denotes premium content | Oct 8 2008 Managing Partner archive
Volume 5 Issue 10
Many firms have restructured over the last few years to include industry expertise on their corporate-style management boards. For example, chief executives are becoming a regular feature of the modern firm and partners are quick to recommend the business benefits brought about by introducing a non-legal perspective to a firm’s business development.
It is still the case, however, that most managing partners were formerly fee earners. Having excelled in their legal work, the expectations are high that they will similarly succeed in a management role. Most know nothing about the demands of management and they find themselves having to climb a steep learning curve very quickly.
Facing what must be a daunting challenge, a managing partner might be reassured by the numerous resources available to learn the basics of effective management, whether that be from books, conferences or workshops dedicated to the field. Leadership skills, however, are a whole different ball game and it is often accepted that effective leadership is a genetic trait that cannot be learnt.
To a certain extent, this is true. We all know those who seem to naturally dominate a group or workplace as though they were born to a leadership role. As the articles in this issue of Managing Partner reveal, however, leaders comes in many guises. Through examining the various traits of differing leaders, and looking at personal character traits from as objective a viewpoint as possible, managing partners can look to better understand and develop their latent leadership abilities.
Perhaps this is easier said than done, and there are aspects of leadership that will always retain an intangible quality. In a changing legal landscape, however, where law firms are merging and de-merging and radically reforming their internal working practices, it is necessary to explore the leadership role. By so doing, it will help managing partners who are navigating and driving change across the legal profession.
This month’s issue also introduces two new sections to the magazine. The first, legal technology, reflects the growing importance of IT in the legal profession. The second, people and culture, provides a balance to articles looking at operational infrastructure with case studies exploring some of the most important elements of a law firm: it’s people, its working environment and its cultural position in the legal marketplace.
In view of the new sections, I would be particularly interested to hear any comments or ideas you might have. You can contact me at: cpoynton@ark-group.com.
Caroline Poynton
Editor
Features
Understanding leadership
Leaders may come and go, but they remain at the heart of successful business growth and change. Leadership, however, means different things to different firms and for managing partners, who frequently have the experience of fee earning rather than management, effective leadership can be an elusive goal. Tony Allen, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, argues that leadership represents a whole spectrum of options.
Flying high at Rembrandt: Norton Rose’s entry into the Dutch market, 2002
Just over a year ago, the partnership of Norton Rose decided to open up a greenfield operation in the Netherlands. The office has since grown into a 32-lawyer strong operation, and is fully integrated into the Norton Rose network. In this article, the operation’s managing partner, Arent van Wassenaer, explains what it took to take the office blueprint into the physical result.
Servant to master: The changing role of PSLs at Osborne Clarke
In an uncertain economic climate, many law firms are looking at ways to streamline activities and ensure every employee adds value. As a result, it seems that the role of the PSL – a non-fee earning, but fairly expensive member of staff – has come under scrutiny. Rachael Wright, a PSL at Osborne Clarke, looks at how the firm is re-engineering the role of its PSLs to ensure this resource is used effectively and that legal know-how and training is cutting edge.
60-second interview
Blake Lapthorn takes it step-by-step with its corporate portal
Legal technology: Opportunities, implementation, strategy
Legal technology has become an essential part of a law firm’s business strategy and managing partners are realising the opportunities that technology can bring to improve efficiency and client relationships. In this new technology section of Managing Partner, interviews and case studies will explore the dramatic impact of technology on working practices across the legal profession.
You have the technology, but what next?
CRM systems have proved hugely popular with law firms looking for ways to differentiate their client service. The success rate, however, is varied as firms implement those systems with differing results. Michael Warren, client services director at Shamrock Marketing, looks at CRM projects and the role of high-quality data in ensuring the expected return on the initial investment.
Integrating IT and law: A KM case study from Donns Solicitors
As law firms continue to search for ways to capitalise on knowledge, they find that the greatest challenges are related to organisational structure, creating the right culture and their technology, issues that need to be addressed if a firm is to achieve significant growth and maintain its personal touch. Hilary Meredith, managing partner at Donns Solicitors, looks at why the firm embarked on its knowledge-management programme, how it has developed and the challenges ahead.
People and culture
Many law firms are experiencing a period of change. Mergers and alliances continue to dominate the news as firms look for ways to grow their businesses to a new level of global profitability. Even the current economic uncertainty has done little to abate the flow of expansion and many firms have taken the view that recession is a time to be bold, to take new steps and stamp their brand to another office and/or location.
People are our key assets - really?
There is little debate surrounding the importance of people to professional service firms – they are essential, the most important assets in a service-led business. Many law firms, however, are still failing to use the right management and leadership strategies to ensure that they motivate and retain their staff. Robert Halton, director of human resources at DLA, assesses the mistakes and explains how law firms should be managing their HR strategy.
Selecting for success
There are many tools that can be used to aid effective recruitment from competency-based interviews to psychometric and ability tests. Most corporates are used to practising such methods as part of their HR process, but many law firms continue to apply wholly subjective methods of assessment and those that have embraced the latest recruitment tools, have often failed foul of misapplying the techniques to the particular requirements of the vacant position. Bettina Alderton, an occupational psychologist at Longbridge International assesses the opportunities and pitfalls for law firms looking to recruit and retain the best.
Managing partners face the future at Lex Connect
Ark Group held its first Lex Connect event on 10 and 11 March. In a move away from the IT exhibitions of recent years, Lex offered to delegates a combination of workshops combined with one-on-one meetings with a variety of legal solution providers. Caroline Poynton reports on the days’ proceedings.
Regulars
Web feature: Leadership in partnerships - a missed opportunity
UK partnerships are failing to capitalise on the opportunity to get ahead of the game because they are not focusing sufficiently on developing the capability of their leaders. Marjorie Wright of Kaisen Consulting warns that only very few partners in UK professional firms are really good leaders.
