We both shared some common ground recently when we assessed the fallout from the government's announcement of tougher measures for whiplash claims. The Law Gazette is expecting the government to announce "an accreditation system for doctors who assess whiplash claims" and "tougher regulations on out-of-court settlements and Insurers will be encouraged to challenge claims they believe to be fraudulent." It would be nice to see some job creation in Legal, where new strategies are encouraged to weed out spurious claims and the end game is achieved for Insurers when whiplash pay-outs drop. Read more from the Law Gazette  here.

What does your Twitter profile say about you?

A Leeds based Managing Partner and Private Equity Lawyer at Squire Sanders who loves sport, cooking, Stoke City FC and spending time with my wife and 4 children.

Why law and why your particular area of expertise?

My Dad wanted to be a Lawyer (in the days when you had to pay to be an Articled Clerk!) but he had to get a 'proper job' in order to marry my mother! He always encouraged Law as an ambition of mine. I ended up as a Private Equity Lawyer because I had always enjoyed the business and economic side of Corporate Finance deals.

Describe your firm in three words.

Big, international and growing.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The people I work with, the thrill of getting a deal done and the sense of building a business.

In these tough economic times, what is the most challenging element of your job?

Getting work through the door!

In your view, what does the future hold for the legal profession; what will be the 'next big thing' in the legal industry?

The standardisation of certain legal processes through the use of technology and Paralegals.

Who's been the biggest single influence or inspiration in your career and why?

No single person. I learnt a lot from former bosses, Andrew Walker and Noel Hutton, about how to run teams, retain clients and maintain a sense of humour under pressure and corny as it is, my wife is a constant source of wisdom about what I do and how I do it.

What advice would you give to an ambitious Solicitor at the start of their career?

Read 'The End of Lawyers?' by Richard Susskind OBE and work out if it's still something you want to do!

What has been your greatest achievement so far in life?

I've thoroughly enjoyed being on the board of Squire Sanders. The merger and the opportunities available to us in a very fast paced global market have been fascinating.

Please tell us a little bit about you.

I grew up in Stoke on Trent and went on to study at the University of Sheffield where I achieved a 2:1 for my LLB. Following this I went on to York Law School and then trained at Simpson Curtis who are now part of Pinsents. I am married with four children and enjoy sport, cooking and driving my children around!

Many thanks for your time Jonathan and congratulations on your award!

This got Douglas Scott thinking about how this is reflected in the legal profession. Emma Holt (Managing Partner of Pannone), Karen Jackson (Director and co-owner of Roberts Jackson Solicitors) and Joy Kingsley (Senior Partner, Business Development at JMW) are all women who are at the top of their game in the legal world. Emma, Karen and Joy plus many, many others, have proven that women have a very valid and important role to play in today's legal profession; all are an excellent example to those women starting out in their legal career.

Why law and why your particular area of expertise? I chose to be a Corporate Solicitor as I enjoyed the commercial side of law. Working in house has given me great commercial exposure. All this has helped me to make commercial decisions to improve and expand our law firm.

Describe your firm in three words. Modern, passionate and experts.

What do you enjoy most about your job? Observing my wife train and develop the Fee Earners we have. She is so committed to helping them do well. It's inspiring.

In these tough economic times; what is the most challenging element of your job? With every expansion, with every recruit, there is always the question of are we doing the right thing?

Tell us about your 'landmark' case; the one that really stands out for you in your career - why was it so significant? My stand out deal was a $600 million hostile reverse take-over of one of our US competitors when I was working in-house in London. It was very clever because we took their best Account Executive, they sued us for $1 billion but in the meantime their share price suffered so badly due to the loss of this 'mega star' Executive that we were able to buy them and then of course the litigation went away when the deal completed!

In your view; what does the future hold for the legal profession, what will be the 'next big thing' in the legal industry? ABS's will dramatically change the legal profession; from the good old high street firm with experienced senior Partners who you could call upon for immediate, succinct advice to corporate monsters with call centres in India and telephone systems which means it takes 20 minutes just to get through to a teenager who has never seen a law book in their life!

