
is right and making sure the firm
He adds: “We have very talented
partners with the right companies.
people, but the challenge is to
In addition, Pérez-Llorca says
make law firms a place where
cyberattacks are a major concern,
people want to work – we also
have a problem with
social diversity, our
clients are diverse
Firms must ensure
and we need to
partners continue to be
follow that path.”
Berricano adds that
outward-looking and
firms also need to
hungry for work.
ensure that partners
Iñigo Berricano
“continue to be
outward-looking
Linklaters
and hungry for
work”.
Getting the level
of recruitment
as is having to recover from being
right is an issue facing law firms,
potentially hacked. Such concerns
according to Pérez-Llorca: “We
also mean law firms need to
have to ensure it’s not too much
ensure they have the correct level
and not too little.” Meanwhile,
of insurance, according to Pérez-
he adds that, with regard to
Llorca.
artificial intelligence, for example,
“
”
Need to recruit and retain talent growing as deal
flow increases
With deals activity increasing in the
Madrid legal market, firms must look
not only at recruiting new talent but
also at retaining their longstanding
lawyers – and keeping them happy –
according to Pedro Rueda, managing
partner at Araoz & Rueda.
“The major change in the past year has
been the incredible increase in activity for
Madrid-based law firms,” Rueda says.
He adds that, since the second quarter
of 2016, law firms have seen heightened
levels of transactional activity and hence
rising demand from clients.
After years of reductions in workflow,
and sometimes headcounts, law firms
are now having to balance heavy
workloads, prompting them to look at
new hires both at partner and associate
level. “A key challenge will be to rapidly
adapt strategies for the new level of
activity,” Rueda notes. “We’ve come
from years in which firms have been
reducing staff and lawyers.”
www.iberianlawyer.com
Rueda says that recruiting the best talent
is not easy. “Finding good people has been
and continues to be difficult,” he remarks.
“This is a competitive market and we are all
looking for the best lawyers.”
While attracting new talent is important
given the heightened levels of activity,
equally vital is retaining talent. Rueda says
this is a “permanent concern within law
firms”, adding that the loss of a lawyer
is “always a failure”. Among lawyers’
key priorities is achieving a good work-
life balance. “This is becoming a hotter
issue each year,” Rueda says. “We need to
change our mentality, by allowing working
from home or using different methods
of facilitating a personal life alongside a
successful professional life.” He argues that
smaller firms are better able to address such
issues than larger ones. Meanwhile, gender
equality is another hot topic, according
to Rueda, not only on principle but also
because “clients are demanding more
female representation in all law firms.”
Pedro Rueda
May / June 2017 • IBERIAN LAWYER • 31