Merging during a pandemic
Going through a merger can be a complex operation at the best of times, so managing the merger between Ellisons Solicitors and Blocks during the height of the pandemic certainly threw up some challenges. John Turner, COO at Ellisons Solicitors, looks at how Covid-19 impacted the merger, and the future of the industry
At times, merging during the pandemic felt impossible. Our contract specified that we had to complete by 1 April, near the beginning of the first lockdown, which meant we were navigating our workforce learning to operate remotely, two teams becoming one, dealing with supply chain delays and managing the rebranding of a building no one was allowed in – all while continuing excellent customer service to two client bases.
Ensuring business-as-usual for clients was our priority and, although our colleagues quickly became dab hands at conducting business meetings remotely, technology migration proved our biggest issue. Lockdown caused delays to our supply chain which meant we couldn’t migrate everyone onto the same practice management solution until September, six months after we had merged. This caused a few glitches, but ensuring everyone was set up on Ellisons’ email addresses allowed us to feel joined up.
Communication and maintaining progress were key. We continued our regular project meetings to make sure any issues were ironed out quickly and that we were constantly communicating with our colleagues. Some people were keen to get back into the office, so we made sure they were safe to do so by putting in place extensive safety measures and procedures. The rebranding of the office was another area held up due to the crisis as we were unable to update the branding on the building from the first day of merger, like we usually would. All in all, it was a prolonged process, but our teams made it happen.
Looking to the future
Throughout this period, and as we continue to operate through the pandemic, we’ve found it was very important to listen to colleagues about how they want to work in the future. While some people are desperate after many months of working from home to return to the office, some people aren’t as comfortable. Working with them over the next few months is essential for ensuring the next phase goes smoothly when lockdown ends. On the whole, I think it’s highly unlikely people will return to the office in the same way. It’ll be interesting to see how firms that have recently invested in additional office space find ways to use it.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on the industry in the 2021. After such a tough year I expect we’ll see an increase in SME consolidations as 2021 forces smaller businesses to reconsider their business model. It’s a difficult prospect to fathom as the hit on smaller law firms will have an overall impact on the future of the industry.
It’s been a hard year for businesses of all sizes – and, although it was difficult, we proved that merging in a pandemic is possible. Every law firm’s goal should be to give excellent client service and I believe there are exciting opportunities on the horizon among the difficult times.