Management expert tells firms 'grow to prosper'

NINETY-THREE per cent of the top 300 stock exchange quoted companies use a top 10 law firm for their major corporate work.

The figure was revealed by management consultant Alan Hodgart at a recent marketing conference when he warned corporate commercial law firms they needed to grow to prosper.

Hodgart, director of Hodgart Temporal & Company, said an increasing amount of the profitable work was going to firms which had strength in specialist fields.

Generalist firms offering standard work risked a downward profit spiral as they competed with each other to provide their services at a competitive rate.

And he warned firms which aimed to offer a broad range of services may well have to grow in order to provide the depth of expertise required by clients who were becoming more discerning.

He added that growth was also the only way a firm could promote more senior solicitors to partnership, a major motivating force among staff.

"Professional people are highly motivated by growth and by development," he added.

Hodgart was speaking at the 1995 Professional Services Marketing Group conference earlier this month.