Who's been the biggest, single influence or inspiration in your career and why? My wife; she is quite awesome at what she does. She works 70 hours a week, comes home and is a great laugh (most of the time!) and a brilliant mother (all of the time!).

What advice would you give to an ambitious Solicitor at the start of their career? Join Roberts Jackson! Speak to other professionals or recruitment consultants about the firm you intend to go to. There are some terrible firms out there but you only find that out when it's too late.

What has been your greatest achievement so far in life? My two kids. Creations rather than achievements but all the same, they are two amazing little people.

Please tell us a little bit about you. I was not a good student; I preferred to play sport and went on a tennis scholarship to the USA! I then did the conversion course and I must say, my journey through the law has been fascinating. Going to London was special as it is the place to be both for business and pleasure; things were never dull!

2. Please tell us a little bit about Andrew Leakey
Born in Blackpool, but bred in Leigh.  I went to Liverpool University followed by Chester College of Law.  I'm a rare animal; I've been at one firm all my professional life.  I started at Stephenson's as a student in 1991; I qualified in 1997 and was made a Partner in 2002.  I now run our Social Welfare teams;  working directly for consumers in housing law, employment, welfare, debt and general consumer problems.  My ambition is to continue to deal with cutting edge cases that deliver justice to vulnerable people.

3. Which 3 words best describe Stephenson's?
Innovative, direct and passionate.

4. Who's been the biggest professional influence on your career and why?
I have two influences. Rosemary Holcroft, my Training Principal for Litigation.  Brilliant litigator and she's never afraid to stand up for her clients or something that she believes in.  Ann Harrison, our Chairwoman; great leader and mentor.

5. What's the best advice you could give a young, ambitious Solicitor at the start of their legal career?
Don't get sucked into the corporate gravy train.  Find something you care about and pursue it.  Relentlessly.

6. What do you enjoy doing when you're not working?
I play hockey, snowboard and generally run around after my 3 children.  I'm trying to learn guitar in between all of that and occasionally I play in a band at my church.  I'm also involved with the Message Trust who works with the most excluded people in Manchester and other UK cities (www.message.org.uk).

Spring has sprung and so has the Partner level market place! Here at Douglas Scott, we are witnessing a real, and very welcome, step change in Partner and Head of Department recruitment. The market is really starting to pick up; Private Wealth/Client and Employment are burgeoning areas coupled with lots of activity in Real Estate Litigation, PI/Clinical Negligence, Financial Services, Insolvency, Family, IP/IT, Social Housing, Tax and Restructuring. Manchester and London seem to be a real hive of activity with many firms looking to make senior hires. This is very positive news and should be seen as a real reflection of how the market is slowly starting to turn.

What does your Twitter profile say about you? I am Senior Partner of Turner Parkinson, commercial lawyers with a difference in Manchester. I am also President of Manchester Law Society.

Please tell us a little bit about Nick Davenport Born in Stoke-on-Trent, I now live in Newcastle-under-Lyme (that's Stoke without the smoke!) and I'm married to Tracey with 3 kids, 3 cats and a Bedlington Terrier called Darcey. I studied at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire then Worcester College, Oxford and qualified as a solicitor as recently as 1978 from the College of Law, Chester. I became a Partner in Stoke's leading corporate law firm aged 28 and relocated to open their Manchester office in 1996. I joined Turner Parkinson as a Partner in 1999 and was promoted to Senior Partner in 2002.  Oh yes, I've also been described as, erm… a party animal!

Which 3 words best describe Turner Parkinson? Commercial, proactive, personal

Who's been the biggest professional influence on your career, and why? My colleagues at Turner Parkinson - I couldn't ask for a better group of people to be in business with.

