Here you will find a series of articles dealing with key strategic issues affecting professional services firms.

The articles have been published in a broad range of specialist journals and magazines.

The Role of Competitive Intelligence
in Shaping Strategy
Competitive Intelligence: Improving Law Firm Strategy
and Decision Making
(July 2010)
Having a clear understanding of the role that competitive intelligence plays in the strategy process, coupled with a determination to unearth insights that will serve to enhance strategy and create advantage, will help all law firm leaders increase their certainty and confidence in the outcomes of their deliberations. In short, there is a clear opportunity to create competitive advantage through the acquisition and use of high quality competitive intelligence.
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Merging Cultures
Managing Partner Magazine
(June 2010)
The principle drivers behind law firm mergers are fundamentally economics and sustainable competitive position, but at the core of their long-term success is the ability to create a unified culture and shared sense of purpose. Even in the most unbalanced of law firm marriages, it is a foolhardy managing partner that ignores levels of cultural fit and doesn’t take action to resolve deep-seated cultural differences. Dealt with early, such idiosyncrasies can be resolved quickly and effectively. Left to fester, they become all pervasive and difficult to purge.
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Fit for the Future
Legal Week Student
(Spring 2010)
What sort of world will the law firms of tomorrow inhabit? How will firms respond to changing client demands? What will the fundamental economics of a legal services business look like in ten years? What skills will be needed to succeed and where will they be acquired? These are some of the core questions which the leaders of major law firms consider regularly and which guide their strategies.

They are also crucial issues for individuals who are ambitious to succeed in the profession over the next decade.
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A New Model of Partnership
Managing Partner magazine
(April 2010)
Being a partner isn’t what it used to be! The economic climate, impending deregulation, ever rising client demands, attitudinal changes (both in society and among young professionals), the apparent obsolescence of the historic charging model and the impact of IT on process efficiency are all catalysts forcing change in many firms. As leaders of the firm, partners must be in the vanguard of this change process.
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Walking the Talk
Legal Marketing Magazine
(March 2010)
Perusing law firms’ corporate communication materials and browsing their websites is a pretty mundane pastime. In truth there are only so many ways in which even the most eloquent of wordsmiths can say the same thing over and over and over again. Taken at face value we live in a world inhabited by lawyers who are businesspeople in disguise, wholly commercial in their approach and clear communicators, getting to the core of the issue immediately, charging transparently and delivering to deadlines. All of this is surrounded by a ‘service wrapper’ that promises an experience like no other; indeed, one so good that the client will look forward to engaging their lawyers on a regular basis!
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Virtually Reality
Managing Partner Magazine
(February 2010)
Virtual Law Partners (www.virtuallawpartners.com) was established in May 2008 with eight attorneys and now has around 50. It describes itself as a “virtually connected and geographically distributed firm that provides excellent legal service at very competitive rates”. By looking at the fundamental costs of a law firm through a different lens, and by being prepared to challenge all of the taken-for-granted assumptions about what a firm needs to be credible in the client’s eyes, a new, still nascent model had been created.
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Out of this World
Managing Partner Magazine
(January 2010)
The past year has seen unprecedented turbulence for the legal profession, but is perhaps simply a portent of what is to come. Longstanding rules of competition and client relationship management have been cast to one side. A new, resolutely commercial, approach is to the fore, which is an anathema to those steeped in the longstanding traditions of the gentleman solicitor. For the vast majority of firms, it is a truism that future prosperity will be derived from being better at running a legal services business rather than by being better at the law.
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Pitch Perfect ...
PSMG Magazine
(January 2010)
When business is tight, maximising the opportunity afforded by pitches, presentations and proposals is quite rightly an area of intense focus for firms. But what are the simple guidelines which, if followed, can help to improve win rates?
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“The Road is Long” Merger Masterclass
Managing Partner Magazine
(December 2009)
The strategy for embarking on a merger need not be overly sophisticated, but it must be founded in reality and supported by some testing of the assumptions on which it is based. Many managing partners regard the delivery of a successful merger as their gold-standard achievement. In one act they see themselves able to demonstrate, for the entire world to see, that their firm is going places, has ambition, and is prepared to move decisively and determinedly to achieve its goals.
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“Hitting the Ground Running”
Business Development Masterclass
Managing Partner Magazine
(October 2009)
Many firms are coming to terms with a very uncomfortable truth: that growth is the only way out of the perilous position in which they find themselves. In many cases, costs have been pared to a point at which any further marginal reductions will have limited impact. Furthermore, the extended timescale over which such measures will take effect will not meet current demands to balance the finances. Indeed, further cost cutting may well ultimately damage the business in the longer term.
