Nine out of 10 senior lawyers view leadership as key to success while DLA Piper's recruitment of former Linklaters head Tony Angel wins widespread backing. Simon Petersen reports

Linklaters and Slaughter and May have been named the two best-managed major law firms in the UK, according to the views of the firms' peers.

The latest Big Question poll cited the duo as having the best management among the top 20 largest firms in the UK, with 36% of respondents citing Slaughters as the best managed firm, against 31% for Linklaters.

The next highest rated were Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, with 22% of the vote, and Allen & Overy, with 17%. Rounding out the top five were Clifford Chance and DLA Piper, with 12% of the vote each. The poll, which garnered responses from more than 130 partners, asked respondents to nominate their two choices for best-managed firms within the top 20.

Slaughters' leading position comes despite – or perhaps because of – the firm's famously light-touch approach to management. Slaughters practice partner Paul Olney (pictured) commented: "We are not a firm that believes in top-down central management. All partners take individual responsibility for developing their practice and building their client base, so the role of management here is to support partners, to provide them with the back up and infrastructure they need and, from time to time, to suggest how we can do better or improve our service to clients."

Pinsent Masons arbitration head Mark Roe said: "It is a question of from which position you start. A firm like Slaughter and May is in a very good position with an excellent brand – a much easier firm to manage than some where the direction of travel is not immediately obvious."

Norton Rose deputy managing partner Tim Marsden commented: "What makes for good law firm management is to be in tune with your abilities. Firms like Slaughter and May and Linklaters have good management for their firms, but would not be so good for management here. We have very different models. A managing partner like [Norton Rose chief executive] Peter Martyr is very much in tune with the abilities of our firm, which is to be very international."

The poll also found that partners overwhelmingly see the importance of management at commercial law firms, with well over half of partners (57%) saying strong leadership was 'crucial', while a further 36% rated it as 'very important'.

Partners were also widely supportive of DLA Piper's move to recruit former Linklaters managing partner Tony Angel to a senior management role – a highly unusual hire into a top-level executive role in legal services. More than half of respondents (64%) said the move was a 'good' or 'very good' idea while 23% had 'mixed feelings'. Only 13% were negative about the appointment.

DLA Piper managing director Andrew Darwin commented: "It is crucially important to have strong leadership in a law firm. It is not enough to have just vision anymore; you have to have the trust of your partners and the ability to execute. Good leaders lead by influence, through their actions rather than just words."

Many partners believed that there had been notable improvements in the quality of management in the legal industry over the last five years, with 50% stating it has improved at their own firm against only 19% who believed it had declined.

Partners were generally well disposed to their own firm's leadership, with 54% rating their firm's management strongly, including 19% who believed it was 'excellent'. Twenty-nine percent though it was either 'poor' or 'could be better'.

The research also found relatively high levels of interest in leadership roles within the law – a contrast to the stereotypical view that partners purposely try to avoid management in favour of client work. Asked whether they would consider a senior management role at their law firm, 26% said 'absolutely', with a further 34% responding 'probably, yes'. Only 9% were set against such a role.

Pinsents' Roe added: "Most lawyers do not recognise how hard being in management really is, both mentally and physically."