Many question why a partner at the top of their game, being handsomely paid at a prestigious large law firm would decide to roll the dice to launch their own firm. However, with clients mainly loyal to partners and teams rather than firms, ever advancing technology, and the increasing availability of flexible resourcing solutions (across both ‘front’ and ‘back’ office), a small but growing number are choosing to do just that.
In our experience, the factors that motivate these founders break down into three buckets:
1. Creation.
The most important thing is the burning desire to create something new and different both for clients and talent. In many instances these new launches have a laser focus on a particular practice area and / or client segment and seek to tailor their offer accordingly, ensuring talent, incentives, pricing and delivery models are optimised in a way they often can’t be in a large, multi-service firm. The ability to mould a new culture is also exciting, with founders able to build teams and design ways of working and compensation structures that they could not do elsewhere. Finally, there’s the obvious appeal of ‘having your own firm’ and calling the shots!
2. Conflicts.
The breadth of activity in large firms means many partners – particularly those in less core practice areas – are frequently conflicted out of potentially lucrative (or interesting) client relationships and matters. In a much smaller, focused firm this simply isn’t an issue (and conflict checking can go from days (weeks?!) to minutes). Independent firms also have the freedom to build relationships and work with best-of-breed providers across the market to deliver consistently premium services as opposed to being tied to ‘one firm’ solutions.
3. Compensation.
New firms are able to completely rethink their cost-bases, with alternative delivery models, cloud technology, reduced office footprint and on-demand operational support enabling significant increases in profit margin. Additionally, the focus of these firms means that there are no less profitable non-core practice areas or offices to subsidise. Finally, the compensation model can be built (and rapidly iterated) specifically to support the proposition and culture of the firm.
For those that have answered the ‘why’, the question then becomes ‘how’, especially given they are usually (more than) fully occupied with their existing client, professional and personal obligations. This is where Kindleworth come in. We help our clients stress-test and refine their vision, before mobilising our 40-strong team of experts to deliver – on the launch and beyond.