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Changing the Game Plan
Legal Marketing Magazine
(October 2009)
In these challenging times, the need to be more effective at managing strategic client relationships is ever more important. Those clients that continue to deliver revenue (albeit perhaps at significantly reduced levels) need determined focus, care and attention. Competitors are more desperate than ever to capture a share of their legal spend and are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths, in terms of both reduced fee levels and enhanced service promises, to secure the work.
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Developing Business on a Shoestring
PSMG Magazine
(October 2009)
Forget the logic about counter-cyclical investment, when cash is in short supply discretionary budgets feel the pain. This is even more the case in businesses with high fixed and semi-fixed cost bases like professional service firms. It can therefore be no surprise that business development and marketing budgets across the professional services sector are pared to the bone. For marketers, the challenge shifts from grand plans to doing more with less – developing business on a shoestring!
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Outsourcing the Core
Published in Managing Partner Magazine
(September 2009)
On 15 June 2009, The Times predicted that the next two years will see a reduction in the number of lawyers employed in private practice in the UK by 10,000 (or over ten per cent). On 13 July 2009, the London Evening Standard carried a feature ‘Mumbai Law: 1000 City staff “will lose jobs” as legal work goes to India, outlining Indian law firms providing outsourced services to UK law firms and corporates.
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Primus Inter Pares
Published in Managing Partner Magazine
(August 2009)
Observation and experience over the past 20-plus years have led me to formulate the ‘First Law of Professional Firm Management’. It can be simply stated and I have found it to be true in firms of all sizes, shapes, hues and colours. It is most strikingly accurate among partners neither tasked with current management responsibilities nor with any historic experience of such roles.
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Profiting from Key Clients
Published in Managing Partner Magazine
(June / July 2009)
It is widely accepted that the 'Pareto effect' applies to most businesses, with 80 per cent of turnover coming from 20 per cent of the client base. Indeed, my experience of many professional-service firms operating in the commercial sphere is that the numbers are even more compelling. It is not at all unusual for 90 per cent of revenue to emanate from the top ten per cent of client relationships.
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One year or two, the choice is for you… but be quick!
Published in PSMG Magazine
(May 2009)
Changes to the CIM syllabus could mean that the minimum overall period for completion of the Professional Diploma for some delegates will increase from one year to two.  From 1st June this year, the new syllabus means, unless you have a degree with at least 30% marketing content, you will have to complete the CIM Professional Certificate course as a foundation before moving onto the Diploma.
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Work smarter not harder
Published in PSMG Magazine
(March 2009)
It’s that time again! Students studying for the PSMG Cambridge Marketing College CIM Professional Diploma are approaching the ‘crunch’ as assignment first drafts are completed for discussion with tutors. Requests for study leave have been lodged and social events cancelled. But life need not be this difficult! There are a few guiding principles which, if followed, make the passage to qualification much more straightforward.
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Brave in the new world
Published in 'Legal information in a recession:
A restructuring opportunity'
(May 2009)
In the current recession, managing partners have a great opportunity to overhaul their information and knowledge-management functions for long-term growth and profitability. To succeed will require addressing critical information and knowledge-management issues, but the results will fundamentally re-shape legal business creating the profitable next-generation law firm.
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Risky Scenarios
Published in Managing Partner magazine
(May 2009)
An acid test of the efficacy of any strategy is the way in which it is able to accommodate and respond to uncertainty and unforeseen risks as they emerge over time. While we live in an increasingly non-linear world, many strategies are still constructed using a surprisingly one dimensional model.
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Crystal Ball Gazing
Published in Managing Partner magazine
(April 2009) When marketing guru Ted Levitt said: “The future belongs to people who see possibilities before they become obvious”, he captured the essence of the challenge faced by those in fast-changing environments. How do firms cope with a world in which the pace of change has never been greater and the future is so uncertain?
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Opening Up Published in Managing Partner magazine
(March 2009)
Every firm has huge untapped potential in the form of hidden knowledge about clients, relationships, experience and technical issues. If unearthed and shared, this could create a step-change improvement in business performance.
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Learning through Life
Published in PSMG Magazine
(January 2009)
“What matters more, qualification or experience?” was the question posed to me recently. This got me thinking about the impact of formal education versus on-the-job experience on career development. The honest answer is that both are vital, situation specific and, in many respects, one is a catalyst for the other. By this I mean that, in some situations a through theoretical understanding will be vital to the resolution of an issue whilst, in others, the experience forged from years on the front line will be what is required.  
