Is Less More?

Thought for the day – how often are you asked to negotiate on your fees?

Does every client ask? One out of three? One out of ten? If so, how often do you agree? Have you lost business out of a reluctance to negotiate on your cost?

Have you ever completed a mediation, a transaction, a disposal or a separation and then have clients complain retrospectively about the bill that arrives on their doorstep or in their in-tray? If so, what have they based this complaint on?

If this is a common occurrence for lawyers it is twice as common amongst the legal recruitment market. In these current thrifty times firms are understandably trying to limit expenditure where possible including the fees paid to recruiters.

Before I go any further this is not a recruiter moaning about how you should pay our fees and not complain about it. Although that would be nice, if you don’t mind.

The purpose of the blog is for those occasions where you are either being asked to cut your fees or are asking your suppliers to cut theirs:- just how is it that you value the service you provide or are provided with?

Within the law every firm will wax lyrical about USPs, heightened levels of client care, rates of repeat business or even mention ‘No Win No Fee’ arrangements in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. As recruiters we also strive for an elevated position against the competition, although as with any business the main factor which sorts out the wheat from the chaff is our success.

So what is your perception of how your recruiter works for you? Do you value the recruiter who provides you with fifteen CVs for a role, with you then shortlisting four for interview, second interview two of these, invite one to a third interview to meet the team and then sign off the offer?

Alternatively what about the recruiter who provides you with one CV for a great candidate that you interview for 2 hours, who ticks all the boxes professionally and personally and who you then offer all within an afternoon? Both recruiters charge you the same fee, yet who has provided you with the better service?

As much as you may hate to admit it there is a tendency to expect some ‘pain’ for your money; if you’re going to pay £x for a piece of recruitment then you may want to feel that you have spoken to a range of individuals, albeit that most aren’t suitable, and then made your choice from the remainder.

However think about it this way. Let’s say that your interview process will be carried out by a partner and an associate who have a charge-out rate of £325/hour & £250/hour respectively. Take an hour to shortlist the CVs (partner only) and spend an hour in each interview at every stage, and the first recruiter has cost you £4,350 in lost billings on top of the fee.

The second one by way of contrast has cost you closer to £1300 in billings, hence a potential saving of around £3,000 compared to the first. Now again:- which recruiter gives you a better level of service?

Quite clearly the second has proven to be a more cost effective supplier. Of course you may feel that with the first recruiter you know that you have covered the market by seeing as many CVs as possible, but then you’re paying a considerable sum to your recruiter for their services; the good ones will have already filtered out the unsuitable ones for you.

Lawyers of course have experience of fee negotiation; the number of recorded hours very rarely tallies with the chargeable one! There is always a reluctance to pay for work unless there is tangible and definite proof of what the client is forking out for, and hence time spent proof-reading or undertaking the associated administrative tasks can often disappear into the background, just like time recruiters spend talking to unsuitable candidates, shortlisting & reformatting CVs and building comprehensive market information.

We have recently been working with a number of clients where our CVs submitted-to-interview-to-placement ratio has been exceptional by any standard. The recruitment has been slick and effective and the offers accepted with a minimal amount of fuss, and the candidates of such a calibre that one client has considered recruiting an additional person to avoid losing out on a potential star.

In business there is always negotiation, but when you can demonstrate that you save your client money whilst meeting or exceeding their expectations it puts you in a great position to justify your fee.

To discuss the service that you expect from your current recruiters, or to speak to a specialist senior level legal recruiter about your own expectations call one of our team at VG Charles & Co. Alternatively if you are looking to make a move and would like to speak to an efficient and effective recruiter who can guide you through the process call us on 0121 233 5000/020 7649 9094.

It's A Rich Man's World

For what is generally regarded as one of life’s essentials, the question of money can divide opinion like no other. For some it is ‘the root of all evil’; for others it is what makes the world go round.

Others will point out rightly that “you can’t take it with you”........can you?

Sorry to break it to you but no, of course you can’t. After you’ve taken your final breath it may pay for you to have a good send-off and perhaps fund a few beers at your wake, but whilst your dependents may thank you for bequeathing them a few quid, your assets will be of no use to you directly. So why then are so many firms committing their private client departments to moving away from wills & probate, and instead focussing on the question of protecting your money whilst you are still alive?

