Netlaw Media, Prof. Stephen Mayson & Partners Club
Present the Biennial
‘Strategic Leadership Forum 2012′
24th October 2012 – The Grange St. Paul’s Hotel, London
This Event has SOLD OUT
James Caan
James Caan is CEO of private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw and has been building and selling businesses since 1985.
Having founded the Alexander Mann Group in 1985, an executive head hunting firm with a turnover of £300m and operations in 50 countries, James sold the company in 2002. With his partner Doug Bugie, James also co-founded executive head-hunting firm Humana International, growing the business to over 147 offices across 30 countries from 1993-1999.
Setting up London-based Hamilton Bradshaw in 2004, the private equity company specialises in buyouts, venture capital, turnarounds and real estate investments as well as development opportunities in both the UK and Europe with investment up to £10 million in each individual transaction.
In 2001, James was awarded the BT Enterprise of the Year award for outstanding success in business and having already been a finalist in 2000 he was named PricewaterhouseCoopers Entrepreneur of the Year 2003. That same year, having successfully graduated from the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, James also won the Entrepreneur category in the Asian Jewel Awards. More recently, James been made honorary Doctor of Business Administration at York St. John University.
In October 2007, James joined the panel in the fifth series of BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den.
In 2012, James’ company, Hamilton Bradshaw, invested in Midlands firm Knight Solicitors. The aim is to grow the business into a top-100 UK practice within 3 years. Knights claim this is the UK’s first private investment into a commercial law firm.
James’s business philosophy is based on a win-win strategy. “Most people in business go around with the attitude ‘I must win’, which often translates into doing well in business at the expense of someone else losing,” he explains. “I believe that to succeed in the long-term, you need to make sure that the people around you win too.” It is an ethos that has served James Caan, and those he does business with, extraordinarily well.
Prof. Stephen Mayson
After qualifying as a lawyer in 1977, Prof. Stephen Mayson has been consulting in legal practice since 1985. His advisory work focuses on strategy, globalisation, mergers and consolidation, economics and valuation, and ownership issues. As well as law firms, Stephen has also worked with barristers’ chambers, government, corporate and public sector legal departments, banks, law societies and other professional associations, and patent attorneys.
In addition to his work as a strategic adviser, Stephen is also Professor of Strategy and Director of the Legal Services Institute at The College of Law and a Senior Fellow in the Law School at the University of Melbourne. In 2008, Stephen was appointed to the Ministry of Justice’s Strategy Group for Public Legal Education. In additional, he also serves on the Legal Services Board’s research strategy group, the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s ABS reference group, the Bar Standards Board’s advisory panel on the Legal Services Act, and the Bar Council’s policy advisory group and ABS working group.
Being one the legal sectors most respected advisors, Stephen has keynoted conferences and lectures around the world. He is the author of Law Firm Strategy: Competitive Advantage and Valuation (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Making Sense of Law Firms (Oxford University Press, 1997), as well as of other books on professional practice, and co-author with Derek French and Christopher Ryan of Company Law (26th ed., Oxford University Press, 2009).
Dr Patrick Dixon
Dr Patrick Dixon has been ranked as one of the 20 most influential business thinkers alive today. Patrick is often described in the media as Europe’s leading futurist and advises many of the world’s largest corporations on key trends, managing uncertainty, identifying risk and developing opportunities.
Being internationally renowned, it is estimated that Patrick has a cumulative worldwide audience reach of over 450 million people. In addition, Patrick has received over 13.5 million unique users to this website and over 4 million video views on social media sites such as YouTube. Patrick is referenced on more than 500,000 search engine pages and tens of thousands of websites and is the author of 15 books in 27 languages, including Futurewise, SustainAgility, The Genetic Revolution and Building a Better Business.
Patricks clients are from every industry with particular strengths in technology, marketing and consumer insight. Patricks list of clients include world leading organisations such as Google, Linklaters, Microsoft, IBM, Freshfields, Accenture, Ikea, Eversheds, KLM / Air France, BP, ExxonMobil, World Bank, Siemens, Ford, Charles Russell, Sara Lee, Prudential, Aviva, Barclays, UBS, Credit Suisse, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hewlett Packard, Gillette, GSK, Roche, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, BASF, Credit Suisse, Forbes, Fortune, Royal Bank of Scotland, Zurich Financial Services, Tetrapak, Unisys, BT, BBC, Fedex, Unilever, McDonalds and DHL. Patrick has also taught on executive / MBA programmes at seven Business Schools.
The Wall Street Journal has named Patrick as a “Global Change Guru” with the Press Association listing Patrick as ‘Europe’s Leading Futurist’
Lord Andrew Phillips of Sudbury OBE
Andrew Phillips, OBE qualified as a solicitor in 1964. In 1970 he co-founded Bates, Wells & Braithwaite and served as a senior partner until 1998, although he continues to do consulting work for them.
