How "corporate" should law firms go?

October 16, 2008 6:51 AM

When any law firm reaches a certain size, its partners are forced to consider more formal management styles. But when that tipping point is reached, how far towards a corporate structure should lawyers take their firms?

Former and existing senior partners of law firms considered this difficult question during a packed IBA session in Buenos Aires yesterday.

With pressures such as the drift to commoditisation, attracting and retaining talent and the economic downturn keenly felt, management issues are as important as ever.

Several of the speakers had navigated their firms through the conflicts and challenges of a partnership and corporate structure during growth from a small team of lawyers to multi-practice firms.

Michael Simmons, now at Finers Stephens Innocent LLP in London, has experimented with creating non-lawyer administrative and chief executive roles, and found poor communication and lawyers' tendency not to listen to non-lawyers can hinder their efficiency.

"As a firm grows it needs a corporate structure to let lawyers get on with their job," he noted. "Lawyers should not do any administration. You probably need lawyers to manage the firm, but with skilled assistance."

For a Latin America perspective, attendants heard from Hector Mairal of Argentina's biggest firm, Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal, which has grown from 28 to over 300 lawyers since 1991.

Mairal touched on the nature of the "lawyer breed" and the resistance to certain corporate behaviours. For example, he noted that some firms in the region have experienced difficulty removing non-performing partners and that legal work can never be a true commodity because it is the sum of talented individuals. While he welcomes a level of corporate structure he does not think the cultural aspect of a partnership can be avoided.

A different opinion came from Bob Vineberg of Canada's Davies Ward Phillips and Vineberg LLP, who suspects law firms will move increasingly towards a corporate structure in the future.

(Source: LatinLawyer)

15 October, 2008