How COVID-19 has impacted the legal sector: DLA Piper Interview

This podcast was originally published by Cpl and is republished here with permission.

How COVID-19 has impacted the legal sector: Ryan Murtagh, Head of Legal Recruitment at Cpl, interviews David Carthy, Country Managing Partner, DLA Piper Ireland. Carthy discusses DLA Piper’s globally integrated business model and the advantages for clients, opportunities to achieve growth in unprecedented circumstances and tips for people starting out in the legal industry.

Ryan Murtagh Head of Legal Recruitment at Cpl	David Carthy Country Managing Partner, DLA Piper Ireland

Below are some paraphrased excerpts from the interview:

Have you been able to gain new clients during the pandemic?

Our client base had already been growing. When leaders in Ireland found themselves in unprecedented circumstances, we were able to give them insights on best practice from companies in similar sectors, in other parts of the world, which may have been further ahead in terms of the dealing with the impacts of COVID-19. If anything, there was a greater appetite for knowledge and intelligence coming from outside of the Irish market.

Do you expect there to be opportunities that will emerge as a result of the pandemic in the coming months?

It’s very much a sector-specific story. There are industries like retail and hospitality in Ireland that were very challenged and we have the impact of Brexit coming too. Other sectors like life sciences, financial services and technology are thriving and we are seeing a very strong pipeline of activity in those areas.

As a new brand coming into the market, we’ve been encouraging people to see the value in approaching legal solutions from a global perspective. If anything, the pandemic has caused people to pause and reconsider where their advice is coming from. Of course we have to work hard but yes, there are opportunities.

It’s come to our attention that you’ve managed to avoid wage cuts at the Dublin office, when most law firms and other businesses across Ireland and Europe have had to implement them. What is it about your business model that you have been able to avoid that?

We’ve been very fortunate to be able to fulfil all of our contractual commitments to our staff. We are a global business and that brings a number of factors into play. We are hedged in terms of different jurisdictions. We are less focused on the purely domestic market.

At a global and at a domestic level, we are broadly on track with our growth targets. It’s satisfying that our business model – which is quite different - delivers different results.

Some people have been working at home longer than they’ve been working in the office. How have your teams dealt with this?

None of us had a roadmap for this. We have had bi-weekly town hall meetings via Zoom, weekly e-mails to all staff, we’ve also had very regular contact points, checking that everybody’s ok, creative social events (online) and the office has been open for people who needed to come in. There has also been a huge focus on wellbeing, which has certainly helped.

What would be your advice for trainees and newly qualified solicitors?

We’ve just completed our virtual graduate recruitment programme and are delighted to have hired thirteen trainees. People coming into the industry today need to be much more business and sector focused and tech savvy than ever before. The lawyer that will succeed now will have different skills to those delivered in training ten years ago.

It looks like DLA Piper will continue to go from strength to strength in the coming months under your leadership and we wish you well.

We’re very thankful to our team for working so hard and for pulling together and to our clients for supporting us. We do plan to grow further. We see huge opportunity for success, we have important differentiators and we’re ready to work hard.