denotes premium content | Jul 24 2008 Managing Partner archive
Volume 9 Issue 3
The flat management structure of a law-firm partnership makes leadership succession planning difficult. After all, there is no structured hierarchy from middle management to CEO; instead, climbing the legal career ladder means progressing to partnership. It is little wonder, therefore, that firms often struggle to find the right internal candidates for management roles. Why would a successful fee earner want to give up their legal practice to take on a full-time management position that would probably be less lucrative?
Firms faced with such difficulties have responded in two ways: appointing non-lawyer managers with business rather than legal experience; or allowing the managing partner to retain a fee-earning side to the role so that they have a legal practice to return to when their management term/s of office end. Both solutions, however, have their own problems.
Non-lawyer managers may be ideal in the sense that they can drive forwards a firm’s business strategies without getting overly embroiled in partnership wrangles or traditions. They may also have the objective outlook necessary for making the most difficult business decisions. But they may face considerable resistance from partners who believe they know little about legal practice or fee-earning work and, with their plans stalled from the start, may quickly find themselves becoming partnership puppets rather than chief business decision makers.
Similarly, the lawyer managing partner who retains a legal practice may have the advantages of keeping close to clients, thereby reassuring the partnership by having a presence at the coalface. Knowing that they are not working themselves out of a job at the firm must also be comfort; they can look forward to returning to legal practice rather than facing a post-managing partner void. Balancing the role for anything but the smallest firm is likely to be difficult if not impossible, however, ultimately resulting in such managing partners neither managing nor maintaining a legal practice successfully – hardly a great legacy for their ongoing careers.
There must therefore be an alternative, where firms can be confident about appointing full-time managing partners from within the fee-earning ranks, who will be enthused and ready to take up management and drive their firms to the next level. We all know there are some full-time managing partners of successful firms that are examples right now of how effective the transition from lawyer to managing partner can be. But to what extent have those managing partners thought about their potential successors? Do their firms have training programmes in place to build firm-wide leadership and management skills, enabling management to spot leadership talent and encouraging lawyers to consider management opportunities? And do those firms have supportive policies in place for the full-time managing partner who may want to return to legal practice? Sure, some are likely to leave their firms to become management consultants or join other companies, but if law firms can demonstrate their ability to support their potential and existing managing partners through every stage of the process, they will not only be more successful in getting the right leadership in place, but will also be less likely to lose valuable talent when the managing-partner term of office comes to a close.
Caroline Poynton
Editor
Features
Hotel review: The Sandton Sun and Towers
The Sandton Sun and Towers hotel is located in two separate buildings linked by a skywalk. Both are part of the Intercontinental group of hotels and are excellent value for money. The Sandton Sun is a good business hotel that offers everything you would expect from a five-star property.
Hotel review: Mount Nelson Hotel
Mention Mount Nelson to anyone who has visited South Africa, even those who haven’t, and you will get an immediate nod of recognition. This hotel is truly one of the most exclusive in the world.
Country Focus: Bahamas and Cayman
Tax competition: An era of mixed messages
By Michael Alberga, partner, Myers & Alberga.
Hedge fund regulation in the Cayman Islands
By Neal Lomax, partner, Quin & Hampson.
Hastings Bass in the Cayman Islands
J. Ross McDonough, a partner in the litigation department of Cayman Islands attorneys Campbells, highlights two important recent decisions from the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.
Offshore hedge funds: Branching out
By Bryan Hunter, partner, Appleby Spurling Hunter.
Cayman Islands overview: Leadership, stability and resilience
By Joseph Tompkins, partner, Sidley Austin LLP.
Flexible, private-wealth management
By Michael F. L. Allen, partner, McKinney Bancroft & Hughes.
Foundations attract high net-worth clients
By Michael Paton, managing partner, Lennox Paton.
Public-private partnership: A marriage that works
By Sean McWeeney, partner, Graham Thompson & Co.
Bahamian-style trust defence
By Colin Callender, partner, Michael Scott, partner, and Julian Malins, consultant, Callenders & Co.
Bahamas overview: Setting the standard
By Wendy Warren, chief executive officer and executive director, Bahamas Financial Services Board.
Overview: Obstacles and opportunities
The Cayman Islands and Bahamas have faced the challenges of international scrutiny in recent years, but have proved determined to tackle change with further business growth. By Caroline Poynton.
Cover story: Bahamas and Cayman
By Richard Hay, lawyer, Stikeman Elliot LLP.
Targeting laterals
With rapid law firm expansion and changing career expectations among lawyers, many firms are engaged in lateral-hire programmes. The potential opportunities are obvious, but firms will need to be careful to avoid the significant business risks. By William Wastie, Addleshaw Goddard LLP
Risk and the matter lifecycle
The current climate dictates that firms must overhaul their approach to client verification, conflicts management, and information security, retention and retrieval. By Sam Suri, director, It Matters Consulting
Masterclass: Facing up to a new age
Marketing has evolved rapidly in the legal profession, with business development now proving essential to law-firm management. This masterclass demonstrates how firms can get the most out of their business-development professionals. By Dean Whiteford, global director of practice development and Armilene Coronel, marketing communications manager, White & Case LLP, New York
Passing the baton
Leadership succession planning has become a serious concern among law firms that often struggle to nurture enthusiastic leaders from within the fee-earning ranks. The potential vacuum left by the departure of a good managing partner, however, could be disastrous for maintaining profitability. By Tina Lofthouse
Client interviews: How to reap the benefits and overcome internal resistance
Many clients still claim to receive little or no contact from their law firms regarding standards of service delivery, suggesting that many firms continue to fail to effectively manage a client-interview process, despite the potential benefits. By Julia Hayhoe and Emma Kaye, consultants, Hildebrandt International
Case study: Wiki's law
Allen & Overy found implementing so-called ‘social software’ was key to moving the firm’s KM strategy from documents to a more people-centric knowledge strategy. By Ruth Ward, head of knowledge systems and development, Allen & Overy LLP.
Regulars
Thought leader
By Paul Gilbert
Opinion: Leadership and succession
By Simon Slater, managing director, First Counsel Consulting
Opinion: Taking on clients at your peril
By James Boyd, finance director, Cobbetts
Opinion: Consequences of change
By Colin White, managing director, Ortus Research
