Law Firm Managing Partners Reveal Their Most Important Contributions

Our next few posts will examine the role of law firm managing partner.

In April 2010, we asked 70 managing partners of mid-sized law firms to tell us what they believe to be their most important contributions in their roles as firm leaders. Here what they said:

1) Initiating change to ensure long-term success
2) Managing day-to-day administrative affairs
3) Building and maintaining consensus among shareholders
4) Maximizing partner income

"Managing day-to-day administrative affairs" at #2? As CEOs, managing partners should not get bogged down in the day-to-day administration. We believe that function is better left to a competent and trusted firm administrator.

It's a Great Time to Be Shopping for a Law Firm COO

Now is a fantastic time to go to market if your firm seeks to hire a new firm administrator.

We're currently working with a South Carolina law firm to help them recruit and hire a Chief Operating Officer. This is the fourth such assignment we've had in the past year. All four firms wanted an MBA and/or CPA with a minimum of ten years experience in law firm administration. The salaries ranged from $125-195K per year.

In each case, over 60 qualified candidates submitted resumes for the position, and all four firms made great hires. There are lots of talented folks out there right now, and savvy law firms are taking advantage of this exceptional opportunity.

Please e-mail us, or call us at 404.885.9100, if you'd like more information.

MPF Web Seminar on Law Firm Strategic Planning - July 22nd

The facts are in: 60% of mid-size law firms DO NOT have a Firm-wide strategic plan. Yet, 90% of managing partners of firms that do have and follow a plan report improved performance and profitability.

Why then, don’t more law firms have a plan? Because it’s not easy getting there. It takes time. It takes money. And it takes leadership to act on potentially divisive and difficult issues.

We’ll be presenting a 90-minute Web seminar - Ten Keys to Develop and Implement Your Firm’s Dreaded Strategic Plan - on Thursday, July 22nd. We invite you to register. Click here to learn more.

Law Firm Strategic Planning and the Role of the Managing Partner

As promised in our initial post, click here to download a complimentary copy of our MPF White Paper, a comprehensive report highlighting the results of polling questions presented at The MPF 2010 Annual Conference held in late April.

The report synthesizes the responses of more than 65 managing partners to a series of questions we asked about the impact of strategic planning (and implementation, of course) on a law firm's performance, and the challenging role of today's law firm managing partner.

We'll discuss many of its major findings in future posts, and I'll start by suggesting that they sure don't teach this stuff in law school!

Welcome to The Managing Partner Forum's Blog

We are pleased to introduce The Managing Partner Forum Blog. Its purpose is to provide timely and objective information to help managing partners and law firm leaders be more effective in their increasingly challenging roles.

On April 29th, we presented The MPF 2010 Annual Conference in Atlanta. Over 90 firm leaders and top consultants to the legal industry participated in what has grown to become one of the premiere events of its kind in the US. Stay tuned for our next post which will include our comprehensive White Paper about the conference.

If you have not already done so, we invite you to visit our website, which features some of the very best articles and resources on law firm management.