What's the best advice you could give a young, ambitious solicitor at the start of their legal career? Never forget that a career in Law is a career in business - you cannot just be a good lawyer.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not working? I play golf, indifferently… support Stoke City, passionately… and read widely - particularly about Roman Military History and Archaeology. I also adore cooking and entertaining and simply love anything with a motor. I'm a real petrol head!

The part played by social media within the law took an additional turn when reports were made surrounding the divorce of a couple from Connecticut, North America, who were ordered by their attorneys to hand over their social networking passwords. The demand came after the male party was led to believe that his ex-wife's online activity could prove to be detrimental to her case and her ability to take care of their children.

More recently, the story has emerged of the John Flexman case, in which the executive was forced out of his job for posting his CV on professional networking site Linkedin, an option provided by the site in order to enhance an individual's professional profile. John also ticked the option stating that he was interested in career opportunities. The hearing continues.

If social media is found to be an influential factor towards the overall settlement of such cases then social networking sites may be found at the centre of legal disputes everywhere, playing a huge part in the final outcome of a trial. However to what extent should we allow personal information found on social networking sites to be a persuasive factor in legal affairs? Should legal parties have the authority to use our online activity to determine the outcome of legal matters, bearing in mind that our social networking footprint can be traced years down the line? Or is it simply an invasion into one's privacy and a violation of the policies put in place by such social networking sites?

Wherever your thoughts lie, 2011 has undoubtedly seen the growing presence of social media within the law, influencing decisions and enabling a larger audience to have their say. And with the unprecedented rate at which social media continues to grow, these stories may be the first of many yet to come.

What does your Twitter profile say about you?
President of Liverpool Law Society, Senior Partner EAD, Everton Fan!
Which 3 words best describe EAD Solicitors?
Modern, Imaginative, Relevant.
Congratulations on being elected as Chairman of Liverpool Law Society. What does the post mean to you?
Being President of Liverpool Law Society is source of great pride especially as I was employed by the society when I worked at the Vauxhall Law Centre. Liverpool is the most active and influential regional Law Society. I see this as an opportunity to represent our members and to be a voice on my main topic in interest - Access to Justice.
Who's been the biggest professional influence on your career, and why?
Lots of influences but main one - Mr Justice Hedley (formerly barrister).
What's the best advice you could give a young, ambitious solicitor at the start of their legal career?
Don't do it!! (joke) - set your goals and go for it. There will be difficulties ahead but you are not alone and you will get there.
What did you do last night and what will you be doing today?
Quiet party at home with family members who have descended from across the country and today I will be recovering! 

This interview with Steve Cornforth featured in the January issue of our monthly newsletter 'Always the First'. To subscribe please sign up using the box on the left.

Playing around with the reporting and monitoring features I came across the "world view" button and what an amazing site that was. A map of the UK appeared and within seconds of the newsletter going out green flags started appearing telling us who had read it and where. Claire in Manchester, James in City of London, Shabnam in Leeds, Mark in Birmingham were all appearing on the map real time as they opened their emails.

Zooming out from the UK revealed that some of our candidate database were reading our newsletter across Europe in France, Spain, Italy with one in Russia. Zooming out further we had half a dozen or so in the USA, one in quite a cold looking part of Canada and another intrepid sole down in Peru. Sweeping back across the Atlantic we had someone who may have been on holiday in Gran Canaria and a candidate enjoying the sun in The Gambia. Across the Indian Ocean we had readers in The Seychelles, Malé, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. We had several recipients in the Middle East in Israel, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Finally I navigated down to the bottom of the globe and found the winner of the furthest travelled prize that being Emma who opened our newsletter in Auckland.

There will be a lot of stories behind those statistics, any number of journeys taken by planes, trains and automobiles that have taken people away from or back to family and friends. However it is without doubt the case that keeping in touch is now touch button, through desktops, laptops and 3G mobiles the world has become a smaller place and if you want to keep updated on the latest news from Douglas Scott when you are backpacking in Peru, then please do not hesitate to sign up to the newsletter on our homepage. :)