We are delighted to share with you the recording of our recent webinar, ‘How Do You Attract and Retain ‘High Flyer’ Partners?’, in which partnership specialists discuss navigating the recruitment process for high flyers and important issues facing such decision making within professional practice firms. 

In this recording, Chair Corinne Staves (Partner, CM Murray LLP), Dr Robert Millard (Cambridge Strategy Group), David Shufflebotham (PepUp Consulting), and Zulon Begum (Partner, CM Murray LLP), are joined by guest speaker Siobhán Lewington, Partner at transatlantic legal recruiting firm, Macrae. The panel explore the key challenges involved in attracting and retaining ‘high flyer’ partners, who are often at the very heart of the engine room of many firms. Their discussion addresses key questions and topics, including:

  • What do we mean by high flyers; what might firms be looking for?
     
  • The extent to which firm culture, partner performance and succession planning are key strategic considerations
     
  • How can firms elevate the high flyers already identified within their ranks?
     
  • Should firms guarantee offer compensation packages or are they too flawed with difficulties?
     
  • How can firms manage any tensions between high flyers and other partners?
     
  • The ways in which integration plays into promoting the long-term success of high flyers within a firm

You can also listen to the recording on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

If you would like to discuss any of the above issues in further detail, please contact Partners Corinne Staves and Zulon Begum, who specialise in partnership law issues for firms and partners.

In this first of a two-part video series focusing on law firm partner remuneration and profit sharing systems, Clare Murray (Managing Partner, CM Murray LLP), David Shufflebotham (Founder, Pep Up Consulting), and Corinne Staves (Partner, CM Murray LLP) discuss the following:

  • What are the principal challenges and notable differences in partner remuneration systems between large international firms and small to medium-sized practices?
     
  • Can such challenges be resolved with short-term fixes, or do they usually require a major overhaul of the remuneration system? How do you determine the best approach to take?
     
  • To what extent do effective partner remuneration systems require alignment with the firm’s overarching strategic objectives, as well as a robust framework for evaluating partner performance and contributions, beyond the typical financial metrics?
     
  • How do firms balance the need to remain competitive on partner compensation in order to retain top talent, while ensuring their remuneration policies reflect the firm’s culture, values, and desired behaviours?
     
  • Why is changing partner remuneration systems particularly arduous for firms transitioning from an “eat what you kill” model, versus those coming from a lockstep system? What factors contribute to this disparity?
     
  • What leadership qualities are essential to successfully obtaining buy-in from the partner group of the merits and necessity of implementing a new remuneration system?

In part two of this series, Corinne, David and Clare will delve into the strategy and implementation of developing a new remuneration system. 

If you would like to discuss your partner remuneration system in more detail, or if you have any questions arising from this video, please contact Corinne Staves (Partner, CM Murray LLP), David Shufflebotham (Founder, Pep Up Consulting), or Clare Murray (Managing Partner, CM Murray LLP).

Join us for the next Professional Practices Alliance (PPA) webinar, ‘How Do You Attract and Retain ‘High Flyer’ Partners?‘ on Wednesday 11 September at 9.00am BST. See below for full details and register your place here.

This discussion will explore the challenges involved in attracting (whether by recruitment or internal promotion) and retaining the ‘high flyer’ partners that can be at the very heart of the engine room of many firms. We will consider:

  • What do we mean by high flyers?
     
  • Do the headlines give a real indication of what is happening in firms? If so, what can we learn?
     
  • The extent to which issues are structural, rather than cyclical; and related to over- or under- rewarding partners
     
  • How can you keep high flyers happy? How do you keep them long term? How to get the balance right
     
  • How do you deal with partners who think they are high flyers, but aren’t all that? How can firms mitigate the influence of dissatisfied partners?
     
  • How can firm protect against polarisation?
     
  • Strategy and culture where some fly far higher than others
     

Join us on Wednesday 11 September for an interactive discussion which will answer these questions and leave you feeling more confident in your decision-making process, and how you can use it to drive your strategic vision and mitigate risk.

Our panel brings together expertise in remuneration structures and their implementation and application, managing partner performance – both over and under performance, fair and lawful decision making and discrimination law. They will share their experience and insights on these issues, which affect all professional services businesses on a regular basis.

Chair: 

Guest Speaker:

  • Siobhán Lewington, Partner at transatlantic legal recruiting firm, Macrae – Advises law firms on growth, recruiting partners and teams, office launches, mergers, strategic projects, career management strategy for law firm partners 

PPA Speakers:

Date: Wednesday 11 September 2024
Time: 9.00am-10.00am BST

Registration:
Register to attend here.

