In a world where London firms still predominate and where regional firms are beginning to look like they're offshoots of a London business, Cobbetts is making its mark as a truly national firm with a northern heart. Caroline Poynton talks to managing partner, Michael Shaw, about his leadership of the firm, his role in its ongoing expansion and his dreams for the years to come.

When a teenage Michael Shaw dreamt of owning a Porsche 911, the financial aspects of the legal profession seemed like a sensible path to fulfilment. And, while so many have long forgotten their childhood ambitions, Shaw should be proud '“ he now enjoys the luxuries of a BMW 7 series.

This might seem like something of a cop-out '“ the sporty Porsche 911 versus the staid pleasures of, some might say, a typical solicitor's car. However, Shaw has a number of cards up his sleeve, not least of which is his growing reputation for being something of a radical when it comes to management.

Since his election as managing partner in 1996, partner profits have doubled; the firm has established a Brussels office; merged with part of Slater Heelis (1998) and later Read Hind Stewart (2002); and was one of the first firms to introduce a truly open-management model. Most recently, the firm has announced a slimmed down management structure to improve operations across the Leeds and Manchester offices and is preparing for the next phase of its growth: expansion into Birmingham.

It's an impressive list, especially when you realise that in 1996, Cobbetts was all but stuck in the mud. 'There was a decline in profitability due to the increasingly competitive market,' says Shaw. 'Clients had become more sophisticated and a lot of upheaval and consolidation in client sectors were impacting on us.' To be fair, Cobbetts was probably performing reasonably well, given the circumstances, but in 1996, annual turnover was stuck at £7m with 28 equity partners and a total headcount of 140.

Turning things around might have proved the first of many challenges for Shaw. He describes the firm at that time as being something of a home-grown product that had become very cosy '“ hardly the best launch pad for change. Thankfully, the culture appears to have worked in Shaw's favour. Partners were very supportive, largely, Shaw believes, because the leadership over the years had instilled a basic, inherent decency where there was a lot of respect for each other, staff and clients. Far from facing confrontation and uncertainty, Shaw found himself working with partners who trusted and respected him enough to hand over the reins of the business. It was a job well done - Cobbetts now enjoys a £30m turnover and has grown to a total headcount of 450.

This early success has left its mark on a firm that has since retained a particularly favourable reputation for its working environment. Shaw frequently refers to the importance of culture, saying it was a crucial aspect of the firm's successful merger with Read Hind Stewart. He says damningly of some other firms: 'They don't respect their staff or their relationships with their clients. They only see the short-term view. They become a little too greedy and don't understand the business necessities of building a sustainable income stream.' He admits that prizing the firm's culture so highly may prevent Cobbetts from making the same kind of money as the most profitable City firms, but he argues that Cobbetts can still be a top quartile law firm by pushing the merits of its core values.

Shaw is clearly a proactive participant in this cultural ethos. On an individual level, he stumbles when trying to describe the high points of his career: 'Success is relative '“ I don't think I've done anything particularly special.' When it comes to the overall firm, however, he demonstrates everything that is key to its core values. He is proud of his people, in whom he feels a great sense of achievement and, he is especially pleased when a junior person shows commitment and enthusiasm for their work in the firm. In discussing the ongoing challenges of his role, he says that his main task is to move people out of their comfort zones, to 'deal with people's personal insecurities and to make them feel that they can do more than they originally thought possible'.

Whether a conscious strategy or instinctive personality trait, it is this sensitivity that marks Shaw out as being something a little different to the stereotype image of the modern business leader. More significantly, his approach seems to be having a firm-wide impact. In contrast to some City firms, where the race for profit results in a pitiful working environment of long working hours and poor internal communication, there is a feeling that Cobbetts is genuinely different. The firm's website screams of its reputation for being a great place to work and comments provided by the firm's trainees to Chambers&Partners, notably: 'Everyone is really friendly and the trainees are happy and all get on together,'1 provides some proof that there is far more to this than mere bluster.

Shaw has no trouble reeling off the various qualities he would ascribe to an effective leader. Honesty, sincerity and pragmatism are among the more obvious of the list. There are some interesting additions, however. For example, knowing when to fight and when to walk away, daring to be different, and trusting in friends to tell you when you've got it right or wrong. In the merger with Read Hind Stewart, Mark Jones of Addleshaw Booth and Co (now Addleshaw Goddard) recommended concentrating on the internal rather than external relationships, advice that Shaw says was spot on.

While it seems unlikely that Shaw would have tackled the merger in any other way, it is indicative of his character as a leader that he rates such advice so highly. Shaw admits he's made and learnt from many mistakes over the years. Indeed, such mistakes, he says, are inevitable. The key, he says, is to admit your faults and trust that people will generally be very accepting. Whether some of those mistakes have been failing to live up to such demanding values, it is refreshing to see a manager who strives to understand the nature of human frailty both in himself and his team.

My one concern for Cobbetts is whether it can retain its high ideals while pursuing and enjoying such a period of expansion. As the firm becomes larger and extends across national offices, it will become harder to retain the intimacy that has so far characterised the firm. Shaw, however, seems to be keeping the firm's feet fairly well grounded. Merger opportunities are carefully considered from a cultural point of view and expansion is strictly viewed within a sensible framework of client requirements. Hence, following the path to London to compete with the big boys seems unlikely. As Shaw says: 'We understand the markets that we operate in and we would be reluctant to move into a market of which we have no knowledge.'

Shaw has already made his mark as managing partner but, as he makes his way through a successful third term in the role, it looks likely that he will continue to guide the firm for some years to come. He hopes that when he eventually leaves the firm, it will be a business that people think well of and that goes from strength to strength. With the steady record of development so far, it seems to be another ambition that is likely to be fulfilled.

In the long term, real success in cultivating a strong culture of respect, loyalty, honesty and integrity might leave Shaw with very little to do, especially now that he has implemented a streamlined management system aimed at openness, efficiency and integration. When Shaw brushes off the challenges he has faced so far by reference to the support of the firm's people, and the role of everybody else apart from himself, you might even feel he's in danger of writing himself out of a job. Unlikely though this might be, with rumours abounding of a recently acquired Fender guitar, maybe Shaw will find himself the time to resurrect some of the more musical ambitions of his youth and, of course, dream of Porsche 911s.

Reference:

1. 'True Picture' Chambers Student Guide, 2002

Michael Shaw is managing partner at Cobbetts. He can be contacted at: michael.shaw@cobbetts.co.uk