Profile: LG

Several law firms have had something of a makeover of late, ditching everything from their fusty old buildings to their cumbersome names. Lawrence Graham, or rather LG as it now prefers to be known, has done both. Tina Lofthouse speaks to managing partner Penny Francis about the overhaul.

“Head down the walkway…Tower Bridge and City Hall will come into full view… walk through the gap in the glass…take the lift up to the eighth floor and enjoy the view…” These aren’t the kind of directions to a law firm one usually receives, but LG is rightly proud of its swanky new offices on London’s South Bank. Even the firm’s map can’t help but boast of its sweeping vista across the city.

The futuristic design (by leading architect Norman Foster no less) is nine storeys of angular glass and chrome that juts out from around Tower Bridge, and counts the equally impressive, sloping egg-shaped City Hall as its neighbour.

The obvious attraction of the new development, which even includes a sunken amphitheatre with free cinema and theatre in the summer, has quickly drawn in other professional-services and financial-services firms, including the likes of Ernst & Young and Norton Rose. The latter has now occupied the building next door to Lawrence Graham at number 3, and the offices have been developed around environmental criteria such as green electricity – and even been extended to details of how its staff make cups of tea – all to make sure everything is as eco-friendly as possible.

LG managing partner Penny Francis is understandably ebullient about the move. The whole firm has been in its new location at 4 More London Riverside just eight days at the time of writing, having moved in stages over three weekends. “It’s amazing. We’ve had some very good feedback and people are really pleased with the new offices,” says Francis.

And so they should be. Evidently, the new building cost a good deal of money. Exact figures are hard to come by though, and all LG will say on the matter is that it cost “millions of pounds”. How did the firm get the buy-in from partners to dig so deep? Francis says it wasn’t a problem and the move is good for the firm financially. “We got a cracking deal, and the partners accept that the business isn’t just a yearly thing.”

Lack of clutter

The reception is filled with light, with floor-to-ceiling windows; bright, open office spaces; and a distinct lack of clutter. Francis herself had a good deal to do with the design. While Foster + Partners designed the outside, LG brought in MCM Architects – which also worked with Ernst & Young and Norton Rose – to plan the interior. “I said I wanted it to be light and uncluttered and I think they have achieved that,” says Francis, who undertook the project with head of real estate Stephen Stephens. If you want a taster of ‘office envy’, the firm’s website carries a virtual tour of the building.

However, Francis decided they wouldn’t transport the entire contents of the firm’s basement from one building to another, instead taking the opportunity to have a good look at what was in there. Intriguingly, among the archives was Napoleon’s probate, which the firm has since donated to a museum in France.

Despite the logistics of moving some 500 staff, the process was completed without a hitch. Francis says the key lies in ruthless planning. Indeed, the planning has been in motion for a good number of years. Francis was head of LG’s real-estate practice for four years before becoming managing partner in 2002, and she was quick to start making plans for the firm’s move when she took over the helm. “I knew the leases [at 190 Strand and St Mary Axe] would be up in June 2007 and we’d have just enough time for a new build. I was quite attracted to the idea of being able to have our own building designed around the business rather than just refurbishing somebody else’s space,” she says.

The planning paid off – they were in on time and under budget. Francis says that the firm worked out its annual rate of growth, and expansion space has been factored in. Of the nine floors that make up the building, LG takes up every floor bar the first and second, although the firm has options to take those in a couple of years.

New building, new name

The firm also took the opportunity to re-brand, shortening Lawrence Graham to a simple LG. Some in the legal industry were quick to joke that LG is in fact a famous electronics company – indeed, if you type LG into Google you will get LG Electronics. But Francis is undeterred. “I don’t think anybody wanting to buy a washing machine is going to get confused and end up buying legal services!” she remarks.

LG’s rebrand also reflects a growing trend in the legal sector to shorten lengthy names. In March, Nabarro Nathanson shortened to simply Nabarro, and Moore & Blatch recently decided to drop its ampersand.

Abbreviations can be a risky strategy unless the brand is very well-known, but Francis says that the firm has been known in the industry as LG for some time. The firm hasn’t changed the name of the limited liability partnership though, so it is still registered as Lawrence Graham LLP.

“We’ve had a great response from our staff and clients,” says Francis. “We felt the look and feel we had was a bit old fashioned and out of touch with where our business was going. I think it is now more reflective of the way we go about doing things – very direct and clear.”

As to where the business is actually going, ambitious plans are afoot, including a bid to increase corporate revenue by 50 per cent by 2010. LG has focused a good deal on Asia – and particularly India – over the past few years, and the firm is now acting for seven of the top-ten tech companies in the country. Its AIM practice is also particularly strong in India, with a large number of companies coming to market here.

International expansion

As part of its international strategy, LG also recently dropped its European network for a series of ‘best friend’ arrangements. “We had a network for many years, which began not to work for us. Our business had moved in a slightly different direction to some of the firms within the network and so we terminated it,” says Francis.

