Leader of the pack

Simmons chief Mark Dawkins tells Alex Aldridge how he made it this far - and what life is like at the top of the profession

"There has been a lot of discussion around whether the economic crisis will lead to an enduring change in the way firms operate," reflects Simmons & Simmons' managing partner Mark Dawkins as he sits down in the meeting room at the firm's headquarters in the vast CityPoint building near Moorgate, central London.

"And I happen to think it probably will - although perhaps not in the profound way that commentators such as Richard Susskind suggest."

This goes some way to explaining the content of Simmons' three-year business plan - agreed last month - which sees the firm introduce a number of cost-cutting measures, including flexible billing options and a proposal to outsource certain types of legal work to jurisdictions such as India and South Africa.

"However," continues Dawkins, elaborating on his forecast, "the reality is that I do not think anyone really knows how events in the legal market and wider economy are going to play out."

Dealing with such uncertainty when you are responsible for managing a global law firm employing more than 800 lawyers can't be easy. How does he handle it? "It is quite exciting really; it gives me something to do," replies Dawkins with a laugh, before qualifying his response with a hat tip to the "excellent partnership" around him. "It is important to keep our objectives clear and well-thought through," he continues, "while bearing in mind that the roads we take to get there may have to change - which means we have to be strong and adaptable."

It is difficult to imagine the outgoing Dawkins as anything other than a high achiever. But it wasn't always like this.

"As a student I really wasn't sure if I wanted to be a lawyer," he says. "So while all my friends at uni had sorted out where they were going to do articles, I still hadn't and just sort of ended up doing my law finals because I didn't know what else to do."

Law college proved a pleasant surprise, though, with Dawkins enjoying the connection between legal theory and the real world. He went on to secure articles with Simmons, but at this stage he says he was still not ambitious. "I just felt lucky to be there," he adds.

So what happened?

"Right place at the right time," he responds, before reeling off a story: "Soon after I qualified a close colleague got put on a very exciting case starting that day in the Middle East - but it turned out his passport had just expired. So they said, 'Dawkins, how's your passport?' I went home, retrieved it and was on a plane that night. That single incident shaped my career for the next three years, launching me into all sorts of things."

A series of high-profile City litigation mandates followed - including the Guinness prosecutions and the Blue Arrow investigations - with Dawkins making partner along the way before finding himself increasingly drawn to management. He became the firm's head of litigation in 1997.

"People often ask me why I took off in the management direction," he says. "And having thought about it, I'd say it was probably an extension of the fact that I enjoy litigation, which involves a lot of problem solving and coordinating. It may also be related to the human relationships side, working out what makes people tick. Plus I enjoy strategy."

Dawkins says that the essence of managing a law firm is formulating four or five considered - but essentially pretty simple - strategic aims, then implementing them. The latter part involves "communicating again and again, then persuading, listening and taking into account the effects of your actions".

And he is clearly good at it - as evidenced by the turnaround in fortunes at Simmons since he took over as managing partner in 2005 following a turbulent period which had seen a number of partners leave. But after presiding over three years of steady growth, the global economic crisis means Dawkins now finds himself in a very different position, with Simmons in February announcing a redundancy consultation that put 69 UK jobs at risk. Dawkins concedes that the last year has been harder than managing during the boom.

"It's a little bit dispiriting sometimes to see all that growth contracting. Suddenly you're back where you were a couple of years ago. But that happens, life goes in cycles. We'll feel like we're going backwards for a while, then regroup and grow again."

On a personal level, Dawkins confesses to having had "slightly more down days in the last six months than before". He says he deals with these by reminding himself that "you must judge yourself over a period of time, not just on one crappy afternoon". At the same time he expresses excitement about the challenge of "leading the firm through the worst recession in living memory and out the other side in reasonably good shape".

Despite the challenges facing the Simmons chief, Dawkins comes across as one of the most easy-going heads of a major UK law firm, at least to the casual observer. A fair assumption?

"I'd like to think so," he replies. "I certainly don't have any problem switching off outside of work."

Home is "a lovely wife, four kids, one dog and four chickens" in a little village in Surrey. Dawkins says that he uses the train journey from London to Guildford as "downtime" to make the transition from work to family life. Still, the long hours mean he has little time for hobbies, with the regular sailing trips he used to enjoy put on hold until his tenure in the job expires in 2011.

Apart from a return to sailing, what else does he envision the future will hold?

"In two years' time I'll have some serious decisions to make," he replies, before pausing.

"But I'll probably return to fee earning: at heart I'm a lawyer, I'm a litigator."

Mark Dawkins' working day

• 0730 to 0800: Usually at desk
• 0800 to 1300: Longer meetings/internal and external business discussions.
• 1400 to 1800: Usually split into 30-minute slots for meetings with people who want to see me
• 1800 onwards: Very variable

Key facts

• Date and place of birth: London, 1960
• Education: George Abbott School; Exeter University; Guildford Law College
• Car: BMW
• Favourite music: Eclectic: some classical (Mozart Horn Concertos), some modern (Coldplay), some in between
• Favourite film: I enjoy films but am pretty indiscriminating - I prefer to be entertained rather than traumatised by films
• Favourite book: There are too many great writers for me to have a favourite. Top two authors: Anthony Trollope and Ian M Banks
• Guilty pleasure: Too many to do justice to in a few words
• Last holiday: Mozambique

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