Sonia Hickey

Sonia Hickey is a freelance writer, magazine journalist, and owner of 'Woman with Words'. She has a strong interest in social justice and is a member of the Sydney Criminal Lawyers® content team. Sonia is the winner of the Mondaq Thought Leadership Awards, Spring 2022.

No Timesheets, Pure Trial Focus – How This Litigation Boutique Rewrote the BigLaw Rulebook in Just 10 Years

Best Firms, Featured, Law Firms, LawPreneur /
Wilkinson web

What happens when elite trial lawyers walk away from BigLaw’s billable-hour machine and build a firm laser-focused on taking cases all the way to verdict?

You get Wilkinson Stekloff—a lean, highly effective trial boutique that has quietly become one of the most respected names in high-stakes litigation, without ever sending a single traditional timesheet to a client.
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Tiger Woods Arrested for DUI Again — What Florida Law Really Means for Him Now, and the Elite Lawyers Who Fight These Cases

Best Firms, Headlining, US Law /
Tiger woods crash booking photo 032726

Three days after he stepped back onto a competitive golf course for the first time in nearly two years, Tiger Woods was in handcuffs. On Friday afternoon, just before 2 p.m., the most recognisable golfer on the planet climbed out of the passenger window of his overturned Range Rover on South Beach Road in Jupiter

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Top 8 Legal Answering Services for Law Firms in 2026

Law Firm Management, Law Firms, Press Releases /
Phone answering service

Missing a client call can mean missing a case. Potential clients often contact multiple firms and hire the first one that responds with confidence and speed. But attorneys are in court, in meetings, or focused on active matters, so the phone keeps ringing. Legal answering services give law firms reliable coverage without the cost of

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Big Law’s Hiring Boom – Am Law 200 Firms Snapped Up 20% More Lateral Partners in 2025

Big Law, Briefings, US Law /
Women partners lawfuel

The lateral partner market didn’t just heat up in 2025 but it ran hot. New data from Law.com Compass shows that Am Law 200 firms hired 4,152 lateral partners in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, up from 3,473 the prior year.

That’s a nearly 20% jump — a sharp contrast to the modest 3.7% increase recorded the year before in the lateral hiring report.

The numbers tell a story of a legal industry that has found its footing again, and firms that are spending aggressively to prove it.

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Legal Market Analysis – BigLaw’s Lateral Frenzy Is Reshaping the Market

Big Law, Headlining, US Law /
biglaw talent

The Perkins Coie exodus in Seattle signals a permanent shift in the lateral hiring labor market that is changing the way top law firms operate. Lateral hiring is no longer just a tactic but an entire business model.

When Perkins Coie lost lawyers to the announcement new offices for Morrison Foerster and McGuireWoods. It was in fact a signal of something structural.

The departures came as Perkins Coie prepares for its merger with Ashurst, a combination that will create a global platform of roughly 3,000 lawyers. The timing reveals a pattern that now defines elite legal practice: mergers create opportunity, but they also create instability. And instability is oxygen for competitors.

What we are witnessing is not a phase. It is the emergence of lateral acquisition as BigLaw’s dominant growth strategy.

The New Economics: Why Firms Are Buying Revenue

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Clooneys Team Up with Legal Heavyweight Quinn Emanuel To Don the Cape for Global Justice

Headlining, Law Firms, LawStars /
Amal Clooney - Image: CNN

In a world where celebrity philanthropy often feels like a scripted sequel, the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) – that noble venture launched in 2016 by Amal Clooney, the hard-wired international barrister from Doughty Street Chambers, and her silver-screen spouse George – has rolled out its Justice Champion Program with all the flair of a premiere.

Snagging litigation titan Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as the inaugural partner, this initiative promises a pro bono powerhouse to shield at-risk women from discrimination and violence, while springing journalists from unjust detention for daring to ink the truth.

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BigLaw vs In-House Counsel Salaries 2026: The $75K Gap Driving Legal Talent Crisis

Big Law, Career Advice, Law Job News, Lawyers, US Law /
inhouse recruitment 2026 - lawfuel

Let’s cut the corporate speak: your legal department is bleeding talent, and pretending it’s just about billable hours versus work-life balance isn’t going to stop the hemorrhage.

Here’s what’s really happening in Q1 2026; and if you’re a General Counsel, CLO, or corporate counsel, you need to pay attention because the landscape just shifted beneath your Italian loafers.

LawFuel took a look at recruitment strategies for in-house counsel and what recruiters and corporates can do to attract in-house legal talent in the face of BigLaw’s big money advantage.

What Is the Current Salary Gap Between BigLaw and In-House Counsel?

First-year BigLaw associates are now pulling in $240,000. Read that again. First. Year. Meanwhile, your mid-level in-house counsel with five years of actual business experience, the one who just negotiated that complex vendor agreement and actually understands your company’s risk tolerance, is making $175,000. Maybe $185,000 if they negotiated hard.
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Ex‑Sidley Chair Bets Big on AI‑Native Law Firm Norm Law

Law Firms, LawPreneur, Legal AI /
Mike schmidtberger lawfuel

Sidley Austin’s former executive committee chair Mike Schmidtberger is trading Big Law leadership for an AI‑first experiment, stepping in as chairman and funds/regulatory head at two‑month‑old Norm Law LLP, an “AI‑native” firm built around legal agents rather than billable hours. This is a live test of whether a partner who doubled Sidley’s revenue can now

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Managing Cash Flow in Small Law Firms During Slow Billing Cycles

Law Firm Management, Power Briefs, Sponsored Post /
money men in law and legal billing software

Many small law firms are not profitable, even when the numbers say otherwise. Work moves forward, cases stay active, and invoices are issued. Still, companies monitor the bank balance and worry about covering basic expenses. The reason is simple: money does not arrive immediately when the work is completed. Clients rarely pay at the time

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The Largest Law Firms in New York 2026: Latest Rankings & Market Analysis

Best Firms, Headlining, Power Briefs, Press Releases /
new york law firms survey - largest NYC law firms

LawFuel Report – Largest Law Firms in New York New York’s legal market continues its dramatic expansion in 2025, with the top firms now employing over 13,000 attorneys—an 8% increase from 2024. For the first time, two firms have exceeded 1,000 attorneys in their New York offices: Kirkland & Ellis with 1,133 lawyers and Davis

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