After surpassing revenue targets two years early last summer, high-flying City firm Mishcon de Reya has kick-started the process for its firmwide strategy review and is currently interviewing external consultants to help shape its vision.
The firm is two years into its current three-year strategy, which involved investing heavily through the down-turn and building a distinct brand as an adviser bridging high-end private client work with an entrepreneur heavy corporate client base. It’s clearly paid off so far, as the firm has enjoyed strong growth and in the summer hit its target of £100m in revenues by 2016, with 2013/14 turnover up 18% to £104.6m and profit per equity partner up by 16% to £975,000.
Speaking to Legal Business, managing partner Kevin Gold (pictured) said the firm’s upcoming ambitions take a more long-term view: ‘We’ve given ourselves one year … we’ll do it slightly differently, we’ll be looking at a more long term vision than a three-year plan, say a ten-year vision broken down into three-year plans with annual budgets.’
Gold said the plan will include maintaining its focus on private client and litigation work, as well as the issue of internationalisation, of which the latter task is being delegated to partners Adam Rose and Kasra Nouroozi.
Gold added: ‘As you get bigger, and we’re now one of the bigger London offices rather than an international firm, things take longer to shift. It’s much easier when you’re a £10m business to be robust and nifty but £100m plus takes longer. Three years comes very quickly. Historically a three year plan has been driven by factors or criteria such as revenue or profit per equity partner. A longer term vision is “where do I see myself in ten years’ time? What kind of firm do I want to be?” Given the stresses with consolidation or internationalisation and us being these maverick independents…we have to find our own place.’
Other major structural changes include the firm’s pending move to an all-equity partnership this autumn and conversion to a limited liability partnership, following a vote made in early 2014. It further became the latest firm to acquire an alternative business structure licence last month from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, a move that was prompted by bringing up to four key employees into the partnership, including chief operating officer Bambos Georgiou, business development director Elliot Moss and head of human resources Vanessa Dewhurst.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk