Structure

Your firm needs to have the ability to meet your strategic objectives and to do so in the most efficient way possible. To this end, therefore, you will need to decide upon exactly what resources you need in each part of the firm.

We often see firms with pressure in some departments and others not stretched at all. As far as fee earning staff are concerned any changes will involve recruitment and/or reductions in numbers but support staff, although not always easily moved between departments, can be more flexible. It is well worthwhile encouraging flexibility in as many areas as possible, with secretaries appointed only on the clear understanding that they will work wherever there is a need.

You also need a structure for authority, with everyone clearly aware of who does what, who is responsible for what and to whom, and so on. It can be a good idea to draw up a structural plan, rather like a family tree, that shows clearly who does what and who is responsible to whom.

Clifford Chance recently outsourced 300 support posts to India, saving £10 million in the process. This may not be something you would ever consider, but such services are becoming more and more common and user-friendly and for firms or departments that need a lot of typing support there may be advantages. What we need to keep in mind here is that we can never, in this fast-changing world, stop looking around for changes that will affect us, positively or negatively, or that we could take advantage of. Things move on at a fast pace and we need always to keep on top of them. Opportunities will always arise and our competitors may take them. We can never ignore them.

Your structure can never be fixed. It must always fit the needs of your business and when necessary must be adjusted. Firms can be shy about doing this. We all hate change and having to tell someone that their role is going to have to alter significantly is never easy. Even worse, if you reach the conclusion that certain roles may actually be redundant you may be faced with a very nasty situation. It is never other than miserable to have to tell anyone that they are no longer needed and if this is inevitable you need to look very hard at such options as early retirement as a means of reducing numbers as painlessly as possible.

(If you should be faced with such a scenario keep two things in mind. You are having to do this for the sake of the future of the firm and to protect all the other jobs in it. It may be thoroughly unpleasant but not doing anything may well ultimately be worse. Secondly, in my experience, if you do your research and handle it with sensitivity you may be surprised at how accepting people will be. I have known huge relief as staff have seized the chance to retire a few years early with delight, perhaps helped with a modest payment from the firm, and have left happily.)

Good monitoring of departmental financial performance will help you to keep a close watch on how things are going. Look for trends and make sure that plans keep ahead of them. The sooner action is taken the less the pain and the cost will be.

IMPORTANT NOTE

All the opinions expressed are those of the contributors, are based on personal experience and are given in good faith. The ideas and suggestions here have worked for us but every situation is different. As a result, we are sure you will understand that no liability can be accepted for anything that may arise from following advice on this site.