A knowledge-led approach to business development is key to law firm resilience

Published in Managing Partner magazine July / August 2015 There is a nexus between business development and knowledge management that few firms exploit to the maximum; indeed, in many cases, they do not actively exploit at all. When boiled down to its base elements, all that a law firm does is leverage knowledge and relationships. […]
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Team Morale Is Directly Linked To The Ability To Deliver Differentiated Client Services

Published in Managing Partner magazine November 2015 In previous articles, I have written about how the lack of any meaningful differentiation between law firms on criteria that are of value to clients leads inexorably to price-driven competition. When we can see no difference between the services on offer, we buy the cheapest available. The same […]
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Horizon Scanning To Identify And Capitalise On New Growth Opportunities

Published in Managing Partner magazine October 2015 Ted Levitt, the economist and business thinker who penned the game-changing Marketing Myopia in 1960, commented that “the future belongs to people who see possibilities before they become obvious”. His words capture the essence of the challenge faced by many legal professionals. In a world where the pace […]
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A strategic perspective on winning more business through pitches

Published in Managing Partner magazine September 2015 Law firms are being subjected to evermore demanding pitch and tendering processes. Larger firms have teams dedicated to the winning of such business, whilst smaller firms tend to have a client partner who leads the firm’s response to such opportunities. Across the spectrum, there are some overall guidelines which, […]
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Using a competitive perspective to chart your law firm’s strategy

Published in Managing Partner magazine The core purpose of any strategy is to create sustainable competitive advantage. A critical strategic discussion centres on the choice of markets in which to compete and the kinds of activities which are involved in such markets.  Several models exist to chart market attractiveness and these tend to map the […]
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Use Strategic Focus to Dominate a Market

Published in Managing Partner magazine February 2015   High performing firms share one characteristic. They all have focus – they know what they are in business to do and not do. Their unwavering focus is expressed through a defined group of target clients or industries, legal practice areas, jurisdictions or market places. Focus matters and […]
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Succession Planning Is Vital to Building A Sustainable Future For Your Law Firm

Published in Managing Partner magazine October 2014   As the legal industry finds itself once more on an expansion track, one consequence of a long period of recession and low growth is that the partnership age profile now appears somewhat imbalanced. Few firms have been able to offer partnership promotion to those who, in the […]
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Future Proofing Your Law Firm

Published in Managing Partner magazine September 2014   This is the first instalment of a new monthly Managing Partner column in which I shall examine how law firms can position themselves to create a future that is both profitable and sustainable – the concept of ‘futureproofing’. Achieving this future will mean being prepared to take […]
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Aim to Dominate a Market, not The Market

Published in Managing Partner magazine May 2014   Much of modern marketing strategy is based around the principles of an approach based on segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP). Segmentation is the process by which an apparently heterogeneous market is divided into a series of homogeneous sub-groups or segments, each of which shares a set of […]
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Leading a Shared Vision For a Law Firm Merger

Published in Managing Partner magazine April 2014   In a strategy which is merger based, it is important that there is a clear vision of the future, which is easily understandable and provides a strong rationale as to why merger is the best option – illustrating both the opportunities that will be created as well […]
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Merger Chrysalis

Published in Managing Partner magazine March 2014 If you are tasked with delivering a merger, you have a huge amount of leading, persuading, cajoling and encouraging to do in order to realise your objective. Your audiences are both internal and external. Within your firm, you are responsible for understanding the mood of the wider partnership […]
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Driving for Growth

My Editorial Advisory Board blog for Managing Partner magazine http://www.managingpartner.com/blog/driving-your-law-firm-towards-more-aggressive-growth Activity levels are on the increase in the UK legal market. Has the corner been turned? Can we now be more confident that the much-vaunted green shoots of economic growth have finally taken hold? For the past twelve months, a growing swell of firms have […]
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Management opportunities and challenges in a merged firm

Published in Managing Partner magazine October 2013   Firms won’t become more commercially successful by being better at the law but, rather, by running a better legal services business. More proficient strategic thinking and better management, team working and communication are vital to ensuring sustainable performance enhancements, improved efficiency and increased revenues and profits. It […]
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How to win Partners’ Hearts and Minds for a Proposed Merger

Published in Managing Partner magazine An interesting point is reached in any merger discussion, at which the negotiating teams must set aside issues of market dynamics, strategy and positioning. Plans for operational change, efficiency improvements and rationalisation must also be sidelined. Even the development of compelling propositions to attract new clients and expand existing relationships […]
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Plan Ahead To Get Ahead (Part 2)

Published in Professional Marketing Magazine Alongside the setting of the firmwide strategy, planning should be conducted at the next level of detail whilst still considering issues in broad terms. These second tier plans will nest within the overarching strategy framework, both aligned with and subservient to it. Planning at this level allows the broader leadership […]
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External investment: Can the legal profession really deliver a decent return?

My guest blog for Totum Partners (www.totumpartners.com) the leading law firm management recruitment consultancy. This month we welcome guest blogger Andrew Hedley, who provides a few salutary lessons for law firms that are serious about attracting external investors. There was much excitement from the private equity community a few years ago when the possibility of […]
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Changed Expectations

“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”  C. […]
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Fit For Purpose

Published in Managing for Success, the magazine of the Law Society’s Law Management Section The legal services market is witnessing an unprecedented level of merger activity. The legal press is full of news of firms either in discussions or announcing a deal, but there is also a swell of activity behind the scenes of firms […]
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Outsourcing Competitive Advantage?

There are a number of core strategic questions which firms need to answer when entering into an outsourcing arrangement.  The most significant is to what extent a firm should be prepared to outsource areas of potential competitive advantage. If one takes the view that outsourcing is driven by a desire to reduce costs, by buying […]
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Easy to do business with?

There is a management adage that “businesses that do well tend to be businesses that are easy to do business with”.  Looked at from a client experience management perspective, it could be easy to believe that many firms adopt attitudes, approaches, policies and procedures which have quite the opposite intent. My strong view is that […]
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Why merge? Forces driving consolidation in the UK legal services market

Chapter 3 of The Law Management Section Merger Toolkit A merger is a means by which a strategic objective may be achieved; it is not a strategic objective in itself. This is, perhaps, an obvious statement, but one which seems to elude many management teams when discussing strategy and the options available to them. A […]
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Organic Growth Strategies: Back to Basics

Published in The Cambridge Marketing Review   The challenging market conditions of the last four years mean that organic growth is a significant issue for many organisations. My own practice is focused on the professional service sector and commercial law firms in particular. This particular market has suffered from the pincer squeeze of economic recession […]
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Getting Profit-Sharing Arrangements Right in a Merger

Published in Managing Partner magazine A merger makes sense if the new firm is better able to compete than either of its antecedents. For some firms, ‘compete’ means that the merged entity simply has a better prognosis for long-term survival, while for others it will be characterised by more opportunities, an improved market position and […]
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A merger is an opportunity to bring about positive cultural change

Published in Managing Partner magazine A firm’s culture is both one of its core defining characteristics and, for better or worse, a driver of its longer-term performance. Changing a deeply-embedded culture is one of the most challenging and transformational opportunities for any leadership team. At a time of merger, it is one way in which […]
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The Innovation Advantage

Published in The Future of Legal Services – Expert Analysise THIS ARTICLE is concerned with the ways in which innovative approaches have already changed the nature of law firm practice, and how they will continue to do so at an accelerating pace in the future. In particular it will consider service innovation and how firms […]
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