Governance Structure

Many law firms find that the structure of their firm was designed some years ago at a time when the involvement of all partners or members was the norm and in which it was expected that all decisions could be made consensually. 

As firms have grown and evolved, their need for more advanced methods of governance have developed.  The start-up firm in a creative phase needs little by way of management system.  Such firms are entrepreneurially oriented and talented people drive the firm forward through hard work.  In a more adolescent phase, the firm can usually be managed by consensus and the leadership abilities of the movers and shakers.  Progress can often, however, become stultified because nobody has sufficient time to get the firm better organised. As the firm increases in maturity and size, consensus become even more impossible and firms have needed to professionalise the governance and management model by the appointment of managing partners, Committees and professional managers.

We can assist firms to face the current demands and challenges of the modern professional services firm in a rapidly changing world:

• Advice on equity and governance structures to fit the firm’s maturity, its strategy, its culture and traditions and any imperative for short-term change or dramatic improvement.

• Changes to the management structure in growing firms or in firms that have transitioned to LLP or incorporated status.

• Changes to decision-making processes so as to be able to reach quicker decisions and to be more market facing.

• Structuring the transition of the governance model to allow for the gradual empowerment and eventual transfer of control to the firm’s next generation of partners.

• Advising on the processes and means of assessing responsibilities and accountabilities throughout the organization and to ensure each business unit has clear and unambiguous business objectives, in line with the strategy.