The firm now has two or three so-called best friends in each of the key jurisdictions where it operates, which Francis says gives them more flexibility. “Our clients’ needs vary, from requiring a corporate capability to a real-estate capability to a wealth-planning capability. We didn’t find that one firm could actually provide the key things we were looking for throughout Europe.” The firm is still working with a couple of the firms it used previously, but has established relationships with others in industry sectors it needed capabilities in.

But given that 70 per cent of the firm’s corporate work is now international, could mergers or overseas offices also be on the cards? “We never say no to anything. I can see us doing something in the Middle East and we’re looking for opportunities there. If something comes along at the right time we’ll do it,” Francis says.

Merging cultures

The firm is no stranger to mergers. In 2004 it merged with Tite & Lewis, where one of the strategic aims was to grow the corporate side of the business, which the firm has since achieved. “Christopher Tite is head of the corporate team and I think that says it all,” Francis says of the integration. An issue for any law firm undertaking a merger is how to gel the two cultures, but Francis claims this wasn’t really an issue: “Tite & Lewis was a smaller group and its people were willing and open to fitting in. I think it also helps that we’re good at making people feel included.”

Financially the firm took a dip in 2005, with a reported drop in PEP due to the costs of the merger. 2006 was a record year for the firm though. This year Francis is expecting figures to be down on last year, but points out this is because they’ve had three buildings to pay for.

The firm has also made up two lawyers to partnership this year: Geoff Gouriet (corporate) and Dan Gwilliam (real estate). LG has a policy that a lawyer must be seven-year qualified to be considered for partnership. “There’s a clear career-development path and people know what they have to achieve,” says Francis. “We literally do it when it is right for the person and right for the business. I’m not looking for a target of ‘X’ amount. So we made up seven one year, two this year. It depends when it is right for the individual and right for the business.”

Work/life balance

Firm culture is one of Francis’ priorities too, and the emphasis is on creating a good work/life balance. She says she wants a “profitable happy ship”. There has to be a balance – an understanding that you deliver to your clients, but when your work is done you leave. “I can’t bear jackets left on chairs. You have got to serve your clients, and they do come first, but I think the behaviour and attitudes that exist in some firms – being seen to be seen – is unhealthy.”

Francis practices what she preaches too, making it her goal to leave at 6pm on a Monday evening to go to the gym. “You have to lead these things from the front, so on a Monday night I try to leave at 6pm. It is important for me and it is important to be seen to be going.”

She believes it is this culture that helps keep staff-retention rates high, along with the fact the firm has a consistent track record of keeping clients for the long term. “We don’t have many losses of clients through the back door. Much of our client list is annuity-based, so lawyers get to build relationships with their clients and get more from their jobs.”

For these reasons, Francis isn’t particularly concerned about what has been termed the ‘war for talent’. “There is a war for talent but we don’t tend to see people leave us for other law firms. If we lose people it is because they are choosing to do something completely different,” she says. “Admittedly, there is heavy competition in the industry. Money is often used as a driver, but lawyers aren’t motivated solely by money. They want interesting work, nice clients, and to work somewhere they are helped and valued. I think creating that within the organisation is key.”

During the office move, a lot of money was also spent sorting out the firm’s IT platforms and making electronic filing and databases user friendly. She says: “I think that makes peoples’ lives easier. We have a culture of being very straight, very fair and open. We keep everyone informed of what we’re doing.”

Formalising training

Training is also high on the agenda at present. In December 2005, LG formalised its training arrangements, introducing a new skills programme that incorporated networking. Does Francis believe this is an area that lawyers are particularly bad at? “There are those who love it, those who don’t but at the end of the day it’s all about communicating with our clients,” she says.

Aside from legal skills, Francis believes it is important for lawyers to be trained in the skills they need to be part of the business, including client development and financial management, so they get a strong sense of their contribution to the business. They also need skills in business development. “Clients rightly expect their lawyers to be part of their business and understand their issues – not just the legal topics that are affecting them, but also areas such as risk management.”

So what next for the firm? The plan is to grow the business in the areas it currently serves, namely banking and financial services; hospitality and leisure; insurance; real estate; and wealth planning. “We’re quite clear about the sectors we’re working in. I can see that holding for the foreseeable future. That focus is right for our business,” says Francis.

As for Francis personally, she is currently in the last year of her second three-year term. What next? “That’s a decision for my summer holiday,” she says, somewhat enigmatically, but she is clearly loving the job. “I enjoy making a positive difference, helping people succeed and seeing clients’ businesses develop. I’m proud I've played a part in that.”

She feels the biggest challenge of the role is justifying peoples’ trust in her. “People place a huge amount of trust in you to do the right thing for the firm and I don’t take that for granted,” she says.