Meet the Boss: Howard Morris

The chief executive of Denton Wilde Sapte is expecting growth in the firm's finance, energy and restructuring practices while continuing its expansion abroad

Are you happy with the firm's financial performance over the last year?

No. We want to see year-on-year growth in profit and revenue. Our profits were down last year but, despite what was universally accepted as a tough year, we managed to increase our revenue by 3 per cent. 

The dip in profit was down to two simple factors: the impact of the recession on work levels across most practice areas and maintaining our programme of intensive investment in our international network. This included opening offices in Kuwait and Singapore and an association in Turkmenistan and seconding 14 fee-earners to our international offices.

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

We're expecting a lot of pick-up in our major areas particularly finance, energy and restructuring and insolvency. Our international markets: the Middle East, CIS and Africa should also be busy. We'll continue to invest in these jurisdictions and will be opening at least one new office.

Some practices will continue to be slower than the rest. We have a small and specialised corporate team who are targeting some of the healthier areas in the market such as renewable energy and emerging markets telecoms. Real estate is also slow but we've recently picked up some big UK regeneration projects.

Can law firms recapture the profit growth they have been used to in the past decade?

With the economy as it is, all businesses are looking at the services they buy and at getting value for money.

Our strategy is to ramp up the way we look after our clients and to differentiate our work for them on this basis. We have a passionate interest in and thorough understanding of their industries and this together with first class, highly responsive, commercial advice marks us out. The quality of the advice we give is key but we must exceed clients' expectations in every aspect of their contact with us.

Where do you see your firm in five to ten years? What are the biggest challenges you’ll face?

The focus for us is in drawing closer to our clients, understanding their needs and providing a stronger and stronger service. We will consolidate our position as the leading international law firm in the CIS, Middle East and Africa. There are varying degrees of competition in these regions but all have very strong firms that are seeking to take our position.
 
Clients are getting increasingly impatient with paying high hourly rates for younger lawyers who may not add much and are seeking greater attention from partners. So how are law firms going to deliver value to their clients? Is hourly billing doomed?

Clients do not want to overpay for young lawyers or to have to pay for more senior lawyers who are not adding value. The issue is agreeing a fair price for the value the law firm provides and DWS always looks to do this.

This requires a level of openness and transparency that many law firms talk about but few achieve. Hourly billing is not doomed but it is unsuitable in many instances of modern practice.

On the whole, do you think law firms are well-managed? Would they be better run if they recruited more non-lawyers as executives?

I am called chief executive rather than managing partner as one day we may get a non-lawyer with a
different take on business management to do my job!  What I have however is the best team of directors and departmental and office heads in any law firm.

Is so-called "Tesco law" just talk or set to fundamentally change the legal market? What has your firm done to prepare for it?

Too many lawyers talk of "Tesco law" in a way that disparages the concept. With technology there is a clear process by which new legal products can become established and increasingly commoditised and therefore much cheaper. That is good for clients and English law and the English jurisdiction.

DWS through its network of offices recognises that this is what clients want. The process of commoditisation, as it has occurred in other industries, has been a huge benefit to consumers.

There will still be plenty of need for creative advice for unique problems. We provide the same level of City quality across our office network, in the Middle East, Africa and the CIS, but take advantage of every possibility to reduce the price.

What’s the hardest decision you’ve had to make as managing partner?

Recession related decisions were very hard. I had to make a call on various measures to address our cost base including making redundancies and reducing the number of newly qualified lawyers we could keep on.
You can't avoid the impact that these decisions have on individuals but you also have to keep in mind that the actions are putting the business into a better position and therefore securing the jobs of a great deal of people.

Which person outside the legal sector do you most admire?

Mohammed Ali
 
If you could hire one lawyer from a competitor who would it be and why?

We do not target individuals at other firms. We look for people of talent and drive who fit with our strategy and culture and would improve our service to our clients.

Are City lawyers overpaid?

In all jobs some people are underpaid and some overpaid. If lawyers provide value, work hard and care for their staff then they are not overpaid.

Howard Morris is a corporate recovery and insolvency lawyer with a particular interest in financial services as well as regulatory law