Norma Harris

Why Big Law Lawyers Are Walking Away: Exits, Burnout & New Legal Careers

Big Law, Headlining, Law Job News /
Biglaw departures

More Big Law associates and partners are choosing to leave than ever before—citing burnout, lack of advancement and remote-era disconnection sparking a seismic exodus toward in-house, startups and boutique law career paths.

The Big Law conveyor belt, once seen as the golden escalator to prestige and partnership, is creaking under the weight of its own expectations.

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Boutique Bonus Season: The Summer Bonus Payments Arriving

Law Firm Salary Scale, US Law /

Boutique Firm Vartabedian Hester & Haynes Blazes Bonus Trail With Generous Summer Payouts While Biglaw firms continue their summer tradition of radio silence on bonuses, one ambitious boutique isn’t waiting around. Texas-based Vartabedian Hester & Haynes, a rising litigation boutique specializing in complex commercial disputes, has just announced a firm-wide bonus that’s turning heads. All

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Atlantic Canada’s Insurance Rate Crisis Puts New Pressures on Personal Injury Practices

Personal Injury Law, Power Briefs /
Diamond diamond

Article – Diamond & Diamond, Injury Lawyers, Canada A perfect storm of environmental and financial factors is brewing over Atlantic Canada, sending auto insurance premiums to unprecedented heights and creating significant financial strain for drivers. In New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI, consumers face steep increases driven by post‑pandemic inflation, soaring vehicle and repair costs, and the

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The Receptionist Test: How Top Law Firms Really Pick Their Grads (And What They’re Paying)

Career Advice, Law Firms /
Receptionist

How Top Law Firms Really Choose Their Graduates (And What They’re Paying for Them) Top law firms are shifting away from traditional grades-focused hiring. Instead, they’re quietly testing soft skills—like how grads treat receptionists and whether they can hold a decent conversation at a cocktail event. EQ is the new IQ in legal hiring. Every

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Law Firm Marketing Traffic Trap

Featured, Law Firms, Law Marketing /

Remember when everyone said “content is king”? It appears that the king has been dethroned with the launch of AI Overviews and the onset of AI summaries.

Sarah Perez at TechCrunch just dropped some sobering numbers. Since Google launched AI Overviews in May 2024, nearly 69 percent of news searches end with zero clicks to actual websites. That’s up from 56 percent before AI summaries took over.

So if you search for “Supreme Court ruling on AI patents” Google’s AI gives you a neat summary right at the top.

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Scottish Legaltech’s Big Moment: Is AI Ready for the Big Leagues?

Headlining, LawPreneur, Legal AI /
Ross mcnairn ceo and co founder wordsmith ai lawfuel

The ‘Skyscanner’ Lawyer Looking To Build LegalTech Agents A Scottish legaltech startup just got a huge cash boost. Is this the sign that AI is ready to take over law firms? Can every in-house team soon have its own AI agent? Scottish legaltech Wordsmith, co-founded by former Skyscanner honcho Ross McNairn (pictured) is driving another

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From The Guardian to Al Jazeera – How TVNZ Outsources Its Gaza Narrative to Compromised Sources

Lawyers, New Zealand Law News, Press Releases /
Tvnz gaza reportage based on left leaning news sources

Precision, Propaganda, and the Plausible: A Lawyer’s Crusade Against Media Mischief Norma Harris, LawFuel contributing writer One might expect that in a country as far from the Middle East as New Zealand, the reporting of international law would be conducted with a modicum of detachment and, above all, accuracy. Yet, as Grant William Smith, an

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How UK Lawyer Pay Rates Are Reshaping the Legal Job Market

Law Firm Salary Scale, Law Job News, UK Law /

The battle for top legal talent in the UK is really heating up, and firms are putting their money where their mouth is—especially when it comes to newly qualified (NQ) lawyers.

CMS, DLA Piper, and Ashurst have all just bumped up their NQ salaries.

CMS has raised its London NQ salary to £120k, up from £110k, which means they’re now on par with Simmons & Simmons and Travers Smith. And it’s not just London: their NQs in Bristol are now getting £76,500 (up from £70k), while those in Manchester, Sheffield, and Liverpool are up to £68k (from £62k), and in Scotland it’s £68k too (from £60k). That’s a pretty sweet bump across the board!

DLA Piper NQs are now looking at £130k, which is a hefty 18 percent year-on-year increase with increases at a lower level in the NQs in the other UK offices.

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Law Firm Hiring Hits the Brakes As Firms Pump the Pedal on Profits, but Demand is Hitting Red Lights

Briefings, Law Firms, Law Job News, LawFuel Jobs, Press Releases /

The Law Firm Hiring Slowdown Norma Harris, LawFuel contributor Firms keep hiring lawyers, but they’ve hit the brakes lately. Why? There are just too many gears turning: low demand in some areas, rising costs, tech investments—and economic uncertainties. They’re no longer in full-throttle mode, waiting to see how the chips fall. Sometimes, it feels like

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