posted 24 Jun 2009 in Volume 12 Issue 2

Profile: Neville Eisenberg

Recently re-elected for a fourth successive term at the top, Berwin Leighton Paisner managing partner Neville Eisenberg tells Richard Brent how the leadership role has continued to challenge and motivate him.

When Managing Partner spoke to Neville Eisenberg back in 2004 – towards the end of his second term leading Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) – he told my predecessor here that he was “no stranger to change”. He had an ability to respond to situations as they evolve. He then speculated that eventually returning to his client work as a corporate finance lawyer would be a change and challenge to relish no less than winning the confidence of his partners to lead the ambitious outfit in the first place – “another transition, no less exciting or thrilling than any of the others”, as he put it.

But fast forward five years and that particular shift shows no signs of materialising any time soon. Perhaps aware of a winning formula when they see it, those partners have re-elected Eisenberg unopposed to his fourth term in charge. Commencing on 1 May 2009, he has now been steering the firm’s strategy for the past decade.

Not that is it a duty he is discharging, in any sense, reluctantly. While it may seem commonsense that continuity of leadership is particularly desirable at a time of acute uncertainty such as we have currently been experiencing, Eisenberg is no less enthused by the different opportunities and challenges of the role now. “I would not have expected still to be leading the firm, but it continues to be rewarding,” he explains. “There are still many challenges. They have just changed as the firm has grown larger.”

Cultural appreciation

Not least among these at the moment, it is safe to assume, is the global economic slowdown – the repercussions of which (in terms of profits and people) have hit law firms large and small to varying degrees. BLP, moreover, has grown especially dominant in real estate under Eisenberg’s eye, where it is now effectively “market leading”, he says. The downturn has impacted on the property market severely of course, and although upbeat, Eisenberg explains that the amount of diary time he has needed to devote to face-to-face meetings has practically doubled in recent months. “Strong management is even more important in harder times than in the better times, and the skills you need can be different. Empathy is important. Communication and consensus become more important. People become more anxious and need reassurance. They may be deterred from making certain decisions, so that increases the demands on management.”

On the other hand, in spite of such concern for the psychological impact of the credit crunch on the business, even a casual glance at life at BLP suggests prospects for its lawyers are currently on the right side of the curve, with plenty to be positive about. At the time of writing the firm has promoted seven new partners in its usual round for 2009, six from the ranks of senior associate and one via the alternative ‘associate director’ route. The latter, Eisenberg says, is “particularly pleasing”. BLP is therefore one of only a handful of firms to have actually increased the number of promotions in 2009 thus far (making up five in 2008), simultaneously appointing three new associate directors, one of whom was formerly a knowledge-development lawyer. Eisenberg commented: “Despite the difficult market decisions we believe in providing our people with career opportunities that help them develop to their full potential.”

Indeed, these career progression prospects, as well as the training the firm offers, allowed BLP to retain a place in the coveted Sunday Times ‘100 Best Places to Work For’ list in 2009 – an annual competition businesses from any sector can enter to demonstrate what they have to offer their workforce in the ‘war for talent’. Questionnaires are sent to a random and anonymous pool of employees from each competing organisation, asking questions about issues ranging from personal fulfilment at work to corporate social responsibility (CSR) credentials. BLP was ranked ‘94th’ in the 2009 list – one of 10 law firms – with almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of those asked saying they felt “there was no limit to how much they could learn and grow”. Notably, the firm also won a special award from the newspaper for workforce ‘wellbeing’, perhaps suggesting Eisenberg’s stressing of the importance of empathy isn’t only reserved for the dark days of a downturn. The survey confirmed that the firm offers flexible-working patterns of various kinds, and that some three-quarters (71 per cent) of employees say they don’t feel “under too much pressure to perform well”.

Eisenberg says that the firm’s success in this regard is less an element of its strategy per se, however, as it is a reflection of a “supportive and collaborative culture that is already present, underpinned by the firm’s values and client service ethos”. The firm’s lawyers support their clients in every way possible, and they in turn are supported by the management in order to facilitate the delivery of that service. Indeed, perhaps a good example of this overarching emphasis on service (although admittedly at the less technical end of the business) is a concierge service the firm offers staff, with its own desk at the front of the office. It is also implicit in the career initiative known as the ‘BLP Framework’ [Best Lawyers’ Profile Framework], which sets out the activities lawyers need to carry out and the skills they must develop, not just to serve their clients, but also to advance in their chosen career.

