Category Archives: Strategy
Developing a Competency Framework
1 May 2012 Full StoryThe term ‘competence’ is used to describe what people need to do to perform a job and is concerned with effect and output rather than effort and input. ‘Competency’ describes the behaviour that lies behind performance, such as critical thinking or analytical skills, and describes what people bring to their role. A ‘competency framework’ is [...]
Read MoreThere is a silver bullet
1 May 2012 Full StoryThis is a difficult time for all legal businesses. The UK economy is not helping you to thrive. The deregulation of the market makes everything you thought you knew about competitors redundant. The pace of change is increasing and you do not know who you will be competing with or what they will be doing. [...]
Read MoreHow Well Do You Develop Your People?
26 Mar 2012 Full StoryTraining and Development is key to an effective team When you manage a team, how well it performs often depends on how well you’ve trained and developed your people. Individuals need ongoing training and development to help them become more effective, and take on bigger and more significant challenges. More than this, they need help [...]
Read MoreThe No G*t Rule
20 Mar 2012 Full StoryThere has been a lot of focus on the need for consolidation in the legal market and the fact that large firms need to merge. There has also been a lot of discussion about the squeeze being applied on the mid range law firms from new entrants below them and the legal elite above them. [...]
Read MoreMerger & Consolidation Summit
22 Feb 2012 Full StoryLittle less conversation little more action needed, merger conference hears “Lots of talking but little action” is endemic among law firms in respect of merger and consolidation but it is fear of not knowing how to merge, rather than not recognising the opportunities that merger presents, that is holding law firms back, according to speakers [...]
Read MoreAre you a lion or a lamb?
21 Feb 2012 Full StoryThe combination of the tough economic climate and the visible raft of merger activity is causing some perfectly good law firms to panic and to surrender their existence to predators. Why? There is no reason apart from the fact that they are finding the job of surviving and thriving is hard these days and looks [...]
Read MoreMerger News
17 Feb 2012 Full StoryThere have been major developments in the last month: Software and Outsourcing firm Quindell Portfolio acquired Silverbeck Rymer for £19.3m Duke Street Capital acquired a majority stake in Parabis for somewhere between £150m and £200m Slater & Gordon acquired Russell Jones & Walker for £53.8m Pinsent Masons announced they will merge with McGrigors on 1st May [...]
Read MoreBetter Together – New Law Journal Article
4 Feb 2012 Full StorySee the article by Phil Jepson and Viv Williams on Law Firm Mergers in the New Law Journal 13 important merger lessons Get help—DIY doesn’t work. Follow a merger matrix (a document that helps see early in negotiations which parts of the businesses fit and helps decide if each candidate is worth pursuing) and have [...]
Read MoreHow to do Merger
20 Jan 2012 Full StoryIf you are a firm which is considering combining your business with another then how can you best prepare and execute? Be clear and honest about why you are doing it You may have clear objectives and a strategy in place to take you towards them, in which case a merger could be a way [...]
Read MoreLinder Myers/RFC – A merger of our times
20 Jan 2012 Full StoryA merger of two long standing Manchester firms. The process leading to the acquisition of RFC began in Summer 2010. Linder Myers had a strategy to grow their business in Manchester and in a set of other locations. They knew what markets they were focused on. They wanted to move forward more quickly than organic [...]
Read MoreWhat can law firms learn from Apple?
15 Jan 2012 Full StoryWhen Apple’s first business plan was created in 1976 it was called “The Apple Marketing Philosophy” and was a 1 page document. It contained 3 principles: • Empathy – Understand the needs of your customers better than your competitors do. • Focus – To be good at what we do we must eliminate things which [...]
Read MoreWeb 2.0 in the legal world
1 Dec 2011 Full StoryA recent survey, commissioned by RTS Media, found that two-thirds of law firms cannot find the time or resources to build and maintain a strong online presence, even though more than 75% have committed to using social media as a business tool. So what’s stopping firms from truly embracing web 2.0? According to the survey [...]
Read MoreMergers – So far So few
17 Nov 2011 Full StoryWe are told that 75% of law firms have spent some or all of the last 12 months in discussions about “merger”. In the USA it is reported that mergers are up by 80% in the first three quarters of 2011 against the same period in 2010. The market there is being driven by transactions [...]
Read MoreColin Powells 13 Rules of Leadership
31 Oct 2011 Full StoryInteresting and thought provoking ideas from the American statesman and former four-star General. It ain’t as bad as you think! It will look better in the morning! Get mad then get over it! Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it! It can be [...]
Read MoreMerger & Acquisition of Law Firms: 360 Jepson Holt
21 Oct 2011 Full StoryOne of the features of the next 2-3 years in the legal services market will be a wave of consolidation with existing firms getting together. At the same time we will see more spin outs of new niche firms led by people who are currently Partners in larger firms. What is driving this? There are [...]
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