Editor's letter: Staying alive

First it was vampires, now it is zombies that are all the rage. No doubt many of you with teenage children will have been subjected to discussions, viewings and perhaps even themed parties based on the stories of the Twilight Saga and Walking Dead.

But, for managing partners, these are not just stories to be dismissed as the latest fad. A real threat exists that your partners will not realise your firm is about to become one of the walking dead until they take a cold, hard, look in the mirror. So, what can you do to prepare for the terrors that have affected the legal sector and avoid joining the ranks of those who have inadvertently dug their own graves?

The first and most important thing is to recognise that your partners may be grieving the loss of what they once had - a fairly good living in return for giving expert technical legal advice. Some may be in denial about the changes in the legal marketplace, although one would hope that, after several years of global recession, most will have moved on from this stage of bereavement.

And then, of course, they will experience anger - who hasn't been faced with partners venting their frustration about new (and, in their view, unreasonable) targets? You know what comes after that - bargaining, followed by depression and, finally, acceptance. The latter is where you want your partners to be before you try to suggest any radical changes to your firm's organisational structure, business model or workflow processes, for example.

But, before you even start to consider any of these initiatives, you will need to look around you and take stock of the changing landscape. Where are the safe havens and which are the burning areas to avoid? For example, should your firm really be opening that office in an emerging market in the next quarter? What competitive ground would you lose if you didn't?

Where are the most useful resources for a sustainable practice and how can you bring them to your firm safely? What collateral damage are you willing to accept? For example, do you need to close some unprofitable divisions to invest in a potentially lucrative new sector?

And, after all this pain, can your firm stay together? It is only when you have a clear strategy for survival that your people can, under your leadership, begin to hope for a better tomorrow.

In times of darkness and hardship, people need something to keep them together. It's very easy to become defeatist and forget all the good things your firm achieved in its early years. As managing partner, it's up to you to remind your partners and staff of how much they have vested in the firm and why it's important for everyone to stand united in ensuring the firm's survival. The alternative is to face falling down, divided among the ranks of the undead.

Until next time,
 

Manju Manglani, Editor

- mmanglani@wilmington.co.uk