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Learning to Succeed
Published in PSMG Magazine
(January 2009)
When the PSMG collaborated with Cambridge Marketing College to create the world’s only CIM endorsed Professional Diploma for Professional Services Marketing it had two clear aims – to create a bespoke programme that addressed the particular needs and issues faced by marketers in our sector and to put in place a dual qualification recognising the requirement for a transferrable CIM diploma as well as a focused professional services award.
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Thought Leader: Competitive Strategy
Published in Managing Partner magazine
(December 2008 / January 2009)
“If you are ignorant of both your enemy and yourself, then you are a fool and certain to be defeated in every battle. If you know yourself, but not your enemy, for every battle won, you will suffer a loss. If you know your enemy and yourself, you will win every battle.” When SunTzu penned The Art of War in the sixth century BC, the issues at stake were those of life and death, not business gain or loss. However, the principles of his advice are also applicable to those concerned with charting a course through the increasingly choppy waters of commerce in the 21st century.
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The Devil in the Detail
Published in Legal Marketing magazine
(December 2008 / January 2009)
When asked by managing partners to stress-test the revenue growth projections in the business plans of practice groups my approach is straightforward. I ask group heads to explain, in detail, where their revenue will come from based on four segmentations – by geography, by sector, by service line and by key client. When viewed through a structured lens, the gap between what is on the books (or planned for) and what is in the ether is apparent. Generally, the cause of the gap is a lack of realism together with a naive belief that if you want something hard enough it will come to pass.
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“What Gets Measured Gets Done”
Published in Managing Partner Magazine
(November 2008)
‘What gets measured gets done’ is an old adage of management. It is also a universal truism that many firms ignore when designing and implementing performance management and reward systems. It is crucial that these are aligned with the organisation’s strategic objectives. Many firms are now moving towards a series of interrelated metrics, which are then combined into a ‘performance dashboard’ – which drives investment priorities and forms the basis by which performance is measured.
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Some Observations on Law Firm Leaders
Published in Leadership Development in the Legal Profession
(November 2008)
Over the past 20 years, I have observed a range of leaders and leadership styles in professional service firms. Over this same period, there has been an exponential increase of interest in the subject of leadership, and the crucial role that it plays in the success (and occasionally the failure) of law firms. This case study consolidates these observations and suggests a descriptive framework aimed at increasing understanding and effectiveness in this area.
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Mind Over Matter
Published in Managing Partner magazine
(October 2008)
Ignore the importance of cultural fit at your peril when merging firms. Culture clash is one of the most common reasons mergers fail. Within professional services, where the importance of common values and behaviours in creating cohesive firms is indisputable, getting the cultural aspects of a merger wrong can be disastrous.
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The Law Firm of the Future: A perspective on what is in store for the profession over the next decade
Published in Law Firm of the Future supplement report by Managing Partner and Legal Marketing magazines
(September 2008)
Views on the shape and focus of the law firm of the future are widely divergent but, invariably, pessimism is expressed by many as to how the profession as a whole will fare over the next decade. The common view is that the quality of work (and life) for the median lawyer will continue to be eroded.  Why is this so and what can be done to improve fortunes?
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Talking With One Voice
Published in Managing Partner magazine
(September 2008)
Integrated marketing communications is the name; clarity and consistency is the game. Students of marketing communications are inculcated with the need to create compelling, consistent and clear messages that can be directed at an array of targeted delivery channels. In considering communications (whether internal or external) it is crucial to ensure all potential mechanisms and materials, their impact and inter-relationships, are considered and aligned.
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Leading the Edge
Published in KM Legal magazine
(August / September 2008)
If law firms are to be effective in building a competitive advantage through knowledge management (KM) they need to  invest in both their infrastructure capabilities and the influencing skills of their knowledge leaders and advocates. The impact of KM leadership has two dimensions; Creating a better understanding of how a firm can create competitive advantage through adopting a leading position together with a wider recognition of the importance of personal leadership skills by senior KM professionals, accompanied by ongoing investment in developing these capabilities. These will be at the heart of delivering ultimate success.
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For What It’s Worth...
Published in KM Legal
(August / September 2008)
One of the hot topics of the moment (and, in all likelihood, the foreseeable future) is the impact of external investment into the profession as a result of the Legal Services Act. The knowledge strategist will recognise that any assessment of their firm for investment appraisal purposes will involve thorough due diligence of the KM function and a view being taken of its ‘value added’ contribution and potential.
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Crunch Time!
