Fit for the Future
May 26, 2010
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Business Development, Change, Growth, Innovation, Key Account Management, Leadership, Strategy, Vision /
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Legal Week Student 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 […]Read More
A New Model of Partnership
April 23, 2010
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Leadership, Strategy, Vision /
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Managing Partner magazine 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. […]Read More
Walking the talk
March 12, 2010
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Business Development, Change, Key Account Management, Leadership, Strategy, Vision /
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Legal Marketing Magazine 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 […]Read More
Virtually reality
February 15, 2010
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Change, Culture, Innovation, Key Account Management, Strategy, Values /
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Managing Partner Magazine Virtual Law Partners (VLP/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”. When it was established it made the news in the US legal press for […]Read More
Out of this World
January 30, 2010
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Growth, Innovation, Key Account Management, Leadership, Strategy, Values, Vision /
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Managing Partner Magazine 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 […]Read More
Pitch Perfect…
Published in PSMG Magazine 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? Success in winning business is, first and foremost, about selecting the right […]Read More
“The Road is Long” Merger Masterclass
November 17, 2009
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Growth, Key Account Management, Leadership, Merger, Strategy, Values, Vision /
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Published in Managing Partner Magazine 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. […]Read More
“Hitting the Ground Running” Business Development Masterclass
October 25, 2009
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Growth, Innovation, Key Account Management, Leadership, Strategy, Values, Vision /
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Published in Managing Partner Magazine 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 […]Read More
Changing the Game Plan
October 16, 2009
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Business Development, Change, Growth, Innovation, Key Account Management, Strategy /
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Published in Legal Marketing Magazine 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 […]Read More
Developing Business on a Shoestring
October 12, 2009
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Business Development, Change, Key Account Management, Strategy, Vision /
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Published in PSMG Magazine 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 […]Read More
Outsourcing the Core
Published in Managing Partner Magazine 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 […]Read More
Primus Inter Pares
August 18, 2009
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Leadership, Strategy, Vision /
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Published in Managing Partner Magazine 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 […]Read More
Profiting from Key Clients
Published in Managing Partner Magazine 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 […]Read More
Getting over the gain line!
“Other things being equal, the higher your speed the better.” Jim Greenwood, ‘Think Rugby’ The British & Irish Lions’ tour of South Africa brings home the importance of ‘getting over the gain line’ – that imaginary line on the field which marks the point at which the ball is closer to the opposition try line […]Read More
Brave in the new world
Published in ‘Legal information in a recession: A restructuring opportunity’ 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 […]Read More
Risky Scenarios
May 9, 2009
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Business Development, Change, Growth, Innovation, Strategy, Vision /
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Published in Managing Partner magazine 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 onedimensional model. […]Read More
Crystal Ball Gazing
April 22, 2009
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Growth, Innovation, Key Account Management, Strategy, Vision /
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Published in Managing Partner Magazine 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 […]Read More
Opening up
March 27, 2009
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Key Account Management, Leadership, Strategy, Values, Vision /
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Published in Managing Partner magazine 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. Generally it is not a paucity of systems that prevent firms from capitalising on knowledge. This is […]Read More
Learning to Succeed
Published in PSMG Magazine 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 […]Read More
Thought Leader: Competitive Strategy
Published in Managing Partner magazine “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 […]Read More
The Devil in the Detail
Published in Legal Marketing magazine 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 […]Read More
“What Gets Measured Gets Done”
November 30, 2008
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Growth, Strategy, Values /
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Published in Managing Partner Magazine ‘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 […]Read More
Some Observations on Law Firm Leaders
November 10, 2008
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Leadership, Strategy, Values, Vision /
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Published in Leadership Development in the Legal Profession 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 […]Read More
Mind Over Matter
October 18, 2008
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Leadership, Merger, Strategy, Values /
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Published in Managing Partner magazine 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 […]Read More
Talking with one voice
September 27, 2008
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Business Development, Change, Culture, Key Account Management, Leadership, Strategy /
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Published in Managing Partner magazine 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 […]Read More
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- Fighting fit
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