10 Years On, It's All About? Culture

Marking the 10th anniversary of the merger that created CMS Cameron McKenna, Managing Partner Dick Tyler has a piece in Legal Week reflecting on the past 10 years and the future.  As he describes his goal for the article:

"What has the profession as a whole had to tackle during this past decade? And what are the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead?"

His key observation, in answering the question about what lies ahead, is to cast it in terms of culture.  First, with a nod to the past, he acknowledges that both of the two firms that came together to form CMS Cameron McKenna at once ceased to exist.  And as for that:

"Of course, there are fond memories of the original firms, but the firm that exists today bears little resemblance to either. Such is evolution: the capacity to change is a critical component of survival and success."

Among the changes he cites in the past decade:

• The growth in economic strength of the EU, and the aid and comfort Sarbanes-Oxley has given to EU capital formation vs. US capital formation.
• The growth in starting associate salaries, from £34,000 10 years ago to almost double that, £64,000, today, which he drolly notes is "ahead of increases in charge-out rates." 
• Pressure on profitability from:
  • Decreased utilization, laid at the door of "work/life balance"
  • Rising costs for IT, center city occupancy costs, training, and the aforementioned salary costs
• But one change we have not seen is change in the composition of the top 15 firms in The City.   This, he predicts, will not repeat in the next 10 years—we will see major change, because the incumbents are susceptible to competition from "high-quality, cost-effective alternatives."  You read it here first.

But as noted, his key observation, one that suffuses his observations, is about culture (emphasis supplied):

"The key lesson over the past 10 years has been that the most important aspect of growing a law firm is growing the culture. Culture means reputation, and reputations are hard to build and easy to lose. It is the culture that adds value to the services that Camerons provides to its clients, and gives it the distinctive and competitive edge. There may not be a finite limit to how big law firms can become, but there is a finite speed at which they can grow, particularly if they are focusing on maintaining and developing a culture."

Why is culture so important?

If you wish your firm to represent a distinct and compelling proposition for clients, it is all about culture, and, as Tyler puts it, "that is increasingly the ground where I see the battle for leadership in the legal sector being fought."  And he makes no bones about his core conviction that leadership matters. 

The need for effective and far-sighted leadership has changed during the past 10 years:  It's gone from nice-to-have to essential.  If you could hope that "steady at the helm" might do ten years ago, today that's a choice reserved for the dilettante.   

Tyler concludes by citing Napoleon's maxim that "a leader is a dealer in hope."  What do you hope?  What do you envision?