From the shop floor to the top floor – how big billers can hold the key to successful management
Are star dealmakers credible candidates for leading multimillion-pound businesses?
June 25, 2015 at 06:01 AM
3 minute read
Do good lawyers make good managers? Despite the trend for law firms increasingly being run more like corporates than partnerships, a quick glance across the leading firms' management teams confirms that it is more often than not dealmaking stars who are selected for the top posts. Freshfields' election of former corporate head Edward Braham to senior partner this week is a good example, and some of the contenders emerging to succeed Linklaters' management team seem to be following a similar path.
Twenty – even 10 – years ago law firm management was a very different proposition: management was in charge of far fewer people, spread across fewer international offices. Equally, the divide between the operational role of managing partner and the statesman-like senior partner position was more clear cut. In some respects continuing to practise in addition to managing was a more feasible proposal. But as law firms have morphed into large global businesses, management has moved into a different realm.
The traditional law firm leadership skills – managing profitability via leverage, billable hours and controlling expenses – need to be applied more ruthlessly than ever, but modern managers also require a broader skillset that matches firms' expansion. Throw into the mix an increasingly hectic travel schedule, and the demanding nature of management at a top firm is further underlined.
So what, if anything, about being a big-billing partner makes them a suitable candidate to take on the mantle of leading a multimillion-pound business? Not all lawyers make natural managers and there is also a serious question over side-lining your biggest fee-generating assets into other roles. But there remains a perverse logic to going down the well-trodden rainmaker-to-manager route. Crucially, successful leadership of large partnerships requires a respected figure with a proven record of understanding life at the coalface to even begin to pull together consensus. And these stars are often client friendly, calm under pressure and have a real understanding of the businesses they manage.
Four of the five magic circle firms are due to hold – or have just held – management elections over the next 18 months and a new generation of dealmakers looks set to move from mandates to management. While the success of a law firm rises and falls on more than the few in power, those involved will be hoping the learning curve is not too steep.
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