Page 35 - Leaders in Legal Business and The 1000 Leaders and Influencers - Draft 1
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Chapter 3 – Consultants to the
Legal Profession
Michael Roch1
Global Practice Head,
Internal Consulting Group
Hiring a Consultant or Advisor
“Who cannot give good counsel? ’T is cheap, it costs them nothing.” (Robert Burton, Anatomy
of Melancholy, 1621)
Law firm leaders get input, information, ideas, suggestions, and advice from myriad
external sources, including conferences, universities, colleagues of managing partner,
information distribution lists — and the list goes on. Internally, the leaders of the most successful
firms often have good systems in place, good people to run them, and good partners who provide
constructive input regarding how the business should best be run.
With all of this knowledge, expertise, and experience around, why would you wish to
engage with management consultants? It’s a fair question, given the amount of scrutiny (and
sometimes worse) you may expect from colleagues anytime you suggest that your law firm may
need assistance from the outside. This chapter addresses:
1) Why law firms hire consulting firms or consultants in the first place;
2) Subject matter areas for consulting that add value;
3) What to expect from each of the three broad approaches to consulting;
4) What a typical consulting process looks like; and
5) How to hire a consulting firm or consultant (and how not to).
1) Why Law Firms Hire Consulting Firms
Even the largest firms with significant internal resources in finance, human resources,
marketing, business development, knowledge management, and operational management
eventually end up with opportunities or challenges that neither their usual external informal
1 Michael Roch is the Global Practice Head at Internal Consulting Group. ICG is an ecosystem of more than 4,500 consultants worldwide.
Michael advises on all aspects of domestic and international strategy, organizational structure and governance, and international mergers and
alliances. He also advises law firms and other professional partnerships on all aspects of their partnership organization, in particular partner
remuneration and profit sharing. Michael’s clients include boards, joint ventures, and strategic alliances, primarily in the professional services,
financial services, energy, and technology sectors, across more than 40 countries in Europe, North America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. He is
a member of the Academy of Management, the Association of Strategic Alliance Practitioners, and the Managing Partners Forum in London.
Qualified as a certified public accountant and New York attorney, Michael holds a J.D. and a Master of Accountancy from the University of
Denver. He started his consulting career with KPMG in the U.S., followed by 10 years as an international corporate lawyer, most recently with
Norton Rose Fulbright between London and Frankfurt, before returning to the management consulting profession. Michael is fluent in English
and German.
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Legal Profession
Michael Roch1
Global Practice Head,
Internal Consulting Group
Hiring a Consultant or Advisor
“Who cannot give good counsel? ’T is cheap, it costs them nothing.” (Robert Burton, Anatomy
of Melancholy, 1621)
Law firm leaders get input, information, ideas, suggestions, and advice from myriad
external sources, including conferences, universities, colleagues of managing partner,
information distribution lists — and the list goes on. Internally, the leaders of the most successful
firms often have good systems in place, good people to run them, and good partners who provide
constructive input regarding how the business should best be run.
With all of this knowledge, expertise, and experience around, why would you wish to
engage with management consultants? It’s a fair question, given the amount of scrutiny (and
sometimes worse) you may expect from colleagues anytime you suggest that your law firm may
need assistance from the outside. This chapter addresses:
1) Why law firms hire consulting firms or consultants in the first place;
2) Subject matter areas for consulting that add value;
3) What to expect from each of the three broad approaches to consulting;
4) What a typical consulting process looks like; and
5) How to hire a consulting firm or consultant (and how not to).
1) Why Law Firms Hire Consulting Firms
Even the largest firms with significant internal resources in finance, human resources,
marketing, business development, knowledge management, and operational management
eventually end up with opportunities or challenges that neither their usual external informal
1 Michael Roch is the Global Practice Head at Internal Consulting Group. ICG is an ecosystem of more than 4,500 consultants worldwide.
Michael advises on all aspects of domestic and international strategy, organizational structure and governance, and international mergers and
alliances. He also advises law firms and other professional partnerships on all aspects of their partnership organization, in particular partner
remuneration and profit sharing. Michael’s clients include boards, joint ventures, and strategic alliances, primarily in the professional services,
financial services, energy, and technology sectors, across more than 40 countries in Europe, North America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. He is
a member of the Academy of Management, the Association of Strategic Alliance Practitioners, and the Managing Partners Forum in London.
Qualified as a certified public accountant and New York attorney, Michael holds a J.D. and a Master of Accountancy from the University of
Denver. He started his consulting career with KPMG in the U.S., followed by 10 years as an international corporate lawyer, most recently with
Norton Rose Fulbright between London and Frankfurt, before returning to the management consulting profession. Michael is fluent in English
and German.
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