Meet the boss: Tim Jones

Tim Jones, head of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's London office, talks about the year ahead. (Meet other bosses who have taken our Q&A.)

How happy are you with last year’s performance?

I am pleased with the way we responded to a completely new market environment. People got themselves busy by going after new leads, new areas of practice with real creativity and determination. We took some risks, individually and collectively, and they paid off.

What is the outlook for the next year? Are you expecting to grow? Which areas are causing the greatest headaches?

The 2009-10 year will be difficult for most firms. We will still be busy in restructuring and dispute resolution but, even if the economy is recovering, there is a real risk of stagnation in the transactional market. We won't be growing.

With revenues at many firms static and headcount slowing, can firms recapture the profit growth they have been used to in the past decade?

No. We are all moving into a different phase. The last 15 years were all about rapid expansion and growth. The next phase is about businesses maturing and consolidating.

With clients growing increasingly impatient with high hourly rates for younger lawyers who may not add much and seeking greater attention from partners, how are law firms going to deliver value to their clients? Will the charging model have to change?

There is no doubt that traditional pricing and gearing models will come under severe pressure. I would like to see real engagement between the law firms and the in house profession to understand each other's drivers better.
 
Where do you see your firm in five to ten years? What are the biggest challenges you’ll face?

I think that in most respects the firm will look much the same. Our geographical focus may shift a little to reflect changes in the global economy, but I don't expect radical movement. Our working practices may change a bit with the arrival of more low cost providers of commoditised services on the scene, but that has never been our main play. I think the biggest challenge is precisely the shift from a long growth phase to a more static environment. That changes a lot of things. 
 
On the whole, do you think law firms are well managed? Would they be better run if they recruited more non-lawyers as executives?

Law firms as a whole will be better managed when they properly recognise the skills of other professionals in the team: IT, accounting, marketing, HR, PR, communications and so on. Lawyers have got to get over their deep seated belief that they can turn their hands to anything. If a firm can achieve that then I think the overall management role can be done very well by lawyers.
 
What’s the hardest decision you’ve had to make as managing partner?

The great attraction to me of life in a professional partnership has been the sense of individual autonomy in a multi-national organisation. It has given me the chance to spend six happy years in Madrid, to come back to management roles in London and to reinvent my practice several times over the course of a career. A lot of that opportunity is still there but inevitably scale erodes it to some extent. Any decision that restricts the autonomy of partners bothers me.
 
Which person outside the legal sector do you most admire?

I chair the London steering group of Business Action on Homelessness and in that role I meet some amazing people. Jeremy Swain, who runs Thames Reach Bondway, and Colin Glover of Connection at St Martin's, are two of those. They would have been completely at home in the business world we move in but have chosen to put their skills to use to help others and I admire that immensely.
 
Are City lawyers overpaid?

By comparison to Jeremy and Colin, most definitely.

Tim Jones is head of Freshfields' London office and was previously managing partner of its corporate division. He became a partner at the firm in 1990