It’s a question
of destiny…™
Welcome to McCrum Legal, which offers Management Consultancy, and a Training Academy, to the legal sector.
I’m Simon McCrum. I qualified as a solicitor in 1990 but I quickly moved from a solely fee-earning role and for the last 30 years I have been involved in the management, development, and growth of lawyers, legal teams, and law firms. My CV on this site sets out the various roles I have carried out along that long road, what each role entailed, and thus the incredible – unbeatable, I’d say – experience and expertise each has added to my current armoury.
They say you can’t buy experience. You can. Mine.
During that long journey, I learned literally thousands of lessons. I had hundreds of successes, and hundreds of failures. I worked with and led and served and managed thousands of people. That’s one heck of an education – more than most partners or even law firm leaders or even more than most of my current competitors, could boast of or wish for.
I bring all of this experience and expertise to the table when I work, as I do now, with law firms, their teams, and their people, to give all of these a boost.
I don’t work with them to just make more money. As one highly successful law firm owner put it :
“Our law firm was already doing well. Simon analysed our business and designed a growth plan. Changes were made to structure, management, middle management, reporting, employer brand, people development, and marketing. The impact has been huge growth and nothing short of destiny-changing”.
So for me it’s not about “flash in the pan” change. It really is a question of destiny – destiny of individuals, and destiny of firms.
If you are looking for external input, I set out on this website the reasons why you can (and indeed should) choose me from amongst the dozens now of consultants who offer to help law firms with strategy and growth.
In my Service Pledge on this website I set what you can expect if we were to work together – it is my promise to you.
Bringing together all that I have seen and done, I have developed a business model for law firms that sets out the pillars that need to be embraced (by everyone in the business) if sustained, destiny-changing business improvement and growth is to be secured. I call this model “The Perfect Legal Business” which was the title of my first book, which sets out the model in detail. The pillars relate to quality, consistency, professionalism, people, business acumen, profitability, cash-generation, and so on.
However, one size does not fit all, so whilst these general pillars have universal application, they are broad and need to be adapted to each firm according, for example, to its current situation and its marketplaces.
My second book drilled into one of the facets that is essential if a law firm is to be a Perfect Legal Business. It is called The Perfect Lawyer and it identifies what is needed from each individual in a firm if the trophies of sustained profitable and cash-rich growth and personal development and elevation are to be grasped.
The work I do with law firms and their people
I bring all my experience and expertise to bear in my work now for the benefit of ambitious lawyers and ambitious law firms. The value I add to these legal businesses falls under two main umbrellas :
• MCCRUM LEGAL – MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY
As you can see from the section of this website that deals with my Management Consultancy work, I add real value in a range of areas that can be localised within a firm or which can be overarching across the whole firm.
• THE MCCRUM ACADEMY
As you will see in the section of this website detailing the work of The McCrum Academy, this is borne out of the simple fact that if people in their various roles across a legal business don’t consistently perform, or improve their contribution, or don’t adapt and embrace the pillars that make up The Perfect Legal Business, it’s just not going to happen – certainly not for long. The Academy helps you to make your people (across every role in the firm) great and greater. It helps people with their current roles and gets them ready for their next.
During none of my time in the legal world have I “gone through the motions”. Rather, I set out at every new turn to bring material business improvement and growth on individual, team, and whole-firm levels. To see whether I’ve succeeded, don’t listen to me but look instead at the feedback from my client firms on this website.
In countless firms owned by me and owned by others, I have worked with many hundreds of lawyers and non-legal staff at all levels, dealing hands-on with every conceivable issue, challenge, and opportunity that a law firm could face. Lawyers have changed up a gear, teams have boosted their business, and firms have seen real and unprecedented growth. Thousands of decisions have been made by firms where decision-making (or rather, the lack of it) had historically been an obstacle to progress.
Firms now have at their disposal all of that, as well as boundless energy, “fresh eyes”, a business model for law firms that is tried and tested, and all the necessary tools and skills to implement change and improvement, free of any decision-making delay or even paralysis.
This can, I believe, help firms to address the many micro and macro challenges that all law firms face and can help them to exploit the full potential of their people and their businesses. I help firms – already-successful firms – to oil the wheels and to turbo-charge their businesses. I literally help them to change their destiny.
My experience lends itself to ambitious firms, firms wanting to be sure of their direction, firms that want to grow organically or by acquisition or merger, firms looking at the whole “succession” issue, firms that want to generate more profit from existing clients or new clients, and any firm that wants to give a boost to all or part of its business.
Working closely together, we can take your business to a great – or greater – place
Any good leader or business knows the value of bringing in an expert. Bringing in experts from time to time is a real sign of strength. The businesses I work with are already doing well. I can see why – they are willing to be open-minded and to listen. If you are contemplating bringing in an external management consultant, please include me in your exploration and discussions. It’ll be time very well spent.
I welcome any discussions to explore whether – working with you and your team – we could together bring productive and profitable change. And change to your destiny.
My bet is that we can.