Who we are
Founder
TREVOR FAURE
CEO | Lawyer | Author
Trevor Faure has been a senior lawyer inside global giants hired to deal with existential change and challenge since 1990:
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Ernst & Young Global - Faure was Global General Counsel and Leader, Legal Services when it was implicated in the $60Bn Lehman Brothers collapse, the Madoff fraud and an Iran nuclear embargo breach, all successfully resolved.
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Tyco International – EMEA GC, part of the turnaround team after the Dennis Kozlowski scandal almost led to an Enron-style collapse.
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Dell – Legal Director EMEA, during the “Dellionaire” rocket-ride from No.7 worldwide to No.1
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Apple – Senior European Counsel, EMEA, during the loss-making spiral before working on the Steve Jobs return and turnaround.
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UK Record Industry Licensing – Head of Legal Affairs, leading the biggest pay-to-play dispute with the radio industry in its history.
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Barrister of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, Middle Temple, called 1988. Law LLB (Hons.), Queen Mary University of London.
Trevor Faure authored "The Smarter Legal Model: more from less" in 2010 and "Smarter Law: transforming busy lawyers into business leaders" in 2018.
Faure has worked in most major cities around the World, lived in Paris for ten years and speaks fluent French. He has been the keynote speaker of numerous international conferences, see here including at Harvard Law School and Oxford University.
Member of "The Times" Law 100 Panel advisory body and the International Bar Association Task Force on the Future of Legal Services. President of the Global General Counsel Academy.
Various awards including “The Lawyer” In-House Counsel of the Year & Team of the Year, Legal Business Team of the Year, FT Innovative Lawyer commendation, etc.
“..one of a handful of dynamic, young lawyers who are transforming the legal market…clearly a pioneer”, The Times of London
“...the professional equivalent of a rockstar..” Editor in Chief, Legal Success Russia.
“..one of the most creative and systematic thinkers about contemporary business law...“, Ben W. Heineman, Jr., Former General Electric General Counsel & SVP.
Despite his professional profile, Trevor Faure is otherwise a private individual, avoiding Twitter, Facebook and all social media aside from LinkedIn for business-related posts.
Transform Consulting Team
Smarter Law Solutions’ strategic partnership with MLA Transform’s Advisory Services provides your team members with the feedback, guidance and structure that they need to excel as business partners through a unique and proven combination of the Smarter Law methodology, organizational design and operations consulting, talent development and technology assessment. With decades of experience, these consultants partner with law departments and law firms to reimagine how they work and improve the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of their teams. Meet our partners at Major, Lindsey & Africa below.
Miriam
Frank
A certified executive coach, former in-house lawyer and executive search consultant, manager and leader, Miriam also supports and guides general counsel and other senior lawyers as they acclimate to new responsibilities or prepare for their next career step. She brings more than 30 years of experience and a warm, down-to-earth manner to her coaching and consulting. Miriam is a member of the International Coach Federation, Board Certified by the Center for Credentialing and Education, and holds the credential of Advanced Certified Personal and Executive Coach. She is also certified and skilled in the use of a number of recognized assessments useful to her clients for both selection and ongoing development
Barrett
Avigdor
Barrett Avigdor works with corporate law departments and law firms around the world to help them meet the needs of their businesses and clients and to attract and retain top talent. She helps to build highly effective teams by assessing organizational structures and using recognized assessments and interviews to recommend alignment of lawyers to roles that maximize their strengths and support the mission of the organization. Barrett is also an executive coach whose particular focus is helping rising executives realize their career potential. She brings more than 25 years of experience as a senior leader, manager and executive, lawyer, recruiter and coach. Certified by the College of Executive Coaching, she works with individuals and teams to help them achieve their professional goals and perform to their maximum potential.
Christine
Kennedy
Christine Kennedy guides clients through best practices for their legal departments ranging from best-fit technology to a full-scale organizational design implementing strategic talent, workflow and processes, and future-state technology plans.
Christine began her career practicing law in New York, focused on environmental toxic torts and navigating the complexities of high volume, high stakes litigation, including the World Trade Center litigation in the Southern District of New York. In representing national corporations pressed to defend methods of manufacturing and awareness of potential contaminants, Christine closely scrutinized organizations from top to bottom to assemble the best defense.
Duc V.
Trang
Duc V. Trang advises law firms and in-house legal departments on the design and implementation of transformation projects that will help organizations achieve sustainable strategic value and profitable growth. Duc brings a unique combination of experience as general counsel, global law firm attorney, author, business leader, educator, executive coach and consultant
Mark
Yacano
Mark Yacano has guided a wide range of law departments on both legal and business strategy. As a law firm leader, a practitioner and a strategic advisor, he has worked with clients to reduce their legal exposure, control their expenses and streamline their operations.
Mark frequently advises companies on the adoption of a wide range of technologies including contract management, eBilling, matter management and eDiscovery platforms. In addition to technology selection, he guides clients through the development of workflow and best practices that accompany the adoption of technology.
Daniel
Davila
Over 20 years Dan has acquired significant experience in corporate finance, operations, compliance, forecasting, and growth strategy.
Partners
Consulting
Major, Lindsey & Africa understands the challenges faced by law firms and legal departments and is focused on helping improve their performance and efficiency through a variety of advisory and recruiting solutions. Combining our extensive experience in and knowledge of the legal industry with the use of Smarter Law, we assess your current state, gaining a deep understanding of what challenges and opportunities you face, and advise you on solutions that can ultimately transform your challenges into successes.
We have a specialist team that transforms challenges of Corporate Legal Departments and Law Firms into success for businesses like yours. MLA Transform provides complete legal performance improvement through its unique and proven combination of Smarter Law methodology, organisational design & operations consulting, talent development and technology assessment. mlaglobal.com
Benchmarking
& Events
The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), a global legal association representing more than 45,000 in-house counsel employed by over 10,000 organizations in 85 countries has partnered with Smarter Law Solutions to offer law department customized consultations.
Through the partnership with ACC, members who purchase the ACC Benchmarking Report receive an initial Smarter Law consultation at no charge. The consultation utilizes ACC benchmarking data to provide key metrics around head count and cost specific to each law department. The member will receive a written analysis summary and a phone briefing on the results, analyzing their implications for legal coverage, compliance, and client satisfaction. Members who seek a more detailed assessment, including advice on how to make the prescribed improvements, will have the opportunity to engage Smarter Law Solutions fully. acc.com/smarterlaw
Publication
Publishers of "Smarter Law - transforming busy lawyers into business leaders". Also, for the business and practice of law, rely on industry-leading products and services from Thomson Reuters. Our investigative tools, professional services, research platforms, and reference materials provide the trusted answers you need in today's rapidly evolving legal landscape.
Legal research
Discover unrivalled features and content to speed and strengthen your research, including the cutting-edge artificial intelligence of Westlaw Edge.
Legal know-how
Save time with the Practical Law collection of continuously maintained standard documents, checklists, legal updates, how-to guides, and more.
Risk and investigations
Investigate individuals or companies using our public and proprietary records tools, and get the answers you need faster and with greater reliability. legal.thomsonreuters.com