What does it mean to be a legal practice manager?
Kirsty Pappin, winner of LPM Practice Excellence 2020 Practice manager of the year award, discusses the role of the legal practice manager.
The role of a practice manager (or practice director) in a SME law firm can be ambiguous. Its meaning can vary depending on the requirements of the firm, including its size, structure, affordability and future plans. No two job specs produced for the role will ever be the same and often, there is no job spec at all – just an overarching description of what the firm is looking for, which, let’s be honest, is pretty much everything! For many a firm, personality fit and innovative drive is key when making a hire.
What is clear, is a practice manager is the operational power behind an army of fee earners, and the necessity of one should not be undervalued. They are business orientated individuals who keep a law firm in check, especially with stricter compliance required than ever before with new legislation and the numerous regulatory bodies. In fact, it could be said that a practice manager takes on the persona of a COO in a SME law firm.
According to an article published by job site Totally Legal in May 2017, a practice manager provides “a demandingly diverse skills mix ranging from people management and marketing to finance, facilities and administration. Responsible for the seamless daily running of the practice, this is a roll-up-your-sleeves role that requires commercial awareness and first-class coordination and communication skills.” This sums it up quite nicely.
Indeed, a practice manager needs to be highly skilled in a multitude of areas: finance, compliance, HR, change management, IT and business support, project management, facilities, health and safety, security, business development and marketing, event management and general office administrative duties. And with some smaller firms squeezing their hiring of support staff, the role really does cover everything in this arena – from booking meeting rooms to implementing initiatives to assist firm growth.
Working as a practice manager requires exceptional cognitive abilities and emotional intelligence. One must keep many plates spinning all the while keeping partners, fee earners and support staff happy. This is a fine balancing act and requires finesse to collaborate well with all. The bridge, so to speak, between each working end of a law firm. Both a leader and a follower – a team player and an individual. Other essential attributes would also include maturity, integrity, loyalty, ingenuity, tact and all dusted with a positive disposition.
It would be unrealistic to think the role is nine-to-five – practice management for a firm transcends traditional working hours and a practice manager needs to be able to accommodate this. Ready to exert effort; and partners depend on this willingness as part of the management of their firm.
It’s a continuously evolving role and, to excel, one must be always be learning and pooling new knowledge from the various sectors to drive their personal and firm development forward. And as mentioned, there are quite a few areas that require this attention!
Something to think about when exploring the financial worth of a practice manager: the larger the firm, the larger the number of support roles. Each department has two or more people working within it, and so what would be the practice manager, is in fact the director of ‘X’ who oversees all. But every firm, no matter its size, still has the same compliance to adhere to, just the quantity is less not the quality, yet the SME law firm practice manager invariably does it all.
It can probably be agreed that the practice manager is not a role to be taken lightly. But being in the role can be incredibly rewarding – it allows an individual to pursue various areas of expertise under one umbrella. Practice managers bring a very specific professional skill set to law firms and are integral to functional responsibilities and strategic advancement. As for the future, who knows where career development in the role could lead. With many firms now promoting non-lawyers to partner level, there is every chance more successful practice managers could become partner level and/or C-suite. It’s a very exciting time for ambitious practice managers!
Keep an eye out for more in Kirsty’s series on the ins and outs of the practice manager role.
