LAW FIRMS TRUST AND JUSTICE.

It has been 5 years since leaving a conventional law firm and 37 years since I qualified as a solicitor.

During that time I have been fortunate to work with leading minds at the bar and great lawyers in firms where I have been a partner and with law firms around the world.

Having arrived from the North of England I sat on a bench in Lincoln's Inn and marvelled at the intellect, learning and skills that surrounded me. This is where I wanted to be. I was seconded from the Bolton office of a northern multi-office practice and set about carving out a career in a two man office in Covent Garden.

On the death of the founder (in my office) I found myself a newly qualified, with a plethora of cases and files. My journey began with the White Book in one hand Snell's Equity in another, Copinger propped open. I strap-hung every morning with the latest copy of the All England Law Reports, I read, reviewed and read some more. I questioned everything, I was curious, distrustful, sceptical, and in retrospect lucky. Barristers took me under their wing, never condescending, never dismissive, though perhaps curious as to why this brash non-Oxbridge northerner asked so many questions and took up so much non-chargeable time!

I took cases however small or insignificant, questioned everything, learnt to persuade, distill, question and advocate my client's cases, above all I learnt I needed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the law and the rules nothing was out of bounds. I also needed develop good instincts, judgment and insight as to why people behave the way they do. I quickly learnt who to trust, and who not to trust, how judges identify bad actors and how to read the lay of the land.

Through all of the twists and turns I learnt the strengths and weakness of law firms, how partnerships behave and how to navigate this strange world. The Big Bang deregulation removed limits on the number of partners, allowed incorporation and permitted raising of outside capital, in short it changed the profession into an industry.

Law firm management was taken out of the hands of partners, partners became commodities to be traded depending on their "following" and corporatisation of law firms began. Revenue, hourly targets, billable hours, origination and rewards for partners for bringing their "following" increased internal competition vertically and horizontally. Evangelical obsession with collections to fund guaranteed earnings and mounting overheads including top heavy management HR and marketing costs, placed more and more pressure to extract billing from clients.

Billing and recoveries dominated every partner's meeting, rarely, if ever, did management want to hear how a case had been won, what arguments or insight had prevailed.

I worked out quickly how to build a law practice, which I carry with me to this day. I continue to work for many of the clients who first showed their trust in me. Sadly some have now passed, some have built their business and retired.

And yet I realised that firms hunt down lawyers with solid individual reputations, (and their teams), I had become a tradable commodity. Seduced by promises of guaranteed earnings, partners give up their individualism. It's a dysfunctional relationship, great lawyering is not a corporate product that can be manufactuerd its personal to individuals.

Collaboration and collegiality are great enablers, all ships rise on a rising tide. Despite marketing speeches, the structure financing and management of law firms can be toxic competitive places. Self interest, distorted reward systems and high partner mobility are incompatible with great lawyering with trusted colleagues.

The distributed law firm model and hybrid working as I discovered is not just about work life balance, many of my colleagues work harder and longer now than they ever did in conventional firms.

The distributed firm does not reward the partner for his/her allegiance, the partner pays the management for its support. Law firms pay distributions to partners on account of what they will earn after the management and incumbents have skimmed off the premium, not what they have earned. This means that management's motivation is constant collections and growth, even tax reserves are used as working capital. When that music stops, or slows, the impact on partner is often catastrophic with inadequate funds to pay for individual liabilities.

And yet, young lawyers aspiration for the status of partner displaces commercial sense, defies and contradicts any legal and financial risk analysis which young partners would provide to clients.

In the distributed model the risks are reversed. The overheads for insurance, compliance, offices, tech, accounting etc are a percentage of revenue, one can grow a practice (or maintain one)without needing the patronage of senior partners and without chasing overheads and instead of keeping one third, paying one quarter for the costs of doing business.

A law firm's profitability relies on gearing which means that there is a pressure to recruit and pay associates who can bill at least 300% of their pay and overhead costs. Good for associates, bad for effective hours and client value for money. The system makes it uneconomic for partners who have the knowledge and experience to do the work, they cannot generate sufficient chargeable work to pay the overheads.

If there is a conclusion, its that the distributed model places an emphasis on the law and doing great work, further it empowers individuals and teams to advise fearlessly.

Thank you for a great 5 years and I look forward to many more

Alexander Carter-Silk