I help partnerships grow profits
Strategy Leadership Culture
COACHING ADVISING SPEAKING TRAINING
Hello!
I'm Jonathan, the Partnership Growth Coach, here to help ambitious partnerships drive sustainable profitable growth
I am passionate about helping people succeed in the business of law in a human, sustainable way
I was Managing Partner of an award-winning, high-growth City law firm for 10 years
I know exactly what it takes to make it as a profitable partnership. I have been there and done it myself at a high level. I have written a critically acclaimed book about it. I can help you go there and do it too through clever use of strategy, leadership and culture
THIS IS FOR YOU
IF YOU are a law firm leader ambitious to grow partner profits
IF YOU want to cut through to the inside track of what really matters
IF YOU want to maximise your chances of success
IF YOU want to give yourself an advantage
IF YOU think it's for you, book your free discovery call with Jonathan
Law firms are uniquely complex places in which to drive sustainable profitable growth.
Profitable growth is a product of getting better. But getting independently minded professionals in a highly competitive market to drive annual compound performance improvement at a faster rate than costs are increasing, isn't easy.
But some are able to pick their way through this successfully and thrive. In my work, I encapsulate, and help lawyers, leaders of lawyers and law firms to emulate, what I’ve witnessed those people, and the leaders of those people, doing differently. And the surprising truth is it’s not that difficult.
It requires a firm to find and exploit a reasonable competitive advantage (strategy), create an environment in which its people can thrive (culture) and inspire and influence its people to actually implement the strategy and adhere to the culture (leadership).
But a shortage of leadership makes it difficult for a firm to maintain a positive culture. In which case strategy can't then be followed through on because 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast'.
My role is to help firms find the unique blend of strategy and culture which will work for them. And to then use leadership to enable the competitive benefits of that strategy and that culture to be liberated. This enables change to happen willingly and for difficult things to get done - not in theory but in practical reality. And sustainable profitable growth will be the natural consequence.
STRATEGY ... or 'creating competitive advantage'
Reviewing & revising your current strategy
The facts are constantly changing and even the best strategies require recalibration to keep pace. I can help you:
Building a new strategy
Building a new strategy is typically a collective exercise in harnessing the ideas, experiences and ambitions of the wider firm. I can help you:
Lateral hiring and assembling winning teams
The game of commercial law over the long term is won by those who are best at attracting, developing, channelling and retaining the talent that matters most in their markets. The clients, and other talent, will always follow the talent. I can help you:
Attacking new markets
Building out into new areas of practice, new industry sectors, new locations and even new countries can be an enticing prospect for driving growth, and yet comes pregnant with risk. I can help you:
Mergers & Acquisitions
M&A has become a key weapon in accelerating law firm strategy. I can help you merge, acquire or be acquired by:
Partnership structures, profit sharing & partner performance
How effective partners are is directly proportional to the clarity and flexibility provided by a firm's partner performance evaluation, reward and recognition systems. I can help you:
LEADERSHIP ... or 'inspiring & influencing'
Talent spotting & sourcing leadership potential
I can help you:
Preparing new leaders
I can coach new leaders to:
Developing existing leaders
I can coach existing leaders to:
Building team strategy, alignment and cohesion
I can coach leaders and teams to:
CULTURE ... or 'an environment in which people can thrive'
Deliver on your lawyers' professional needs
I can help you focus on delivering on your lawyers' professional needs:
Deliver on your lawyers' career needs
I can help you focus on delivering on your lawyers' career needs:
Deliver on your lawyers' personal needs
I can help you focus on delivering on your lawyers' personal needs:
Formalise all of the above
I can help you:
Measure adherence to all of the above
For example, by using Quintillion's myTeamRadar technology tool. myTeamRadar is the tracker for workplace risk. It uses next-generation visualisation analytics to find and resolve hidden risk and governance problems in the workplace.
Find out more at www.myteamradar.com or watch this introductory video.
GOOD REASONS WHY I'M DIFFERENT & WHY IT MATTERS
3
1. I am expert in the business of law
I spent 18 years as a partner in an award-winning City law firm, the last 10 as Managing Partner. I know the art and the science of what it takes to make it as a profitable partnership. I have written a critically acclaimed book about it. I have been there and done it myself. I can help you go there and do it.
2. I am independent & objective
I am on your side and I will tell you what you need to know.
3. I understand
I am one of you. I have done what you do. I have felt what you feel. I am there to provide friendly, non-judgmental, understanding support to help you achieve your ambitions.
ABOUT JONATHAN WATMOUGH
M&A lawyer, managing partner, coach, advisor, NED, author & speaker
I am passionate about helping people succeed in the business of law in a sustainable, human way.
I was born in the Yorkshire Dales but raised in the Sussex Downs. I have been a lifeguard, gardener, dishwasher, hotel porter, humper in a meat factory, pilot, fruit farmer, decorator, builder's mate and bartender. My parents both left school at 15 and I was the first in my family to go to university.
I qualified as a Solicitor in The City of London at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain in 1993. Practising in M&A and equity capital markets, I became a partner at thirty, managing partner at thirty-eight and spent the next ten years helping to transform RPC from a London insurance firm into an international, multi-disciplinary professional services business.
The firm delivered five consecutive years of double-digit top and bottom-line organic compound growth when the rest of the market stagnated following the Global Financial Crisis, won Law Firm of the Year three times, won the Managing Partners’ Forum’s strategic leadership award and was named five years running as Best Legal Employer. I was also twice-named within The Lawyer’s Hot 100 lawyers in the UK.
After ten years as managing partner, I retired from the firm in 2016 to help lawyers and leaders of lawyers cut through to what matters and emulate the simple things successful people do differently in private practice. No theory, no platitudes, just practical common sense guidance on what matters most in the real world of the business of law, why and how to do it to get ahead. And in 2024 I encapsulated this in my book How To Thrive In A Commercial Law Firm.
I have also combined my entrepreneurial streak with my passion for understanding people and relationships and co-founded Quintillion, a technology group that develops cognitive and behavioural analytics. Quintillion’s flagship product, myTeamRadar, uses next-generation human factors visualisation to help reveal, diagnose and resolve hidden performance and wellbeing problems in teams.
"Under managing partner, Jonathan Watmough's leadership, RPC has become one of the most vibrant and best-run firms in the mid-market."
2014
"Cultural integrity and a move upmarket sees RPC named Firm of the Year."
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR 2014
"Praised by judges for its strong financial results, being 'innovative' and for 'really looking after its staff', the firm impressed on a number of levels. But what particularly impressed the judges was not its financial performance but the steps RPC has taken to position its business for the future - and the efforts it is taking to keep its staff happy."
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR 2015
"If you keep your people happy, then your clients will be happy too. Led by a Managing Partner who has no office and the same desk as everyone else who works in this open plan office, RPC achieved outstanding financial results in 2015, and has earned recognition as Best Legal Advisor by Legal Week for the last 5 years. Innovative initiatives to support employeees, a well-developed social-inclusion plan, and an unrelenting focus on understanding the needs of clients, have earned recognition as Best Legal Employer over the same five year period."
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AWARD 2016
For those who want to know how lawyers, leaders and law firms can thrive in a changing world
Whether you're an aspiring associate or a managing partner, how good you are at people, relationships and leadership will determine your personal, professional and business success.
These are skills which are not taught at law school and which many firms preach but few practice.
Jonathan Watmough led an award-winning City law firm for ten years.
He lifts the lid on what makes lawyers and law firms tick. Why people, relationships and leadership are fundamentally important for lawyers, lawyer careers, law firm success and life. Why they matter more than ever in a changing world. And how to master them.