Managing success in Dublin

Size, revenues, clients, growth, market share, profitability, retention, quality: Irish managing partners reveal how they benchmark success.

In theory, data can be used objectively in various ways to measure the relative success of a law firm: billing, utilization, conversion, activation, realization and retention rates; cost per matter; revenue per lawyer; growth in revenues by practice area; profits per equity partner…the list goes on. For managing partners everywhere, they serve as key performance indicators of efficiency, progress, and ultimately, success in winning business from clients. But, as one Irish managing partner told me: “The numbers are the simplest part, you just have to be doing great work for great clients and it all looks after itself.”

Of course, another familiar adage may also apply: the road to success is always under construction. In building it, the thoughts of 15 Irish managing partners, who were each asked in interview how they benchmark success, are outlined below. Although there are inevitable areas of common ground, their individual responses are surprisingly diverse. They reflect both the different set of challenges facing established firms and newer market entrants in Dublin, as well as their shared priorities when operating in a very competitive local recruitment market where available talent at the top end is not just finite, but increasingly scarce. Arguably, overcoming the latter challenge provides as much of the unspoken subtext for delivering their future success as does the perennial imperative of winning and retaining new client business.