Opinion: Making the most of managers

By David Lewis, regional office managing partner, Weightmans

Law firms are operating know-how businesses. Our ability to be different is derived largely from how we utilise our human resource – and, more specifically, how effectively we mix, match, develop and exploit our technical and managerial expertise.

Historically, lawyers were roundly assumed to be bad managers. What tosh! There are undoubtedly many talented leaders and managers, in legal services and elsewhere, who began their professional careers as practising lawyers.

Moreover, the profession is not just jam-packed with stuffy traditionalists who lack commercial nous. There are plenty of shrewd, entrepreneurial practitioners. Out of necessity the profession has evolved in such a way that our collective DNA would reveal us to be as close to a Branson or a Sugar as to any member of the judiciary.

In any case, the typical pattern of growth for a law firm also means that practising management is something that can hardly be avoided by partners in the early years of a business. It is common to see partners continuing to grapple with issues such as HR, training, marketing and IT for many years thereafter. In contrast, the first toe-in-the-water attempts to buy in professional expertise often involve assigning grand titles (head of HR, for instance) to individuals who are actually asked to do little more than provide low-level administrative support.

Against this backdrop it is hardly surprising that lawyers have developed management skills. Growing up in firms with no professional management support made it essential for lawyers to wear a number of hats simultaneously: as productive fee-earners; as operational managers; and as owners, too.

But is this why it has become hard for some of us to recognise our own limitations? You see, while I dismiss the notion that all lawyers are bad managers as tosh, we should not assume that the opposite is true. Sadly, lots of us are indeed pretty hopeless at it! To the outsider, that may come as no great surprise. Why should anybody excel in a role for which they have no qualifications, and no formal training? What hope is there for us to develop if management is seen as a chore to be squeezed in between chunks of pressing client work and essential business development?

For most firms, employing and developing true managerial talent is an essential step towards creating the dual expertise any know-how business needs. Strong technical legal skills are required to serve the needs of clients in many areas of work. However, in those fields where the work is becoming increasingly commoditised and process-driven – a trend which may be accelerated following the recent proposed reforms – competitive advantage is more likely to be achieved by those who harness their technology and manage most effectively.

One of the great advantages of professional managers is that they have the ability to see beyond the lawyers’ needs and look more objectively at the needs of the business and the market. Most will also have some experience of life in the world beyond the walls of a law firm. More importantly, properly qualified managers are experts in their field. It is somewhat fundamental to our raison d’etre as lawyers that we promote the notion that clients generally benefit from heeding the advice of their professional advisers. Why, then, do we remain blind to the need for advice from experts ourselves, in fields such as HR, marketing and financial management?

Many firms recognise the need for professional help, only to deny it the chance to flourish. Instead of valuing the expertise and letting it operate at the heart of the business, many lawyers have chosen to resist and dilute its influence – preferring to allow only administrative support when true managerial input is required. In that sort of environment the confidence and performance of managers will soon dip, leading to a wasted investment.

I suggest that the problem lies in part in our own arrogance: we actually believe we know best all of the time! Beyond this, we remain power-crazed and status-orientated, and we find it hard to accept that giving away any control within the organisation can ever be a good thing. Beyond this, lawyers’ craving for autonomy is often a key barrier to the effective exploitation of professional management talent, because the systems, processes and ideas the managers advance typically impact upon that autonomy in a way that creates immediate resistance.

If you find the right ones, professional managers should be good news for your business. They should help you to develop your dual expertise and to become more competitive. But they will fail if you do not allow them to practice as professionals, with you as their client. Look upon them in the same way that industry regards in-house counsel: trusted, objective advisors who are on your side at all times, and who know their stuff. 

David Lewis is a regional office managing partner at Weightmans. He can be contacted at david.lewis@weightmans.com