Should you have any questions that you would like to be put to the speakers, please email Corinne Staves.

We are delighted to share with you the recording of our recent webinar, ‘Managing Partner Performance in Professional Services Firms, Evaluating Contribution and Using Partner Processes to Drive Your Firm’s Strategy’, in which partnership and regulatory law specialists discuss how to manage successfully partner promotion and remuneration processes within professional services firms.

Jeremy Callman, Barrister at Ten Old Square, David Shufflebotham of Pep Up Consulting and Sarah Chilton and Andrew Pavlovic, Partners at CM Murray LLP, explore the important and practical considerations professional service firms ought to consider when making decisions about partner promotions and remuneration. Their discussion addresses key questions and topics including:

  • What do the regulators, such as the SRA, expect regarding workplace culture and partner performance? How does this impact firm strategy and decision-making?
     
  • What factors should an organisation consider when developing its partner promotion and remuneration strategy and processes?
     
  • What does an effective partner performance evaluation process look like? 
     
  • What governance powers and documentation are required to implement these evaluation and remuneration processes?

If you would like to discuss any of the above issues in further detail, please contact Partners Sarah Chilton and Andrew Pavlovic, who specialise in partnership, professional discipline and regulatory law issues for firms and partners.

We are delighted to share with you the recording of our recent webinar, ‘Cash, Remuneration and Economic Uncertainty’, in which partnership and regulatory law specialists discuss navigating economic uncertainty and how this can be successfully achieved within professional firms. 

Robert Millard of Cambridge Strategy Group, David Shufflebotham of Pep Up Consulting and Corinne Staves and Andrew Pavlovic, Partners at CM Murray LLP, explore the important and practical considerations professional practice firms ought to consider in these times of economic uncertainty. Their discussion addresses key questions and topics including:

  • What key commercial changes are affecting firm strategy and their decision making?
  • What sources of capital firms should be looking to in the new high interest rate landscape; are the traditional methods still viable? 
  • How can firms better structure their own governance to appear more attractive to private equity and bank funding?
  • Strategic options available to mid-market firms to maintain financial resilience; 
  • Key considerations of financial health from an SRA perspective; at what point do the SRA get involved with a firm in financial distress? How do the SRA view different forms of funding?
  • What does the financially resilient law firm of the future look like? 

The SRA has recently issued a warning notice on law firm mergers, sales and acquisitions, seemingly in response to the fallout from the collapses of Axiom Ince and SSB.
 
In this Ten-Minute Talk, Partners Corinne Staves, Zulon Begum and Andrew Pavlovic discuss the content and implications of this SRA Warning Notice, with a particular focus on how this might affect how law firm mergers operate in practice.
 
The full Warning Notice can be accessed here.

If you have any questions in relation to the SRA’s Warning Notice or wish to discuss mergers and acquisitions more generally, please contact Corinne Staves, Zulon Begum and Andrew Pavlovic.

Making decisions on partner remuneration and promotion can be hard – and this is the time of year when it all happens!  There are so many factors to consider – both human and legal, big picture and small but important. Questions those managing these processes in all sizes of professional services firms may be asking include:

  • Does rewarding partners in this way help to achieve our overall strategy and business plan?
  • Will that reward incentivise that individual?
  • Will it drive someone to look elsewhere and what would that mean for our growth and vision?
  • Is it fair to others in the firm?
  • Am I acting in the best interests of the business?
  • Do I need to or should I take into account a partner’s behaviour as well as their work product and financial contribution, and what weight should I give it?
  • Is there a risk of discrimination – are there specific factors we need to take account of?
  • Does my LLP Agreement give me/us the power to move someone down the equity and by how much?
  • Does our partner performance review process support the decisions we need to make?
  • Are we rewarding our stars appropriately and sufficiently?
  • What changes can I consider making to our partner remuneration system to adjust for individual partner over-and underperformance?

Join us on Thursday 11 July for an interactive discussion which will answer these questions and leave you feeling more confident in your decision making process, and how you can use it to drive your strategic vision and mitigate risk.

Our panel brings together expertise in remuneration structures and their implementation and application, managing partner performance – both over and under performance, fair and lawful decision making and discrimination law. They will share their experience and insights on these issues, which affect all professional services businesses on a regular basis.
 
Co-Chairs: 

Guest Speaker:

  • Jeremy Callman, Barrister, Ten Old Square – A leading expert in partnerships and LLPs and renowned authority on the issues relating to discretionary decisions making in this context, having advised and litigated on numerous cases in this field.

PPA Speakers:

Date: Thursday 11 July 2024
Time: 9.00am-10.00am BST

Registration:
Register to attend here.

