Transcript Herbert Smith - 2006

Best in France Case Study
Project
HERBERT SMITH
Emmanuelle BRISSAUD
Julie LUNEAU
Fidji SIMO
Methodology
• Research of information about the French legal
•
•
market
Research of information about Herbert Smith
Interview of an independant legal consultant
about the French legal market
– Patrick BIGNON, Managing Partner of Law
Management Consulting, consulting boutique for law
firms
• Interviews of Herbert Smith managers in France:
– Neil Brimson, partner, ex Managing Partner
– Jean-Didier Billard, CEO
– à rajouter
Presentation of the Paris office of
Herbert Smith
• Core business
– A law firm specialized in big businesses since
1962.
– 4 main fields of activities: Banking and
Finance, Litigation and Arbitration, Projects,
Competition/Antitrust,  a full service law
firm
– Specialization in Litigation and Arbitration and
in Finance.
– The French office has developped a big
business in French speaking African countries.
Presentation of the Paris office of
Herbert Smith
• Clients
– International firms that have activities in
France
– French firms that have activities abroad
– African governments
– Examples: Air Liquide, Coca Cola, Goldman
Sachs, KPMG, Toyota, Procter&Gamble, Merrill
Lynch
Presentation of the Paris office of
Herbert Smith
• Key figures
Herbert
Smith
Turnover
France
2003 M€
Turnover
France
2004
Evolution
20032004
Turnover
/ partner
2003
Turnover
/ partner
2004
Evolution
20032004
Revenu
per
lawyer
2003
K€
23,5
23
-2,13%
1 468 750
1 437 500
-2,13%
331 600
353 846
6,70%
Number
of
lawyers
2004
Evolution
20032004
Staff
2003
Herbert
Smith
75
Staff
2004
75
Evolution
20032004
0,00%
Number of
partners
2003
15
Number of
partners
2004
Evolution
20032004
Number of
lawyers
2003
15
0,00%
60
Revenu
per
lawyer
2004
60
Evolution
20032004
0,00%
Presentation of Herbert Smith:
Herbert Smith around the world
• Locations
– Head office in London
– Worldwide office for Herbert Smith and its best
friends in Brussels
– 9 offices in Europe, China, Japan and Russia
• Best friends network
– Formal alliance in the main European market with
Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe
– Sharing of the market between the three law firms
– Transfer of competencies and strong presence
– Visibility of Herbert Smith not alterered
The three key issues of the setting
up of Herbert Smith in France
• The market
• The ressources
• The values
The market
• Historical reasons:
– The International Court of Arbitration is based
in Paris and Herbert Smith had a strong
practice of Arbitration
– The crucial presence to foster the
development of this practice
– A setting up strongly linked with the
personality of the Paris office founder: Doctor
Mann, an arbitration expert
The market
• Proximity with clients
– Clients having branches in France and
occasionnaly confronted to French law rules
– French clients having problems in their head
office -confronted to French law- or with their
international branches – confronted to English
law in that case– An activity that requires a human relations
with the client: a need for interactivity
The market
• Cross borders deals
– As the core business is transaction this
involves different places and different law
rules.
– Increasingly companies are global and have
many activities all around the world
– For the alliance to be strong an due to the
absence of the other members of the alliance,
need for Herbert Smith expansion in Paris
The market
• Competitors
– All majors competitors have an office in Paris
– The market is increasingly competitive :
Maintaining market shares is crucial
Ressources
• Training
– Difficulties of a good recrutment policy
• Law firms need lawyers with analysis and
expression skills and specialised lawyers
• Law faculty is not choosen by the best profiles and
don’t propose a specialised and an internationaloriented training
– However, progress is made
• English is mastered by many students
• This enables transfer of lawyers in other offices
Ressources
• French lack of flexibility
– French labour market specificities
• Hard to find workers doing extra time
• Hard to find assistant for punctual files
– Administrative constraints
• 35 hours a week
• Cost of employement and hiring
Ressources
• Specificities of being a lawyer in France
– Independant statute  don’t have to abide by
Labour law contrary to other countries
– Enable them to avoid French labour market
rules
Values
• Individualism: lawyers are traditionally
really independant but in France this
feeling is stronger
– Visible through the language: « Come to my
law firm », « Personally, I think that… »
– Due to historical reasons: law firms were
traditionally societies where the only thing in
common was the ressources, vs the model of
partnerships
Values
• The French culture regarding work is
totally incompatible with the requirements
of a law firm
– The functioning of a law firm requires to be
available for the client at every moment
– The impredictable work requires to do extra
hours very frequently
– But it is really difficult to find people,
especially among secretaries or other
assistants, that are willing to work hard
Values
• A totally different image of the lawyer in France
and in Anglo-saxon countries
– In France, the lawyer is perceived as a theorician, a
pure legal expert
– On the contrary, Anglo-saxon lawyers are perceived in
France as wheeler-dealers, commercials, more
interested in money than in theory
– It is linked with the different nature of the law system:
common law vs civil law
– There is a kind of sin of pride, due to the specificities of
the French training: without the possibility to specialize,
French lawyers believe that they know everything about
the law rules
– It’s the reason that explain the slow development of the
profession in France: in France, the relation to money is
strictly linked with notions of morality
Prospects for the future
• The expansion of the French office is mandatory
•
•
in the alliance
But on such a competitive market, ther is a need
to find new sources of profit
That’s the reason why the African expertise of
Herbert Smith can be an important asset
– Because Africa is gaining importance in this market
due to the trade of raw materials
– Because Africa doesn’t have an unified law, which
requires the involvement of lawyers
Recommandations
• Glocalization
– Being full service using the alliance and fostering
cross fertilization of practices
– At the same time, developing local specificities in
each office
• Attract the best profiles
– Internationalizing the recruitment
– Fostering tranferts across offices
• Try to develop a worldwide culture of the firm
– To reduce lawyers’ individualism
– To unify the practices in the different offices
(behavorial control)
Acknowledgements
• Mickael Segalla
• Jack Anderson
• Neil Brimson
• Jean-Didier Billard
• Dominique Brault
• Patrick Bignon
Sources
• Legal Week
• The Lawyer
• Law.com
• Chambers Global 2005
• Legal 500
• Décideurs Juridiques