<b>Corner Office: </b>Who's Running The Store?

To understand why many managing partners might have difficulty answering this question, one needs to examine the resource pool within law firms from which managing partners are chosen. Among the popular choices are: those with the biggest books of business, the most widely recognized reputations, the best rainmakers, the best lawyers and the most effective client service partners. Most partners feel that anyone who has attained any of those levels practicing law ought to be just as proficient at running a law firm. Not quite!

Many years ago, I met with a senior partner of a troubled major Wall Street firm who had recently been elected its managing partner. I asked how he got selected and what he felt qualified him for his new job. He paused thoughtfully and said: 'I really don't have any qualifications other than I'm the only one to whom all the partners speak.' Sadly, within 3 years this once venerable firm closed its doors and dissolved.

Usually, partners who have the most value to the firm as practicing lawyers are plucked, at the peaks of their careers, from doing what they are best at to run the firm. Seldom do they have any management skills or training to run a business, let alone one as complicated as a law practice.

Many managing partners are at first elated to accept the assignment, but they eventually come to recognize that it's a burden for which they are not prepared. In a small or medium-sized firm, it's a part-time job, for which they will get little credit from their partners. Usually, they can still continue to enjoy the satisfaction of practicing law. However, in a large firm, it's a full-time job, and they soon realize that their former practice has become a fond memory. So why is it so difficult to take on the responsibilities of a managing partner?

The Resource Pool

The answer lies in the fact that lawyers are not trained to be managers, either in law school or in practice. Some of the best lawyers operate as solo practitioners, even within some of the largest multinational firms. Trained to be self-reliant, to challenge everything, they are reluctant to work in teams. Learning how to delegate work effectively and manage a team of professionals does not come easy. Among all the skills required to be a good lawyer, developing the skills to manage and lead groups of people in problem resolution is not high up on the list. That is why it is not surprising to find that the resource pool for management talent in law firms is indeed shallow.

Essential Qualities for a Managing Partner

Unless a managing partner has a natural gift for management or has had the opportunity to develop some management skills, perhaps by running a practice group, he or she has to learn on the job.

To be effective, a managing partner must:

• Understand the business of law and what makes a firm profitable;
• Appreciate how lawyers think and what motivates them;
• Become a leader, not an administrator;
• Learn to delegate authority to others and not micromanage;
• Develop a vision for the future of the firm;
• Focus on the need to grow, because a firm that doesn't grow will be overtaken by the competition and wither; and
• Recognize that building a marketing mindset into the fabric of the firm is the only way to achieve stable long-term growth.

Accountability

A managing partner is responsible to the partners. They have entrusted him or her with the authority to lead the firm into the future, and they have the right to expect that he or she will run it for their overall benefit. A managing partner must function as the CEO, not as a committee chairperson. As Harry Truman said: 'The buck stops here.' While he or she should certainly seek advice and input from the partners, he or she alone has the responsibility to make the decisions ' and is accountable for them.

Role of the Managing Partner

The responsibility of the partners is to provide the finest client service. The responsibility of the managing partner is to provide the resources and environment in which every lawyer can thrive and become the best that he or she can be, work at the highest level of their ability, reach their full potential as lawyers, and achieve their personal financial goals. The managing partner should look upon him- or herself as the leader who provides the wherewithal for all the partners to succeed. To achieve this, he or she needs to address the role from two different perspectives: first, to run the firm; second, to manage the partnership.

Running the Firm

Managing a law practice requires the ability to anticipate the needs of clients and the resources that will be required to fill them. While most lawyers have difficulty looking ahead even to the end of the year, a managing partner must be able to look 3-5 years into the future ' and beyond. This requires the development of a 'vision' for the firm. And a vision can only be effective if the managing partner can get every partner to buy into and embrace it as his or her own. But a shared vision alone is not enough. A vision needs a strategic plan to implement it, and a marketing plan to achieve it. The managing partner must set this process in motion so that all partners, both younger and older, take a vested interest in it and play an active role in making it succeed.

Each practice area must have a partner appointed to lead it, to set growth goals, encourage and develop younger partners and monitor professional development and financial performance. This will develop the leadership and management skills of client service partners and foster an entrepreneurial attitude. It should also develop management skills for grooming future managing partners. It is not unusual that younger partners may rise to this occasion more readily than more senior partners, who are less tractable and who may be more valuable just practicing law.

