LAW FIRMS THAT CREATE VALUE

I help lawyers create outstanding value for their clients, their partners, their associates, and themselves.

VALUE-BASED LAW FIRMS

After a legal career (Cleary Gottlieb, Linklaters, Engie), I have been working since the year 2000 as a management consultant for law firms and a business coach for lawyers (in parallel to my work for law departments and corporate leadership teams). When I reflect on the nature of my work with lawyers, I realize it boils down to one thing: creating value. I basically help lawyers and their firms optimize the value they create for their clients, but also for themselves (the firm and the partners) and the associates.

Value creation is also the underlying theme in my book (in French) about law firm management, published by Larcier in 2022.

"Je ne doute pas que cet ouvrage sera dans la bibliothèque de tous ceux qui doivent réfléchir à l’organisation et la définition de la stratégie d’un cabinet d’avocats."

Didier Martin, Senior Partner, Bredin Prat

ISSUES THAT MATTER

I help lawyers and law firms deal with important issues related to partnership, strategy, business development, associates, pricing and profitability, and work organization. The underlying theme is always value creation.

Please scroll through the list below and see typical requests from my clients. Which would be relevant for you or your firm? You may also print the entire list and use it as a self-assessment of your legal practice.

    • How to improve our partner remuneration system?

    • Should we merge? If so, how to structure the merger?

    • We want to create a new partnership.

    • How to make our governance (making and implementing decisions) more effective?

    • We want to define our partnership's mission, vision, and values without wasting our time in blah, blah, blah.

    • We want to develop a feedback culture in the partnership.

    • There are tensions amongst us, and we need some mediation process.

    • We are planning a partners’ retreat. How to make the most of it?

    • How to create more cohesion in the partnership?

    • Do we have a strategy? Do we need one?

    • What does it mean to have a strategy?

    • Is the firm’s strategy properly communicated, understood, and supported?

    • Should we set up a new practice area, open regional offices, expand internationally, etc.?

    • What are the big trends shaping the legal market?

    • What are our main goals and how best can we achieve them?

    • As a senior associate or junior partner, I need assistance to build up my client portfolio.

    • How to structure BD activities in a time-effective way?

    • How can I strengthen my visibility and my brand?

    • Where and how to network?

    • We need a business plan to develop our business and support to execute it.

    • Can we promote cross-selling? How?

    • We need to define a career path for associates.

    • How to attract and retain talented associates?

    • How to design an exciting and effective learning & development plan to improve soft skills?

    • We want to optimize our HR department and processes.

    • How to motivate, give feedback, conduct performance appraisals?

    • How to retain talented lawyers? How to offer exciting career perspectives? How to help them pursue a meaningful professional development path? And what if we can’t?

    • What is the best leadership style for the legal department?

    • We want to develop a strong culture within the legal department.

    • We want to reenergize the law department, challenge the status quo, develop new perspectives and habits, ignite engagement, and aim for higher vibes.

    • How to convince management we need more people?

    • How can we create more value for our clients?

    • How to manage matters and projects better?

    • How to communicate internally in a more effective way?

    • How to manage deadlines and workloads?

    • How to maintain consistent quality standards?

    • What technology do we need, and how can we better use the technology we already have?

CLIENTS

I have worked for many law firms, solo or with my business partner Barend Blondé. For confidentiality reasons, I am not disclosing names. My client list includes so-called magic circle firms and Wall Street firms, leading independent European firms, national champions, small niche firms, international alliances, etc. Neither size nor geography matters: I have worked for very large international firms and for small (but successful) practices. I have worked all across Europe, in the US, and China. What matters is my clients’ willingness to change and develop.

TYPES OF INERVENTIONS

  • Keynote speech

  • Workshops

  • Retreats

  • Consulting

  • Training

  • Coaching

The type of intervention I can provide depends on the matter and the level of assistance you wish to receive from me. It can be any of the following or a combination:

TESTIMONIALS

“Antoine impresses me by his thorough knowledge of the legal environment, his capacity to playfully share his broad knowledge in many fields, his ability to capture the attention of the most skeptical to the most enthusiast people of all nationalities and to unite them around one theme, his flexibility to switch subject on the spot when asked questions in other fields, his language and global communication skills and his overall people and group management. In my groups, none left without having learned something very valuable and practical.”

Liesbeth Weynants, Managing Partner, Hoyng Rokh Monegier LLP

"At our Alliance's annual conference, Antoine gave us a captivating presentation on the functioning of international networks of lawyers and the keys to overcoming some of the challenges that many of them face.

Antoine masters the subject to perfection. He presented it clearly and humorously. The audience was seduced by the lively and interactive character of his presentation. We could all understand in a tangible way the added value of a network having assimilated these insights.

Antoine's charisma and his willingness to respond exhaustively to the participants' questions left none unmoved."

Alexandra Pardou, Partner Trialys Law Firm (Bruxelles & Luxembourg)

ABOUT ME

Do you need to introduce me at a conference or to your colleagues? Here are a few lines that can help:

Antoine Henry de Frahan is a business coach and management consultant with in-depth expertise in the business of law firms, and an Associate Professor at EDHEC Business School.

He is the author of several books and dozens of articles and participates in many conferences and panels relevant to law firms. He is the co-founder and a partner with FrahanBlondé, a consultancy specializing in the legal profession. He is the founder and chair of the GC Circle, a community of general counsel.

He holds a law degree (magna cum laude) from Université Libre de Bruxelles and an LL.M. from Columbia Law School. He has worked as an attorney for Clearly Gottlieb and Linklaters and as an international legal counsel for Engie, before starting his consulting career in 2000.