When Mike Brown steps down as BLM senior partner in March, following six years at the firm's helm, it will mark the third time a senior management role at the firm has changed hands in seven months.

Matthew Harrington (pictured) will step into the senior partner role next month, with Brown taking up a new position as head of risk and compliance.

Harrington says that despite the upheaval, the new management team is ready to "pick up the ball and keep running".

The sudden departure of Gary Allison in July, just eight months into his tenure as managing partner, was followed by the resignation of London head Jennette Newman in November. Since then, Manchester claims solutions head Vivienne Williams has stepped in as managing partner, while insurance partner Paula Jefferson has been appointed as London head.

"Vivienne [Williams] is a dyed-in-the-wool BLM partner and she has been, like myself, in key leadership positions, so was able to slot into the management seamlessly," says Harrington, "The executive board are already in situ and my role as senior partner – alongside the board – is to be responsible for our strategy going forward. I have the team in place to continue with the plans that we have got."

Shortly after the departures, it emerged in December that HSBC had joined Barclays in taking a debenture over the firm's assets in return for a refinancing package agreed through a club banking arrangement. During the course of 2017, the firm cut at least 71 members of staff, including 13 lawyers, while also acquiring 33 lawyers – including 11 partners – from Slater and Gordon to launch a new commercial advisory practice.

Harrington admits the company has been going through a transitional period. He comments: "We have had change at BLM, and we continue to have change. It is the nature of doing business, but we have got to respond to that and make sure that, as we continue to adapt, we are talking to our people and also with our clients so that they know what is going on. That communication is very important."

Harrington joined BLM in 2007 from Cardiff-based firm Cartwright Black, bringing with him a 10-strong team to launch BLM's Cardiff office. In 2010, he steered the firm through an office opening in Bristol, before joining the partnership board in 2014.

He says the firm has an "appetite" for engaging with technology and artificial intelligence, with its latest accounts showing that 92% of the £1.2m capital invested by the firm went towards new technology. Harrington highlights the firm's new research partnership with the London School of Economics – aimed at developing prediction models for litigation, claims, predicting case length, cost and risk – as evidence as of the firm's interest in technology.

Harrington does not expect an "immediate return" on the investment, particularly due to current "challenging market conditions". He adds: "We expect revenue and turnover for 2018-19 to be in line with last year, but with the investment we have made in technology and people, we will start growing again beyond that."

The move to invest in technology comes after a review of the firm's support functions, with 50 back-office roles cut last summer. Harrington admits the firm has gone through some consolidation in recent years, with new technology lessening the need for as many support roles. "We have had to do certain things in relation to how we do our work," he says.

Commenting on his succession, Harrington says that he feels "well equipped to take on a lead role and take a lead in the strategic direction of the firm", adding: "If it wasn't now, my time might not come again."

Harrington continues: "I think if one looks back at the last three or four years, we have undergone a lot of changes. They were always thought out with clients, and that has made us more competitive. We have now got the opportunity to launch the next phase, develop and grow."