Bringing together professional firm leaders to share
ideas on strategic leadership and management
excellence with each other and peers at clients,
while providing an independent voice
and direct access to policymakers.

Please wait...

Forum news

06 Feb 2023

Latest tracker findings appear in CityAM

The unique Professional Services Sector Trends Tracker, organised by industry body the Managing Partners’ Forum since 2011, shows professional services leaders’ confidence in future activity levels, new workflow and headcount growth has rebounded following a slump in mid to late 2022.

Read more

30 Sep 2022

Continued expansion expected

Firms expect continued expansion in activity levels, new work flow and headcount, according to the Forum's latest sector tracker. Many firms but few clients are seen to be on-track for Covid success. The top priorities for leadership teams are technology usage, developing a clear purpose and operational efficiency.

Read more

16 Sep 2022

Impact of lockdown - one year on

69% assess the overall impact of lockdown on their firm as positive compared with just 14% a year ago. The general mood is far more positive with most relaxed about being in the office and much greater flexibility in working hours when in the office. Only 15% believe lockdown restrictions will be reimposed in the next year compared with 73% a year ago.

Read more

15 Jul 2022

L&D immaturity

Few managers translate L&D into new behaviours or seek reasons for the gap between current and desired performance, according to a recent Forum poll. Learning transfer is seen as a bolt-on to traditional training, and little data is collected beyond happy sheets. 

Read more

A wide range of activities and locations

Re-tuning your Firm - full show

Re-tuning your Firm - Episode 63

Episode 63 of Re-tuning your Firm. Panel: Jeremy Beard of Haysmacintyre; Dana Denis-Smith of Obelisk Support; Anne Harnetty of Johnson Beaumont; and Francesca Lagerberg of Grant Thornton; Includes findings of poll on ESG maturity. Hosted by Richard Chaplin 

Date recorded: 12 November 2021

Transatlantic show

Re-tuning your Firm - Transatlantic - Episode 1

Episode 1 of Re-tuning your Firm - Transatlantic. Panel: Francesca Lagerberg of Grant Thornton; Dr Larry Richard of LawyerBrain; Larry Stroud of Korverge, and Sebastian Hartmann of KPMG. Includes findings of poll comparing the impact of lockdown between the continents. Hosted by Richard Chaplin 

Date recorded: 29 September 2021

Awards

Best solutions for clients - Awards 2021

Mark Grayson, COO at BCLP Cubed, on the winning submission for the Best Solutions for Clients category at the 2021 Awards. More

Date recorded: 10 June 2021

Summits

Fast-track Innovation™ - session 2

Fast-track Innovation - Session 2 - Where and how best to deploy design sprints (Ian Jeffery, Becky Shields, Rosemary Nunn, Marcus Dimbleby and Nigel Spencer)

Date recorded: 17 March 2021

How we can help

Access the wisdom of peers

Dealing with leadership and management challenges is a lonely place. Share issues and explore solutions with the same small group of peers at regular moderated meetings. Having a safe place to tap into their wisdom can feel like salvation...

Address business opportunities

Leadership capabilities, strategic insights and management practices are enhanced through participating in our roundtables, summits, Clubs and polls. Firm productivity is also boosted as the overall relationship between management practices and productivity is strong, significant and positive, according to a recent ONS study.  

Tap into advice and tools for converting insights into action

Design thinking is a practical and useful way to address almost any business challenge, according to the £1m Government-funded research study with four business schools. Our Fast-track Innovation™ wiki, bespoke sprints and specialist consultancy & training help firms convert insights into action through collaborative design. 

Events

Maintaining and expanding ESG in tough times

Management Team Together

Maintaining and expanding ESG in tough times

Wednesday 19 April 2023

I'm delighted to invite you to the latest of our in-person quarterly member-only MTT panel sessions.
Developing your firm’s strategy around ESG

Strategy & Marketing

Developing your firm’s strategy around ESG

Thursday 27 April 2023

This year's International Marketing Benchmark, co-organised by the Forum, shows that ESG (environmental, social and governance) is becoming a new sphere of impact for professional services marketers.

Invites are sent out approximately three weeks before each event. All events are online for the forseeable future.

Recent poll findings

Quarterly tracker

Firms remain bullish with 70% to 80% expecting expansion and few expecting contraction over the next year in activity levels, headcount or new work flow. Over 90% of people will be working from home for at least half the time.

Impact of lockdown - Transatlantic show

Europeans view the lockdown in more positive terms, are less panicked by Covid and more relaxed over returning to the office. Happiness levels decreased less at European firms, but more mental health issues surfaced.

Cyber security

Lack of expertise, poor communications and cultural resistance are the most common risk indicators. Ransomware attack recovery plans need a lot of work!

Usage of new technologies

Financial management has the greatest usage, followed by services delivered to clients, then marketing and new business generation, then influencing innovation, then knowledge management, then people management and finally strategy development.

The Forum's Strategy Group has provided a very useful place to meet with peers from other organisations and to discuss some of the key issues facing all of us.

Strategy Director
Top 10 global law firm