What makes a perfect lawyer? To start answering this question, we need to use a classic lawyer approach – it depends!
In The Perfect Lawyer, former Managing Partner and law firm management consultant Simon McCrum deep dives into what makes a perfect lawyer in a perfect legal business. It is someone who does a great job from the client’s perspective but also does a great job from their law firm’s – and they are very different things. When combined effectively, such lawyers not only change their clients’ lives, but also the destiny of the legal business they work in, and the lives of themselves and their colleagues.
The perfect lawyer’s attributes include making a material commercial contribution to the business, which is wider than just billing. They need to be self-aware and to exhibit leadership behaviours. They see clients as clients rather than just as cases, and they are an active member of a team where everyone is rowing in the same and right direction. A perfect lawyer is intolerant of inefficiency on their part, and they are determined to secure maximum value for both the client (in terms of the experience and the outcome) and for the business (in terms of profit and cash and pride) in return for their expertise and passion.
Whether you are part of a large legal firm or a small one, the themes explored in The Perfect Lawyer examine the symbiosis between a law firm’s team members and the organisation, as they both evolve into higher-earning and more effective entities.
The Perfect Lawyer is the culmination of the many things that Simon has seen repeatedly in law firms of all sizes. Indeed, a lawyer who embraces all the things detailed in this book can rightly be called the perfect lawyer. In becoming that, they will inevitably help create the perfect legal business.
Note: This book is the updated edition of The Perfect Lawyer, originally published in 2023. It is the sister book to The Perfect Legal Business in that it looks at many of the same themes in that book, but from the viewpoint of the individual lawyer. As such, it contains material that crosses both titles. If you already have a copy of The Perfect Legal Business or, indeed, the first edition of The Perfect Lawyer, you will not need this one.
About Simon McCrum: Simon McCrum qualified as a commercial lawyer in 1990 at Pannone in Manchester, and during his time at the firm, his role evolved from fee-earner into wider positions including Head of various teams, Marketing Partner, Director of Business Development, Equity Partner, and part of the Management Team at the 1,000 person firm. In 2007, Simon became Managing Partner at a full-service Top 200 law firm in Oxford, Darbys Solicitors. The firm made a trading loss in 2007, but after going a long way backwards – and experiencing the 2008 Credit Crunch – the firm emerged to be the country’s fastest-growing law firm and was acquired by Knights in 2016. Simon subsequently exited to form McCrum Consulting and the McCrum Training Academy to help the business performance and growth of law firms, teams, and lawyers. Simon helps partners, teams, and firms to secure ongoing growth in a safe, sustainable way.
Simon is the author of the Law Firm Management and Leadership Trilogy of which this book forms part, along with The Perfect Legal Business and The Perfect Partner.
