Limitless ltd
FEATURES LAW FIRM PROFILE
DECEMBER 2016
Excello Law
Limitless ltd Patrick Wingrove speaks to George Bisnought, founder and managing director of Excello Law, about his firm’s model and how it’s giving solicitors a better way of working
20 LEGAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
A
s legal professionals increasingly expect greater flexibility and a larger percentage of their fees, firms may need to review their business structures if they want to stay competitive. George Bisnought, managing director and founder of Excello Law, says the traditional law firm model simply doesn’t cater to the needs of lawyers or clients – which is why he set up his firm as one of the UK’s first limited liability company law firms in 2008. “I qualified as a solicitor in 1991, originally as a commercial litigator, and had rather grandiose views about our ability as lawyers to give consumers what they wanted. But that turned out to be pretty naïve when I realised that law firm business models primarily catered to the needs of the partnership.” Bisnought says he found that the traditional model wasn’t working for clients and that they often had concerns about the quality, accessibility and cost of legal services. He adds that under a traditional partnership he felt that he couldn’t meet his full potential as a solicitor and that he wouldn’t be adequately rewarded for his efforts. “I felt very much a square peg in a round hole, and soon noticed that there were a lot of lawyers who felt like me – passionate about law but hating all of the other stuff that went with the partner pyramid structure.” Bisnought says that this dissatisfaction among clients and lawyers was the key driver behind his decision to establish Excello Law as a limited company.
FEATURES
DECEMBER 2016
LPM FACT FILE Excello Law Revenue: £7m 80 fee earners, 91 total staff Offices: London, Liverpool, Leeds Specialisms: All areas of corporate and commercial law
“I wanted a model that wasn’t based on a hierarchical partnership structure and would be familiar to clients – who would feel more comfortable with a firm that had a structure like theirs – and would be more attractive to external investors.” Perhaps the most important aspect of setting up a limited liability company law firm for Bisnought was that it presented an opportunity to offer lawyers a better way of working. “Excello Law offers its lawyers a pure agile working model – with the option to work remotely or at leasehold premises in London, Liverpool and Leeds – for which we’ve recently won the Lawyer’s business summit award for best agile working initiative. We also reward teams with a greater percentage of the fees they bring in, and eliminated billable hours as a performance metric in an effort to cultivate a stress-free culture where lawyers share their clients.” He adds that if you create a model that is predicated on how many hours fee earners bill, then you instantly create a culture of competition between lawyers who, as a result, don’t share work and clients. Bisnought adds that 42% of files opened on the Excello Law case management system are referrals from happy clients who have benefitted from stress-free lawyers. “In Excello, lawyers are able to focus more attention on client service and the quality of the output rather than carry the burden of having to comply with law firm commandments on targets, billable hours, types of work and clients.” The firm was recently nominated for the Lawyer’s best business support initiative (alongside firms such as Mayer Brown, Clyde & Co and Addleshaw Goddard), which recognised the excellent work its central team to support lawyers through induction and beyond into their daily working lives. According to Bisnought, all these measures have had a very positive effect
on recruitment, retention and growth. “We’ve seen significant growth year on year both financially and in the number of lawyers we take on. The calibre of legal professionals we’re taking on is also very high and include fee-earning and management leaders from large, national and City law firms. “Our focus however is not to grow too quickly as we feel growth by reputation is more important than simply recruiting lots of people. We intend to build a sustainable business and it’s important that the entry levels to recruitment remain high for us.” He adds that all Excello lawyers go through an approvals process before joining, which involves the firm’s PI insurer. But Bisnought says Excello’s talent isn’t the only source of professional expertise that they draw from to maintain their thriving legal business – it also has a talented and knowledgeable team helping out from above. “Our advisory team includes Dame Janet Gaymer, previously senior partner at Simmons & Simmons and currently chair of the House of Commons administration
“I wanted a model that wasn’t based on a hierarchical partnership structure and would be familiar to clients – who would feel more comfortable with a firm that had a structure like theirs – and would be more attractive to external investors.”
estimate and members estimate audit committees, Victoria Vaksman, international executive, adviser and entrepreneur, and Jon Harrison, who’s a former corporate finance partner with PwC. It’s an extremely heavyweight team compared to other firms our size.” Another feat Excello has accomplished, despite its size, is establishing an international presence – opening offices in Sweden and partnering with a similar new model law firm in the US. “Regardless of the jurisdiction, clients often have the same problems when it comes to buying legal services surrounding quality, cost and accessibility. Our market research led us to conclude that our services were in demand internationally – we didn’t have to be large to venture into foreign territories – because of our focus on quality, accessibility and cost.” He adds that Excello is currently looking into other jurisdictions to expand its international footprint further still. But this isn’t Excello’s only plan for the future – the firm is constantly looking for opportunities in technology, such as AI, to reduce costs, and has a goal of becoming a top 200 firm in the UK within the next five years. “We’ve taken the firm from an idea to three UK offices with 80 lawyers and £7m turnover in just eight years – and we’ll soon be opening two more UK offices. This is largely because of our attitude towards clients, lawyers and technology, and we’re planning to keep improving and keep growing,” says Bisnought. When asked what advice he could give to other legal businesses that might want to replicate the success of Excello, Bisnought said the key to any innovative law firm is agility. “You can’t stand still in business. Firms need to constantly think about how they can improve their service. If they don’t, then they can’t guarantee that they’ll be competitive in an ever-evolving market.” LPM LEGAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
21
DECEMBER 2016
Excello Law
Limitless ltd Patrick Wingrove speaks to George Bisnought, founder and managing director of Excello Law, about his firm’s model and how it’s giving solicitors a better way of working
20 LEGAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
A
s legal professionals increasingly expect greater flexibility and a larger percentage of their fees, firms may need to review their business structures if they want to stay competitive. George Bisnought, managing director and founder of Excello Law, says the traditional law firm model simply doesn’t cater to the needs of lawyers or clients – which is why he set up his firm as one of the UK’s first limited liability company law firms in 2008. “I qualified as a solicitor in 1991, originally as a commercial litigator, and had rather grandiose views about our ability as lawyers to give consumers what they wanted. But that turned out to be pretty naïve when I realised that law firm business models primarily catered to the needs of the partnership.” Bisnought says he found that the traditional model wasn’t working for clients and that they often had concerns about the quality, accessibility and cost of legal services. He adds that under a traditional partnership he felt that he couldn’t meet his full potential as a solicitor and that he wouldn’t be adequately rewarded for his efforts. “I felt very much a square peg in a round hole, and soon noticed that there were a lot of lawyers who felt like me – passionate about law but hating all of the other stuff that went with the partner pyramid structure.” Bisnought says that this dissatisfaction among clients and lawyers was the key driver behind his decision to establish Excello Law as a limited company.