Well obviously it’s a good money earner. Being able to offer complex yet beneficial tax planning issues and utilisation of offshore trusts can be fairly lucrative, particularly as the market is not saturated with firms offering this service and hence the charge-out rate for this type of work is usually higher than mainstream private client work.

Secondly it allows your firm to differentiate yourselves from the crowd who may only offer a ‘standard’ wills & probate service. There is also a certain prestige factor, meaning that you can handle high net worth private client work without it harming your reputation as a top corporate practice.

At the moment the wealth protection aspect of private client law is very much in vogue. Many leading firms who previously turned their back on wills & probate work are now targeting this as both a profitable concern and also a useful way of retaining the business of high net worth business owners.

As the tax burden grows within the UK and with the use of pre-nuptial agreements carrying increasing weight when it comes to HNW separations, many business owners are looking at how they can protect their assets including cash, property, investment portfolios and even the IP rights of their company. Those firms who manage the individual wealth of their clients have the opportunity to then cross-sell their business law services to what should be an already satisfied customer.

Of course this is not always the case; some companies and practices already enjoy strong links which are unlikely to be altered by the MD opting to review his/her personal circumstances. Others prefer to keep their personal assets and business concerns separate and use different law firms for each. However there is that select clientele who will take the view that a firm which can effectively manage their own personal wealth can also do something similar for their business concerns, and in this area the wealth protection team can really come to the fore.

As anyone who has worked within the law or legal recruitment for some time will know there have been various ‘fad’ or ‘flash in the pan’ niches where super-profits are envisaged yet which have failed to live up to the hype. Similarly where those areas have proven to be successful the clamour for specialists to service it often outstrips the supply and it may be that firms targeting the wealth protection end of the market fall short with their ambitions to carve out a reputation in this field.

However there is no doubt that this type of work is appealing to a number of firms at the moment and this is only likely to increase over the coming months. Those firms who are able to handle work of this nature and who can really make a name within wealth protection will continue to see increased levels of instructions from HNW clients as more and more people see the potential benefits of ringfencing assets, with the opportunity to cross-sell corporate services as discussed earlier.

And why not look at this? If wealth protection does indeed continue to rise in popularity the way that ADR has done in the last 5 years then those firms who can provide an excellent level or service in this area can post healthy profits as a result.

Make hay while the sun shines. After all, you’re a long time dead.

Interested in moving into wealth protection work but lacking the expertise at present to do so? Or are you a wealth protection specialist seeking to discuss which firms have earmarked this as an area they are looking to recruit into? Contact one of our specialist consultants on 0121 233 5000/020 7649 9094

The Green, Green Grass of Home

The common phrase about the grass not always being greener on the other side has been used to describe many situations.

As a legal recruiter it is an argument we face often where the fear of the unknown may lead an applicant to start doubting themselves or the wisdom of making a move, at which point we will talk through those concerns on a one-to-one basis. Usually our doing so will give the candidate the chance to reflect on why they were looking to move in the first place and realise that this move will indeed improve their lot. On rare occasions those concerns may be well-founded, at which point the move will break down.

A question which is rearing its head more often than not is whether a solicitor may wish to move into or out of the public sector. Many of us who work in the private sector have over the last few years had to deal with the consequences of the recession; uncertainty over job prospects, pay freezes or cuts and a general tightening of the belts have been prevalent.

Since the start of the recession the public sector has suffered far less, with more than 335,000 new jobs being created since April 2008 at the same time as 1 million jobs have been lost in the private sector in the same timeframe. During this period civil servants have also continued to enjoy pay rises and retained excellent benefits packages meaning that moving out of the private sector has never looked so appealing.

However following George Osborne’s budget the threat of cuts is now looming large over the public sector and with this loss of confidence the legal recruitment market is now starting to see a trickle of lawyers looking to moving back into private practice.

One of the interesting considerations for those solicitors looking to leave local authorities is that the skill set they are able to demonstrate is often one which is in short supply; for example planning, employment and regulatory law are areas where the legal recruitment market is very active and yet where the lawyers to fill these opportunities are not readily available. Consequently the timing is now right for those considering making a move from public to private sector, which may have been tricky 18 months ago but the market is now more receptive to those who have been out of a direct fee-earning role for some time.

There does remain a certain level of snobbery attached towards those moving out of the public sector, with many firms reluctant to look at lawyers without previous private practice experience. However we have found that many solicitors we are talking to have both a high level of technical knowledge and are also able to provide a different slant on many matters, which a private sector lawyer may not be able to offer.

