| Solicitors and accountants have always worked closely together, often in client related work but also as trusted advisors to each other. The latter has never been as important as it is at the moment, as Vicky McNaught-Davis, Client Director and Legal Services specialist from Randall & Payne explains:
“The legal services industry is changing as never before. The number of mergers is increasing and this trend looks set to continue.”
Research from the Law Consultancy Network (LCN) showed that a third of law firms either merged with another firm or took over a department in another firm in the first half of 2011. Furthermore, the research showed that larger firms (those with more than ten partners) were more likely to merge than those firms with less than ten partners, with over 40% of the larger firms surveyed saying that a merger was likely. This trend is likely to accelerate, with the view that mergers will ultimately drive competitiveness.
“Solicitors need to fully understand the financial and logistical impact of mergers and those not pursuing a merger programme need to understand how to maintain a competitive advantage and be profitable”, says Vicky.
It is for this reason that Randall & Payne want to continue working with local legal firms to review business strategy and assist in implementing a Profit Improvement Programme. Led by Vicky and Strategy Partner of Randall & Payne Will Abbott, an expert in facilitating business strategy reviews across a wide range of industries, the initial two hour interactive seminar has been well received by those partaking in the workshop.
In such difficult times there is agreement throughout the sector that solicitor firms of all sizes need to be financially astute and ensure that fee earners and administrative staff alike are aware of the effect that their actions can have on the financial success of the business. The Randall & Payne Strategy Workshop does just this, taking the key decision makers within the solicitors firm through a ‘revision’ trip, looking at financial and business performance and benchmarking against headline statistics from the UK200Legal Group (of which Randall & Payne are a prominent member) benchmarking survey.
The session concludes with an open discussion regarding the strengths and weaknesses of individual firms, encouraging the participants to be open and frank with their input.
As Will points out: “The whole process is designed to encourage partners and practice managers to be more inclusive in the manner in which they run their individual practices. We can undertake a financial review using an exclusive modelling tool for solicitors and as a follow up to the seminar participants are encouraged to maintain an ongoing dialogue with us. The benefits are that partners and practice managers can model the business based on decisions made at the seminar and beyond, with a forecasting model that can be altered on a rolling basis to take account of trading conditions.”
In these testing times can solicitors’ firms ignore the opportunity to work with industry specialist accountants who are able to assist with strategic plans. The day of the old retained firm accountant has passed and we believe that an accountant who is familiar with the legal profession should become an essential part of any progressive legal practice.
For more information contact Vicky McNaught-Davis on 01242 548600
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