Hawke Legal - Services

Expertise through Experience

If there is a sector that suffers from a lack of management expertise it’s the legal industry. Why should this be? My theory is that for many years legal firms were protected from the realities of the business world by the fact that they could be extremely badly run practices but still make a decent return. There was plenty of work, client loyalty, limited competition, and generous hourly legal aid rates!

My, how things have changed over the last decade! The internet, increased competition, crippling compliance requirements, more options for clients, legal aid work levels and fees plummeting, etc. The list goes on.

Regrettably the legal sector was never prepared to deal with the sudden changes in its environment. I have seen examples of many firms with little strategy, professional management, IT infrastructure etc. But why should firms of considered this? Everything was rosy until the world moved on and left many firms high and dry.

Only the strongest have survived and perhaps even prospered. There has been a lot of pain with no doubt a lot more to come too. Firms of all sizes, disciplines, and geography have been affected. The daily Law Society Gazette reads as an obituary on a depressingly regular basis. Administration, bankruptcy, SRA interventions. It’s all too familiar.

The Legal industry needs to catch up.

I have been fortunate to work in a go-ahead firm for 12 years and have with 5 years were spent as Managing Director and that experience has led to my understanding and application of the key factors needed for to create a successful law firm.

My experience is wide ranging and services provided by myself and my experts can be found below.

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Rupert Hawke 2019

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