Career Planning for Managing Partners
Law firms often debate the advantages and disadvantages of professional managers as opposed to traditional lawyer managing partners. Each comes with different attributes and experience. The professional manager is sometimes viewed as just a hired hand and needs time to learn the business of law, but has management knowhow. The managing partner has credibility and […]
Choosing Board Members
In some firms the top leadership team or board is almost self-selected from a very short list of partners or members who are prepared to involve themselves in management. Equally there are many firms that need to choose their boards and even their managing partners from a long list of potential candidates. Many factors need […]
Matching Authority and Responsibility
Many law firms remain acutely political organizations with much of the firm’s decision-making having to run the gamut of opinion-seeking, back-scratching and adroit manoeuvring before the management team can make significant progress. It has long been recognised that the extreme consensus model (whereby every major decision gets delayed until the achievement of positive ratification) is […]
Fulfilling The Three Main Requirements Of Investors In Your Law Firm
Partners or members of a law firm are all investors in it, however the firm is structured. Typically, before ploughing money into any venture, an investor needs to see three essential components: a compelling strategy; successful cash and growth management; and a structure of progressive management. Even if the firm has no intention of attracting […]
Preparing for an Unpredictable Future: Scenario Planning Tips
It hardly needs saying that the future is difficult or impossible to predict. Law firm pessimists often indulge in catastrophizing many situations that they think will be threatening or disastrous to the firm. Optimists, on the other hand, may become even narcissistic in exaggerating the firm’s special market position and often over-emphasize the chances of […]
Entrepreneurship is at the Heart of Good Governance
In the last couple of years I have been honoured to advise nearly a dozen clients on complex governance projects in at least six different jurisdictions. Some of these projects have been driven by tax or regulatory considerations, but most have had effective management and leadership at their core. One of these projects was to […]
Appraisals Revisited
Published in: Professional HR, September/October 2006. This article is reprinted with kind permission from the original publishers. © 2006, Nick Jarrett-Kerr Most professional-services firms claim to have appraisal systems, but the trouble is that very few of them are effective, particularly at partner level. Implementation is the main headache; “It’s a nightmare getting the partners […]
Compensation and Remuneration Revisited
Clarifying and Defining What the Firm Expects of its Partners Before deciding the best method of compensation and profit sharing in law firms, it is important to be clear about what the firm expects of its partners and what roles and responsibilities it needs them to perform. Partners equally need to be clear how they […]
Creating and Rewarding Profitable Performance
The Links Between the Success of the Firm and Individual Partner Contribution and Reward Published in: Kerma Partners Quarterly 2007, Issue 3. This article is reprinted with kind permission from the original publishers. © 2007, Nick Jarrett-Kerr The issues of partner performance and rewards are rising on law firm agendas. Law firm leaders talk a […]
How Partner Compensation Can Support Strategic Goals and Economic Objectives
For many firms, partner compensation has long been managed in isolation from their overall business strategy, which is primarily focused on external factors, such as markets and clients. But, by aligning compensation models with strategic objectives, firms will be far better equipped to achieve their goals. The Kerma Partners’ ‘Global Survey of Large Law Firm […]