Legal practitioners, managing partners and senior law firm executives from across Nigeria, at the 5th Annual Managing Partner Roundtable (MPR 5.0), in Lagos Thursday, outlined new equation at thriving in business. The event was organised by the Association of Law Firm Administrators Nigeria (ALAN). The high-level industry forum brought together more than 300 delegates to examine the institutional, operational and leadership capabilities required for law firms to achieve sustainable growth.
The roundtable focused on a changing legal services environment in which professional excellence alone is increasingly insufficient to guarantee institutional longevity. Discussions centred on governance, leadership, financial discipline, talent and succession, technology, operational efficiency and the strategic management of growth. Delivering the welcome address, Modupe Olusoga, president of ALAN and chief operating officer at Streamsowers & Köhn, highlighted the growing importance of management excellence in building enduring law firms.
She drew a distinction between growth and scalability, noting that while growth reflects an increase in activity or size, scaling requires the institutional capability to sustain that growth. “Growth is an outcome; scaling is a capability. The capability to translate ambition into an institution supported by strong governance, leadership, financial discipline, and succession planning,” Olusoga said.
She added that although the practice of law would remain anchored in legal excellence, firms seeking to remain strong and relevant would increasingly need to combine professional expertise with sound management systems. In his keynote address, Osaro Eghobamien SAN, founder and chairman of Perchstone & Graeys LP, examined the tension between rapid expansion and institutional longevity.
Eghobamien challenged managing partners and firm founders to think beyond immediate market demand and consider whether their people, structures and operational systems were capable of supporting the growth they were pursuing. “As every managing partner knows, you are either chasing demand or backing your people; both are strategic choices,”