Masters en Marketing Jurídico y

Gestion de Despachos

Moray McLaren
Iberian Legal Group
moray.mclaren@iberianlegalgroup.com
Process points:

• Language
• Confidentiality
• Methodology.
Methodology:
• “Management is not a science”
• 15 years working with lawyers on business development
• Lawyer (IDLO, Rome)
• Head of business development (IBA, London)
• Head of corporate and international business
development (Denton Wilde Sapte, London)
• MBA Law Firm Management
• Co-founder Iberian Legal Group.
Topics:

- La dirección estratégica del despacho

- Misión y valores
- Capacidades clave
- Politica y cultura de despacho
- Implementacion estrategica
- [Communicacion corporativa].
Summary:
• What is business strategy?
• What does it mean in a law firm?
• The strategy process?
• The strategic options for law firms?
• Aims and expectations.
 Section 1
Why have a business strategy?
A changing world:
• Increasing demand for legal services
• Globalisation (at local level)
• Increased use / reliance on IT
• More demanding business environment
• Less people
• Legislative changes (labourisation).
Results?

• More opportunities / more challenges

• Clients more demanding
• Less relationship based
• Competition increasing / fee pressure
• Increasing costs - technology / people.
 Issues?

• Profitability slide?
• Harder to differentiate?
• Commoditisation?
• Polarisation?
• Specialisation?
• Law as a business?
 Mean in practice?
• The key development has been multi-disciplinary
practices in many cases through the merger or
acquisition of smaller and niche practices.
Juli De Miquel, Arasa & De Miquel Advocats Associats
• We are seeing greater competitiveness. This is leading
to a growth in the size of firms and the emergence of
more professional law firms.
Gerard Serra i Trullás
• There is now a more structured approach to practice.
Salvador Bartolomé, Bartolomé & Briones
• The role of a lawyer as an expert in several fields has a
weak future.
Fernando Rey, Garrigues

• Both the size of the markets and the law firms has
grown. But high competition at the top end of the market
– especially for people (salaries increasing).
Antoni Valverde, Freshfields

• The market is becoming more polarised with the

concentration of top-tier work among a few law firms.
Raimon Segura, Cuatrecasas
• Law firms are in crisis. The artificial union of law firms
based on financial interests generates a lack of identity
and therefore a lack of direction.
José Antonio Soler Ross, Maniega & Soler
 225
4 year progression
(bubble size denotes number of fee-earners)
Garrigues 2005
200

175
Cuatrecasas 2005

150
Total billings (£m)

Garrigues 2001
Uria M enendez 2005
125

Cuatrecasas 2001
100

Uria Menedez 2001

Landwell-PWC 2005
75
Clifford Chance 2005
Landwell-PWC 2001
50 Gomez-Acebo & Pombo
Deloitte 2005 KPM G Abogados 2005
Baker & M cKenzie 2005
Baker &McKenzie 2001

25 KPMG Abogados 2001 Clifford Chance 2001

Roca J unyent 2005 Gomez-Acebo & Pombo Linklaters 2005
Linklaters 2001
Roca J unyent 2001 Allen & Overy 2005 Allen & overy 2001
0

Incom e Per Fee-earner (£)

Source: Iberian Lawyer

 2002 – 2005 Change in hourly fees per partner
%Difference
• Clifford Chance +39
• Linklaters +44
• Uría Menéndez +14
• Bufete Barrilero +51
• Baker & McKenzie +59
• Alzaga & Asociados + 6
• Cuatrecasas +20
• Gómez-Acebo y Pombo +31
• Major UK law firm -15
• CMS Albiñana +18
• KPMG Abogados -1
• Ernst & Young Abogados +24
• Roca Junyent +56
• Landwell +6
• Major UK law firm -24
• Major Spanish law firm -11

Source: Iberian Lawyer

3 strategic styles:
• Adapting
• Wait and see
• Drifting.

Professor Stephen Mayson

 Exercise 1
• Where is your firm today?
• Who are the firm's main clients? What types of
organisations are they?
• What types of services does the firm provide to these
clients?
• Where is the firm strong? Weak?
• Who are the competitors?
• Are certain services becoming less popular? Are there
new services becoming more popular?
• [Is the work becoming more or less profitable?]
 Section 2
• What is business strategy? What is
business strategy in a law firm?
The 3 E’s
Exercise 2
What type of services do you provide?

• Expertise?
• Experience?
• Efficiency?
Defining strategy:

“Strategy frustrates me”

Professor Stephen Mayson

Defining strategy:
3 levels of strategy:

1. Corporate
2. Business
3. Operational.

“Strategy is the matching process

of resources to market needs”

NB: can be deliberate or emergent

Strategy is not marketing:
• Analysis
– market analysis (market size, trends etc)
– competitor analysis
– customer analysis
– company analysis
• Planning
– marketing objectives
– segmenting, targeting, positioning
– setting targets
– marketing strategies
– marketing mix
• Implementation
– fulfilment of the plan
– monitoring and controlling marketing activities which (continually) feeds
back into the other stages.
Mayson adds a 4th for law firms:

4. Normative environment
• “What is it that brings people into the office, day
after day, week after week, year after year?
Critics may say that it is the money; but that
does not hold true for all people in a law firm, not
all of whom are well paid.”
• What is the “glue” which attracted and keeps (or
otherwise) individuals within the firm? To what
extent do the partners want to work individually
or in an integrated manner?

Source: Making Sense of Law Firms, Stephen Mayson

 Mayson’s glue
Issues What are you Who are you in What do you How are you What are you
in business for? business with? do? doing it? getting out of it?

Content Strategy People Delivery Management Economics

Clients Leader/s Specialisation Structure Charging
Services Partners Marketing Offices Leverage
Geography Fee-earners Training Priorities Profits
Style Support staff Quality Systems
Culture Human
Resources
Finance
Premises
Technology

Glue Mission Mentors and Matters Method Money

Mates

Source: Making Sense of Law Firms, Stephen Mayson

 Exercise 3
What is the primary motivation of groups of
lawyers within your firm?

1. Mission of the firm?

2. Friendship?
3. Being legal experts?
4. Money?
Law firm culture?

• “The way we do things around here”

 Cultural types:
• POWER CULTURE
Web with a ruling spider - power and influence from central figure or
group.
• ROLE CULTURE
Bureaucracy - controlled by procedures. Job position is central -
value predictability and consistency.

• TASK CULTURE
Small team approach - co-operating to deliver a project - flexible
and adaptable.
PERSON CULTURE
The individual is central. Strong values about how they will work.
Difficult to manage.

Handy 1993, p 181 – 191

Mayson’s 3 C’s
For 1+1=1 Self-focus. Offices, equipment and support No sense of sharing clients
convenience staff taken on a cost- or work
sharing basis.

To 1+1=2 Clients have different Infrastructure support to ensure Practice in parallel,

Complement legal needs they available facilities, passing matters to
one another can’t satisfy on resources, staff but little each other. Have
their own. business strategy. “own” clients.

To combine 2+2+5 Partners see themselves Provide leadership and “Our” clients - “firm” is
together as custodians - direction. Value independent of any of
leave the firm in management / share them.
better shape than responsibility.
when they found it.
Full integration of
talent, opportunity,
risk and reward
• Los deberes!!!!

• Strengths (internal)
• Weaknesses (internal)
• Opportunity (external)
• Threats (external)
(SWOT)
Next week:
• People Issues
• Client Issues
• Mayson’s 9 strategic options for a law firm
– Marketing positioning
– Competitive advantage
– Value propositions
• The strategic options for law firms.