Coming around again

I mentioned in my comment for the January edition of this magazine that the publication dates for Managing for Success have changed this year. For the first time, we have an April edition in which I can give you details of the Law Management Section’s flagship event of the year, our annual conference. It will be held at Chancery Lane on Thursday 20 April 2017.

First, a little background. Every year, the Law Management Section committee holds a business planning day. We consider what the hot topics are in the legal marketplace for the forthcoming year. Because the marketplace changes so rapidly, we also review these hot topics regularly at our committee meetings, held every eight weeks. Our thoughts and discussions feed into our planning for the conference itinerary. As the annual conference has gone from strength to strength every year, we seem to be selecting the right topics.

This year, once again, we have a stellar line-up. After an opening address by Robert Bourns, president of the Law Society, the conference will open with two non-lawyers. We are extremely lucky to have Andrew McMillan, former head of customer services at John Lewis, joining us, who will consider how to grow your firm through client experience. Andrew will be followed by the ever-popular and entertaining Justin Urquhart Stewart of Sevens Investment Management, who will discuss one of the most important matters the industry has faced for years: the effect of Brexit on legal services.

The final plenary session in the morning will be given by Simon McCrum of McCrum & Co, who will explain how, before time and money is spent on marketing, law firms need to build a platform for growth that will exponentially increase the value of all marketing and of every client gain. There then will follow several group discussions and breakout sessions dealing with: new technology and marketing; people management; making the most of technology; managing change in small firms; and the competition solicitors now face from other sectors.

The conference ends with a discussion on cybercrime – perhaps the most pressing issue of the moment. The speakers will be Chris Cotterill, client account manager at Wesleyan, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fyfe, of the City of London Police, and James Houghton, chief technology officer at Thinkmarble.

I believe that the conference is an absolute must for anyone involved in the management of law firms. Book your place, and find full details of the line-up and speakers. Remember that as a Section member, you receive a discount on the booking price.

Because the marketplace changes so rapidly, we also review these hot topics regularly at our committee meetings, held every eight weeks. Our thoughts and discussions feed into our planning for the conference itinerary

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all the Law Management Section committee members for their input into the conference programme, and also to Lucy Stuart of the Law Society for all her hard work, which I’m sure will make the conference a very successful one, yet again.

I hope to see as many of you as possible at Chancery Lane on 20 April. I hope some of you also managed to attend the Law Society’s People in Practice conference, held on 2 March. I did, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The excellent keynote address was given by Penny Newman, chief people officer at Lewis Silkin, and the content of the rest of the conference was excellent in both legal and practical terms. Thanks go to Alison Downie and Nadia Biles Davies of the Law Management Section committee for organising the event, together with Lucy Stuart.