If Pannone are suffering what does this indicate ?
Those readers who are perhaps lawyers or familiar with law firms, may well have heard of Pannone. The firm, based in Manchester, has had exponential growth over the past 15 years, has made all the right moves and really is a leader of the medium size law firm market. Among the firm’s innovations has been a particularly smart move in creating loose association of practices around the country where cases are shared where a particular firm does not have expertise to deal with a client matter. This of course benefits Pannone which gets more than it’s share of the better work. The firm also uses it’s marketing and negotiating skills to save members of it’s group connect2law money on things like insurance, peripherals, utilities and so forth. Smart and joined up thinking.
So, when Pannone announces that revenues are down, other forms should certainly be concerned. The firm has announced a decrease in revenues of 4% in the last year, and this is before competitors such as Co-Op legal services enter the market.
It seems to us that Pannone will win through, it is simply too dynamic a firm not to continue to thrive, but this news demonstrates that firms that aren’t as dynamic and don’t take their own marketing and a creative approach to law seriously, are likely to be in real trouble. From what we see in the legal market, a lot of smaller firms are simply thinking that safety comes from mergers. Whilst this may save some firms, it is typical; rather outdated thinking by law firms. Instead, they need to think differently and invest in proper marketing and strategy. Just our take. What’s yours ?
