Author: John G. Fraser and Richard G. Stock   Lexpert   February 2005

The search for the next managing partner is a frustrating activity in most law firms. Lawyers are stimulated by clients, by interesting complex work and by the pursuit of excellence in law. Management is about setting direction, motivating finicky people, making decisions and obtaining commitment. The skills and attributes required to succeed in each activity are quite different.

Over the last few months, we have worked with four firms – each faced with a challenge to replace its professional leaders. In two cases, the incumbent managing partner was anxious to step down after many years. The change was motivated by a desire to return to the practice of law and to make a little money. Deep down, both expressed a weariness with the managing partner function and admitted that they had no appetite for formulating and implementing long term, strategic change.

The third firm had had no effective leadership for nearly five years. It had been reduced to less than half of its original size after the departure of a strong group to join a regional competitor. It took five years to re-position the firm and then to give it a game plan until 2008. The new managing partner was selected with the new assignment in mind.

The fourth firm was faced with a set of internal rules precluding the renewal of a good managing partner for another term. It took a firm retreat and insistence on common sense to scrap the old rules. But the decision was ultimately made because the incumbent was effective at the job and a good strategic thinker.

Very often we find that the managing partner is chosen through a popularity contest. Candidates are sought and a vote held. Sometimes this works, sometimes not. A fair amount of politicking is usually involved. The end result is often the candidate who comes straight up the middle and is least offensive to the different factions within the firm.

In a few rare instances, firms will appoint a selection committee to consider the future direction of the firm, consider the attributes and experience required for the managing partner role, talk to the partners, and even hire a search consultant to undertake the process. A single candidate is then recommended to the partnership/partnership board for ratification.

Just as rarely do firms identify, train and develop partners who demontrate potential management capability early on. Candidates you want to seize and take advantage of are lawyers who are respected professionals in their own right, but who also have an interest in the business of law, have a strategic sense, have shown as a practice or team leader that they are capable of motivating a team and engendering commitment, who can bring on associates, who take pleasure in the growth of the whole, and who have a generosity of spirit. Some lawyers have an aptitude for it, perhaps not in the same measure as corporate CEOs, but in a way that is right for a professional services firm environment.

We are starting to see the professionalism of management in law firms. Back office activities and staff functions such as finance, HR, IT and marketing, now report to a COO/CFO who will often be recruited from the outside, who will be part of the executive team, and who can often end up playing a strategic role. Good managing partners in small firms are encouraged to maintain their law practices at a 75% level, but also to stay on for more than one term in office. In the larger firms, managing partners are becoming 100% CEOs, who understand that at the end of their term, they may no longer be able to go back to practicing law.

The firm that thinks about its future and understands the energy and resources it will take to get the job done will be able to pinpoint the candidates for managing partner. It is quite another challenge to create the “winning conditions” necessary to get that person to take on the job.