The Association of Law Firms Administrators Nigeria (ALAN), the umbrella body for law firm management in Nigeria, at its fifth edition of its Annual Managing Partners Roundtable (MPR) urged Law firms to prioritise scale and institutional growth.
Themed ‘The Scalable Law Firm: The New Equation for Thriving,’ the event, held in Lagos, brought together law firm administrators and managing partners from various law firms across Nigeria.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Modupe Olusoga, President of ALAN, said the MPR was designed not merely as a gathering of law firm administrators, but as a platform to engage with critical issues around law firm management.
She said while the practice of law has traditionally been anchored on legal excellence, law firms that intend to thrive must build beyond legal expertise to embrace excellence in management. She noted that the discussions were designed to help participants assess whether the law firms they were building were structured to scale, thrive and ultimately pass on to the next generation.
Delivering the keynote address, Mr. Osaro Eghobamien, SAN, identified three key requirements for scaling a law firm: building people, institutionalising clients and protecting the firm’s culture.
He said firms must continuously invest in the professional development of their people, while changing the mindset from ‘my client’ to the ‘firm’s client.’ A client, he said, should not be viewed as belonging to the individual lawyer handling the account, but as a client of the firm.
Mr. Eghobamien, SAN, further noted that law firms seeking to scale and thrive must understand their clients’ businesses beyond what the law requires.
He said the future of Nigerian law firms could not be built by firms standing alone, adding that while law firms could compete in business, they must also collaborate to build capacity.
The panel session featured Mr. Soji Awogbade, Ms. Olujoke Aliu, Ms. Toyin Gbayi, Mr. Olaniyi Yusuf and Ms. Oluwakemi Ajayi, with Mr. Ekundayo Onajobi as moderator.
Ms. Toyin Gbagi said the distinction between growth and scale was important for law firms seeking to build sustainable institutions. According to her, growth is an increase in size, while scale is an increase in value, emphasizing that firms should focus on value rather than size when determining whether they were truly scaling.
Ms. Olujoke Aliu said scaling required a clear vision and the willingness to build an institution that transcended its founders. She noted that this vision should inform the firm’s governance framework, systems and decentralised decision-making.
‘Scaling is built into the firm’s daily operations,’ she said, stressing that it was not a one-off event.
Mr. Olaniyi Yusuf noted that converting individual expertise into institutional knowledge required a documented methodology for doing things, which should be continuously updated. He also emphasised culture alignment and a reward system that encouraged the sharing and institutionalisation of individual knowledge.
On moving from a personality-led firm to an institution-led firm without losing its entrepreneurial drive, Ms. Oluwakemi Ajayi called for deliberate succession planning, transfer of culture and team building. She said firms must ensure that clients do not have only one line of communication with the organisation, while also understanding the ‘why’ behind existing processes and practices.
The panelists agreed that scaling a law firm required collaboration between lawyers and professionals responsible for the business and administrative functions of the firm.
They said professionals including chief operating officers, practice managers and business development heads must understand and communicate the value they bring, while lawyers must recognise them as professionals whose contributions are critical to the firm’s success.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Grace Oyeniyi, Vice-President of ALAN, charged participants to return to their organisations and implement the lessons from the roundtable.
‘The value of today’s conversation would be measured by what is done differently,’ she said.