A managing partner needs to understand the distinction between managing the practice and managing the organization. Managing the organization can only be handled effectively by hiring qualified administrators, so that routine and daily activities need not be handled on an exception basis. A managing partner needs the confidence to put in place an infrastructure to handle the day-to-day operations of the firm, so that he or she can operate as the CEO. Micromanagers miss the big issues and eventually burn out and do everyone a disservice, including themselves.

A Marketing Mindset

While growth by merger is fast, most mergers are not born out of strength. For a healthy firm that wants to grow, a strategic plan to achieve a vision, and a marketing plan in which every partner participates, has a much greater chance of lasting success. The key is to make marketing every partner's job. When embarking on such a plan, sustained effort, not just quick successes, should be the objective. A marketing mindset must be created under which every partner puts forth an equal effort and is expected to do what he or she is best at. Some can speak, some write, some join organizations, some just schmooze. All efforts, taken together, can become a powerful force in the marketplace that can improve the firm's market penetration. Such a program will have far more lasting value than just a few high-profile rainmakers who invariably are not capable of passing their rainmaking skills or contacts on to the next generation.

But many partners are reluctant to get involved in marketing. They must be motivated to participate. The two principal ways to motivate partners are peer pressure and compensation. So if compensation is based, for example, primarily on billable hours, why would any partner let anything impinge on billable hours to spend time marketing? And if marketing time is not tracked just like billable time, how important could it be? A managing partner must recognize that in addition to providing the partners with the training, tools and coaching to learn how to market themselves and the firm, he or she must be prepared to reflect the partner's marketing efforts, or lack thereof, in compensation. This is the only sure-fire way to send a clear signal that marketing, like client service, is an important part of every partner's responsibility.

Managing the Partnership

No less difficult than running the firm, is managing the partners ' often likened to herding cats. But this can be made a lot easier, if certain basic principles are understood. This starts with a partner's entitlement from the firm. He or she should expect the firm to provide the vehicle by which he or she can reach the pinnacle of his or her professional abilities. And since the partner has only one career in a lifetime, he or she should expect to earn financial rewards commensurate with his or her efforts and talents. Among the reasons for so many lateral partner moves in recent years is not just big money offers, but discontent with their present firms for not providing the opportunity for them to reach the top of their professional abilities and maximize their career earnings.

The managing partner must take an active role in managing the expectations of the partners. Partners should have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, in terms of client service, marketing and associate development, as they progress through various stages of their careers. He or she should also be mindful of the need to harmonize the personal, financial, and professional objectives of younger and older partners. Unless the firm is an 'eat-what-you-kill' shop, the time for sitting around a table at year-end and deciding how the pie should be split up has long since passed. Performance criteria should be clearly communicated and partner performance formally evaluated at least annually. The compensation system should be transparent and should be based on stages of development, and the ability to progress at varying paces over a career.

Responsibilities to Clients

A managing partner must demonstrate leadership with clients, as well as with the partners. He or she must be proactive in anticipating the changing needs of clients and adapting the firm's services accordingly. This begins with providing the firm's top clients with ready access to the managing partner. In a major firm, he or she should meet regularly with the CEO and General Counsel of at least the top 20-25 clients.

No one would disagree that clients deserve the best service, but what can the managing partner do to ensure that happens? First, determine in every practice area that you have critical mass; ie, sufficient talent and experience to be able to deliver top quality service. If you don't: develop it, buy it, or get out of that practice area. Second, implement systems and procedures to ensure that every client gets the best service the firm has to offer. You must see to it that partners access the talents of other partners, in areas that are not their 'forte,' instead of hogging work just to keep their billable hours up. On large, or multi-location clients, it should be expected that the services of a number of partners will be required, instead of one partner operating like a 'jack of all trades,' just because he or she has the client contact. Finally, you owe it to the clients and partners to hire the best people, provide them with the best training, and ensure that their time on client matters if efficient and effective.

Conclusion

So who would want this difficult and seemingly thankless job anyway? If more managing partners addressed their functions from the perspective that my experience suggests, and if more lawyers understood the true nature of the role and how the actions of the managing partner can positively impact their professional careers and aspirations, the job could be a lot easier and more rewarding. But it is too important a responsibility to tackle on a trial-and-error basis. There aren't many managing partners who couldn't benefit from the guidance of an independent advisor. You need to get it right the first time, so don't be reluctant to seek outside help. Somebody has got to do this job ' so why not do it right? And since both law firms and their clients would benefit, so much the better.