Published in Legal Marketing
(August / September 2008)
A downturn sorts out the wheat from the chaff! It’s not a nice thought, either for those affected or even the bystanders, but it’s largely true. A coherent argument can be made that a period of recession is a necessary part of the creation of a healthy market. Those that have a strong underlying business will survive and take advantage of the opportunities that such a climate inevitably throws up, while those who have lived with the illusion of a great business during bull market years, when making a profit is relatively easy, will be found out.
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Decisions, Decisions...
Published in Managing Partner magazine
(July 2008)
“Why else does a managing partner exist if not to make decisions?” This was a comment recently made at a conference I was chairing. Three things immediately struck me. Just how much autonomy do managing partners have in their decision making? What issues affect decision making in professional firms? And how will managers cope with ever-decreasing time windows within which to make decisions – especially when the impacts of those decisions grow increasingly critical for the firm’s future prospects?
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The Role of Competitive Intelligence in Shaping Strategy
Published in Competitive Intelligence for Law Firms
(June 2008)                  
There are many models in use that help decision makers better understand their competitive position and to guide their strategy formulation. They range in complexity from the intellectually impenetrable through the overwhelmingly obtuse to the stunningly simple.
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Powers of Persuasion
Strategy series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine
(June 2008)
When Dale Carnegie said: “There is only one way to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it”, he struck at the essence of the art of persuasion. In Verbal Judo George Thompson reinforced this view: “The goal of persuasion is to generate voluntary compliance… The great communicators have that art. They somehow get people to do what they want them to do by getting them to want to do it.”
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Driving Growth As the gravy train grinds to a halt...
Masterclass article published in Managing Partner Magazine
(May 2008)
Following a number of years in which revenue growth has been achievable without too much effort, there will be many management teams with the misplaced belief that they have a strong business model. In truth, during the bull years, the volumes of work available means that all can feast. A period of recession will provide evidence of those businesses with underlying strengths, as opposed to those that were simply in the right place at the right time.
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You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know:
How to use superior knowledge to drive business development
Strategy series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine (April 2008)
When boiled down to its essence, what does a professional-services firm do if not manage knowledge and ideas (in the broadest definition of these words) and develop relationships. Indeed, from a business-development perspective, one of the most interesting areas to explore is the knowledge embedded in client relationships, both individual and systemic, that can be used to shape better ways to build a strong client franchise.
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The White-Knuckle Ride of Reputation Management
Strategy series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine (March 2008)
As Benjamin Franklin so wisely said, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it”. His words should be a wake-up call for managing partners that have placed their trust in the fingers-crossed method of reputation management, rather than adopting a more thoughtful and measured approach.
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I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want...
Article published in Legal Marketing Magazine
(February 2008)
The return of the Spice Girls and their Wannabe anthem offers a timely reminder to professional services marketers of the requirement to understand and deliver the needs of their clients. This is best achieved by listening instead of telling and by acting on the basis of a deep understanding rather than a range of self-serving suppositions.
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Avoiding a Cultural Cacophony
Strategy series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine (December 2007)
Everyone accepts that we live in a multicultural society and operate in a world where barriers to business across national frontiers are dismantling at an ever increasing rate. There is positive potential for firms in their response to these cultural challenges and opportunities.  Culture is a key driver for professionals. The overriding cultural norms of any profession govern the behaviour of its members and the unique culture of any firm is also a huge potential source of differentiation.  
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Is Anybody Listening?
Strategy series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine (November 2007)
Technology has enabled mass communication at a level never before experienced. With over 12,000 specialist publications in the UK, enabled by improved technology and ever-reducing production costs, the ability to talk in a highly focused way is at a new threshold. This promise of highly targeted messages together with the compelling propositions they can carry has enticed many professional firms into the brave new world of direct marketing communications with their clients and prospects.
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Moving from Technical Excellence to Business Nous
Case Study published in Professional Development Strategies for Law Firms
(October 2007)
Ambitious firms recognise that being excellent at their core legal skill is simply not enough – creating an enhanced commercial understanding of their clients’ needs and building the business development skills of their people are two ways in which the firm can create a strong and enduring brand position.
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Time to wake up and smell the coffee
Feature published in Legal Marketing magazine
(October / November 2007)
The best businesses have an insatiable hunger to make things better for both their clients and themselves. For those law firms which have adopted a less ambitious approach to marketing and business development strategy, it is time to take a long hard look at their existing processes and how these can be strengthened for business success.
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Sometimes You Must Burn Your Boats
Strategy Series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine
(October 2007)
Keeping your options open is a philosophy to which many management teams subscribe, either overtly or by their actions. This isn’t to say that unwavering dogma is a good thing, but rather that a clear sense of direction, being prepared to say ‘no’ to ideas that don’t fit, and a commitment to achieving objectives, are crucial components of a successful firm.
