Profile: Moira Gilmour

 

When Moira Gilmour first took on the role of managing partner of Field Fisher Waterhouse in April 2006, she insisted that it be a full-time position.

While many managing partners have struggled to let go of practising law, the former head of FFW's real estate department was determined to give her all to her new role. 'I didn't think it was possible to fit it in with practising and to do both well '“ both would suffer,' says Gilmour.

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As the managing partner position had traditionally been held part time by older partners, she felt that it was time for a change of approach. 'It's not a role that someone can fit in '“ it's got to be a professional managing role,' she says. 'Our previous managing partners were either in their late 50s or early 60s when they took the role, whereas I was 50, which was quite young to do the role in our firm.'

'If you are at retirement age, you don't have the same view of the future as you would if you were someone who is taking this on to ultimately go back to a practising role,' she adds.

Now in her second term, Gilmour points to the firm's dramatic growth as evidence of her success as managing partner. 'In those first three years, we doubled our partnership size and turnover, and that couldn't be done by someone looking after clients as well,' she says.

Part of the growth came from a new European strategy, through which the firm opened offices in Brussels, Hamburg and Paris in 2007. More recently, FFW has opened offices in Munich and Düsseldorf by bringing in local teams from Howrey.

'I think opening in Europe will, in ten years' time, be looked upon as a key strategic move for us,' says Gilmour, who expects Europe to account for 20 per cent of the firm's turnover next year.

The firm pushed forward its plans for growth by agreeing in November 2010 to focus on providing pan-European advice in three core areas: IP and IT, regulatory and corporate. 'The strategy is that local offices are profitable and successful in their local markets and that they are integrated in that we can cross-sell not just between offices but to our wider international clients,' she says.

'It's all about trying to be more European in our outlook rather than very much UK-based with properties outside.'

Managing the firm

As the managing partner of a firm which has rapidly climbed the UK top-50 rankings to become the 30th largest firm by revenues and turnover, Gilmour is actively involved in various committees.

The chair of the management board, professional risk committee and remuneration committee, she is also a member of the international strategy and finance committees. 'I've got a lot of support but, at the end of the day, the onus is on my shoulders and I'm fine with that,' she says. 'I'm probably the one partner who has the best overview of the whole firm,' she says.

While she says she is comfortable with that responsibility and with making decisions quickly, Gilmour does note that achieving consensus is a challenge within the partnership. 'I'm sure everyone feels they can do the role better or more efficiently '“ everyone has a view '“ so gathering consensus is difficult.'

Although she finds her role interesting and rewarding, it is also lonely as a result of having to sometimes make unpopular decisions. 'It's not a popularity role, that's for sure,' she reflects. 'I've said to all of my partners that if I've made you all equally unhappy, I'm sure I've done a good job. But if some of you are happy and some of you are unhappy, I've obviously got it totally wrong!'

Aside from her internal management responsibilities, Gilmour also makes a point of meeting the firm's key clients at least once a year. Aside from using these meetings to thank clients for continuing to instruct the firm, she also tries to weed out feedback on how their matters were handled.

'There is always something '“ you may go into a meeting and the client will say everything is fine and we don't need to talk about it. But about 20 minutes before the end of the meeting, they will say something like 'I wasn't very happy about this thing', but it's fine,' she says. 'And it's something to take back.'

The firm has also recently invested in a new client relationship management system, which is being introduced across the European offices. This is expected to play an important role in the firm's long-term growth. 'I think client relationship management is probably in future going to be the key differentiator.'

Balancing responsibilities

With so many hats to wear within FFW, Gilmour seems to find the role of managing partner more demanding than any she has held before.

'If you can work at a moderate pace you do, but there is so much to do that, in 35 years in the law, I have never worked harder,' she says. 'In my peak in my late 20s and early 30s, I was really working hard toward partnership, but I certainly wasn't working anywhere near as hard as I am now. That's a combination of the role and the circumstances.'

Gilmour, who notes that she's probably had only one or two weekends off from work since last August, says she has been able to keep the pace up because she has support at home. 'My husband retired some time ago, so he helps with the children,' she says. 'I've been working at least one day on the weekend, which works for me because I've got two teenage children who go to boarding school.'

One of the challenges Gilmour is now confronting is low levels of diversity within the firm. 'We don't have as good a diversity record as I'd like, we certainly don't have a lot of minority lawyers,' she says. 'If you were to look at the statistics of the firm, you would think that women aren't well treated.'

To increase levels of diversity within FFW, a dedicated committee has been formed. Gilmour has also introduced an initiative to encourage more women to aspire to senior management roles within the firm.

However, the example she sets can be a hard one to follow. 'I do spend more time in the office than probably several female lawyers, it's certainly my choice,' she says.

When asked about the firm's approach to flexible working, she notes that it is available on a case-by-case basis. 'A number of our maternity leavers come back on a three or four-day week initially, it's quite difficult if you've got a transition workload to do, but we try to accommodate that,' she says, noting that the firm has very robust home working systems and IT support.

'It really is possible to have a completely flexible day, which is how we structure it '“ to work from home in the morning and get the work done while being around to do whatever you have to do, then being in the office in the afternoon,' adds Gilmour.

Looking back, moving forward

Another project which is close to Gilmour's heart is a programme in which local teenagers are invited into the office to see how it runs. 'I'm very keen on social mobility, in my own way I would like to do more with them,' she says. 'But I think diversity is a fairly difficult thing to engineer.'

Part of her motivation stems from having attended a comprehensive school in a Scottish mining community and lived in social housing in her formative years. 'There was a lot of poverty among people in the school,' she reflects.

Gilmour notes that she was the first person in her family to go to university and to leave the ten-mile radius of their home. 'I just think that someone with that background now would find it very difficult to go on to become a lawyer,' she says. 'And going on from that, they would find it very difficult to become a senior lawyer and take on a senior position.'

Rather unusually for a managing partner, her first degree was in French, German and philosophy. She then reached a crossroads. 'I didn't want to teach and I had some friends who were doing law degrees, so I converted. I did my MA and went on to do an LLB at Glasgow University,' she says.

'I could have gone into medicine at that time, it was just a career. I had no background in law, I had no professionals in my family, so I had terrible career guidance,' reflects Gilmour. 'But the law has been a good profession, although I'm not sure I would advise my daughter to be a lawyer.'

Now entering the last year of her second three-year term as managing partner, Gilmour says she will be seeking a third term. 'This is a challenging time for the firm and I think it needs an older and more experienced head, so I don't have any plans at the moment to step down.'

As the firm's first managing partner who has not gone on to retire, she says there is no built-in limit on the number of terms she can serve. However, she does note that she won't undertake a fourth term. 'I think nine years is enough for me and my partners,' she says.

'I think the optimum number is seven to eight years in any one position '“ if we had four-year terms I think it would pro