Editor's comment: Stuck in the Midlands?

Wragges needs to rediscover its relevance

Having written last week about Norton Rose attracting brickbats from rivals, there was one point that didn’t get made that is worth all major law firms remembering. That is simply that it is usually a good sign to be the target of criticism from rivals. The time to worry is when they stop talking about you, because it means you are no longer on the radar.

I mention this because I fear that Wragge & Co could be starting to fail the all-important sniping test. And this innovator from Britain’s second city used to be the main target of criticism from national rivals. Not so long ago, its very existence and success was taken as an implicit challenge to rivals with different models. But you just don’t hear those mean sentiments anymore, and that’s not a good sign.

Neither is it ideal to see turnover in 2008-09 fall by 17%, which is the deepest fall in revenues I can remember from a major firm in years. Of course, it has been an exceptional financial year, and Wragges managed robust growth during the previous 12 months, but there have been other signs that the exceptional performance the firm managed in the 1990s hasn’t been fully sustained in recent years.

You can pick your reasons why. Some would say the firm became a little too focused on property during the boom. It is also debatable whether the firm’s ultra-full service strategy, based around building nationally-recognised niches across a wide range of disciplines, has always delivered. This wide practice focus also muddied the water somewhat in the initial years of Wragges’ London launch – was it a City push or a practice-level initiative that happened to include some London-based lawyers? Some would say they should have done a City merger, though probably the bigger issue was that the firm didn’t clearly pick one path or the other. A neutral observer may also wonder if the firm’s success at getting on major plc panels has always really translated into quality work. It is, in addition, unsettling that a firm renowned for its strong culture and high staff morale is now into its second redundancy programme in 12 months (though the firm has earned praise for offering respectable severance terms).

Actually, I’m not exactly sure what the problem is beyond a general sense that something that was working really well is no longer coming together as a winning formula. Senior partner Quentin Poole promises that the firm is well set for the future. Let’s hope he’s right. The firm has consistently brought a touch of flair and imagination to the UK’s often samey legal community. The market would be a poorer place with a Wragges reduced to irrelevance.

Wragge & Co on the Legal Week Wiki