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Do you judge a book by its cover?
Strategy Series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine
(September 2007)
For professional firms too much emphasis on the cover and not enough on the content has heralded the demise of many a branding initiative. Moreover, firms’ inability to walk the talk of their brand promises has sadly done more than waste oodles of money. It has actively disenfranchised clients and confused the market.
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Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes (turn and face the strain)
Strategy Series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine
(July / August 2007)
The trepidation with which David Bowie’s lyrics approach the topic of change is mirrored by the behaviours of management teams in professional firms everywhere.
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Horses Choosing Courses – How Refreshing!
Legal Marketing Magazine Cover Feature
(Volume 2, Issue 2, June / July 2007)
Every horse can win a race, but selecting the right race to run in is key. Law firms should choose the arenas best matched to their capabilities for differentiation and competitive advantage.
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Balancing the business
Strategy series opinion piece published in Managing Partner Magazine
(June 2007)
The ‘balanced scorecard’ has taken its place in the glossary of management terminology to such an extent that it is easy to assume all managing partners are fully conversant with the theory and are applying it to their firms on a daily basis. Neither of these assumptions is necessarily true, however.
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Opportunity Knocks?
Thought Leader article published in KM Legal Magazine
(May / June 2007)
The support departments in major law firms have proved as effective as their practice group counterparts at building edifices and creating silos.
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More Than Embossing The Wallpaper
Published in Professional Marketing Magazine
(June 2007)
The twelfth annual PM Forum Global Conference in September will address one of the biggest challenges facing professional service firms today; how does a firm create an environment in which innovative thinking can flourish, that allows clients and firms to create deep bonds and where the best ideas are used to create compelling marketing propositions?
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Birds of a Feather
Cover feature of Legal Marketing Magazine
(April 2007)
A perplexing question: Are business development and knowledge management strange bedfellows or birds of a feather? The insightful answer: When boiled down to its base elements, all that a law firm does is leverage knowledge and leverage relationships.
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It’s my ball and you can’t play with it
Published in Legal Marketing Magazine
(April 2007)
“It’s my ball and you can’t play with it!” is both the mantra of the incorrigible infant and the modus operandi of the petulant professional. Behind the phrase lies an implicit understanding, “we can play together, perhaps even playing the game that you want to play, but only if ultimately I’m in control. Take away my control and I’ll take away my ball!”
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Is unqualified success possible in the 21st Century?
Published in Professional Services Marketing Group Magazine
(January 2007)
The credibility of marketing and marketers within professional services is a perennial issue.  Many marketers in the sector find the low esteem in which they are held by the firms that employ them both frustrating and demotivating. However, credibility and the opportunities to do stretching and challenging work are not birthrights but must be earned. One of the foundations is a solid grounding in marketing theory coupled with its application to professional services.
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Innovate or Die!
Opinion Piece
(September 2006)
Innovation is like managing a football team, everyone thinks that they can do it, a few people actually do it, but only a handful make a success of it.  It is also widely recognised as being one of the most important pre-requisites for building a sustainable business in the 21st Century.  But what is it? Why is it so important and how can we foster an innovative climate within the professional service sector?
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What can knowledge management contribute to
business development?
Published in Know-How in the Legal Profession, Managing Partner Best Practice Management Series
(April 2006)
What about the knowledge embedded in the relationship with the client or contact? Why isn't this seen as being and integral part of knowledge management by many law firms?
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Differentiation: Developing the right approach for you
Published in Managing Partner Magazine
(April 2004)
The strategic approach that you adopt for your firm is unlikely to provide a complete solution to the differentiation challenges that you face. This is because you will have to decide a practical path that reconciles your strategic theory with the reality of your firm and all of its idiosyncrasies, personalities, politics and taken-for-granted assumptions about the way that it operates.
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Differentiation: Choosing the battles to fight
Published in Managing Partner Magazine
(March 2004)
In any business situation, it is crucial to make active choices about the battlefield on which you wish to compete. These choices also direct the investment of scarce resources within a firm, which need to be prioritised and aligned with clear strategic objectives.
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Differentiation: Why does it matter?
Published in Managing Partner Magazine
(February 2004)
There must be a clear framework that allows coherent decisions to be made about the future direction of the business. These decisions will not just guide marketing and sales activity but will also influence recruitment policy, IT strategy, working practices and indeed the whole shape of the business going forward. If the strategy fails to do this, then it isn’t a strategy, it’s just window dressing.
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