Top Leadership Team Succeeded Without a Leader

When five law firms across Canada merged in March 2000 to form Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG), they decided not to have a single top manager. An article in Canadian Business magazine explains that the "corporate constitution…called for strategic and national business decisions to be handled by a national council in which all five firms would have a roughly equal voice—despite their different sizes…" Day-to-day operations remained in the control of the regional partners. The council meets by phone weekly, in person several times a year, and with the entire firm annually. Regional partners are expected to sell national decisions to their employees rather than just issuing orders.

The profits of the firm are divided from a common national pool, rather than the regional pools some partners wanted. "This encourages BLG lawyers in the regional offices to work together to increase the firm's overall business rather than hoard clients' billings for themselves," the chairman of the council said.

BLG believes its "collaborative approach has translated into better efficiency and profitability," with profits improving the last three years. The firm attributes several large contracts it won to the breadth of expertise across and level of cooperation among offices.

The article points out several critical considerations:

• Implementing joint decision-making takes time and dedication—BLG's leaders needed a year to create their constitution.
• Work groups need formal agreements on how decisions will be made.
• Financial rewards must be structured to support group-wide goals to promote collaboration.
• Teams must meet regularly and often (at least weekly), and virtual teams need face-to-face meeting time on occasion.

Source: Gray, J. (03), "The Brothers in Law: Borden Ladner Gervais Combines Five Law Firms under a Unique Management Structure," Canadian Business 76(18):75.