Business leads

One parliamentary election down; one to go. Linda Urquhart’s term as chairman of CBI Scotland is unusual in embracing elections to both Westminster and Holyrood. That sounds like a pretty political diet for what is essentially a lobbying organisation. With much time being spent forming policy and briefing politicians, how accurate is that impression?

“The CBI is an apolitical organisation,” she replies, “but inevitably in trying to influence Government we may come up against a political view with which we disagree, so to that extent we’re involved in politics at that level. But the CBI is representing business and we have no particular political standpoint.”

That said, the CBI is “quite pleased so far” with the new coalition Government, which has adopted a number of recommendations from the CBI’s 12-point plan for the Westminster elections. The fact that each of CBI UK’s eight regions considers its policy proposals and feeds into the national Chairman’s committee before they are adopted, she adds, “gives it a particularly robust approach in going to Government and saying these are not local issues or issues in a small minority”.

As regards the recently published CBI Scotland manifesto for next year’s Holyrood elections, she admits to having a big hand: her council identified the key issues, she chaired one of the sub-groups (energy) that met to frame more detailed policies, and chaired again as the proposals were pulled together into the final document.

“We are obviously in fragile economic times, and it’s important that business and Government work together to generate economic growth, so giving that business perspective of what we think Government needs to do to create the right environment is an important job to be done.”

Insights and influences

Not the first solicitor to serve as chairman of CBI Scotland – Sir Andrew Cubie was there before her – Urquhart reckons a “huge amount” of its work is relevant to law firms. “We’re often influencing policy which once it’s implemented will go into the hands of lawyers to resolve, but equally I’m able to inform my colleagues about discussions that have gone on in the background, and as we’re informing policy get their real life experience of what the current issues are” – thus giving business clients some access to the policy forming process.

And in relation to her own role of Chief Executive, “It’s been very useful because lawyers fundamentally have to understand what their clients need and want done, and having an understanding of what’s currently exercising businesses in Scotland, what they are up to and what challenges they are facing helps me to work with my colleagues to ensure that the services we’re delivering and the approach we’re taking is relevant to Scottish business.

“It also allows me to meet all sorts of very interesting individuals, whether in business or Government or other organisations, where I can either gather information that I can bring back which will help in the running of the business or I can put people in touch with each other which may create opportunities for them.”

A number of law firms are CBI members, but Urquhart readily recognises that many others will have their own links with business in their local communities, urban or rural.

She has an interesting take on the much-aired traditional role of the Scots lawyer as “man of business”, as to which you might think the assumptions regarding the generalist approach and of the gender of the adviser are equally outdated. “If you look around at a number of people who are very specialist in their field, in fact they are the trusted adviser of their clients and will be giving specialist advice in their areas but also much broader advice. I’ve got partners who are technically perhaps real estate lawyers but actually are contract lawyers and will be advising their clients in a very broad range of business issues.”

Seeking approval

How in her experience does the business community regard the legal profession?

“It’s very variable. To many we’re seen as a distress purchase and I understand that particularly in the litigation field. I do ask what people think about their lawyers and I suppose I’m disappointed that few rave about them. There are one or two who think they’re particularly well served; most people have good ongoing relationships, but what I would like to see is people moving themselves on to a situation where if I ask a business how they rate their lawyers they would say they are really excellent.”

She does claim to have detected an improvement in the last couple of years, as firms have responded to client needs in the recession.

I put it to her that some say the profession is still behind the curve in communication skills, say, or IT adoption.

“That’s not feedback I’ve had, if you look around at the extent of use of technology with live online access to files for major clients. There may be pockets; I suppose I’m a little bemused by the reaction to the ARTL debate at the moment. Something like ARTL helps the profession as well as clients. I understand the perspective of those firms who don’t want to be forced into using it, but the majority of the profession will embrace it.”

Is there anything lawyers should be doing to improve their image with business?

“I think one of the areas is demonstrating that their businesses are as well run as their clients’ businesses. I think that most law firms are very professionally run and do embrace the kind of business approach that industry and business has been embracing for a long time: it’s maybe about communicating that that’s what they do.

“The one area I do hear some criticism about is certainty of pricing. I think that lawyers could be better at explaining what they do for the money and the basis on which they charge, and having clarity about that for clients.”

What they really want

She adds that businesses, like people, want a personalised service. “One of the things we find in research, and it echoes what I hear, is that it’s not just people who want to be treated individually but businesses: it’s about understanding what their clients want and need and making sure that their services are tailored to that.”

The increasing use of secondment is one way to achieve this; has Urquhart picked up on any other trends in business that lawyers should to be aware of?

“There’s a lot of what you would call partnership working and I think you are already seeing that happening in the legal profession. One of the CBI’s greatest cries is for public sector reform, and I think that is where you will see increasingly creative relationships between the public sector and their suppliers including law firms, whether that’s pure outsourcing or collaborative partnerships of different kinds. Businesses are working together with their supply chain increasingly to ensure consistency of delivery, consistency of pricing, and that’s something lawyers will need to embrace.”

Will she hazard a prediction on the outlook for the economy?

“I’m cautious. We’re going to bump along the bottom for a while. Looking UK wide, undoubtedly London and the south east is feeling much more buoyant and there’s more activity. I think that will gradually filter through although we’ll always lag behind. I don’t think we’re going to see a dramatic improvement in the near future; there will probably be some further deterioration but I don’t think it will be a huge deterioration.”

Next generation

We turn finally to the subject of women in the boardroom, as the EU Commission has hinted that minimum quotas could be on the agenda if representation does not improve. Urquhart is not impressed by this.

“I wouldn’t want to be on a board where I was there because of a quota. I think the two key things are about broadening the pool of people who are considered for appointment and then ensuring that appointment is on the basis of merit.”

She approves of the approach being taken in Scotland by the Judicial Appointments Board, in researching why fewer women are applying and why they are not getting through. “Once they have answers they can make adjustments and I’m confident that they will do that. I think their roadshows around Scotland are a particularly positive thing, because one of the barriers is if people don’t understand the process and what’s involved.” Similar things are happening in business: a paper has been produced by the Government and the CBI to highlight what can be done to improve representation.

Is she in a position to advance the cause? “It’s something I would like to be able to do something about. And there’s a lot of work going on particularly in Scotland at the moment. There’s a small group of women who are mentoring the next generation of leaders to try and bring them on…. There’s also a lot of activity on the part of senior women within their own boards to keep the issue on the agenda and to make sure they are doing what they can to improve the reflection of the board in relation to the company’s consumer base.”

And has she any personal tips for those with ambition? “Getting experience of being on a board, however small. That might be your local school, it might be a charity: I think that for women there are actually lots of opportunities for building that kind of experience at board level in the years when you might otherwise think it’s difficult. It’s also about looking out for the networks that are out there and getting yourself known as someone who may be interested, because there is quite a lot of support available.”