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

There was never really a conscious decision to make Pannone a good place to work. Although the founder, Roger Pannone — who made no secret of the fact that he was a member of the Labour party — involved the firm in an atypically diverse range of work and put a lot of energy into motivating staff. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve always been a little bit different to your average commercial law firm.

As managing partner, and now senior partner, I’ve simply concentrated on trying to ensure that the firm performs well. Recruitment is expensive and fraught with potential for mistakes, so logic dictates that hanging on to the people you’ve got — who, with one or two exceptions, are usually the right people — will save you a lot of bother.

Focus on the value of the contribution, rather than on whether or not somebody’s got a legal qualification. That’s a big part of our ethos. For about five years now we’ve given certain non-lawyers, such as our IT director and head of finance, equivalent equity partner status. Okay, I know we’re not the only ones to have done this — Paul Stothard, for example, started off as Shoosmiths’ finance director and is now their CEO. It’s a worthwhile policy, not least because it gives key people an incentive to stick around.

Some lawyers are better at doing things that don’t involve law. If you’ve got a solicitor with a knack for, say, marketing or PR, who’s not enamoured with legal work, why not let them do what they’re best at full-time? Admittedly, the individuals themselves often take a bit of persuading — again, it’s about tackling this notion that people who don’t fee-earn are not as important — but it can work out well. We have one particularly entrepreneurial salary partner who has done nothing but business development since he was a first year trainee. We spotted his gift, allowed him to do all sorts of weird and wonderful things, and he’s repaid us by bringing in 160 clients in the last two years.

Billing is only half of what fee-earners do. I’d even go so far as to say that it’s not the most important half. Greedy or overly money-oriented people tend to de-stabilise the working environment: hiding away in their offices, not making an effort to involve themselves in the culture of the firm, being short with trainees who ask them questions. We steer clear of those types. Yes, that means we miss out on some productive people, but there are plenty of solicitors out there with a more balanced approach who also have an ability to make money.

Bend a few rules. You get used to being flexible when you’re responsible for running a firm where 39 per cent of the equity partners are women, the majority of whom juggle their careers with looking after children. So when a bright young associate comes to me with a new idea for generating work that doesn’t fit in neatly with existing structures, I find myself, more often than not, saying yes — sometimes even when the relevant department has used up its monthly budget. Of course, being based on a single site, meaning that we don’t have to call up dozens of people in order to have plans approved, makes life a lot easier in this respect.

Little things matter. When I’ve discussed certain smaller scale ideas — letting people finish early on their birthdays, for example — with male managing partners from other firms, they’ve looked at me in horror and muttered things about frivolity. I think they’re wrong: my experience is that well thought out gestures of goodwill are warmly appreciated and great for morale.

Admittedly, being recognised as a good employer has been rather useful. If people have heard one thing about Pannone, it’s that we’ve been rated as the best law firm in the country to work for. So, despite not paying the most money, or being based in the smartest building in Manchester, we’ve found ourselves attracting an unusually high standard of training contract applicant, to the extent that half of our intake last year had a first class degree. Winning the award hasn’t done any harm to our reputation among clients, either.

I get the impression that most City firms would be reluctant to follow the model of a regional firm. I’d accept that some elements of our approach probably wouldn’t stand up to the increased competition in London. However, I’d venture that other aspects might, especially in view of the massive issue that associate retention has become.

Joy Kingsley is senior partner of Pannone, which was rated the fifth-best company in the UK to work for by The Sunday Times

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