Andrew contested five parliamentary elections from 1970-1983 and was appointed a Life Peer in June 1998. His political interests include: legal services and legal aid, surveillance/personal liberty issues (leading strong opposition to the ID Cards legislation), citizenship issues, constitutional affairs and the Middle East.
Outside of politics, Andrew was awarded an OBE in 1997 for establishing the Citizenship Foundation and work with young people and the law. In 2003 he was appointed Chancellor of Essex University, a position which he still holds today.
Dr George Beaton
Dr George Beaton is Executive Chairman of Beaton Research & Consulting and a Partner in Beaton Capital. He advises professional service firms on strategy, governance, capital, acquisitions and mergers in many parts of the world.
His extensive advisory and research work in many countries with solicitors, accountants, consulting engineers, patent attorneys, management consultants and others and his scholarly writing on professionalism position Dr George Beaton as a world leading authority on professional services.
As Executive Chairman of Beaton Research & Consulting and a Partner in Beaton Capital he serves as adviser and consultant to leading law firms of all sizes in Asia, Australia, UK, USA, New Zealand and South Africa in the fields of strategy, governance, capital, acquisitions, mergers and creation of client value.
The ‘Beaton’ name is best known for pioneering work on the measurement and benchmarking of buying behaviour by the clients of law firms. For over a decade this research program and its products have contributed to the improved understanding of what drives value for clients and how firms can compete more effectively.
George has long been associated with the business and law schools of The University of Melbourne where he is an Associate Professor and continues to publish his research on the relevance of professionalism. In addition, George is also respected media commentator on many matters related to the strategy and future of law firms.
Richard Burcher
Richard Burcher is a former 30 year practising lawyer, Notary Public and managing partner, now based in London and working internationally.
With a deep interest in all aspects of pricing legal services, Richard’s efforts are intently focused on how this traditional area of tension between lawyers and their clients can be reinvented to maximise profitability and client satisfaction using sophisticated pricing strategies, tactics and tools.
After 30 years practicing law, Richard has devoted himself full time to providing pricing consultancy services to the legal profession and legal departments. He has consulted to over 150 law firms, barristers and barrister’s chambers ranging in size from sole practitioner to over 150 partners, and Queen’s Counsel.
Richard’s pricing consultancy work has taken a variety of forms, including intensive workshops for partners and staff, mentoring individual partners with costing issues, the provision of costing precedents and templates, costing opinions and representation at Cost Revisions and Appeals, expert testimony before Cost Revisors, Cost Assessors, Standards Committees, Disciplinary Tribunals and the High Court.
Richard holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is a Notary Public, an Associate of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand (AAMINZ) and a member of the Institute of Directors. He is also a member of the only international specialist pricing training organisation, the Professional Pricing Society (USA).
He has been a Law Society Cost Assessor since 1984 and has personally undertaken, peer reviewed, mediated, given opinions or expert witness evidence on or otherwise been involved in over 400 Law Society or privately instructed Cost Revisions or Costs Assessments.
Richard has been extensively published in numerous legal and pricing publications within a large number of national and international publications.
Tim Oliver
Tim Oliver qualified as a solicitor in 1986, joining the Parabis Group in 2000 where he is now Group Chief Executive and Senior Partner of Plexus Law which is a Top 30 Law Firm. Parabis provides legal services to the Insurance Industry as well as incorporating rapidly growing claims handling, loss adjusting health and safety and rehabilitation divisions.
During the past 10 years Parabis has acquired 12 businesses all of which have been successfully integrated into the Group.
A lot of his legal career has been spent advising the Travel Industry but he also edited the 10th and 11th edition of Binghams and Berrymans Motor Claims and Co-Authored Oliver & Dingemans on Employers Liability.
He has many interests outside of the Law and amongst other things is a Borough Councillor, Vice Chairman of the Trustees of The Shooting Star Chase Children’s Hospice, School Governor. Tim is a past president of Foil.
Simon Hodson
Simon Hodson is one of the most recognisable and respected law firm leaders in the UK. In partnership with DAC Beachcroft Managing Partner, Paul Murray, he has successfully overseen the transformation of a £90m business that has become a top 20 law firm, more than doubling fee income.
A merger with London firm, Davies Arnold Cooper in October 2011 created a major international legal business with 2,000 people across the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Simon joined legacy firm, Beachcroft & Co in 1984, having started his career as a solicitor in 1981 at Clifford Turner, now Clifford Chance. He became Senior Partner in August 2005.
A corporate law specialist, with particular experience in private company acquisitions and disposals, Simon was re-elected for a second five-year term in 2010.
Earlier this year, along with Paul Murray, Simon was named one half of the ‘Management Team of the Year for 2012′ by Legal Business magazine in recognition of what it described as “guiding their firm to becoming a serious contender”.
Simon has overseen seven years of consistent growth and expansion and now, in 2012, he has his hand firmly on the tiller at DAC Beachcroft, a market leader in health, insurance and real estate.
