Middletons: you may know the name, but do you really know the firm? Managing partner Nick Nichola is on a mission to make sure you do

Nick Nichola remembers the moment well. "Two of our lawyers were on a charity run, wearing shirts emblazoned with the firm name," says the genial Middletons managing partner, "when suddenly, this bloke comes up to them and begins going on about how Middletons did such a fantastic job with his kitchen! Turns out, he got us confused with a plumbing firm of the same name."

It's a moment that demonstrates the challenge faced by Middletons. Law firms do not necessarily need to be household names, but a certain profile in the market is required. As Nichola freely admits, Middletons has flown somewhat under the radar to date and it's something he's keen to change. "We want our brand to be as well known as names like Clayton Utz are in the market," he says.

In one analysis, the mid-tier seems to be dominated - at least in size and revenue - by some major national or East Coast law firms which threaten to overshadow their rivals and create a de facto 'sub mid-tier' below them. But that's not an analysis Nichola is buying into - and, he questions the use of the term 'mid-tier'. "True, there are three firms that are in a class of their own - Mallesons, AAR and Freehills," he says, "but I'm not sure that there's any kind of hierarchy below that. The key issue is the quality of the firm and how well it is able to differentiate itself. We may not have the same quantum of deals as larger firms, but ours have the same level of sophistication and quality."

Perth expansion

The big story for Middletons in 2008 was an entry into the Perth market by means of a three-way merger with locally based firms Salter Power and Franklyn Legal. The combined eight-partner office came into effect last December and has a full-service offering.

Like many other managing partners, Nichola has had his eye on Perth for some time and is not deterred by the current economic gloom that has now settled over the resources sector which, not long ago, appeared to be virtually recession-proof. Nichola considers the value of a WA presence not just in light of the region's natural resources but also its proximity to Asia, and sees Perth as the gateway to the region. Both the collective Asian economy and the resources sector are looking rather wobbly at the moment, but Nichola is taking a long-term view.

"When you consider China, India and other emerging economies, whatever bumps there may be on the horizon do little to alter the long-term view of Australia's success and, in particular, of Western Australia as our resources capital," he says. "I think there will be a slow-down, but I am not anticipating it will materially affect our expansion into the Perth market."

A great deal of planning went into the expansion, with Middletons investing over six months of research in the move. Nichola says that Middletons was not prepared to expand by acquisition. "For cultural reasons, it was always our intention to have a merger of equals. I don't believe an acquisition would have achieved this," he says.  

Five potential merger partners were canvassed and while the original plan was to select only one partner firm, the decision was ultimately made to proceed with a three-way merger. "The two firms complemented each other," says Nichola, "Salter Power is broad-based with a particularly strong litigation group, while the lawyers at Franklyn Legal are acknowledged as Perth's leaders in corporate and M&A services."

Commercialisation

Coming to terms with the increased commercialisation of the legal sector is a theme that Nichola nominates as one of the key challenges in his role. "Commercial law firms need to be run as sophisticated commercial entities and partners, like all employers, have to embrace the challenges that come with owning and running a business," he says. This means a focus not only on the lawyers, but also across the functional areas of information services, technology, business development, human resources and corporate services - in short, the same kind of broad perspective any business operator should have.

And while this theme is enthusiastically embraced by the growing number of managing partners or CEOs drawn from outside the legal profession, Nichola is not one of them. He has been a lawyer by trade since his days in a small suburban firm called Molomby & Molomby, where he rose to partnership and came across to Middletons when the latter acquired Molomby in 1998. Prior to taking on the managing partner role in 2005, he was head of the firm's corporate and commercial group and the chairman of partners.

Direction

Middletons as we know it today has been in the making since 2000, when the firm adopted the vision statement as 'a quality, national law firm' with a focus on providing clients, partners and staff with value. In pursuit of a stronger nation-wide presence, the firm's Sydney office would expand to incorporate the former firms of KPMG Legal and Acuiti Legal, and undertake lateral recruitment that would eventually see the Sydney operation swell from three partners in early 2004 to its present 23. The expansion has also been productive, with the firm recording 11% revenue growth last year.

There is, however, a sense of deja vu in this story, which reflects a process of evolution similar to a number of other ambitious mid-tier firms that have risen to prominence in recent years from more humble origins. How, then, can Middletons distinguish itself?

Straight talking

There are, of course, certain qualities which any successful firm is expected to have: technical excellence, client focus, depth of expertise and commercial nous - to name but a few. Middletons, while still embracing those qualities, has added another dimension to its marketing by adopting the term 'straight talking' as its defining brand statement.

The idea originated from Middletons' own clients after a survey was conducted to find out what they valued most about their interaction with the firm. A consistent theme in the feedback was praise for the straightforward approach adopted by the lawyers.  "We are confident that [this] truly reflects who we are as a firm. No-one is interested in how clever we are if we can't articulate clearly what we think," says Nichola. "Clients value our willingness to 'get off the fence'
and advise them as to the best commercial solution."

The idea wasn't universally embraced within the firm at first - there were some who felt that there was a thin line between 'straight talking' and 'fast talking', and that the brand was being taken down-market. "Lawyers often don't see straight talking as part of the inherent value of the role," says Nichola, "Even in a firm like ours where we already had a straight-talking culture, it wasn't something that lawyers would consciously follow or see as a strength."

Until, of course, the firm consciously brought that quality to the fore. Nichola says that keeping lawyers 'talking straight' was never an enforced issue as the majority of the ones at Middletons already adhered to the principle. "Rather," he says, "it was more a case of ensuring that all our internal communications and interactions also adopted it." ALB