Echoing its trademarked ‘virtuous triangle’ strategy of the past, Fieldfisher has picked three sectors to ‘turbocharge’ as it rolls out its latest three-year business plan, dubbed ‘Our Future Refocused’.
The firm is placing an emphasis on technology, energy & natural resources and finance & financial services as its three ‘accelerated’ focuses.
Fieldfisher managing partner Michael Chissick said: ‘We are not stopping all the things we are doing. We are not stopping being a multi-service law firm. We are not stopping doing IP, tax, hotel, dispute resolution and other things – all these are going to continue. However we felt that we had three areas that we at the moment we can grow faster than other areas.’
Chissick (pictured) added: ‘It is difficult in the crowded London market place for people to get to know a firm in more than a few areas.’
Combined these areas make up almost £50m for the firm which last year posted revenues of £113m. Technology is the biggest contributor, bringing in about £20m, while financial services brings £15m while energy brings in slightly less at about £12m.
While Chissick was clear that other sector groups will not be jettisoned, the special focus on three sectors has echoes of the old Field Fisher Waterhouse ‘virtuous triangle’ strategy of 2010, where corporate, IP/IT and regulatory were singled out.
Along with the change in sector focus, Fieldfisher has outlined its international strategy, which is to concentrate on growth in Germany. The firm’s Düsseldorf office, has grown to five partners from scratch since it launched in 2014, while Munich is down to three partners after litigation partner Sibylle Schumacher left last year for Pinsent Masons.
As part of the strategy, Fieldfisher also expects to have outposts in Italy, Netherlands and Spain in the next three years. Outside its UK offices in London and Manchester, the firm currently has eight other offices including Brussels, Paris, Silicon Valley and Shanghai.
The final prong of the strategy is focused on culture, which encompasses the firm’s values, its drive for collaboration and emphasis on high performance. This includes a committment to agile working, innovation, diversity and smarter working.
Fieldfisher, which banked £58.4m in the first six months of the 2015/16 financial year off the back of a buoyant disputes practice and a resurgent UK real estate market, will announce its 2015/16 financials later this month. The firm has already announced it would gift £1,000 bonuses to all staff as a result of its continued success.
The new business plan, follows a strategy which the firm dubbed its ‘strategy on the page’, launched when Chissick became managing partner in 2014.
Chissick added: ‘We achieved that last strategy: we moved, we brought in laterals and there was a sense that it was implemented; we had implemented the IT and rebranded.’
victoria.young@legalease.co.uk
Read more on Fieldfisher’s strategy in: ”We needed to move on’: Why Fieldfisher has turned its back on the dating game’
