COO or CEO - Is the role of the Managing Partner disappearing?

Conferring corporate titles on individuals working in private practice is now something of a trend and even in barristers’ chambers we now see a Chief Executive undertaking the challenging role of managing a group of self-employed advocates. For many years now in solicitors’ firms the Directors of Functions titles have been widely accepted in HR, Finance, IT and Marketing, but to hand over the running of your firm to a non-lawyer is a very big step indeed.  How real is the power of the newly appointed Chief Executive – is it just a more creative name for a Managing Partner? And where does a COO fit into the equation?

Many firms are beginning to find a level of disinterest from their lawyers in the Managing Partner role. Good lawyers - particularly in a good economy - do not really want to abandon their practice in its prime only to return some years later to try and reclaim it under some considerable pressure from the firm to start billing again. Although the title Managing Partner undoubtedly carries with it some kudos, it is now the belief of many that management is not what lawyers were trained to do. Why waste a brilliant legal fee-earning mind on the day-to-day minutiae of management, turning what is undoubtedly a great asset into a cost? It makes little sense to the untrained eye. It is, however, a tradition which is beginning to show serious cracks with firms increasingly seeking the expertise of trained managers to help direct their businesses.

The safest option, or so it would appear, is for law firms to separate strategy from operations and create the role of a COO or a Director of Operations. This has seen many guises in a variety of firms and responsibility tends to vary from practice to practice. Some have given their COO strong strategic responsibilities, but a good COO will always set an agenda for progress and facilitate change, showing leadership in directing the higher level support functions and an ability to take part in, and perhaps stimulate, the strategic debate.

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