Members

Vicky Ling, a founder member of the Civil Justice Council chaired by the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, advises firms on quality standard compliance, in particular the LSC Quality Mark and Lexcel. She assists firms in meeting LSC contract requirements and making legal aid profitable. She edited “The Carter Survival Handbook” in 2007.






Andrew Otterburn has advised around 250 firms on their management, future strategy and profitability.  Author of “Profitability & Law Firm Management”, his latest book "From Recession to Upturn - financial management ans strategy for law firms" was also published by the Law Society. Andrew is a member of the Executive Committee of the Law Management Section, a core MBA faculty member and module leader for the Nottingham Law School MBA, and a lead tutor for the MMU Postgraduate Certificate in Legal Practice Management.


Margaret Peasegood is an expert in professional practice management and presentation skills, having provided consulting, facilitation, training and coaching services since 1994 to a wide variety of prominent firms in the service professions. She was managing partner of a law firm for 15 years.







Heather Stewart advises firms on strategy, strategic marketing, and planning services to deliver both profitability and to meet client needs. She provides management skills training for leaders in firms and has given in-house training to many firms on compliance with the new Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2007. Her book, “Excellent Client Service” is published by the Law Society.





Fiona Westwood provides both consultancy and coaching to a wide range of professional firms. She is a member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Standards Working Party. The updated version of her book, “Accelerated Best Practice” was published in 2008.  Her specialities are strategic development and leadership coaching. Her main focus in both is helping her clients achieve strategic change, as implementation of change is especially difficult for professional service organisations with their complicated ownership structures.




Richard Burcher
Richard is widely regarded as one of the Commonwealth's leading authorities on the pricing of legal services. With 30 years in legal practice in New Zealand and 27 years Law Society and private cost assessment experience, his pricing consultancy and speaking engagements now take him throughout the Commonwealth. His research and commentary has been widely published including The Commonwealth Lawyer, Managing for Success (Law Society of England and Wales) and The Journal (Law Society of Scotland). Richard's company, Validatum™, provides a range of pricing services including the development of sophisticated, innovative and profitable pricing strategies, alternative billing, development of and responses to RFPs, fee surveys, research and commentary, in-house pricing workshops for firms and chambers, fee negotiation services for law firms and barristers, pricing opinions and expert witness testimony on costs.

Colin Fitzpatrick is a Chartered Accountant and was a partner in Grant Thornton for 10 years where he was on the National Legal Business Panel and Business Valuation Panel. Colin is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has extensive Forensic Accounting experience.

Since 1998 Colin has been a Partner in FitzPatrickRoyle, through which he services Legal Business clients and undertakes Legal Business consultancy assignments, mainly covering Partnership structures, Mergers and Dissolutions.

Associates

Ian Dodd is an experienced business manager who has worked in a number of industries and professions in the this country and abroad. From agribusiness, transportation and logistics & leisure manufacturing in the UK and Europe to telecommunications in the UK, USA and North Africa Ian's background is in general management and sales & marketing. Six years running a major Chartered Surveying business was an introduction to professional services and the last ten years being a CEO in barristers' chambers and forming a start-up Alternative Business Structure has given Ian a thorough understanding of the legal profession. Latterly Ian has been involved, on a consultancy basis, with a number of barristers' chambers exploring the challenges and opportunities of the LSA and setting up ProcureCos.






Ruth Webber is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She has provided strategic and operational marketing advice to law firms since the mid nineties when she developed and ran the Marketing Advisory Service for the Law Society of Scotland. She has devised a number of interactive marketing workshops for solicitors, encompassing strategic planning, research, communication skills, networking and branding.

More recently Ruth has worked on a joint Law Society of Scotland/Scottish Government initiative in relation to establishing a Scottish centre of Dispute Resolution.









Chris Denington is the Managing Director of Zinc Resourcing, a recruitment and human resources management consultancy based in Chancery Lane, London established in 1999. Zinc works closely with private companies and professional practices across all areas of recruitment and human resources management. Prior to this he had a career in line HR, most recently at Grant Thornton, where he ran the Human Resources division of the Management Consultancy with offices based in London, Manchester and Leeds.

At Grant Thornton his role was focussed on implementing HR solutions into clients and potential clients of the firm. Chris has carried out a large number of HR consulting assignments for a wide range of privately owned companies and professional practices, including law firms and barristers chambers.





Vanessa Shenton
Vanessa has an extensive background in solicitors' regulation and compliance. Her background includes private litigation practice and as an "after the event" legal expense insurance underwriter, assessing a variety of disputes (including professional negligence) and managing a team of underwriters. Vanessa became the Law Society's costs manager dealing with costs, conditional fees and expense insurance. More recent roles include advisor within the SRA's Practice Standards Unit.

In January 2007, Vanessa founded The Compliance Partner offering services on the interpretation of rules, SRA visits, enquiries and adjudications, drafting compliance documentation and advising on the compliance angle of new law firm structures and third party relationships. She authored "Preparing for a Practice Standards Unit Visit" published by ARK. Vanessa sits on the Law Society's Law Management Section and its Rules and Ethics Committees which keep her up to date on changes and consultations.

Simon Young

Simon Young, a founder member of the Law Consultancy Network, died unexpectedly on 3rd July 2010.

Simon was a solicitor and former member of the Law Society council. He was elected to the council in 1999 to represent the Law Management Section, which he did for the next eight years. He served on the council's standards board and regulatory affairs board, and was chair of its rules and ethics sub-committee.

A graduate of Cambridge, Simon undertook his articles with Veitch Penny in Exeter, leaving as managing partner in 2002. He became a highly respected consultant and author, advising in excess of one hundred firms. His publications include the Limited Liability Partnerships Handbook (Tottel), the partnership title of the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents (LexisNexis Butterworths), the New Partner’s Guide to Management (Law Society Publishing) and, jointly, the Money Laundering Reporting Officer’s Handbook (LexisNexis Butterworths).

Simon was able to combine technical excellence with humour and had the rare skill of being able to make complex subjects both interesting and enjoyable. He was a gentle giant with a very clever mind. He will be very sadly missed.