Griping from partners is over as the ‘herded cats’ become converts to the cause of leadership in law. City partners are now overwhelmingly backing the importance of senior management, finds Jeremy Hodges
Leading City lawyers believe strong management has helped drive law firms’ success in recent years, with new research showing partners are now ascribing far more value to effective leadership than in the past.
The latest Legal Week/Big Question survey found that 96% of partners cited effective leadership as being either ‘very important’ or ‘important’ to the success of a sizeable commercial law firm. There was not a single respondent who believed management was not at all important in achieving success.
Crucially, the survey, which is based on responses from 153 partners, revealed that partners believe those at the coalface are now much more appreciative of the importance of strong leadership at firms, with 55% saying partners attribute ‘considerably more’ value to leadership now than five years ago. A further 12% said attitudes have changed ‘greatly’ over the period.
Linklaters private equity partner Ian Bagshaw (pictured left) said: “Strong leadership is fundamental to the success of a global firm. There are more and more opportunities open to firms now — sometimes more than they can handle. The quality of the managing partner is to maximise the potential of those opportunities — it is this strategic leadership that firms require.”
Ruth Grant, head of Lovells’ London office, added: “Sizeable firms require a level of strategy, the development and implementation of which requires effective leadership. Gone are the days of firms being successful through just having talented lawyers running their own franchises.”
Significantly, respondents have more faith in their own firm’s leadership than in management across the sector generally. Almost half (47%) rated leadership at their firms as ‘good’, with a quarter (25%) claiming it to be ‘excellent.’ Less than 10% of respondents said their management was either ‘poor’ or ‘not very good.’
In contrast, when asked about the general standard of leadership within the management teams of large law firms, less than 40% rated it as either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. Instead, the overwhelming majority (57%) said it was ‘mixed.’
Stephen Parish (pictured right), global head of banking at Norton Rose, commented: “There is a growing awareness and acceptance that management is not an easy option and that firms with the right management team will do better. That said, this is not universally accepted.”
With the likes of Linklaters, Ashurst and DLA Piper held up as examples of firms that have flourished under strong management teams, respondents were asked to what extent their executive teams were responsible for the success.
Virtually all (90%) attributed the firms’ success to the management teams. A third of respondents (66%) said the firms owed a ‘considerable amount’ of their success to the executive, with a further 24% saying they believed the executive teams were ‘very much’ responsible for the success. Only the remaining 10% claimed management had not played a significant role in the firms’ achievements.
Jo Rickard (pictured left) , head of litigation at the London office of Shearman & Sterling, said: “In the recent boom there is a sense that magic circle firms have moved ahead of other firms and that must be linked to effective leadership and good management.”
Will Meredith, head of finance at CMS Cameron McKenna, concluded: “Certainly if you look at the firms that have been successful you cannot name many without naming the management guy behind it. Leaders set the tone for the firms and bring it together. If a leader can bring a firm together, it can be more than the sum of its parts.”
Leadership is almost the single most important factor for any firm. Good or great leadership makes all the difference - ask any partner in a firm which is off the pace and it is likely that leadership is the root cause.
The sad reality is that lawyers rarely make good managers. Most simply don't have the temperament or the experience. As always it is the exception that proves the rule.
Nothing like having a weak managing partner to make you appreciate the importance of leadership when selecting his successor...
The otherwise unemployable love to go on about new Labour issues like this. There is no substitute for excellence in the lawyers we employ and getting the message across through done deals. We waste too much time on 'leadership' and other issues. Linklaters has succeeded because it is an excellent firm. I am not sure about the others you list, but am equally not sure they are successful in the same way. If we dispensed with all the peripheries of the profession, the true level of unemployment in the City would be staggering but the creation of myths around the need for some of these so-called jobs prevents any major firm saying that it is not going to put up with this monumental waste any more and go back to the days of reputation and excellence being the only tools needed to make a succesful practice, not some degree from Hull Business School.
As a partner at DLA Piper I have the benefit of working under the leadership of Nigel Knowles. His energy, drive and enthusiasm make him an inspiring leader; other firms would do well to follow that model.
I disagree with the comment about lawyers being inherently bad managers. Law firm management has come along leaps and bounds in recent years and it was never true that the profession had a monopoly on crap leadership, even back when it was much more of a work in progress. People from outside law often like to take pot-shots as management in law despite, in many cases, coming from sectors with little to crow about.
Everyone has their part to play in leading their own team and the firm as a whole - however, in some firms the equity partners clip the wings of junior partners so that they have no more relevance than an associate or even assistant. In those firms the leadership qualities of the equity partners are crucial to the growth or survival of firms.
Too many managers think they are leaders, but leadership (having the strategic vision and inspiring others to buy into it) is not the same as management (making it happen), and the same person is not usually the best at both.
Leadership cannot be left to partners involved in executive management and indeed, that is not always their forte. The critical element for success is that every partner has to be a leader, or at least try to be one. Without such leadership a firm will not get the best out of its people. There are many ways to lead and all partners should be capable of at least one of them. This is not something which can be left to management, who are too remote, and so the internal structure of the firm is very important.
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