Become a better lawyer: running a case, doing a deal, moving in-house and other tips from the top

It’s a bit like sports psychologists say: “Picture yourself winning and it will happen.” When I became managing partner of Dibb Lupton Broomhead on January 1, 1996, the firm existed, but that was all. It didn’t know what it was or where it was going. We had five offices and were just drifting. I’ve always had a very clear picture in my mind of what I wanted us to become. The first step was to gain critical mass. So I started looking around for merger candidates. I found Alsop Wilkinson, who we merged with in October 1996 and became DLA.

Paint the picture so others share it. One thing I’ve learnt is that in order for people to follow you they have to believe that your proposals are not only a good thing for the business, but for them personally. Pushing decisions down people’s throats doesn’t work.

Face up to the people lobbing grenades into the arena — and remove them. Of course, you can’t convince everyone. In the early days quite a lot of partners weren’t comfortable about my ambitions for the firm. An unhealthy minority pulling in the wrong direction — even if it’s only 5 per cent — is bad news. Facing up to these people, some of whom I’d known for a very long time, and telling them that there was no alternative but to leave, was very tough.

Bring the right people in. I personally interview all the partners we recruit at some stage in the process. I want people who “get” DLA. If you understand the culture of the firm, it’s a great place to work. If you don’t, frankly, I imagine that it would be pretty awful.

Once you’ve found the right people, hold on to them. I try and make sure that everyone has head room to grow. We didn’t use to have a great reputation for people staying on after qualification, so for a couple of years I had lunch with every trainee to make sure that they knew about the plans that I had for the firm and how we wanted them to play a part.

Watch the finances like a hawk. Yorkshiremen are often described as being like Scots with the generosity squeezed out of them. So it goes without saying that I hate wasting money. As a CEO, you need to keep on top of numbers — they give you early warning of what the market is doing. Towards the end of the month I get almost hourly billing reports. I call the partners who I know need galvanising into action. I talk to the finance guys constantly.

When you’re growing quickly it’s easy to fall out of alignment. In truth, you can never really keep everything aligned all the time. When we began our expansion across Europe, we had the UK and continental Europe set up as different management regions, which went against the whole seamless, multi-jurisdictional philosophy of the firm. So I appointed a Managing Director for Europe tasked with pulling the whole region together, which has led to a massive increase in the number of referrals between offices across the region.

Keep in touch with the mood of the office. I speak at high-profile conferences and meetings all the time, but the biggest challenge every year is my annual address to our partners. You’ve got to hit the real issues — which are not always what you think they are. I found that out quickly. My preparation wasn’t always what it should have been in the early days and I fell flat a couple of times. Now, I’ll pace the office all week before I do it. It’s the one true test of my leadership.

Get under the client’s skin. It’s easy to get bogged down in navel gazing, prioritising things to meet our own needs and objectives. I’m constantly battling to shape the firm to focus on the things that are important to our clients. That means really understanding their wider strategic objectives. It’s not always about just going along with what they want. There have been plenty of times when the client has asked us to do something and we have counselled against it. My aim is for us to behave more like a business partner and less like a traditional lawyer.

Stay true to your roots. Among all the international expansion, I’ve made sure that our relationship with those Yorkshire clients that have been loyal to our Leeds office has stayed strong. Bradford & Bingley were an early client of ours, who have gone on to become a FTSE 100 company. We’ve grown together.

Nigel Knowles is the chief executive of DLA Piper

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