Law Firm Management Structure – Firm Administrator and Marketing Director

Question:

I am the founder and managing partner of a 27 attorney firm in Dallas Texas. I own 90% of the stock in the firm. I have a three member management committee that serves as a sounding board, a firm administrator, and several people in accounting that work for the firm administrator. We are anticipating hiring a marketing director and are trying to think our way through how to structure this new position as well as future management positions down the road. I would appreciate any thoughts that you may have.

Response:

It will depend on the depth of experience of the marketing candidate that you hire and the level that you want them to perform. If you hire a heavy weight, they will be expected to have "director" in their title" and you will want them to have the respect of other attorneys in your firm, your clients and prospective clients. Therefore, they may carry a title such as Director of Marketing, Director of Client Development and Marketing, etc. If this is the case this position should report to either you, the managing partner, or the management committee, not the firm administrator. Depending on the level of your administrator it may be appropriate to retitle the position as Director of Administration and have it also report to you, the managing partner, or the management committee. Before long you may need a Human Resources Director and when that time occurs that position also could report to the you, the managing partner, or the management committee. Accounting and administrative staff would report to the Director of Administration, marketing staff would report to the Director of Marketing, etc. I would develop job descriptions for each position as well as your position and the management committee.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Posted at 09:58 PM in Governance
Tags: Administrator, and, Director, Firm, Law, Management, Marketing, Structure

May 03, 2016

Law Firm Management Structure – Firm Administrator and Marketing Director

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