Management Partner of the Year

  • Print
SIMON HODSON/PAUL MURRAY - DAC Beachcroft

Hodson and Murray have been a true double act since becoming senior and managing partner of Beachcroft in 2005. During that time the pair have helped the firm grow revenues by 46%, have been re-elected to serve another five-year term and have led the insurance giant into a game-changing merger with Davies Arnold Cooper.

 

 

This award will recognise outstanding firm management from either a managing partner, senior partner, chief executive or chief operating officer. Key factors influencing our judging panel include market profile, strategic thinking, communication skills and the extent to which the individual has the support of their peers, partners, staff and clients in driving the firm’s business forward.

 

Hodson and Murray have been a true double act since becoming senior and managing partner of Beachcroft in 2005. During that time the pair have helped the firm grow revenues by 46%, have been re-elected to serve another five-year term and have led the insurance giant into a game-changing merger with Davies Arnold Cooper.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

PETER HASSON
Clyde & Co

Clyde & Co’s non-lawyer chief executive has played a crucial role in developing the firm since 1997, applying a sharp business mind and an eye for figures to ensure that senior partner Michael Payton’s ambitious strategic plans are grounded in commercial reality. This was no more evident than when negotiating an industry defining merger with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert in 2011.

CRAIG HOLT
QualitySolicitors

When Holt, a family law barrister, had trouble finding a local solicitor for his house move in 2008, he complained to his marketing consultant friend Saleem Arif and QualitySolicitors, a high street superbrand, was born. The network has over 200 branches countrywide and a deal signed with WH Smith in 2011 means that Holt’s innovation can only continue to grow.

ANDREW MANNING
Bevan Brittan

When Manning took over the reigns at Bevan Brittan in 2008, the firm was in disarray. Since then, working with a new board, he has gained the trust of the partnership, chiefl y by turning around the firm’s financials. By focusing first on the necessary and, once that was done, pursuing strategic goals, Manning and his team have transformed the fortunes of the firm.

PETER MARTYR
Norton Rose

Martyr was re-elected to serve another three-year term as group chief executive at the end of 2011, which will take his time spent in the top role up to 12 years. In 2011 Martyr successfully oversaw the addition of Canada’s Ogilvy Renault and South Africa’s Deneys Reitz to the Norton Rose Group, while also signing up another Canadian firm, Macleod Dixon.

PHILIP RODNEY
Burness

Since becoming chairman in 2006 following a restructuring, Rodney has led Burness on an impressive path to becoming a major player in the Scottish legal market. Since being re-elected to a second three-year term two years ago, revenue has grown 20% in a struggling market, indicative of increasing market share, while profit per lawyer jumped 24% in 2010-11.