Managing partners should be as far from dictatorial as possible

Having joined Simpson Millar in the early 1990s, I had been an equity partner for a little over 12 months when, at the age of 33, I was elected managing partner. Clearly, it was for situations like this that words like 'rabbit' and 'headlights' were first brought together in the same sentence.

In 1996, our English law firm comprised two offices (London and Leeds) and it had turnover of around £3m. I would be fibbing if I was to say those first six months or so didn't cause me many more sleepless nights than restful ones.

Perhaps it was understandable that I was a bit overanxious about my right to impose my ideas on partners who had considerably more experience and seniority than myself. But the experience eventually led me to the conclusion that, for me at least, the role of managing partner should be as far from a dictatorial one as it was possible to be. Only then would I be able to support my colleagues and help to build the firm around them.

Fast-forward 19 years and the firm is now playing its part in a subtle revolution of legal services. We became part of Fairpoint PLC in June 2014 and have been liberated by a regulatory regime allowing us to diversify and do more for consumers.

Leading change

We now have a nationwide network of offices and my role as managing partner has obviously changed a great deal.

In the absence of a manual explaining the job, my approach to maintaining a style of leadership across a business which is now almost seven times the size of the one
I joined has been driven by an instinct to:

• pursue the correct cultural fit between our people and business;

• define the right processes within our operation and how we deal with customers; and

• allow people to get on with what you've brought them in to do.

One of the first things I did as managing partner was to pursue accreditation under the Law Society's Lexcel quality standard, and we became the first law firm in the UK to be awarded it. The accreditation continues to be one of the key benchmarks that the firm sets itself year on year, constantly challenging our systems and procedures to ensure that they achieve the highest standards.

In many ways, an external accreditation or endorsement of the way we run our business cannot be beaten, which is why we have continued to seek these opportunities out. We've followed Lexcel up with the Diversity in Business Accreditation (Excellence) and the gold standard mark for Investors in People, both of which considered how staff engagement contributed to the running of our firm and obliged us to open our doors to independent assessors.

Hitting the road

In terms of my personal contact with people in Simpson Millar's 13 offices, this is divided serendipitously into an equal number of touchpoints throughout the year. But, there is not a mandated number of contact points with each office head or department manager. From a practical point of view,
I probably speak to each one of them on a weekly basis, supplemented by visits to our offices across England and Wales whenever I can.

We also ensure that heads of department report to the board regularly, with one or two of them joining us each month to review progress in relation to business plans, targets and so on.

Maintaining culture

As an acquisitive firm, we face challenges both when we enquire about a possible partnership and when we eventually acquire a new business. Although we target businesses for their complementary characteristics, it's incumbent upon myself and the management team to identify cultural aspects which may clash or correspond. Nothing is certain, but we rely on a careful analysis of how a firm operates, what its own leadership structures are, how staff expect to be
paid and the direction that their careers
are taking.

We believe we have succeeded in providing an environment that people want to work in. On that basis, our culture is ambitious, but may not be like other firms which have an individualistic 'eat what you kill' approach.

Most lawyers join the profession to build a long-lasting career and what we're trying to do is to build a diversified company with our new colleagues at Fairpoint that delivers a sustainable long-term future for lawyers who want to help consumers.

To ensure that our people buy into that strategy, we create for them an environment that values smart ways of working which is focused on improving processes and efficiency, teamwork and customer focus, but isn't prescriptive about the dos and don'ts of everyday office life.

We are broadly spread out in geographical terms and there will always be challenges for myself and the management to maintain our firm's values but, having defined them internally and externally through our increasing profile, we hope that our reputation now precedes us.

Peter Watson is managing partner at Simpson Millar (www.simpsonmillar.co.uk)