The UK-based "Managing Partners Forum" (MPF), chaired by the managing
partner of DLA, describes itself as the association for leaders
and management teams in professional service firms. In other
words, the group for Executive Directors, CEO’s/COO’s, and all
their reports including finance, marketing, IT, facilities, and
HR professionals.
In a clarion call overdue by, say, a decade, they have identified
these people as the "unsung
heroes" of their firms and, in what is so far as I know a worldwide
first, has produced the first statistical tables sizing the phenomenon
of non-practicing managers finding, among other things, that the
UK’s 100 largest firms comprise 37,022 lawyers serving clients
and 32,564 practice management professionals (1.0 lawyer to 0.88). And
my how you’ve grown: 15 years ago there were only five non-lawyers
in marketing functions in the top 100 UK firms; today there are
over 1,300.
Why do all these people, per the MPF [and per yours truly], deserve
recognition?
- Outdated language disparaging "non-fee-earners," and the caste-schism
thinking it exposes, undermines the enormous contribution practice
management professionals bring to a firm. - Complex businesses employing thousands of people globally can
no longer be run by "enthusiastic amateurs" (read: lawyers
in their non-chargeable moments). Hiring experienced finance,
marketing, IT, and HR professionals "ceased being a luxury and
has become a necessity"—for survival low on the food
chain and for distinctive and sustainable competitive advantage
higher up on the chain. - Professional management exists to "let lawyers be lawyers:" To
let them focus on what they do best, serving their clients (and
earning those $650 hours).
The MPF recommends three concrete steps to begin giving these
people the recognition they have earned: (1) Publicize
their hiring and promotion, just as you publicize hiring and promotion
of partners. (You might even reveal on your website that
these people actually exist as do your partners—but let’s
not get ahead of ourselves.) (2) Send
a message of respect and high expectations to potential recruits. (3) Praise
and reward success.
A corporation hiring a CEO or a CFO would not denigrate her contribution
upon arrival if she did not man the production line or take customer-service
calls. Why should the Executive Director of a law firm
be viewed differently?
