Welcome to MPF London

The MPF is the world's leading association of managing partners from across the spectrum of professional service firms. Our challenge is to strengthen practice management through building a partnership of equals between those involved in client service and those in practice management.

In London, HQ of the MPF, we have created an organisation that has provided top-calibre educational and networking opportunities for all its members since 1995. By introducing thought-provoking and cutting-edge best practices that are transportable from one sector to another, we are dedicated to enhancing leadership and the status of the management team. more...

The London committee has three broad objectives:

Organise a local programme of networking events, panel sessions and discussion groups that will facilitate the MPF’s wider aims for its members.
Orchestrate the professions in London to support high profile bodies for continued economic and social development of the region.
Share best practice with and provide support to other UK regional and International MPF chapters.

EVENTS

Meetings are run locally in London and provide both educational and networking opportunities for managing partners and other senior members of the management team. MPF London connects the local professional services community with the wider MPF network, whilst generating real value for members closer to home. As a membership organisation, all our meetings are member only. However, those interested in joining are welcome to attend one event as our guest in order to get a feel for the Panel. See current event or download previous meeting report

Please contact MPF Executive Manager, Paul Lemon if you wish to hear more about our events and/or membership.

KNOWLEDGE

The MPF collects confidential data and conducts regular surveys amongst MPs and members of the management team based worldwide. Leading consultants in strategy and leadership, appointed by the MPF Executive Committee, prepare monthly surveys on strategy and leadership issues, summarise findings, and make presentations at MPF events held in key cities worldwide (London, New York, Frankfurt etc). All findings are released for free into the public domain to ensure professional firms everywhere have access to reliable facts on key management issues. more...

CAMPAIGNS

The MPF is the most powerful lobby group in professional services, launching a new campaign every six months. MPF campaigns confront the professions on particular issues aiming to empower the management team and help connect the local professional services community into the MPF network.

Current campaigns include:

In search of Management talent: A “prospectus” for the professions
Time Management: MPF Management Diary - time well spent?
Partner Career Paths: Exploring the sound of silence
Leadership Selection: Less politics, more transparency, clear reward
Unsung Heroes: No-one should be treated as a second class citizen

We aim to remain at the cutting-edge of business thinking in professional services through regular surveys of our members and global leaders in marketing, HR, IT, finance etc, while allowing members to canvass each other on a management issue through MPF Pulse.

AWARDS

We organise the European Practice Management Awards, the only competition to focus on the contribution of different disciplines to managing a professional firm. Widely recognised as the premier Awards in Europe for those with practice management roles, the competition has been running since 2002.

COMMITTEE

Chair: David Miles - David was Managing Partner of the BDO Stoy Hayward Bromley office during the phase when it grew its revenues from £1m to £11m and its headcount from 15 to 130 people. Now a Senior Partner in his firm's Professional Practices Group, David is considered to be one of the more progressive professional services leaders. He has a deep understanding of the partnership culture backed by participation in the "Advanced Management Program" at Wharton and the "Leading Professional Services Firm" program at Harvard.

Regional Director: Paul Lemon is Executive Manager of the Managing Partners' Forum and leads regional and international growth of the network. Having spent five years in the legal publishing sector as a sales manager, Paul spearheaded an international launch and was part of the advertising team that saw Legal Week crowned Business Magazine of the Year 2001/2. With experience of working with professional firm leaders, managers, fee earners and support staff, Paul provides a key interface for the MPF network managing the relationship between regional committees, MPF Panels and the Executive.

Nick Anthony joined Barclays in November 2004. Initially he worked in Business Banking before moving to be Chief Operating Officer, Premier Banking and subsequently Chief Operating Officer for the Telephony and Internet channels. Prior to Barclays Nick spent 21 years in the Royal Marines, leaving as a Lieutenant Colonel having commanded a Unit in Afghanistan and Iraq and then spent time in HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office. Nick has recently taken over as Regional Director for London Business Banking.

Gavin Ingham Brooke is Managing Director of Spada, a comprehensive communications, marketing and change management agency. Clients include global corporations, national and international law and accountancy firms, banks and specialised financials services providers, professional membership organisations and real estate interests.

Jeremy Dutton has been Chief Executive of and a partner in Campbell Hooper Solicitors LLP since 2001 having joined as Practice Director in 2000. He previously practised as a litigation partner in Titmuss Sainer Dechert (as it then was) where he was used to a culture in which "work" was synonymous with chargeable time. After a spell on the other side of the law-firm/client table managing disputes in various parts of the world for what was then Hilton Group PLC, he returned to private practice in a management capacity. As hard-working partners occasionally unwittingly remind him, he has not done a day's "work" since. His deep interest in all things non-chargeable led him to complete an MBA (Legal Services) at Nottingham Law School.

Neil May, Neil is assistant to the managing partner of Lovells LLP. After a string of awards as a marketer up to and through the recession of the early 90s, he shifted into management and organisational development, working with one of the leading management consultancies and a Magic Circle law firm, training as a coach and teaching strategy to MBA students at the UK's largest business schoool. His role incorporates both advising the main board and acting as project manager for key strategic projects.

Amanda Phillips is Director of AP Consulting an Executive & Organisational Development consultancy. Amanda was a member of the Global Partner and Leadership Development team at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and also held operational HR roles providing strategic consultancy and advice to senior leaders. She has worked extensively in professional services and in other sectors including Banking, Technology and Telecoms, Media, Education and Health Care. Amanda was the external examiner for London’s South Bank University Masters Degree in Human Resources for a number of years. She is also Coaching Supervisor for the Oxford Brookes Masters Programme in Coaching & Mentoring Practice.

Sacha Romanovitch, Office managing partner, London EBS, Grant Thornton

Laurie Young is a management consultant and author of ‘Marketing the Professional Services Firm’. He was global marketing partner of the corporate finance division of PricewaterhouseCoopers. During his career he has set up and run large marketing, sales & account management teams in several leading service firms. He has also worked on repositioning some of the world’s leading brands. In recent years he has transferred his knowledge to the professions running seminars and creating programmes around both personal and organisational business development techniques.

DETAILS OF OUR NEXT EVENTS

"Decision-making processes stifle entrepreneurial spirit"

Linklaters, One Silk Street, London EC2 8HQ

Thursday 4 September 2008

New research carried out by Kingston University entrepreneurship centre and executive search firm, Cripps Sears & Partners, as reported by Stefan Stern in the Financial Times on 15 July, confirms that business leaders wrestle constantly with a big dilemma: how to encourage risk-taking and entrepreneurial flair without exposing the whole organisation to unquantifiable danger. It is one of the great paradoxes of leadership.

The current adverse economic climate poses a challenge for leaders - rein in and concentrate on existing clients, or actively invest in new opportunities. If firms favour the investment route, do partners have the necessary business development skills and/or will the new post-Enron risk management culture throw up insurmountable obstacles to their entrepreneurial activity?

Some firms set out detailed processes to ensure there is consistent compliance with management best practice. Others seek to create a climate of confidence that fosters entrepreneurial activity. Where do you stand?

The audience will be invited to vote twice on the motion: at the outset to determine existing opinions; at the end to gauge the extent to which the presenters have influenced attitudes. The results will be widely circulated.

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