The most innovative lawyers in the U.K.

From London’s Financial Times comes this year’s list of the ten most innovative U.K. lawyers. “[T]he submissions showed that it is possible to overturn conventional notions of the role of the lawyer. The bold individuals who dreamt up a new scheme, persuaded colleagues of its importance, set it in motion and made a success of it can take ample credit in their achievement.”

Nevertheless, the judges who made the choices “were dismayed to find no women lawyers or members of ethnic minorities. This follows a report last month from The Lawyer magazine that women account for just 14 per cent of partners at the UK’s four leading or ‘magic circle’ firms. One judge commented that law firms claiming the mantle of innovation must surely show a greater commitment to diversity.”

Perhaps that’s why Marc Harding, General Counsel of Barclays, was selected for

leading the charge for the profession to step up to the challenge of diversity, helping the Law Society complete its first draft of a diversity charter. Mr Harding first demanded that his legal suppliers give Barclays diversity statistics in 2006. Not only must the seven key advisers to the bank deliver these statistics, he also demands them from the bank’s 10 specialist legal panels. The legal press have commented that his work in moving diversity up the agenda will have a lasting impact on the client-lawyer relationship.

Another interesting choice was David Gray, Chief Executive of Eversheds:

To demonstrate the importance of openness and accountability, Mr Gray created a mechanism to receive feedback from the firm’s partners. In a courageous move, he kicked off the process at a conference in 2006, where he stood in front of Eversheds partners and invited them to score him on his performance during his live presentation. The partners anonymously scored Mr Gray from 1 to 5 on specific questions via electronic keypads, with the results screened instantly for all to see. Mr Gray says it was “pretty terrifying”, but “I did it because I wanted to bring home to them that accountability had to start at the top”.

Mr Gray invites feedback via an intranet page, asking partners to rate him on communication, strategic decision making, motivational skills and general leadership.