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Get ahead of the pack with the inside track

Jonathan Watmough, award-winning former law firm Managing Partner and principal consultant at HelpingLawyersThrive

Hello!

I'm Jonathan, the Partner Promotion Coach, here to help turn ambitious associates into partners

I am passionate about helping people succeed in the business of law in a human, sustainable way

At 30 I became a City law firm M&A partner and at 38 I became the firm's award-winning Managing Partner for 10 years

I know exactly what it takes to make partner. I have been there and done it myself at a high level. I have written a critically acclaimed book about it. I have helped hundreds of lawyers go there and do it. I can help you go there and do it too

I help associates make partner

THIS IS FOR YOU

IF YOU are an associate ambitious to be a law firm partner

IF YOU want to cut through to the inside track of what really matters

IF YOU want to maximise your chances of success

IF YOU want to give yourself an advantage

IF YOU think it's for you, book your free discovery call with Jonathan

HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER

Everything we do will be bespoke to you


My coaching is informal, individual and bespoke. We will work as a team, in conversation, one-to-one, to build a trusting relationship. I will be your cheerleader, advisor, supporter and critical friend to help you reach your goal of partnership.
We will work out together who you are, where you are, what matters to you, what will make the difference in your push for partnership and where I can add the most value.
 
There are common attributes that firms tend to look for, but there is no standard formula for making partner. So I do not sell generic courses or online programmes. If you want a generic understanding of how the system works and what it takes then I have written a critically acclaimed book about it, 'How To Thrive In A Commercial Law Firm'.
Whereas the purpose of my one-to-one coaching is to cut through to precisely what will make the commercial, political and financial difference to you personally and to your particular situation.  To make you the right person, in the right place, at the right time.

The first simple step is for us to get to know each other


Just book a free, no-obligation, introductory Zoom call with me, and we can chat. This will typically last 30-60 minutes and will give us the chance to get to know each other, decide whether we want to work together and, if so, agree terms and next steps.

The type of things we might do together


The starting point will always be for us to build up together an objective diagnostic analysis of you, your ambitions, where you are, where you are in the promotional pecking order, why, the likely threshold criteria which will be applied and any potential personal, commercial, financial and political impediments to progress.
 
From there, we will build a plan together to seek to enable you to make your case, control the narrative, navigate your way around potential blockers and maximise your chances of success.
Depending on your seniority and where you sit within the process, this will be based on the fundamental qualifier that to become a partner you will need to fit in to the partnership professionally but also stand out personally, and so will likely involve us spending most of our time on some combination of:
-  Building and iterating the right competitive, political and communication strategies.
Building and communicating your personal credibility and personal case.
-  Building and communicating your business case.
Contrary to popular myth, most firms want to and need to keep making up senior lawyers to partner, but will only do so provided you are made of the right stuff and provided it makes good commercial and financial sense for them. Our challenge is to stack the odds in your favour and make those decisions easy for them.

Pricing


You might engage me personally or, by agreement, some or all of the cost might be met by your firm. Either way, our relationship is personal and what we discuss is entirely confidential.
Because everything we do will be bespoke to you, where you are and what you need, there is no standard pricing menu. And so I tend to price in the same way you will price for bespoke work with your own clients - fixed prices by reference to the amount of time I will likely spend. But coaching future and current partners is what I have always enjoyed most and so I strive to keep it affordable in the context of what is at stake, the level of my experience and my ability to get to the heart of what matters quickly.
But let's chat, and find a way to get going!

GOOD REASONS WHY I'M DIFFERENT & WHY IT MATTERS

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1. I have the expert inside track

I spent 18 years as a partner in an award-winning City law firm, the last 10 as Managing Partner. I know what it takes to be made up to partner. I have written a critically acclaimed book about it. I have been there and done it myself. I have helped hundreds of lawyers go there and do it and I can help you go there and do it.

2. I am independent & objective

I am on your side and I will tell you what you need to know.

