Taking on the role of chief operating officer – what's ahead?

The UK legal sector is going through some interesting times, with the economic climate and the introduction of the Legal Services Act bringing some tough challenges but also some exciting opportunities. The mid tier of the market is consolidating, with mergers already effected by Clyde & Co and Barlow Lyde Gilbert, and Beachcroft and DAC.

As a result of these changes, a number of firms and their managing partners are beginning to realise that they need skills and experience that either currently doesn’t exist in their firms or does but in persons performing different roles.

Most managing partners have received little or no business leadership and management development beyond their strong technical legal expertise. So the sector has been seeing a raft of appointments at CEO, COO and CFO levels, either with people from within the firm or from external recruitment exercises.

I have recently been appointed COO at Field Fisher Warehouse. I was formerly the firm’s HR director and had held that post for three and a half years. I have an accountancy background so, despite being an international HR leader in professional services firms for 20 years, I have always had an eye for the bottom line.

I was also a management consulting partner at Price Waterhouse for a number of years, so I believe my background and experience certainly ticks most of the boxes of a COO job specification.

The advantage of being promoted from within is that you tend to know the partnership. You know the individuals, where the bear pits are and where the bodies may be buried! Anyone coming into these new roles from outside has two learning curves to go through: the role and the firm.

My new role

So, how will my new role change from my old one? We have a newly elected managing partner, whose manifesto had the following three pillars:

1. getting back to growth;

2. maintaining and improving profitability; and

3. harmony across the partnership.

The past few years of recession have put pressures on all three of these important areas. A key part of my role will be to play a lead part in supporting the managing partner in achieving these key objectives. 

Another key part will be to allow the managing partner to find the time to do the things he sees as being important and to allow him to play to his strengths by taking away a lot of the day-to-day operational management of the firm.

In spite of having the word ‘operational’ in the title, the COO role is also one that contributes to the development and implementation of the firm’s strategy and its adaptation in light of changing business drivers, both internal and external.

On our agenda

None of our business units can afford to stand still. Some will be in markets that are growing and where our focus needs to be ensuring that we grow at the same pace, or even better, as the rest of the market. Other practice areas may be struggling either because the overall level of business is falling or because there is severe client pressure on margins.

I foresee an ongoing review process to evaluate how each of our business units can build or protect revenues and margins. This will involve such subject areas as: 

• key client programmes to ensure we are getting a better share of the wallet of those clients where we are investing in the relationships;

• conversely, learning to say ‘no’ to those types of work that do not fit our strategy or business model;

• the continuing internationalisation of our business and service delivery;

• using technology as an enabler to protect and/or build margins, and seeing IT as an investment – not just a cost;

• investigating legal process outsourcing where appropriate; and

• providing a first-class business support service to the partnership and continually looking at ways to improve it.

So not a lot to do then!

Then there are the immediate priorities. Our partnership has changed significantly over the past six years. During that time, the firm has doubled in size and has grown from one London office to two London offices, plus one in Manchester, three in Germany, one in Brussels and one in Paris. Fifty per cent of our partners were not partners at FFW six years ago.

It is therefore easy to understand why we are currently undergoing a constitutional review; the firm has changed but its governance structure and processes haven’t and they need to. The outcomes from this are likely to include looking at how the partnership is structured and, aligned to that, how our partners are to be rewarded in a very different marketplace.