FEATURES
DECEMBER 2016
LPM FACT FILE Excello Law Revenue: £7m 80 fee earners, 91 total staff Offices: London, Liverpool, Leeds Specialisms: All areas of corporate and commercial law
“I wanted a model that wasn’t based on a hierarchical partnership structure and would be familiar to clients – who would feel more comfortable with a firm that had a structure like theirs – and would be more attractive to external investors.” Perhaps the most important aspect of setting up a limited liability company law firm for Bisnought was that it presented an opportunity to offer lawyers a better way of working. “Excello Law offers its lawyers a pure agile working model – with the option to work remotely or at leasehold premises in London, Liverpool and Leeds – for which we’ve recently won the Lawyer’s business summit award for best agile working initiative. We also reward teams with a greater percentage of the fees they bring in, and eliminated billable hours as a performance metric in an effort to cultivate a stress-free culture where lawyers share their clients.” He adds that if you create a model that is predicated on how many hours fee earners bill, then you instantly create a culture of competition between lawyers who, as a result, don’t share work and clients. Bisnought adds that 42% of files opened on the Excello Law case management system are referrals from happy clients who have benefitted from stress-free lawyers. “In Excello, lawyers are able to focus more attention on client service and the quality of the output rather than carry the burden of having to comply with law firm commandments on targets, billable hours, types of work and clients.” The firm was recently nominated for the Lawyer’s best business support initiative (alongside firms such as Mayer Brown, Clyde & Co and Addleshaw Goddard), which recognised the excellent work its central team to support lawyers through induction and beyond into their daily working lives. According to Bisnought, all these measures have had a very positive effect
on recruitment, retention and growth. “We’ve seen significant growth year on year both financially and in the number of lawyers we take on. The calibre of legal professionals we’re taking on is also very high and include fee-earning and management leaders from large, national and City law firms. “Our focus however is not to grow too quickly as we feel growth by reputation is more important than simply recruiting lots of people. We intend to build a sustainable business and it’s important that the entry levels to recruitment remain high for us.” He adds that all Excello lawyers go through an approvals process before joining, which involves the firm’s PI insurer. But Bisnought says Excello’s talent isn’t the only source of professional expertise that they draw from to maintain their thriving legal business – it also has a talented and knowledgeable team helping out from above. “Our advisory team includes Dame Janet Gaymer, previously senior partner at Simmons & Simmons and currently chair of the House of Commons administration
“I wanted a model that wasn’t based on a hierarchical partnership structure and would be familiar to clients – who would feel more comfortable with a firm that had a structure like theirs – and would be more attractive to external investors.”
estimate and members estimate audit committees, Victoria Vaksman, international executive, adviser and entrepreneur, and Jon Harrison, who’s a former corporate finance partner with PwC. It’s an extremely heavyweight team compared to other firms our size.” Another feat Excello has accomplished, despite its size, is establishing an international presence – opening offices in Sweden and partnering with a similar new model law firm in the US. “Regardless of the jurisdiction, clients often have the same problems when it comes to buying legal services surrounding quality, cost and accessibility. Our market research led us to conclude that our services were in demand internationally – we didn’t have to be large to venture into foreign territories – because of our focus on quality, accessibility and cost.” He adds that Excello is currently looking into other jurisdictions to expand its international footprint further still. But this isn’t Excello’s only plan for the future – the firm is constantly looking for opportunities in technology, such as AI, to reduce costs, and has a goal of becoming a top 200 firm in the UK within the next five years. “We’ve taken the firm from an idea to three UK offices with 80 lawyers and £7m turnover in just eight years – and we’ll soon be opening two more UK offices. This is largely because of our attitude towards clients, lawyers and technology, and we’re planning to keep improving and keep growing,” says Bisnought. When asked what advice he could give to other legal businesses that might want to replicate the success of Excello, Bisnought said the key to any innovative law firm is agility. “You can’t stand still in business. Firms need to constantly think about how they can improve their service. If they don’t, then they can’t guarantee that they’ll be competitive in an ever-evolving market.” LPM LEGAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
21