3. I understand

I am one of you. I have done what you do. I have felt what you feel. I am there to provide friendly, non-judgmental, understanding support to help you achieve your ambitions.

ABOUT JONATHAN WATMOUGH

M&A lawyer, managing partner, coach, advisor, NED, author & speaker

I am passionate about helping people succeed in the business of law in a sustainable, human way.

 

I was born in the Yorkshire Dales but raised in the Sussex Downs. I have been a lifeguard, gardener, dishwasher, hotel porter, humper in a meat factory, pilot, fruit farmer, decorator, builder's mate and bartender. My parents both left school at 15 and I was the first in my family to go to university.

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I qualified as a Solicitor in The City of London at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain in 1993. Practising in M&A and equity capital markets, I became a partner at thirty, managing partner at thirty-eight and spent the next ten years helping to transform RPC from a London insurance firm into an international, multi-disciplinary professional services business.

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The firm delivered five consecutive years of double-digit top and bottom-line organic compound growth when the rest of the market stagnated following the Global Financial Crisis, won Law Firm of the Year three times, won the Managing Partners’ Forum’s strategic leadership award and was named five years running as Best Legal Employer. I was also twice-named within The Lawyer’s Hot 100 lawyers in the UK.

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After ten years as managing partner, I retired from the firm in 2016 to help lawyers and leaders of lawyers cut through to what matters and emulate the simple things successful people do differently in private practice. No theory, no platitudes, just practical common sense guidance on what matters most in the real world of the business of law, why and how to do it to get ahead. And in 2024 I encapsulated this in my book How To Thrive In A Commercial Law Firm.

I have also combined my entrepreneurial streak with my passion for understanding people and relationships and co-founded Quintillion, a technology group that develops cognitive and behavioural analytics. Quintillion’s flagship product, myTeamRadar, uses next-generation human factors visualisation to help reveal, diagnose and resolve hidden performance and wellbeing problems in teams.

"Under managing partner, Jonathan Watmough's leadership, RPC has become one of the most vibrant and best-run firms in the mid-market."

The Lawyer's HOT 100 lawyers in the UK logo

2014

"Cultural integrity and a move upmarket sees RPC named Firm of the Year."

Under Jonathan Watmough's leadership RPC won The Lawyer's Law Firm of the Year in 2014, The Lawyer logo

LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR 2014

"Praised by judges for its strong financial results, being 'innovative' and for 'really looking after its staff', the firm impressed on a number of levels. But what particularly impressed the judges was not its financial performance but the steps RPC has taken to position its business for the future - and the efforts it is taking to keep its staff happy."

Under Jonathan Watmough's leadership RPC won Legal Week's Law Firm of the Year in 2015, Legal Week logo

LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR 2015

"If you keep your people happy, then your clients will be happy too. Led by a Managing Partner who has no office and the same desk as everyone else who works in this open plan office, RPC achieved outstanding financial results in 2015, and has earned recognition as Best Legal Advisor by Legal Week for the last 5 years. Innovative initiatives to support employeees, a well-developed social-inclusion plan, and an unrelenting focus on understanding the needs of clients, have earned recognition as Best Legal Employer over the same five year period."

Under Jonathan Watmough's leadership RPC won the MPF's Strategic Leadership Award in 2016, Managing Partners Forum logo

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AWARD 2016

How To Thrive In A Commercial Law Firm is Jonathan Watmough's 2024 book about people, relationships & leadership in law firms - book cover

For those who want to know how lawyers, leaders and law firms can thrive in a changing world

Whether you're an aspiring associate or a managing partner, how good you are at people, relationships and leadership will determine your personal, professional and business success.

These are skills which are not taught at law school and which many firms preach but few practice.

Jonathan Watmough led an award-winning City law firm for ten years.

He lifts the lid on what makes lawyers and law firms tick.  Why people, relationships and leadership are fundamentally important for lawyers, lawyer careers, law firm success and life.  Why they matter more than ever in a changing world.  And how to master them.

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Are you ambitious to make partner?

Do you want to access the inside track?

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