Law Firm's New Structure Creates Parallel Management Tracks
A Canadian law firm has adopted a new management structure that is being billed as a unique approach to legal practice.
Instead of having a managing partner, an executive committee and a chief executive officer, Gowling Lafleur Henderson has established a parallel management structure to deal separately with internal and external affairs, reports the Financial Post.
Two management groups, each headed by a managing partner, will be overseen by the firm’s executive committee. It, in turn, answers to a board of trustees. Among other concerns, the external management group, which includes the heads of the 700-lawyer firm’s practice groups, apparently will focus on marketing.
“We’re making a statement to ourselves and the world that managing the external side of our business is just as important as managing the internal side of our business,” says CEO Scott Jolliffe of the firm’s new management structure. “It’s quite unique. We’re pretty enthused about it.”
