GLOBAL LEGAL POST| Rethinking performance: the impact of tougher partners expectations on culture

Do tougher partner expectations help firms perform at their best – like elite teams in sport – or quietly undermine the culture that makes high performance possible, asks Moray McLaren

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Over the past three years, law firms globally have enjoyed record levels of profitability. However, much of which has been driven by cost savings and price increases, rather than stronger performance. In many markets, hours billed per lawyer have remained stubbornly flat.

Balancing financial levers

In my experience, partners often fear that a focus on performance will damage the firm’s culture. The concern is that demanding higher financial standards will erode collegiality, discourage collaboration or even push ‘low performing’ partners out of the firm.

In new research being launched by the IBA Law Firm Management Committee, the extent to which the opposite is true will be tested – that a positive culture does not mean avoiding hard conversations or lowering standards but rather creating the trust and respect that make those (perhaps difficult) conversations possible.

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