To understand why many managing partners might have difficulty answering this question, one needs to examine the resource pool within law firms from which managing partners are chosen. Among the popular choices are: those with the biggest books of business, the most widely recognized reputations, the best rainmakers, the best lawyers and the most effective client service partners. Most partners feel that anyone who has attained any of those levels practicing law ought to be just as proficient at running a law firm. Not quite!

Many years ago, I met with a senior partner of a troubled major Wall Street firm who had recently been elected its managing partner. I asked how he got selected and what he felt qualified him for his new job. He paused thoughtfully and said: 'I really don't have any qualifications other than I'm the only one to whom all the partners speak.' Sadly, within 3 years this once venerable firm closed its doors and dissolved.

Usually, partners who have the most value to the firm as practicing lawyers are plucked, at the peaks of their careers, from doing what they are best at to run the firm. Seldom do they have any management skills or training to run a business, let alone one as complicated as a law practice.

Many managing partners are at first elated to accept the assignment, but they eventually come to recognize that it's a burden for which they are not prepared. In a small or medium-sized firm, it's a part-time job, for which they will get little credit from their partners. Usually, they can still continue to enjoy the satisfaction of practicing law. However, in a large firm, it's a full-time job, and they soon realize that their former practice has become a fond memory. So why is it so difficult to take on the responsibilities of a managing partner?

The Resource Pool

The answer lies in the fact that lawyers are not trained to be managers, either in law school or in practice. Some of the best lawyers operate as solo practitioners, even within some of the largest multinational firms. Trained to be self-reliant, to challenge everything, they are reluctant to work in teams. Learning how to delegate work effectively and manage a team of professionals does not come easy. Among all the skills required to be a good lawyer, developing the skills to manage and lead groups of people in problem resolution is not high up on the list. That is why it is not surprising to find that the resource pool for management talent in law firms is indeed shallow.

Essential Qualities for a Managing Partner

Unless a managing partner has a natural gift for management or has had the opportunity to develop some management skills, perhaps by running a practice group, he or she has to learn on the job.

To be effective, a managing partner must:

• Understand the business of law and what makes a firm profitable;
• Appreciate how lawyers think and what motivates them;
• Become a leader, not an administrator;
• Learn to delegate authority to others and not micromanage;
• Develop a vision for the future of the firm;
• Focus on the need to grow, because a firm that doesn't grow will be overtaken by the competition and wither; and
• Recognize that building a marketing mindset into the fabric of the firm is the only way to achieve stable long-term growth.

Accountability

A managing partner is responsible to the partners. They have entrusted him or her with the authority to lead the firm into the future, and they have the right to expect that he or she will run it for their overall benefit. A managing partner must function as the CEO, not as a committee chairperson. As Harry Truman said: 'The buck stops here.' While he or she should certainly seek advice and input from the partners, he or she alone has the responsibility to make the decisions ' and is accountable for them.

Role of the Managing Partner

The responsibility of the partners is to provide the finest client service. The responsibility of the managing partner is to provide the resources and environment in which every lawyer can thrive and become the best that he or she can be, work at the highest level of their ability, reach their full potential as lawyers, and achieve their personal financial goals. The managing partner should look upon him- or herself as the leader who provides the wherewithal for all the partners to succeed. To achieve this, he or she needs to address the role from two different perspectives: first, to run the firm; second, to manage the partnership.

Running the Firm

Managing a law practice requires the ability to anticipate the needs of clients and the resources that will be required to fill them. While most lawyers have difficulty looking ahead even to the end of the year, a managing partner must be able to look 3-5 years into the future ' and beyond. This requires the development of a 'vision' for the firm. And a vision can only be effective if the managing partner can get every partner to buy into and embrace it as his or her own. But a shared vision alone is not enough. A vision needs a strategic plan to implement it, and a marketing plan to achieve it. The managing partner must set this process in motion so that all partners, both younger and older, take a vested interest in it and play an active role in making it succeed.

Each practice area must have a partner appointed to lead it, to set growth goals, encourage and develop younger partners and monitor professional development and financial performance. This will develop the leadership and management skills of client service partners and foster an entrepreneurial attitude. It should also develop management skills for grooming future managing partners. It is not unusual that younger partners may rise to this occasion more readily than more senior partners, who are less tractable and who may be more valuable just practicing law.

