Book Review: The Perfect Legal Business

The book that I’m reviewing isn’t particularly new. Simon wrote this book during lockdown in 2020 and followed it up with The Perfect Lawyer soon afterwards. For the uninitiated, Simon is a Pannone alumni and former managing partner of what was the fastest growing law firm in the UK during his tenure. He freely admits that he made a lot of mistakes in role, and in this book he outlines his lessons for law firm leaders and the things he would do differently if he had his time again.

What do I love about this book?

One of the things I love about this book and its stablemate, The Perfect Lawyer, is their size. These are not chunky books, although they pack a lot in. You can easily read them within a week and they are simply written. Obviously, as owners of law firms, you’re not daft people, but Simon avoids verbosity and writes clearly, expertly and in a common sense style (if you’ve ever heard Simon speak or met him, he’s like this in real life).

I understand that Simon is currently putting the finishing touches to his next book, so do watch this space as I’ll review that in due course as well.

What does this book cover?

In The Perfect Legal Business, Simon attempts to outline all of the features necessary to build the book’s namesake. He covers areas you’d expect – such as people, growth and service. He also writes about aspects of law firm life that lawyers perhaps don’t think about enough – such as repeat business, pitfalls of growth (yes really), risk (the client selection and engagement chapter) and most importantly (in my humble opinion) the rules and practices relating to law firm accounting.

I’m going to talk about the latter topics as these were where I found the most value. Starting with repeat business. It’s so, so obvious (to me) that repeat business from clients who have already said ‘yes’ should absolutely form a significant element of your marketing and business development focus. And yet, typically it doesn’t. Why? My suspicion is that new clients feel exciting, which is crazy, given the cost of converting a new client vs the same cost of up- or cross-selling to a client already on the books (spoiler – it’s a high cost). Simon explains how you can improve your client retention rates and make more money.

Turning next to risk, and why some clients are simply bad news for a growing law firm. This topic also examines law firm confidence (in pricing and expertise), but also why firms need to prioritise the clients that pay quickly and happily.

On a related note, Simon wants your firm to make more money. His chapters on turnover, profit and (most importantly) cash are so well written that you’ll wonder what on earth you were ever taught about solicitors’ accounting rules at law school – because it certainly didn’t sound this simple.

Also tied to this topic are the lessons around growth, and why growth is risky without planning for dips in cash which can easily arise when profits increase.

Who should buy this book?

If you run a law firm, if you are a supplier to a law firm, a solicitor or an aspiring solicitor –  buy this book. It’s essentially a cheat’s guide to running a law firm that makes money and has happy clients. However, it isn’t just for those in leadership positions. If this book had existed when I was a solicitor in private practice, I would have done a lot of things very differently. Double-discounting, Friday afternoon billing, being frightened to bill against money on account, and failing to chase bills – I’m looking at you all, bad habits.

You can buy Simon’s books here.

I hope you have found this review helpful, and do let me know if there are any other books that you think I should review. They don’t have to be legal or law profession-focussed, but they probably do need to have a business or entrepreneurial theme. Get in touch with your suggestions.

Victoria