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Advanced law firm management for partners

Learning Outcomes Understanding the major market forces that are shaping the legal industry Identify emerging opportunities and trends What technology can you use to increase the quality of legal service delivery and efficiency while reducing costs? How to develop a mission and vision for your law firm How to develop a client experience blueprint and […]

Teacher

Chris Emeka

Learning Outcomes

Understanding the major market forces that are shaping the legal industry
Identify emerging opportunities and trends
What technology can you use to increase the quality of legal service delivery and efficiency while reducing costs?
How to develop a mission and vision for your law firm
How to develop a client experience blueprint and manage lifecycle journey
Understand the different business models of law firms
How to develop and execute an annual business plan
How to strategize expansion – adding partners and practice areas
How to develop a hiring policy and practices to attract high-quality talent
Reducing attrition: building culture, incentive policies and career progression plan
How to build operational processes for smooth execution by your team
Document control systems – how to make legal teamwork frictionless
How to develop a content strategy for digital presence
Using PR professionals – critical lessons
Best practices for business development
How to design and execute knowledge management and training programs
What do big corporate clients expect and how to deliver
How to make law firm partnerships work and avoid splits

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This training is designed for:

Law firm partners
Principal associates looking to develop business development and management skills
Lawyers who are starting their own law firms
Solo practitioners looking to develop profitable practices
Young lawyers who want to go independent soon
Lawyers shifting from in-house roles to law firms or litigation
Practice Managers

Realigning with Purpose, Developing and Reevaluating your Values & Strategies

a. Responsibilities and challenges of being Partner

b. Being a leader of strategic transformation through client focus, growth, technology, the reinvention of culture, pricing and business model

c. Communicating as a leader

d. Inspirational leadership and result-oriented management: striking the balance

e. Developing flexible leadership styles to meet the needs of employees

f. Motivating employees beyond financial incentives.

g. Managing change

h. Persuading and influencing for results

The Law Firm Partner as Leader

a. Integrated leadership and the motivational dynamics of lawyers

b. Law firm strategies: practice segmentation; aligning the firm’s practices, people and resources

c. Leadership styles: becoming an effective role model, coach and mentor

d. Building high performance teams

e. Leadership and values

f. Leading and sustaining change in the firm

g. Law firm strategies, aligning people and resources

h. What really effective firms do to stay at the top

From Leadership to Digital Leadership

a. Tactical understanding of digital concepts for onsite and virtual productivity

b. Integrating strategic digital decisions as workplace culture

c. Adoption of digital infrastructure for monitoring remote work and assessing performance

Expansion Through Innovation

1. Co-leading expansion through commercial awareness across the Firm

2. Mentoring for revenue growth

3. Devising/implementing new sales and marketing strategies

Managing the Board and Partner Performance

a. Provide effective strategic direction and control

b. Strive to achieve best practice in corporate governance and financial viability

c. Committed to principles of openness, transparency, and accountability

Circular Economy & Sustainability: Impact on Business Models, Finance & Investments

a. An introduction to Circular Economy and sustainability business models

b. Impact investing models

c. Sustainability finance instruments and models

d. Circular Economy and cost management and control

e. Impact on cost and revenue and your balance sheet

f. Impact on financial ratios.

Risk Mitigation

a. Developing lawyer roles and career management

b. Managing reputation – personal and collective

c. Managing internal conflict and instilling operating principles

Mark Beese

Mark Beese is President of Leadership for Lawyers, a consultancy focused on helping lawyers and other professionals become stronger leaders. He provides training, coaching and consulting in the areas of leadership development, innovation, and business development. Mark is an adjunct faculty at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and former adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership. He is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and an inductee in the Legal Marketing Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement. He holds a MBA and BS in Management from the University of Buffalo. Mark has held senior leadership positions at AmLaw 200 and 100 firms, including Chief Marketing Officer for law firms Holland & Hart and Hodgson Russ. His clients include many firms on the Global 50, AmLaw 200 and Big 4 accounting firms. He is a frequent speaker at legal industry conferences including the ABA, LMA, ALA, PDC, INTA and legal networks. For more information, visit www.leadershipforlawyers.com and www.designthinkinglegal.com.