A managing partner needs to understand the distinction between managing the practice and managing the organization. Managing the organization can only be handled effectively by hiring qualified administrators, so that routine and daily activities need not be handled on an exception basis. A managing partner needs the confidence to put in place an infrastructure to handle the day-to-day operations of the firm, so that he or she can operate as the CEO. Micromanagers miss the big issues and eventually burn out and do everyone a disservice, including themselves.

A Marketing Mindset

While growth by merger is fast, most mergers are not born out of strength. For a healthy firm that wants to grow, a strategic plan to achieve a vision, and a marketing plan in which every partner participates, has a much greater chance of lasting success. The key is to make marketing every partner's job. When embarking on such a plan, sustained effort, not just quick successes, should be the objective. A marketing mindset must be created under which every partner puts forth an equal effort and is expected to do what he or she is best at. Some can speak, some write, some join organizations, some just schmooze. All efforts, taken together, can become a powerful force in the marketplace that can improve the firm's market penetration. Such a program will have far more lasting value than just a few high-profile rainmakers who invariably are not capable of passing their rainmaking skills or contacts on to the next generation.

But many partners are reluctant to get involved in marketing. They must be motivated to participate. The two principal ways to motivate partners are peer pressure and compensation. So if compensation is based, for example, primarily on billable hours, why would any partner let anything impinge on billable hours to spend time marketing? And if marketing time is not tracked just like billable time, how important could it be? A managing partner must recognize that in addition to providing the partners with the training, tools and coaching to learn how to market themselves and the firm, he or she must be prepared to reflect the partner's marketing efforts, or lack thereof, in compensation. This is the only sure-fire way to send a clear signal that marketing, like client service, is an important part of every partner's responsibility.

Managing the Partnership

No less difficult than running the firm, is managing the partners ' often likened to herding cats. But this can be made a lot easier, if certain basic principles are understood. This starts with a partner's entitlement from the firm. He or she should expect the firm to provide the vehicle by which he or she can reach the pinnacle of his or her professional abilities. And since the partner has only one career in a lifetime, he or she should expect to earn financial rewards commensurate with his or her efforts and talents. Among the reasons for so many lateral partner moves in recent years is not just big money offers, but discontent with their present firms for not providing the opportunity for them to reach the top of their professional abilities and maximize their career earnings.

The managing partner must take an active role in managing the expectations of the partners. Partners should have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, in terms of client service, marketing and associate development, as they progress through various stages of their careers. He or she should also be mindful of the need to harmonize the personal, financial, and professional objectives of younger and older partners. Unless the firm is an 'eat-what-you-kill' shop, the time for sitting around a table at year-end and deciding how the pie should be split up has long since passed. Performance criteria should be clearly communicated and partner performance formally evaluated at least annually. The compensation system should be transparent and should be based on stages of development, and the ability to progress at varying paces over a career.

Responsibilities to Clients

A managing partner must demonstrate leadership with clients, as well as with the partners. He or she must be proactive in anticipating the changing needs of clients and adapting the firm's services accordingly. This begins with providing the firm's top clients with ready access to the managing partner. In a major firm, he or she should meet regularly with the CEO and General Counsel of at least the top 20-25 clients.

No one would disagree that clients deserve the best service, but what can the managing partner do to ensure that happens? First, determine in every practice area that you have critical mass; ie, sufficient talent and experience to be able to deliver top quality service. If you don't: develop it, buy it, or get out of that practice area. Second, implement systems and procedures to ensure that every client gets the best service the firm has to offer. You must see to it that partners access the talents of other partners, in areas that are not their 'forte,' instead of hogging work just to keep their billable hours up. On large, or multi-location clients, it should be expected that the services of a number of partners will be required, instead of one partner operating like a 'jack of all trades,' just because he or she has the client contact. Finally, you owe it to the clients and partners to hire the best people, provide them with the best training, and ensure that their time on client matters if efficient and effective.

Conclusion

So who would want this difficult and seemingly thankless job anyway? If more managing partners addressed their functions from the perspective that my experience suggests, and if more lawyers understood the true nature of the role and how the actions of the managing partner can positively impact their professional careers and aspirations, the job could be a lot easier and more rewarding. But it is too important a responsibility to tackle on a trial-and-error basis. There aren't many managing partners who couldn't benefit from the guidance of an independent advisor. You need to get it right the first time, so don't be reluctant to seek outside help. Somebody has got to do this job ' so why not do it right? And since both law firms and their clients would benefit, so much the better.