With a tight legal market igniting pressures on law firms
to live up to the expectations of their clients, lawyers with "entrepreneurial"
and better advisory skills became a hot asset in 2009.
At a LexisNexis roundtable discussion of law firm leaders
in early May, thought leaders such as Michael Rose, the chief managing partner
of Allens Arthur Robinson, said the profession had come to the end of lawyers
merely acting as facilitators of deals, saying that instead clients were
demanding loyal advisers.
That notion was further backed up by Christopher Freeland,
the chief operating officer at Gilbert + Tobin, who said he believed
entrepreneurial and innovative partners were currently in high demand, and
would prosper well into the future.
Such business minds were becoming a hot asset for law
firms due to the atypical period of the global recession bringing into focus a
need for innovative and adaptive leaders, said Fred Swaab, managing partner of
Swaab Attorneys, and were the beginning of a new breed of defining just what
makes a good lawyer.
Throughout the year, leaders of law firms also frequently
debated with Lawyers Weekly the need to have entrepreneurs in their business. Tony O'Malley,
a managing partner at Mallesons Stephen Jaques said that it was the lawyers
with entrepreneurial abilities that could adapt the law firm business model to
the needs of the market - but he did note that entrepreneurial types in law
were still a rarity - given that it's not the role of the lawyer to take risks.
But with boutique firms emerging with innovative business
models, said co-founder of Optim Legal Nick James, there may just be more scope
for lawyers to act as entrepreneurs, especially where clients have been keen to
cut ties with bigger firms if it meant clients could source lower rates.
Other significant trends in the legal profession this year have included (click on link for a full examination of each trend):
>> Mid-tiers make their mark
>> Climate change on the horizon
>> The rise and rise of in-house
>> Speaking out about outsourcing
>> Too many city lawyers highlights rural shortage
>> Alternatives for billings methods gain momentum
>> The trend to business-minded lawyers
>> Mental health issues come to the fore
>> Workplace relations tug of war
>> Big firms place freeze on salaries
