Rise of the Legal COO

This second edition contains updated chapters from the first edition, and several brand new chapters. There are also all-new, exclusive interviews with legal COOs from a variety of national and international firms.

In the five years since the first edition of this book published, there has been an accelerated rise in the number and influence of COO roles in the legal sphere. No longer the preserve of the largest national and international firms, mid-tier firms and even New Law and alternative legal service providers are considering a COO as a potential – perhaps even essential – component of law firm management, to achieve increased efficiency, productivity, and meet the demands of a highly competitive market.With contributions from a number of current law firm COOs, alongside some of the most respected and sought-after consultants working in this space, this second edition of Rise of the Legal COO examines the scope and variety of the legal COO role, and how the challenges and demands of the position have altered as law firms have evolved. It contains updated chapters from the first edition, and several brand new chapters covering topics such as:How the COO can enable innovation and digital transformation in their firm;The COO’s role in managing profitability and client engagement;The use of data in law firm management; andThe New Law COO.There are also all-new, exclusive interviews with legal COOs from a variety of national and international firms, covering topics ranging from the importance of relationships and adapting to the new hybrid, post-COVID world, to encouraging innovation in firms and strategies to recruit and retain talent.There is no doubt that a good COO is an invaluable part of a firm’s management team, and the opportunities for talented individuals with broad operational management skills will continue to grow. Heavily backed up by the first-hand experience of the contributors, this title provides essential guidance to the current and future legal COO on the skills and strategies they need to succeed, and to law firms on how to recruit, integrate, and develop a COO who will be a good match for their culture and help them achieve their ambitions.

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixAbout the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviiPart 1: Role of the Legal COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Chapter 1: Horses for courses – the spectrum of chief operating officer roles in law firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3By Chris Bull, principal, Edge InternationalCOO models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Model 1 – “Riding shotgun” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Model 2A and 2B – The chief finance and operating officer . . . . . 9Model 3 – The internal service and procurement head . . . . . . . . . . 10Model 4 – The infrastructure head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Model 5 – The shared service head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Model 6 – The practice COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Model 7 – The operational transformation leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15The corporate legal operations head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Chapter 2: Shaping change: the rise of the COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19By Laura McNair, head of people and operations, TotumDefining leadership – why COOs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Makings of a modern COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Stepping-stones – the business manager role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Structure and remit of the COO role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23What makes a great COO? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Recruiting your COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Into the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Writing a COO job description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Chapter 3: The three flavors of law firm COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29By Stephen Allen, chief scout, Trampelpfad, and Mark J. Masson, managing partner, Lotis Blue Consulting Chief operating officers’ changing rolesRole #1: “head of back office” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Role #2: “chief efficiency officer” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Role #3: the strategy driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33The empowered client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35When to make a change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Where does a firm go from here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Chapter 4: The role of the chief operating officer in a law firm – post-pandemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39By James G. Perkins, chief operating officer and chief compliance officer at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLPBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Pandemic preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40The comforter, managing uncertainty, and a Black Swan event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Strategy and uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Concluding thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Chapter 5: Habits – are they your COO superpower or holding your firm back? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51By Paul Bennett, solicitor and partner, Bennett Briegal LLPWhat is a habit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Habits matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Business habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Your habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54What positive habits should you adopt to discharge your COO duties? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Chapter 6: When a new firm leader takes the reins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59By Patrick J. McKenna, internationally recognized author, lecturer, strategist, and seasoned advisor to the leaders of premier law firms1. Be clear on the new leader’s specific goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612. Be honest and candid in identifying those areas that the firm leader may regard as a weakness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613. Sort out the reporting relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614. Determine boundaries and division of responsibility . . . . . . . . . . 625. Identify expectations and the specific behaviors you want to see . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626. Determine your preferred communications protocols . . . . . . . . . 637. The COO needs to know how to best read and interact with the firm leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638. Determine how you need to operate in order not to undermine each other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64The bottom line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Chapter 7: Factors that impede effective firm leader-COO relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65By Patrick J. McKenna, internationally recognized author, lecturer, strategist, and seasoned advisor to the leaders of premier law firms1. You need to have respect for one another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662. There should be role clarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673. Have the ability to compromise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674. Provide candid feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685. Beware of the divide-and-conquer ploy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686. Poor performance can overwhelm any relationship . . . . . . . . . . . 69Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Chapter 8: The COO role in managing profitability and client engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71By Steve Nelson, executive principal, The McCormick GroupHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Distinction between internal and external responsibilities . . . . . . . 73Emphasis on profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Management of key categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Impact of the pandemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77View of the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Chapter 9: Three roles the COO must play to enable innovation and digital transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81By Kate Boyd, COO, Sente AdvisorsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81COO as culture keeper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81COO as technical strategist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83COO as metrics maven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Chapter 10: The chief operating officer and the use of data in law firm management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89By David S. Schaefer, managing director, Calibrate Consulting, Inc.Maintaining competitive advantage in a digital market . . . . . . . . . 89The power of KPIs for law firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91What are the right number of KPIs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Presentation of KPIs – dashboards and scorecards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Changes in KPIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94The need for accurate and clean data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Create a data-driven culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95How can you boost data literacy to support your KPI strategy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96The future of data analytics in the legal industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Annex: list of possible KPIs and metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Chapter 11: The New Law COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101By Kiran Scarr, counsel – transformation, Support Legal LimitedThe emerging dominance of New Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101The business of New Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104The New Law COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107The leadership behaviors of a New Law COO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Collaboration for growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Part 2: Interviews with Legal COOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Interview 1: Peter Blair, chief operating officer of Quadrant Chambers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Interview 2: Kimberly A. Gardner, chief operating officer of Holland & Knight LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Interview 3: Ricarda Hauke, chief operating officer of Taylor Wessing Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Interview 4: Andrew Keith, chief operations officer of DAC Beachcroft LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Interview 5: Jennifer P. Keller, president and chief operating officer of Baker Donelson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Interview 6: Darren Mitchell, chief operating officer of Simmons & Simmons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Interview 7: William Robins, operations and compliance director, Keystone Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151About Globe Law and Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159