No-deal Brexit, accountants, Millennials and soothsaying – LB100 leaders give their views on a hazy 12 months ahead
Change is gonna come
‘You cannot continue having 10-15% growth every year – not even the Chinese economy has achieved that! The profession as a whole has had a good year, but the rate of growth has slowed down. The comforting factor is that every single business is in the same place as us. We are all doing our best to protect and predict. Anyone who tells you what’s going to happen… well, that’s just guesswork.’
Colin Passmore, senior partner, Simmons & Simmons
No deal, no problem
‘Brexit doesn’t directly impact much of the business. We believe in London as a major financial city. Clients could get distracted, and there could be regulatory issues and turbulences we can’t control. We will remain active in lateral hiring; it is part of our growth model. We are looking in Germany, Asia and the US, so hopefully we will come up with news in the second half of the year. There is encouragement across the firm and enthusiastic partners. We are going in the right direction.’
Lothar Wegener, co-managing partner, Watson Farley & Williams
Significant forces
‘The growing influence of the Big Four accountants is not to be underestimated. They are likely to be a significant force in the legal market as they have been very successful over a long period in professional services.
That said, they are likely to focus on service lines that complement their existing business and we believe that there will remain a compelling case for clients to instruct independent law firms.’
Andrew Blain, managing partner, Shepherd and Wedderburn
Chaos theory
‘Frankly, none of us has a clue how it’s going to play out. You have to keep doing what you do and doing it well. We’ll look for opportunities for lateral hires and there are a lot of great people here knocking on the door of partnership as well. You just can’t plan for the uncertainty and chaos, other than doing downturn planning very carefully, as I’m sure most firms have done.’
Malcolm Simpson, managing partner, Walker Morris
Craving clarity
‘It’s obviously difficult for people in business to make decisions on transactions that they want to undertake without knowing what the political situation would look like. It is relatively easy to travel from country to country, especially once you’re inside the Schengen area. I can imagine that if crossing was made much more difficult and time-consuming, it would adversely affect business. What’s most important is for us to have some certainty, which hopefully we’ll have by the end of October.’
Adrian Biles, chief executive, Ince
House in order
‘Quite what Mr Johnson has got in store for us this year is anyone’s guess, but last year was pretty good. I think there’s a 60% chance of a deal being done – ultimately the EU has a track record of coming back to the negotiating table right at the last minute. Up to that time, which will be a time of brinkmanship, the economy will contract up to the end of October and then, obviously, if there is a no-deal I would anticipate a recession. We have to make sure our business has its finances in order and has made the necessary changes if there is a recession, including rightsizing. That includes investing in smart ways to hit the economy as it improves, when others might have battened down the hatches.’
John Westwell, managing partner, Foot Anstey
24/7
‘My clients can contact me 24/7; they can contact me on Christmas day. I’m always going to be available. Is that sensible? I don’t know. I wonder whether a lot of the Millennials that are coming through now will want to work as lawyers with those kind of client expectations. It’s possible to realign client expectation with what is maybe appropriate or fair, but it will take some time because clients are used to the idea that their lawyers are always available.’
Glen Atchison, managing partner, Harbottle & Lewis
Fleet of foot
‘If your turnover is £1bn, adding 10% is like adding half of Travers. It’s harder to turn the dial when you are that size. If you are smaller, adding 10% is less of a challenge. We are still growing market share. For bigger firms, that is more challenging, especially with the US competition eating their lunch. Our advantage is our nimbleness. We are pretty much one office all under one roof. If we want to do something we can do it in a day and a half rather than a year and a half. You can’t compare Travers with big law firms – it’s not what we do. The big giants need huge teams to feed the engine.’
David Patient, managing partner, Travers Smith
Best-laid plans
‘Success will come from working out what you want to be famous for and having a clear strategy in place to deliver what your clients need. It’s less about what tier of the legal market you are in.
Different parts of the market require different strategies. It’s important to have a clear understanding of what a firm needs to have by scale and expertise to compete in the spaces it chooses. Lack of clarity will impact on long-term sustainability. The firms that have clear plans and are able to implement them on a consistent basis are the ones winning greatest market share at present.’
David Pester, managing partner, TLT
Home fires burning
‘Our strategy of focusing on the UK is going down well with clients. It’s a clear and simple strategy, and they understand it. If you look at which firms are doing that well, you’ll see the number is going down. If you want a real quality UK operation, there isn’t much choice. That pool is dwindling. There’s a risk for some that as they race off around the world building US or global models that they’re not looking after their UK base properly. There’s a soft underbelly of firms not taking care of it.’
Simon Boss, chief executive, Shoosmiths