Kelly D. Ray
Kelly D. Ray is a Legal Solution Strategist at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
With over 20 years of experience, Kelly has been advising corporations on establishing effective legal and compliance programs since 1992. She initially practiced law for 13 years in a prestigious US-based multi-national law firm with over 800 attorneys and then in-house for a Fortune 500 semiconductor solutions manufacturer. She has served as an integral team member in designing and developing PwC’s integrated governance, risk and compliance (GRC) service offering, and has been an author of industry-led, consensus-based practices and other guidance on GRC with OCEG®. Prior to TCS, she was Vice President, Legal Strategy and General Counsel for Legal Research Center, Inc.
Kelly has authored a number of legal publications, most notably the ‘Legal Transformation Study: Your 2020 Vision of the Future’ (www.legaltransformation.com).
Kelly received her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies from Northwestern University (NU).
Andrew John
Andrew John is the Group Legal Director and Company Secretary of TUI Travel PLC.
Andrew is a Solicitor who practised with the City law firm of Coward Chance prior to taking up a career in industry. He held the post of Director, Legal Affairs at Unisys Limited followed by various senior legal and commercial positions at Vickers PLC, which culminated in his appointment to the Vickers Board in 1994 as Commercial Director and Company Secretary. In that role he led several high profile acquisitions and disposals. Prior to his current role at TUI Travel PLC, Andrew had been at First Choice since December 2000.
Helen Molyneux
Helen Molyneux is the founder and Chief executive of NewLaw Solicitors – one of the first law firms to become an ABS and one of the fastest growing firms in the country.
Founded in 2004, NewLaw specialises in providing consumer legal services to the customers of its commercial partners – mainly insurance companies and insurance brokers. NewLaw employs over 300 people, with offices in Cardiff, Bristol and Glasgow. Prior to setting up NewLaw, Helen was a partner at international law firm, Eversheds.
Helen is also the Chief Executive of CIQ Ltd, a costs negotiation law firm and a non-executive director of Brightside PLC.
David Jabbari
David is a qualified solicitor with degrees in law from Warwick and Oxford Universities. He joined BLG in 2009 as a partner and the firm’s first Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that he was an Associate Director at Allen & Overy and in 2004 became the firm’s Global Head of Knowledge Management, having originally joined the firm in 2002 as the Global Head of Knowledge Management for the firm’s International Capital Markets practice. David’s earlier professional roles include being a member of the Board of Management of the College of Law and the Director of the College’s commercial training businesses. David was also a Director at Bird & Bird and jointly owned a company established by the partners of Bird & Bird to commercialise electronic learning in the legal sector. Following the merger of BLG and Clyde & Co in 2011, David is now a partner and the Chief Operating Officer of Clyde & Co. David has written widely on management issues and formerly was a consultant to a number of law firms. He has also written on areas of substantive law and is a co-author of ‘Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and the Law’, published by Macmillan.
Karl Chapman
Karl Chapman is Chief Executive of Riverview Law and has a long pedigree in starting, growing and managing successful companies.
After reading law at Birmingham University, Karl joined Guinness Mahon Investment Management (GMIM) in 1985. In 1987 he was Money Observer’s top-performing UK unit trust fund manager. He left GMIM in 1989 to set up CRT Group plc (CRT), a consultancy, recruitment and training business. Under Karl’s leadership his team grew CRT, both organically and by acquisition, to a market capitalisation of over £600 million, sales in excess of £400 million with 2,500 employees operating from over 200 locations.
Karl left CRT in 2000 and set up AdviserPlus Business Solutions in 2001. AdviserPlus is a leading advisory outsourcing organisation providing HR, employment law and H&S solutions to organisations ranging from FTSE 100 companies to SMEs. AdviserPlus was the founder of Riverview Law. Riverview Law aims to change the way businesses use, measure and buy legal services by bringing transparency and certainty through fixed price annual and multi-year contracts, plus litigation and advice packages.
Karl is excited by the changes taking place in the legal market: “Rarely do market opportunities like this arise. The legal market is large, fragmented and has few brands. New entrants like Riverview Law, with no baggage and a total focus on the customer, stand a very good chance of building big and sustainable businesses.”
Carl White
For the last 10 years Carl has worked with some of the most successful law firms in the UK and abroad. His focus is service insight, development and performance within the legal sector, supported by expertise gained from the retail and hospitality arena.
A background in theatre practice, customer management and employee engagement has enabled Carl to work with a clear understanding of the benefits that outstanding service delivers in law. He has brought service strategy and innovation to executive levels within companies and worked with all roles and functions of law firms on service principles and application.
Carl is passionate about the experience clients receive in a changing legal environment, one that demands the gap be closed between a firms service aspiration and exceptional delivery. Carl White is a founding Partner in CXINLAW, a legal services consultancy perfecting the ‘customer experience’ firms offer their clients.
More Speakers to be announced soon