For example, a planning lawyer who is used to working closely in “coalition“ with a planning department may offer a different slant on a matter from one who has spent their career fighting against them. Within employment law, equal pay matters are still relatively niche whereas solicitors at a local authority who have spent time defending claims of this nature may prove to be a worthwhile addition to a team.

It is likely that as the public sector cuts continue to bite that the trend to move back into private practice will continue for some time. The grass may not seem greener but it is something but it is undoubtedly a move which the most committed and adaptable will make work for them.

And it’s certainly better than having no grass at all.......

To discuss opportunities in the private sector call one of our specialist consultants at VG Charles & Co on 0121 233 5000/020 7649 9094 for a confidential discussion about your options, or visit our website http://www.vgcharles.com/.

If you are trying to make your own grass greener visit the Gardeners World website http://www.gardenersworld.com/. Plenty of useful tips, but few of them likely to find you a better job and improve your life.

The Transfer Window

For the football fans out there last Monday was one of the most exciting days of the year. At 6pm the transfer window slammed shut, thus meaning that no footballer in Europe who is under contract is able to make a permanent move until January 2011.

Frenzied activity saw clubs up and down the country trying to secure the necessary recruits to see them through to the New Year, whether it be the star striker who arrives in a multi-million pound deal or the journeyman squad player who can cover 4 different positions in case of an injury crisis.

Many legal firms instigate a similar ‘transfer window’ system at senior level whereby partners may only resign on certain days of the year, whilst other firms hold that the contracted x months notice will be extended until the end of the financial year. If your present firm plays hardball and x takes you into a new year then don’t necessarily expect to be with your new employer at any point in the next 18 months!

The reasons that firms instigate these clauses are varied and not without merit. For some it means that capital accounts can be easily sorted out; for others it’s the stability of knowing that employees and client base can be relied on for instructions up until the end of the financial period.

Additionally firms have the ability to send employees on gardening leave, and in an industry as competitive as the law a partner sat at home under restrictive covenant is unable to influence their soon-to-be-ex-employer’s concerted efforts to retain the clients when the partner finally moves to their new firm.

However this element of control is not always a positive for the firms in question. What of the flip side? Those who watch the legal press are aware that on certain dates of the year reports will come through of particular practices losing key individuals. This does generate negative publicity for the firms who restrict partner resignations; whereas a firm losing two or three key hires over a 12 month period can attribute this to natural wastage, losing those 3 individuals all on the same day can (often wrongly) be presumed to be signs of a firm in crisis.

As legal recruiters it is essential to know which practices implement this lock-in system and also what the truth is behind the press reports. Knowing the inside track as to why individuals have moved on and even whether their loss is a concern or disappointment (or enforced!) can often make the difference when it comes to that practice successfully recruiting replacements for those departed.

Quite simply there are few partners out there who want to join a firm which is seen as being anything less than a steady ship, particularly if those partners are the equivalent of the ‘star striker’ and have their choice of practices interested in speaking to them.

So how do you sell your firm as a realistic and viable option? Transparency is usually the best policy. Chances are that the market knows about your partner’s impending departure long before they exit, so why try to hide the reasoning? Usually this involves a certain amount of reflection and soul-searching as to where you may be going wrong, but following this you will have to trust the recruiter you use to represent you to be able to communicate this effectively to potential new employees. It’s no coincidence that the firms we recruit for most successfully are the ones who can say “yes, we were at fault for this and this....but we have now held up our hands and put this and this into practice to resolve the issue.” Bear in mind that the majority of your new employees will find that their first ‘real’ contact with your firm will be through meeting a recruiter who will be painting a picture of life at the practice. Quite simply, without your recruiter telling the market that you are putting your own house in order how are you ever going to get people to come and talk to you?

And if you’re not recruiting new stars to replace those who have made a Man City-style departure to greener turf, how are you going to convince your existing staff to stay?

Well, you could try locking them in. Oh, hang on.......

Are you with a firm with a lock-in or restricted resignation policy, and keen to discuss your next move and effective exit strategy? Are you looking to make key lateral hires but concerned whether unkind publicity over your lock-in may be harming your chances of attracting the best talent? Call one of our specialist consultants at VG Charles & Co to discuss on 0121 233 5000/020 7649 9094