Management opportunities and challenges in a merged firm

Published in Managing Partner magazine October 2013   Firms won’t become more commercially successful by being better at the law but, rather, by running a better legal services business. More proficient strategic thinking and better management, team working and communication are vital to ensuring sustainable performance enhancements, improved efficiency and increased revenues and profits. It […]
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Right-sizing your merged law firm

Published in Managing Partner magazine   A merger provides a host of opportunities to right-size. Some arise directly from the merger itself. Others will be realised because ‘all bets are off’ in a newly-merged firm, providing a window to implement efficiencies that were previously denied. Right-sizing is generally assumed to mean moves to reduce costs […]
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How to win Partners’ Hearts and Minds for a Proposed Merger

Published in Managing Partner magazine An interesting point is reached in any merger discussion, at which the negotiating teams must set aside issues of market dynamics, strategy and positioning. Plans for operational change, efficiency improvements and rationalisation must also be sidelined. Even the development of compelling propositions to attract new clients and expand existing relationships […]
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Develop a Strategic Framework for Merger Communications

Published in Managing Partner magazine It is all too easy for those focused on the consummation of a merger (and with a deep knowledge of the transaction) to assume that its strategic logic will be selfevident. It is always wrong to presume that the benefits flowing from the union will be apparent to the combined […]
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Plan Ahead To Get Ahead (Part 2)

Published in Professional Marketing Magazine Alongside the setting of the firmwide strategy, planning should be conducted at the next level of detail whilst still considering issues in broad terms. These second tier plans will nest within the overarching strategy framework, both aligned with and subservient to it. Planning at this level allows the broader leadership […]
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The Power of Using Values to Drive Post-Merger Integration

Published in Managing Partner magazine Ignore the importance of cultural fit and strong shared values at your peril when merging firms. Cultural dissonance is one of the most common reasons that mergers fail to deliver their expected returns. Within law firms, for which common values and behaviours are crucial to creating cohesion, getting these aspects […]
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Fit For Purpose

Published in Managing for Success, the magazine of the Law Society’s Law Management Section The legal services market is witnessing an unprecedented level of merger activity. The legal press is full of news of firms either in discussions or announcing a deal, but there is also a swell of activity behind the scenes of firms […]
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Dealing with Deal Breakers in Merger Discussions

Published in Managing Partner magazine   In any merger discussion, there will be a limited number of areas which have the potential to be deal breakers. These range from issues of strategic significance to those of timing. In the first category are questions which challenge the longer- term logic of a deal which has few […]
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Unlocking the Client Dividend in a Merger

Published in Managing Partner magazine   Any merger should seek to build a sustainable competitive advantage. What this means in practice is that vision is needed to create a client proposition which is more compelling than either firm could offer before and, crucially, better than other firms competing for the same work. A characteristic of […]
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Why merge? Forces driving consolidation in the UK legal services market

Chapter 3 of The Law Management Section Merger Toolkit A merger is a means by which a strategic objective may be achieved; it is not a strategic objective in itself. This is, perhaps, an obvious statement, but one which seems to elude many management teams when discussing strategy and the options available to them. A […]
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Organic Growth Strategies: Back to Basics

Published in The Cambridge Marketing Review   The challenging market conditions of the last four years mean that organic growth is a significant issue for many organisations. My own practice is focused on the professional service sector and commercial law firms in particular. This particular market has suffered from the pincer squeeze of economic recession […]
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Getting Profit-Sharing Arrangements Right in a Merger

Published in Managing Partner magazine A merger makes sense if the new firm is better able to compete than either of its antecedents. For some firms, ‘compete’ means that the merged entity simply has a better prognosis for long-term survival, while for others it will be characterised by more opportunities, an improved market position and […]
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Strategies to unlock the merger dividend

Chapter 11 of The Law Management Section Merger Toolkit Panjat Pinang is one of the most popular traditions in Indonesia. It is a unique way of celebrating the country’s Independence Day and involves, quite literally, climbing a greasy pole. Tall nut trees are felled, denuded of all branches and bark, and placed vertically in the […]
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A merger is an opportunity to bring about positive cultural change

Published in Managing Partner magazine A firm’s culture is both one of its core defining characteristics and, for better or worse, a driver of its longer-term performance. Changing a deeply-embedded culture is one of the most challenging and transformational opportunities for any leadership team. At a time of merger, it is one way in which […]
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The Innovation Advantage

Published in The Future of Legal Services – Expert Analysise THIS ARTICLE is concerned with the ways in which innovative approaches have already changed the nature of law firm practice, and how they will continue to do so at an accelerating pace in the future. In particular it will consider service innovation and how firms […]
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Service Quality and Reputation Management Strategy

Published in Business Continuity Planning and Management for Law Firms   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 […]
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Mergers can be effective in moving partners out of their comfort zones

Published in Managing Partner magazine   Many merger business plans talk about creating a firm which is better than the sum of its parts by taking an external view. They wax lyrical, for example, about new markets, additional revenue streams, sweating the client base through broader and deeper practice capabilities and a strengthened brand. The […]
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How to identify the ideal merger candidate that fits into your firm’s strategic jigsaw

Published in Managing Partner magazine   Absolute clarity is crucial at the outset of any search for a merger partner. Do you know what you are looking for? How you will know when you find it? While the firm’s overall strategy will have identified merger as the best means of achieving its vision, creating a […]
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Horizon Plan

Published in Managing Partner Magazine Andrew Hedley discusses how continuous planning can help you to improve the implementation of your firm’s strategic vision. It is self-evident that, without a clear and robust approach to implementation, even the most well-crafted of strategic plans will founder. A continuous longerterm planning cycle is required. This article considers how […]
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Where did all the fun go?

In the brave new world of Six Sigma, LPO and BPR it is all too easy to forget that, for the vast majority, this approach to legal service delivery isn’t what was signed-up to when entering the profession. However, with pricing under pressure and a fixed-fee basis increasingly the norm, better management is needed.  But […]
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Are You Clear About Why Your Firm Is Seeking A Merger?

Published in Managing Partner Magazine   This is the first of my regular Managing Partner columns on law firm mergers. Over the coming year, I will be exploring mergers as a strategic option from a range of perspectives. Beginning by understanding the drivers that suggest merger as the best means of achieving objectives, I will […]
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Taking the Inside-Out Perspective

Published in PSMG Magazine   In devising their marketing and business development strategies, firms tend to focus on being ‘client-led’ and ‘competitor-aware’. I term this an outside-in approach, founded in the belief that the organisation should configure itself to present the best possible fit with current and emerging opportunities whilst simultaneously nullifying competitive threats. Whilst […]
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Keep Running Faster – You Might Win the Race to the Bottom!

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”  Albert Einstein Operational efficiency is necessary but not sufficient. Simply being better at doing things the way that they have always been done may provide some respite, a way to carve profit from a market in which downwards […]
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Consensus is Not a Synonym for Unanimity

Published in Managing Partner Magazine   There is much talk about the importance of achieving partner consensus on the big decisions which will define a firm’s future direction. Consensus is a worthy objective and one which, as research shows unequivocally, is likely to lead to a more cohesive firm. There is less clarity, however, over […]
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It’s time to compromise on merger candidates: start looking for a doable deal

Over the past four years, the ‘perfect storm’ of deregulation and economic downturn has crystallised issues for managing partners. Having drawn comfort from the belief that they had a strong and profitable business, albeit protected by regulatory barriers and driven by an exceptional period of bull market activity, firms have come back down to earth […]
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