Join us for the next Professional Practices Alliance (PPA) webinar, ‘Cash, Remuneration & Economic Uncertainty‘ on Thursday 23 May. See below for full details and register your place here.

Times are tough for mid-market law. While demand for some key areas of legal service remains buoyant, others are under pressure. Markets are hypercompetitive. The war for talent has never been more intense. Much current innovation in Generative AI and other legal technology seems focused on reducing client need for external legal advice, not on enhancing the capabilities of law firms. In the UK particularly, shifts in tax law add their own complexity to this toxic mix.

Clearly, law firms need to approach profitability management in new and more creative ways. Business models and strategies must both evolve as digital elements supplant traditional legal service delivery channels. Past webinars on addressing financial pressure have focused mainly on financial hygiene, cost cutting and business development. These remain important but in times of systemic change, one must dig much deeper. How must law firms respond, systemically? To what extent do the ways in which a law firm is governed and organised help or hinder profit margin management? What regulatory requirements and restructuring options apply to a law firm that finds itself in financial difficulties? What options do firms have to use emerging technologies to simultaneously enhance both efficiency and profit?

Join our panel for the forthcoming PPA webinar Cash, Remuneration & Economic Uncertainty, where our panel will explore:

  • Navigating cash pressures: The financial challenges facing modern law firms, including escalating costs, high interest and basis period reform.
     
  • Strategies for success: How can these pressures be managed? From more robust time recording practices to optimising remuneration systems and KPIs, we will discuss the key elements for financial resilience.
     
  • Technology and AI: How can these be used to drive change and how do you ensure they are adopted fully and used effectively?
     
  • The future of law firms: What does the future hold? We look at long term vs short term investment models, PE in law firms, succession planning and related SRA implications.

Date: Thursday 23 May 2024
Time: 9.00am-10.00am BST

Webinar Chair:
​Rob Millard PhD, Director, Cambridge Strategy Group – Law Firm Strategy, Mergers and Sustainability Advisor

PPA Speakers:

Registration:
Register to attend here.

Should you have any questions that you would like to be put to the speakers, please email Rob Millard.

SAVE THE DATES

We are delighted to announce our forthcoming webinars over the coming months:

Friday 14 June 2024: ‘How do you manage underperformance?’

Wednesday 11 September 2024: ‘How do you attract and retain high flyers?’

I attended Lawtech UK’s “GenerativeAI Series: Roadmap to 2030” event held at the Law Society earlier this week, with panels expertly chaired by Christina Blacklaws (she/her) and Richard Susskind. I was amazed though to hear that almost all legal tech start-ups aim their businesses at in-house legal departments and SMEs – not law firms. The few that do work with law firms focus effort on limited point solutions, explicitly not anything disruptive of business models. Law firms, I was told, are simply not interested in those kinds of tools.

The time will come (I believe quite soon) when law firms either become interested in these, or lose vast swathes of hybrid tech/human work that could be well profitable if delivered with business models better aligned with their performance drivers than the century-old billable hour, “Tournament of Lawyers” business model.

Our deck “The Sixth Generation Law Firm” shows how. It can be downloaded via the link here. If you find the deck useful, please feel free to pass it on.


In this Ten-Minute Talk, CM Murray Partners Corinne Staves and Zulon Begum speak with legal recruitment expert Stephen Rodney, founder of IntoGreat Coaching, about how to ensure the effective integration of lateral partner hires in law firms.

Key discussion points from this Ten-Minute Talk:

  • How effective are lateral hires within law firms overall? Are firms and individuals getting it right and what improvements can be made to increase their return on investment?
     
  • Common trends with partner exits involving lateral hires, including factors such as failure to integrate culturally or poor performance
     
  • The importance of a strategic plan at the outset, during the lateral hire recruitment process
     
  • The key elements of integration coaching for lateral hires, including:
    • Business plan vs an integration plan
    • Integration of the lateral’s clients and building profile, both internally and externally
    • Understanding the firm’s culture
    • Establishing how success will be judged
       
  • How can existing frameworks (such as the LLP deed, appraisal criteria, policies and performance metrics) work to support the integration of lateral hires into the firm?
     
  • The critical value of the hire being seen as a two-way process between the firm and the individual
     
  • What does success look like for both the firm and the individual?  

If you have any questions in relation to lateral hire integrations, please contact Corinne Staves or Zulon Begum.

CheckYourLLPAgreement – Online Tool:

Use CM Murray LLP’s free online tool to help review and update your LLP agreement, ensuring it is robust, aligned with best practice and agile. You can access the tool here.