It is one of the phenomena of a traditional legal partnership which many law firms still are, that the people who progress through the firm and form the partnership which manages the business are lawyers. This might seem an obvious statement but in any other company the board of directors would have progressed through different specialisms. The finance director will have started life as an accountant, the HR director would have been working in personnel departments and the head of marketing would have spent many years honing his or her marketing skills. It would be very unusual for example to see the sales director being plucked from the research and development team.
In professional partnerships though whether you are a lawyer, an accountant, architect, GP or dentist to name but a few, progression within a firm tended traditionally to result from expertise shown within a core skill as a lawyer, doctor etc. rather than due to a talent identified in managing people, balancing the books or business development. Whilst in years gone by practices seemed to manage to get by in this way and some management skills must have been learned along the way, this does not work in the complex world of the modern professional practice.
We have recognised this at Jacksons and acknowledged that whilst the commodity we are selling is the legal skills of our lawyers and we are very proud of these, we need the expertise to sell these and to run our business in exactly the same way as if we were selling widgets. Just because our lawyers are extremely talented and skilled in their chosen specialism this does not mean to run our practice successfully that we do not need to bring the same skills to the board as any other well-run company. This is the principal reason a few years ago we converted to be an ABS (alternative business structure) as this enabled us to recognise the skills and commitment to our business of our then head of finance and to promote her to our partnership and a place at the boardroom table without her qualifying as a lawyer. It is for this reason also that we ensure that our head of finance and marketing are specialists in their chosen field with professional qualifications. Their skills and knowledge are acknowledged as doing as much to develop our practice as the lawyers advising clients.
It is for this reason also that a few months ago we appointed Bob Cuffe as a non-executive consultant to our practice to draw on his business experience and expertise and his knowledge of business development in this region. In the couple of months that Bob has worked with us his perspective coming from a business other than a professional legal practice has added a new dimension to our management discussions and an insight into the thinking of the businesses which are our clients and referrers. It has confirmed what we believed already that no law firm can exist in a professional partnership bubble and the more our management progresses and explores its opportunities the better it will be for the everyone within Jacksons and the clients we serve and the referrers we work with. We are just at the beginning of this adventure and cannot wait to see where it can take us. In this ever-changing world in which we live flexibility and the ability to adapt is crucial for any business and this applies to law firms as much as any other.
As a practice we are grateful for all the talents and dedication shown by our staff whether it is the skills and knowledge of our accounts team, the customer care skills of our reception staff, the vast technical knowledge of our highly trained secretaries or the flare and imagination of our marketing team. Without all of them the lawyers at Jacksons would be lost and we would not provide our clients with anything like the service they deserve and rightly expect from us. We are a team and that includes everyone in the firm as all of their skills are needed to make us what we are today and wish to become in the future. We are very lucky to have such a fantastic team.
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