Supply and demand

Another way in which the firm effectively brings lawyers’ and their clients’ needs together is the novel way it has chosen to innovate around the traditional model for the delivery of legal services. Eisenberg explains: “We know that clients are coming under increasing cost and resourcing pressures, and we do provide them with legal support through the secondment of our lawyers, but demand for secondments has outstripped supply. We have now instigated a new arrangement, offering a flexible pool of entirely freelance lawyers, but all of whom are supported and vetted by the firm.”

“The arrangement works on a project basis. The client enjoys the certainty of a fixed cost derived from a daily rate, and lawyers who take part have the ability to work more flexibly to meet their personal needs. It appeals especially to high-quality qualified lawyers, who want to have more control over their lifestyles.”

Dubbed ‘Lawyers On Demand’, as the scheme was launched in April 2007 it can’t really be seen as a response to the downturn in the economy, but the timing was clearly helpful in light of subsequent pressures. The recession has added significant extra momentum to the ongoing debate about the value law firms offer their clients. There is much interest, for instance, in alternatives to the standard billable hour of payment, and many calls for more general flexibility in terms of exactly how the work performed by law firms can be measured, and thus valued, by their clients. One of the key issues
here is transparency, which Lawyers On Demand sets out to address. There is more cost certainty, and the lawyer in question can even work directly from the client’s office, as in a traditional secondment scenario, if required. At the same time, that freelance lawyer will benefit from BLP’s own access to extensive knowledge management and technology support. The combination led to the firm recently winning a Financial Times ‘Innovative Lawyer’ award in the ‘client service’ category.

Global gearing

Flexibility in the interests of clients is also at the very heart of the firm’s idiosyncractic international strategy; an arrangement it calls its “preferred firms” policy, and a hallmark of the second half of Eisenberg’s tenure to date. Rather than seeking to expand by opening local offices around the world as many leading law firms have done, Eisenberg has instead chosen to focus on developing close, but non-exclusive, relationships with over 100 local law firms in targeted jurisdictions. “We can tailor our solutions to local market conditions, adapting the approach to clients’ own requirements,” Eisenberg explains. “We don’t require our clients to work with specific lawyers in that network, but at the same time we can choose the most experienced lawyers as required.” Although the firm doesn’t publish a formal list of these informal panel members, it has held a series of seminars in London, where many managing partners of those firms have come together to share both knowledge and experiences. Recent events of this sort have both dealt with how independent firms can effectively manage their network of relationships as BLP does, and facilitated specific knowledge sharing on technical areas of legal expertise such as mergers and acquisitions.

At the same time as he has been nurturing these relationships, however, Eisenberg has also had a watchful eye on other opportunities in an increasingly global economy. The preferred-panel policy is complemented by a relatively recent focus on adding weight to its capability ‘on the ground’ in the so-called emerging markets. With international offices already established in Singapore, Paris and the regulatory centre Brussels, in early 2009 a Middle East office was opened in Abu Dhabi, just a month after a Moscow presence was secured via a mini merger with the practice of Russian corporate lawyer Andrey Goltsblat. In the latter instance, the nine-partner Goltsblat BLP will see English lawyers move across to Moscow (one corporate finance partner is already confirmed), while all will also work closely with the London office of BLP on cross-border matters.

Eisenberg explains that the arrangement is “something quite unique”. “It is the first time a major overseas law firm has joined forces with a Russian legal team in this way, and will offer clients a ‘one stop shop’ where they might otherwise have had to use two firms.”

“We have opened offices in locations where our clients’ needs are best served in that way, but are still committed to the strategy of our panel of preferred firms, which is very popular with clients. Our plans for Abu Dhabi and Moscow are part of a complementary strategy to grow the firm’s exposure to emerging markets.”

So Eisenberg clearly remains “no stranger to change”, even as his presence has been a constant force. Although the firm’s recent promotion figures suggest such organic growth from within its ranks is very much alive and well, the firm has also been aggressive in its lateral hiring of leading lawyers to boost its brand in key practices. From taking the firm to its market-leading position in property, to broadening its expertise significantly in highly competitive and complementary areas such as corporate, finance and tax, and latterly spearheading an intense two-pronged international push, it still remains to
be seen whether the myriad challenges of management will eventually lose their appeal.