Moray Mclaren

Moray work with Boards and leadership groups as they review their options for growth then put that into practice. He also assists highly successful businesses as they enter new markets. Over recent years, he has been working extensively in fast-moving markets such as Africa, continental Europe, India and Latin America. In 2022 he became Chair of the IBA's Law Firm Management Talent and Leadership Subcommittee and lead the IBA's Law Firm Leadership Academy. He is also President of the Advisory Board of LawWithoutWalls - a global forum bringing together lawyers, investors and alternative legal providers to address the new requirements within legal services. A lawyer by training, Moray completed an MBA in legal services before assisting one of the London law firms on their global expansion. Over the last 25 years, he has advised over 70 law firms and assisted over 5,000 law firm partners in their personal development. Over the years, he has co-founded a number of start-ups including Lexington Consultants, the Iberian Legal Group (acquired by LCP) and Redstone Consultants (acquired by Acritas now part of Thomson Reuters). An Associate Professor at IE Business School in Madrid, he has been teaching negotiation skills on their MBA program for over a decade. He also teaches senior executives as part of the IE Financial Times Corporate Learning Alliance which takes me to every corner of the world. Moray is a member of the Editorial Board of The Modern Lawyer and a Fellow at the Harvard affiliated Institute of Coaching. Over recent years, He has been a regular speaker at retreats and legal conferences around the globe on innovation and change within law.

Gbenga Oyebode MFR

Described by IFLR 1000 as one of Nigeria’s most prominent lawyers, Gbenga, the founder and Chairman of Aluko & Oyebode, holds over 35 years of experience in corporate and commercial practice, and he has been involved in the negotiation of complex commercial agreements for a wide variety of transactions. Chambers Global has called him a “consummate dealmaker who has received plaudits from clients and peers alike for his corporate expertise.” With a background that includes an advanced law degree at the University of Pennsylvania, legal experience at the global law firm White & Case LLP in New York City, and an in-house position at the Gulf Oil Company (later merged with Chevron), Gbenga possesses a genuine and deep understanding of his clients’ needs in every sector and practice area. The same entrepreneurial spirit he brought to the founding of an elite, full-service corporate law firm in Nigeria is the same energy and dynamism he brings to his client matters. Gbenga is a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFR), 2000, one of Nigeria’s highest honours He is also a recipient of the Belgian Royal Honour of ‘Knight of the Order of Leopold’, 2007.

Baba Alokolaro

A founding partner, Baba is TNP’s Managing Partner and leads its Corporate Finance and Business Advisory Group. He has a peculiar focus in Private Equity, and in this light, has acted for both Investor and Investee companies in capital raising transactions. Baba is regarded as a solution-oriented business lawyer and has been responsible for the firm’s reputation in the capital markets, e-Commerce and tech space in a series of deals across several industries. He lends his expertise across areas of Project Finance, Corporate Finance, M & A, Infrastructure and Power. Between 2007 and 2011, Baba garnered some public sector experience as General Counsel to the Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria. He is a council member of the Nigeria Bar Association –Section on Business Law, and member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and Capital Market Solicitors Association. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Reorganisations Committee of the Nigeria Bar Association – Section on Business Law.

OVERVIEW

As the economic climate becomes harsher making law firms more competitive, there’s a tendency to focus more on client related issues and financial statements rather than increasing capacity for leadership as well as honing management skills. However, this situation calls for balance i.e the need to address law firm management from a business standpoint and the need to grow capacity to lead: How can you distinguish and grow your practice? How can you maintain and grow your clientele base? How can you develop and innovate a sustainable succession plan? How can you nurture and develop your associates? What tool can you adopt for more productivity and meeting up with the current workplace reality?

This course is intended for law firm partners who believe that their firms can be more productive, competitive and successful. It will equip participants with the insights, skills and techniques that enable participants meet the demands of today’s partner role by increasing effective leadership skills for both firm and practice level whilst sustaining a profitable practice.

Delivery methodology

The trainers are all experienced practitioners and top consulting professionals who have provided strategic, leadership and personal advice and development skills for contemporary law firms. Their approach will be interactive, workshop teaching style using case studies. The outcome of this course will provide participants with in-depth understanding of the concepts of law firm management, law firm growth coupled with the skills to apply those concepts in their daily working life.

Case Study

The workshops will involve practical review of three Nigerian law Firms, two African legal networks, three International Law Firms based in London and One International Law Firm based in the US. Delegates will review the functional details behind their strategies and the important lessons that they can take from this in planning their Law Firm Strategy including Marketing, management, Finance and Technology.