Profile: Salans

Salans is a law firm with a compelling history. The product of a number of international mergers, it has built up a global network of offices stretching from New York to St. Petersburg and Shanghai. London managing partner Howard Cohen explains why the firm’s bold plans for even further expansion have to start at home.

By Richard Brent

“The river glideth at his own sweet will…”

Arriving at the Thames-side London base of UK top-30 law firm Salans on a cold day in early January, I recall this line from poet William Wordsworth, Composed upon Westminster Bridge. The office’s modern floor-to-ceiling window looks straight out onto the water, the tourist bustle and metallic glare of Millennium Bridge and the vast Tate Modern – an impressive sight that is not lost on managing partner Howard Cohen.

Not that he can afford to spend very much time enjoying the view. As the London managing partner of a firm with 16 bases spread over three continents, his time is precious. When we meet he is also just embarking on the second half of a two-year term in office, so pressure to deliver strategic successes is likely to be mounting. It is therefore fortunate that frequent travel to the firm’s many jurisdictions is a genuine interest as well as a necessity. Cohen even qualified as a pilot in 2002, which has become one of his main passions and a means of temporary escape from the rigours of the profession. Those views must be pretty spectacular themselves as he leaves the London skyline behind to cross the Channel and head for France, where what is now Salans was founded in 1978.

But Cohen has his feet firmly on solid ground when it comes to the future of the firm. On English ground too, as Salans’ global management identifies an increase in critical mass in London as being key to the firm’s overall strategy for expansion.

Cohen explains: “We’re looking to grow from having approximately 90 fee-earners in London to perhaps 250 in as short a time as possible. The board has decided that growth of the London office is critical to the firm. It’s central to a lot of the transactions being carried out in some of the emerging markets where we’re based such as Russia and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

“After all, we are in a major financial city and English law predominates in a lot of those transactions. And with the opportunities that are going to be arising from new states joining the European Union, it’s a very exciting time.”

Nevertheless, Cohen is quick to stress that London is in no sense the firm’s head office. Unlike with most firms, there is no such concept – instead Salans is a truly international outfit spanning Europe, the US, the Russian Federation and the Far East. It is the product of a number of international mergers, and in 2002 shortened its name from Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn to underscore a sense of real global unity across these jurisdictions. Only in 2006 new offices sprang up in both Berlin and Budapest as part of a continuing focus on opportunities in an eastward-expanding Europe, while the firm’s Shanghai office continues to grow dynamically under the leadership of new managing partner John Flanigan. As many as 12 lawyers and two new partners joined the China team in January 2007.

Background

Cohen was appointed as Salans’ London managing partner on 1 January 2006, and his initial enthusiasm is unabated after a year in the role. The commitment is also understandable, as unusually he has been with the firm for over two decades, starting out as articled clerk to Lionel Rosenblatt of Harris Rosenblatt & Kramer (HR&K) in 1985. At that time the firm was a specialised litigation, corporate and banking practice and Cohen spent three years on secondment with a major automotive finance client – an area of law in which he now specialises. HR&K merged with Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn in 1998.

“I’ve been here man and boy, so I have to say I was actually quite proud to be given the opportunity. It’s a good feeling to start off as a trainee and become managing partner of the London office. Being at a firm for 21 years is quite unusual; a lot of people move around. I think the management in London had come to the conclusion it was probably time to bring in some new blood and younger partners, and a year on I’m very pleased I made the decision,” Cohen says.

His succession was also smoothed by the fact he took over the role from Lionel Rosenblatt – the man he was originally articled to. Rosenblatt and Phillip Enoch were joint London managing partners for the previous two-year term, while advice was also available from Roger Abrahams – previously the global managing partner for three years – and chairman of the board Stephen Finch.

Cohen continues: “I think you have to acknowledge it’s a completely different role. To take on the role of managing a multi-million-pound business needs a set of skills you wouldn’t necessarily pick up as a consumer banking and finance lawyer. You need to be a strategist. But I’ve received a lot of assistance from the previous management and fantastic support from all the partners.”

Prioritising people

As Cohen’s term as managing partner only lasts a total of two years, he must surely feel somewhat limited in terms of how much he can change. He counters, however, that the first concern taking over a year ago was to make sure the London office had the basics right. Implementing ambitious strategies for growth is all well and good, but the importance of pleasing existing clients and maintaining efficient working practices on a daily basis cannot be overlooked. “Perhaps my two-year term isn’t enough to really make an impression,” he admits. “Real progress may be a longer-term thing. But I think in the first year I’ve focused on making sure the correct administration is in place, and you can’t ever take that for granted. I had to make sure I understood how the office operated and that areas such as financial discipline, marketing and business support were all ticking over.” With so many offices (and so far afield) a solid organisational foundation at home is fundamental.

But he has innovated in places too, placing particular emphasis on the way the firm manages its people. It isn’t unusual to hear law firms say that people are their greatest asset, but a strong cultural identity – and associates’ awareness of it – is especially important to Cohen. Employee satisfaction will be essential, after all, if the firm is to deliver on its goal of creating that all-important critical mass in London over the years to come.

Cohen explains: “We’re very transparent, which is an important part of our culture. The office is relaxed and friendly – and I think that’s why we have such a low turnover. One of my priorities is to make sure I build on that. For example, I’ve put in place regular bi-monthly meetings with all associates – just me and them over a sandwich – and I tell them to ask me whatever questions they want. It takes a bit of time for people to get used to that, but I think it’s very easy for firms to think they know what their associates are thinking, whereas I want to be able to give them a forum.”

