What type of management structure?
There are many different types of structure appropriate to legal practices and these can vary from setting up a management board, naming a management partner or even appointing a non-lawyer as Chief Executive! Historically, the benevolent dictatorship has existed where the Senior Partner has taken all the management decisions. With the right dictator, the decisions are taken quickly and the other partners do not spend unremunerative time on management matters. In a small firm this may still be appropriate although today the complexities of business make it very difficult for one person to have sufficient know-how or indeed the time to fulfil the job properly. Moreover, new partners may be excluded from management and have little real idea as to how the firm is performing. Sadly there are examples from time to time of new partners whose experience of partnership are negative and costly to them financially. Succession may also be a problem. Management is sometimes delegated to a committe
