the chief
Message from
In the words of Facebook’s founder
Mark Zuckerberg, “The biggest risk is
not taking any risk... In a world that is
changing really quickly, the only strategy
that is guaranteed to fail is not taking
risks.”
From that perspective, running a Law
Firm is a difficult exercise. Solicitors are
trained to advise on ways to minimise
risk, rather than increase it –
“Want to make sure that your family
benefit from your estate? Make a Will
naming them as beneficiaries”
“Want to ensure that you are unlikely to
be sued if things go wrong when you
appoint a builder? Make sure you have a
detailed contract”
“Keen to find out if you will be able
to build on land at the rear of your
property? Ask your lawyer to review the
title and any planning restrictions. Don’t
just build”
When it comes to running a business
delivering legal services, it can therefore
be tempting for the management team to
revert to type and act as their own legal
advisers, exercising lawyerly caution in
their approach to the “evidence” there
may be for taking one decision over
another. This can lead to inertia and
delays in growth, indeed it can mean
that such businesses do not move
forward at all. Some of you may have
had experience of firms that have not
invested in technology or new ways of
working for decades.
A Risky Business
There are some people in business that will subscribe to the
view that making a business or other venture successful is all
about taking risks. Yes, they will need to be well judged risks
and of course it goes without saying that not every risk will pay
off, but in essence, so it is argued, taking risks is what makes
progress happen.
4
For that reason, some law firms have
taken a conscious decision to be
managed by non lawyers, making it clear
that the lawyers are there to deliver the
service to clients, but not to run the firm.
Such firms tend to be relatively new
entrants to the market, or have benefitted
from large investments of private equity
funding.
However, some of the World’s most
successful firms, including the largest
City firms, continue to be run by
management teams that include