“Another aspect of our cultural identity is that we don’t like to encourage workaholics. One of the founding principles of the firm was the importance of a proper family work-life balance. And although high quality performance is expected, typical hour requirements for associates aren’t up there at the level of some firms,” he adds.

Salans also believes its global nature offers a competitive edge in the increasingly difficult business of attracting the best of those associates in the first place. Effective recruitment and retention policies are an essential element of the wider strategic aim to build up critical mass in London and “get on the radar to get at the more profitable clients” such as corporate and listing work. However, the opportunity to travel to assist in complicated cross-border transactions in Eastern Europe may well be an incentive for young lawyers looking for something a little bit extra from their firm, and Cohen gives the example of a new recruit who only joined the firm in October 2006. Bulgarian by birth, a fluent Russian speaker and an English solicitor, the associate is already spending a great deal of time in Russia working in the corporate group. “Trying to get good associates is very difficult, but we have something in many respects unique – being truly cutting-edge in a lot of jurisdictions in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe,” Cohen explains.

“Quite frankly, the way the legal industry is going I think more and more firms are going to have to look at international globalisation. It’s the only way forward and I think associates are beginning to realise that. They want that opportunity within a relatively young and dynamic firm.”

A larger London presence

Internal growth through attracting and cultivating the most talented associates is one of three avenues the firm is pursuing to build up its London presence. “We invest a lot of time and energy in our interview process for trainees – and then growing and nurturing them as future partners,” Cohen says.

The second option for growth is through team lateral hires, which Salans has experienced from both sides in the past year. In January 2006 the firm’s Paris office – the largest in the network – attracted a team of 15 lawyers from what is now Orrick Rambaud Martel. However, in April 2006 the London-based media team transferred to Richards Butler ahead of the latter’s 2007 merger with US firm Reed Smith. Salans has recovered quickly though. In January 2007 it strengthened its Berlin office by attracting a highly-regarded team of six lawyers led by Dr Karl Pliny, whose main area of interest is private equity and real estate with a focus on Asia. It’s a development that neatly complements the expansion of the Chinese Shanghai office.

Cohen acknowledges that London lateral hires pose a particular challenge, however, especially in corporate, while one of the first priorities in 2007 is to find a global corporate senior partner. “As time is limited it’s important to be as focused as possible, but I think there are quite a few partners out there who feel unable to exploit opportunities they may have with clients that have international contacts. Coming to a firm like ours would be the perfect chance to develop that client base.”

Of course, lateral hires and internal growth alone won’t necessarily fit the bill in terms of rate of growth, and as we know Salans is aiming high in London. Any specifics in terms of merger possibilities are naturally kept under wraps, but Cohen says that the firm has seen opportunities in the past and is “always open” to consideration of potential partners. “Historically we’ve been very conservative. We wouldn’t want to merge, for instance, with a partner that wasn’t a clear fit with our culture. But with the strong management we’ve always had we have seen opportunities as they’ve arisen and where they are right for us we have taken them,” he says.

Knowledge sharing is power

But however growth occurs – internally or through merger – an expanding network of international offices dealing with complex cross-border issues presents significant challenges. “There is no point merging and building a collection of offices around the world unless two plus two equals at least five. That means efficient information management and knowledge sharing is absolutely vital – even more so where you are spread over such a great area and time difference,” Cohen says.

In terms of people management, the firm is therefore looking to migrate to a system of practice-group management rather than geographical management. One notably successful Warsaw and Prague-based global real estate group has led the board to view this transition as a major firm-wide project and the way to cultivate international clients most effectively across the board.

“To have true practice-group management you need budgetary control and employment control, and even then there’s a certain amount of inevitable overlap, as different locations also need local management, so there is a management matrix that can get very complicated,” Cohen says. The aim is to simplify this structure as far as possible. The firm also uses global client teams for those international clients where it is particularly worthwhile for people to meet to discuss the finer details of deals.

As for the sharing of information among the members of these teams, the firm uses videoconferencing facilities for personal interaction, as well as intranet client team work spaces and electronic deal rooms to help lawyers share documentation and discuss matters worldwide. There are also online subscriptions to legal databases in local areas that can be accessed from other offices overseas, in addition to local document-management libraries where it is possible to browse right across those offices. Single central computer systems for practice management, new business opening and client relationship management (CRM) are all based in London, while future plans include personalising intranet pages for fee-earners and introducing really simple syndication (RSS) to further enhance information exchange. Ultimately, the firm’s knowledge-sharing strategy hopes to make the intranet a one-stop shop for access to any necessary information from across the global network.

The challenge of flying high

Cohen has his work cut out if he is to make the most of opportunities to develop the London office in the second year of his term. Recently returned from a business trip to Moscow, his efforts to win more work in London and the UK will hopefully complement a continuing focus on the emerging markets and growth areas of Eastern Europe. And certainly the further expansion of the European Union in the years to come means the pace of business for Salans worldwide is unlikely to slow.

Meanwhile, the main attraction of flying is to unwind, he explains. The absolute concentration required makes it all but impossible to think about the similarly intense demands that his second year as managing partner has in store. It remains to be seen whether the strategy of expansion in London will really take off, but Cohen doesn’t have his head in the clouds. Indeed, the bird’s eye view of the City skyline and world-famous river could give him an even clearer vision of the firm’s own strategic direction and future course.