In the hot seat:
Kate Beioley: Legal Correspondent, Financial Times
Kate’s Week:
- No fixed conference meetings or deadlines. Pitches anytime. Email or Phone
- Likes breakfasts (8am). Morning early coffee
- Works within the Financial Services team. Working with Caroline Binham (financial regulation) and Jane Croft (law courts)
- Reads City pages, Bloomberg, MLex; The Lawyer, Legal Week, American Lawyer
Remit:
- Dividing her time between the business of law firms and the work that law firms do / UK
- Very interested in business of law firms: competition within and from outside UK; US vs UK; legal tech developments; magic circle; partner moves; M&A within sector; general politics that is going on in the industry
- Want to do more in the international space. Top tier firms globally; their positioning regionally / globally
- Interested in all size of firms – news angle pending – niche activity / themes
- More personality driven stories – the characters / leadership within the firms. Tell me why it’s important
- Also committed to writing across the paper eg FT magazine more colourful pieces
- Interested in Barrister chambers; Gender diversity; Pay
- Want to do more on: Women in the legal profession; US vs UK + magic circle relevance; efficiency / slowing growth and so companies that are innovating / AI data
- Court judgement due: do flag to Kate a week in advance and why interesting
- SFO and CMA – money laundering / economic crime / competition regulation
Special Reports:
- Innovative Lawyers – 3 regional awards (Apac, Europe, N America) + a General Counsel awards do and one for “Intelligent Business” (a new report focused on the suppliers of legal tech, consultancy etc). Kate contributes to the supplements
- Write about 6 weeks in advance. Pitch interesting themes
Full Disclosure Newsletter:
- Bi-Weekly newsletter. Interested in all moves etc More UK focussed
Top Tips:
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- Exclusives will generate more interest / holds more sway with editor
- Happy to pick up on key stories from trade press. Less so from national rivals
- Comments: do send in relevant short punchy quotes / comments if news story breaking
- Quotes policy: won’t check quotes. Conversation is on the record. Happy to go ‘off the record’
- Keep short and opinionated
