The Non-Billable Podcast

US firm Goodwin is pursuing a focused growth strategy built around six industries: private equity, investment funds, technology, life sciences, healthcare and real estate.
Chair Anthony McCusker joins the podcast to explain why the firm wants its lawyers to understand clients’ businesses as deeply as their legal problems, and how that approach sits at the centre of its Goodwin 2033 strategy.
McCusker also takes us inside the firm’s AI push. Goodwin is investing $25 million a year in technology, developing its Regina operating system and redesigning common workflows through an initiative known as GAIN.
The conversation also covers how Goodwin funds that investment, why external capital is not under consideration and the role of London in the firm’s future.
The Non-Billable Podcast is sponsored by Thomson Reuters. Request a demo of CoCounsel Legal, visit: https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/products-services/cocounsel-legal-uk.html
Chapters
00:01 Introduction
01:50 From Silicon Valley lawyer to Goodwin chair
05:44 Leading Goodwin and the role of firm chair
10:13 Why Goodwin is betting on industries over practices
15:41 Building an AI-native law firm
21:53 How AI could change legal delivery and pricing
26:39 Superstar partners in the AI era
30:07 Goodwin’s $25m-a-year AI investment
32:31 Why London is vital to Goodwin’s strategy
About Non-Billable
Non-Billable is the media company for modern legal professionals across private practice, in-house and legal tech.
Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.nonbillable.co.uk

Weil was still generating more than $2 billion a year when its partnership unravelled. Yale Law School professor John Morley says that its collapse was driven not by financial distress, but by a decline in profitability relative to its closest rivals and a failure to choose between scale and a smaller, more elite model.
Morley’s paper Why Law Firms Collapse examined around three dozen failures and identified a recurring “run on the partnership”. Because partners own the business and can leave with their clients, the departure of one productive partner reduces the profits available to everyone who remains - making the next departure more attractive.
The conversation explores why superstar partners can make firms more fragile, how widening pay gaps have weakened traditional partnership cultures and why a merger may be the best escape route for a formerly elite firm losing ground.
Morley also considers the lessons for London firms, the challenge facing private equity investors and what law firm leaders should watch for before a partner run becomes
The Non-Billable Podcast is sponsored by Thomson Reuters. Request a demo of CoCounsel Legal, visit: https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/products-services/cocounsel-legal-uk.html
Chapters
00:01 Introduction
01:50 Why Morley began studying law firm collapses
04:07 Why law firms shatter rather than bounce
10:29 Why US law firms are especially fragile
12:51 The warning signs at Weil
18:00 Why merger talks can stop a partner run
23:15 Superstar partners and the decline of community
29:32 What ultimately killed Weil
35:08 AI, private equity and lessons for law firm leaders
About Non-Billable
Non-Billable is the media company for modern legal professionals across private practice, in-house and legal tech.
Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.nonbillable.co.uk

Offshore law firms play a central role in major cross-border deals and disputes, yet the market remains unfamiliar to many lawyers.
Harneys global managing partner William Peake explains how the model works, why onshore law firms are its most important clients and how offshore jurisdictions compete for international business.
Peake reflects on the $9.2bn dispute that helped make his career and what lawyers can expect from a move offshore. The conversation covers recruitment, partner pay, advocacy opportunities and the reality behind the promise of high-quality work and weekends in the Caribbean.
We also examine private equity’s growing interest in offshore legal services, how Harneys is funding its expansion and the competitive risk posed by better-capitalised rivals. Peake also explains how his unusually candid LinkedIn presence has generated millions of views, opened doors with major firms and brought new work into Harneys.
The Non-Billable Podcast is sponsored by Thomson Reuters. Request a demo of CoCounsel Legal, visit: https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/products-services/cocounsel-legal-uk.html
Chapters
00:01 Introduction
01:40 How the offshore law firm model works
03:26 The $9.2bn litigation that made Peake’s career
07:56 Winning referrals from onshore law firms
10:29 Recruiting lawyers and building a career offshore
15:52 Partner pay, talent and accessible leadership
20:24 Private equity and the Harneys Fiduciary sale
33:06 Building Harneys’ profile through LinkedIn
43:10 Ireland and the firm’s next phase of growth
About Non-Billable
Non-Billable is the media company for modern legal professionals across private practice, in-house and legal tech.
Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.nonbillable.co.uk

PwC’s latest law firm survey points to a growing divide in the UK legal market. The largest firms are pulling ahead, specialist players are finding profitable niches and parts of the mid-market are coming under increasing pressure.
Mark Anderson, who leads PwC’s professional business services sector, joins the podcast to explain why more law firm mergers are inevitable and how firms caught in the “squeezed middle” can respond.
We also discuss why widespread AI adoption has yet to translate into financial returns, how the technology could reshape pricing, whether external capital has a role in Big Law and why cyber risk is back at the top of the agenda.
The Non-Billable Podcast is sponsored by Thomson Reuters. Request a demo of CoCounsel Legal, visit: https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/products-services/cocounsel-legal-uk.html
Chapters
00:01 Introduction
01:40 What PwC’s survey says about the UK legal market
04:13 Why the top ten are pulling away
06:18 The problem facing the squeezed middle
11:19 Why more law firm mergers are inevitable
13:51 AI adoption versus AI monetisation
16:26 How AI could change law firm pricing
24:44 Partner funding, private equity and Big Law
32:21 Why cyber risk is back at the top of the agenda
About Non-Billable
Non-Billable is the media company for modern legal professionals across private practice, in-house and legal tech.
Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.nonbillable.co.uk

King & Spalding is in growth mode in London. The office increased revenue by 48% last year, has expanded its footprint at 8 Bishopsgate and recently hired a major international arbitration and litigation team from WilmerHale.
London managing partner Tom Sprange explains why the office has become central to the US firm’s international strategy. It is now King & Spalding’s fourth-largest office, its biggest outside the US and a hub connecting the firm’s practices across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The ambition is not to become a conventional full-service firm. Sprange describes a more selective model built around elite disputes, finance, private capital, investigations and regulatory work. He also explains why collaboration matters more than individual books of business, and why King & Spalding looks for practice builders rather than lawyers who simply claim to bring clients with them.
The conversation also explores the changing economics of international arbitration, the rise of the highly paid superstar partner and how firms can stop their best lawyers being poached. Sprange closes by setting out where King & Spalding could expand next and why the firm’s trainee pipeline remains important to its London plans.
The Non-Billable Podcast is sponsored by Thomson Reuters. Request a demo of CoCounsel Legal, visit: https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/products-services/cocounsel-legal-uk.html
Chapters
00:01 Introduction
01:40 Why London matters to King & Spalding
03:33 Revenue growth and the London practice mix
09:48 Not going full-service
13:12 Fund finance and making major team hires work
19:53 The WilmerHale raid and the changing arbitration market
23:36 How international disputes lawyers win clients
27:44 Superstar partners, pay and retention
32:51 The modern partner, AI and what comes next
About Non-Billable
Non-Billable is the media company for modern legal professionals across private practice, in-house and legal tech.
Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.nonbillable.co.uk