Lessons on Law Firm Management From A Successful ‘Country Boutique’ Law Firm

Starting a successful law firm takes many skills, as well as good timing, but for Rotorua lawyer Mark Copeland his timing coincided with the country emerging from the global financial crisis in 2009 and his development of a ‘regional boutique’ that could foot it with some of the firm’s big city colleagues.

The timing may not have been perfect, but the decision to start his practice was good, he told LawFuel.

“After 16 years’ practicing as a commercial lawyer in Wellington, Auckland and Rotorua I was over the old Partnership model and decided to build a law firm where I was free to practise law in the way I felt best.”

Mark Copeland’s ability to focus on the business of law has been as important as building a firm that delivers the very best service to its significant roster of local, national and international clients.

“There has always been a huge tension between the professional practise of law and the successfulbusiness of law.

Until recently, in my experience only a few practitioners have clearly understood and done the latter well. However, we are now seeing a greater appreciation developing of the fundamental requirement to apply the business of law as we work.”

The specialist commercial firm has been successful and busy, providing Mark with the broader personal satisfaction he was looking for. He also has the flexibility to fully engage in other personal interests, including the proper performance of his various corporate governance roles to Chairmanship level.

It may have taken 6½ years, but the plan has been successful.

Eclectic Client Base

The Firm has what Mark describes as “a somewhat eclectic client base”, ranging from large corporate entities to a broad suite of SME businesses and individuals.  

For a myriad of reasons it seems the next generation of lawyers only want to work in the large cities . . . 

As with some provincial firms, his practice handles work for clients across New Zealand and also international legal work, resulting from his previous transactional experience and the Firm’s membership of recognised global legal networks.

Among his clients are at least a couple of the country’s most prominent business people, providing an overall range of legal work that is more akin to a boutique city firm than a conventional ‘country practice’.

The Challenges of Regional Practice

Notwithstanding the depth and range of work undertaken by the firm, one of the issues that does confront practices like Mark’s is enticing good lawyers to work from Rotorua.

“For a myriad of reasons it seems the next generation of lawyers only want to work in the large cities.

“This is ironic as the client interaction and legal experience we can offer younger lawyers is better than at most firms anywhere in New Zealand.”

Despite the recruitment challenge, the firm has managed to employ some top-level graduates who have done well and enjoyed the work offered by the firm, with its collegiate, friendly atmosphere.

“Working with a “silo” mentality is anathema to myself and our team.

“We follow an all-inclusive style based first on recognising team members’ talents, and then fostering those talents to allow them to be successful, whatever career path they may ultimately choose.

“Working with a “silo” mentality is anathema to myself and our team. We are a Firm, and our internal management mantra is to do what is best for the Firm, not the individual.”

Technology is the other major challenge facing any practice, particularly smaller firms where the time and money constraints can be a headache.

Mark’s exacting standards have made this task more significant.  

“For a large part of my career I specialised in TMT law, so am always curious to seek out the most efficient business systems. I do not think smaller NZ law firms are well served in this regard – how the business of law being is poorly understood by most ICT systems suppliers experts in NZ.”

Listening and Learning

But the lessons learned have been significant for anyone in practice.

“Paradoxically, the key lessons learnt in building this Firm have been simple ones.

“They centre on the need to continually reinforce communications skills. These include listening to clients and their desired outcomes, (for me) listening to my team members, always managing client and team expectations, celebrating our successes and acknowledging when we might have done better.

“I have been a student of business texts for many years, and have concluded that in the end the simple secret to great businesses is putting people first and excellent communication a close second.”

Applying Good Tech Tools

The firm uses a variety of technology tools and was an early adopter of the Cloud, which Mark says was one of the best business efficacy decisions he has ever made.

The firm still uses Lexis-Nexis LawBase for monitoring and measuring team productivity and financial reporting, but will move to a newer system when Mark is convinced that there is a product “with significantly greater utility” on offer in the NZ market. The firm also uses a bespoke document management system.

There has been a sharp focus on the firm website, something many firms have tended to neglect, with three overhauls in six years.

The firm uses LinkedIn and more recently has added Twitter to its social media armoury.  They also put a high value on good Google ranking services to ensure the firm ranks highly for appropriate search terms.

“We also have a clear, firm-wide focus on word-of-mouth marketing and generating referrals from (mainly) existing clients.

“I still see far too many actions taken by lawyers for their own financial benefit, which ultimately are not in their client’s best interests.

“We globally market through our association with IR Global and other offshore and personal networks. We now make no use of traditional (i.e. print media, radio advertising) marketing tools, which in our experience have proven unsuccessful.”

The Future for Firms

It is always interesting talking to innovative lawyers about how they see the profession developing in future.

Mark Copeland’s view is that the balance between being a profitable business and a trusted adviser focussed primarily on the client’s expectations is a major challenge in the modern practice of law:

“I still see far too many actions taken by lawyers for their own financial benefit, which ultimately are not in their client’s best interests.

“The practise of law is not about “winning at all costs” – that is simply lawyers’ personal egos at work. The practise of law is about achieving outcomes for clients consistent with their expectations, and continually managing those expectations.

“Lawyers without genuine rain-making ability will in my view not survive in the future  . . 

“Also, as a law student in the 80’s I witnessed the myriad mergers that resulted in NZ’s now largest law firms.

“So it has been very interesting to watch the proliferation of breakaway boutique firms in NZ in the last several years. Essentially NZ has come full circle in the structure of its legal services industry in the last 25 years. Today we again have a broad structure of small to large law firms. Why? I believe because in the end law remains a relational profession.

“In my experience most NZ clients still use lawyers they personally know or are highly  recommended. Only the biggest firms can expect work through their brand strength alone, and only then from large corporates whose managers are not spending their own money on legal fees!

“Lawyers without genuine rain-making ability will in my view not survive in the future legal world. Human relational skills are increasingly becoming far more valuable than technical skills or qualifications for lawyers in NZ, and adjusting to this change has and will be a huge challenge for many otherwise bright lawyers.”