In response to an opinion piece from Gibson Dunn’s Charlie Geffen in our last issue, we ask management if firms must decide whether they are advisory or legal process driven
US PITCH
‘Geffen is right, but I wonder if he would have said it if he’d been at his old firm [Ashurst] as it’s a pitch for US firms in London. Clients are increasingly separating what is strategic and what is process-driven. I don’t agree that the UK firms aren’t capable of giving both, and no client out there will go to law firm A for their strategic work then take it off them and give law firm B the process work. Clients are looking to us to ensure the process end is done efficiently.’
Colin Passmore, senior partner, Simmons & Simmons
FISH NOR FOWL
‘Geffen is right: very few firms can do [process and strategic advice]. That is why clients gravitate towards those that can offer the highest-quality advice with seamless delivery through sharper processes. Many in the industry struggle with this and they will likely have to choose one or the other. The work we have put into our alternative delivery platforms, like Belfast, Peerpoint and aosphere has helped set us apart.’
Wim Dejonghe, senior partner, Allen & Overy
SECTOR NEEDS
‘For sector-focused firms, the either/or approach does not work. The main driver of our practice is to ensure we can offer our clients full service within their sector, from basic legal process to high-end advice – in essence, a sector-specific one-stop shop.’
Chris Lowe, co-managing partner, Watson Farley & Williams
BINARY OPTIONS
‘This is not a binary issue. Law firms must be efficient in meeting client needs. Most of those needs will call for both advisory and process work. Some clients will choose to break those elements out themselves and instruct different providers. Some law firms will also exercise a degree of triage and work where appropriate with legal process outsources on elements of that work. But often neither will happen, and the client will instead want the law firm to provide a complete solution and a blend of resources.’
Charles Martin, senior partner, Macfarlanes
LOSING LEVERAGE
‘Since the global financial crisis, clients have been unwilling to pay for run-of-the-mill work from firms which are not structured to provide this work. Clients are not seeing firms as being one-stop-shops, but are being selective. Law firms need to be careful: if a client instructs you on a challenging matter, assuming partner-led advice, you cannot dish up a highly-leveraged team. This was the model for the major London law firms pre-1995, ie before the concept of partners supervising teams of super-specialised associates with high leverage to drive profit took off.’
Oliver Brettle, London executive partner, White & Case
EVOLUTION STALLED
‘Clients are increasingly scrutinising the value and cost-effectiveness of the service provided by external legal advisers, and it is certainly true that a distinction can be drawn between advisory and legal process work. However, the legal market has not yet evolved to the point where law firms will be either purely advisory/consultative or legal process driven. A good law firm still needs to excel at both.’
David Patient, managing partner, Travers Smith
BUYERS MARKET
‘Your market positioning is determined to a large extent by where you sit in the professional services spectrum, from commodity, through process to judgement and rocket science. However, much of what law firms do (eg M&A) inevitably embraces both judgement and process. Clients buy the judgement, but they increasingly expect efficiency on the process aspects, hence the drive to outsource or unbundle the low-value, labour-intensive aspects.’
Mark Rawlinson, partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
TALENT MANAGEMENT
‘If firms only do high-level advisory or process, then many will lose market share. They need a structure in place that can embrace both, as there are good profits to be made from each type of work. Firms love the rocket science stuff that they can charge a lot for, but they can’t do that all the time. If law firms use their talent in a way that keeps them motivated, then they should be able to manage the commoditisation of legal work successfully.’
Jonathan Brenner, co-founder, Lawyers On Demand
JUDGEMENT RESERVED
‘If you’re not offering judgement to your client then you’re not differentiating yourself. The client expects us to know the law and run a process, but the unique aspect of a law firm and what defines its brand is judgement. You can excel at both, but judgement is the bigger challenge to most law firms, not process. That’s the bit people are trying to fight us for.’
Nick Buckworth, EMEA managing partner, Shearman & Sterling