Daily Diary

Diary managerial masterclass...with Simon Johnston

Posted 2/03/2007 by The Daily Diary

8. Brand on the run.

Does anything get the pulse racing quite like a re-branding exercise? What’s that you say? A £20bn buy-out with more leverage than a DLA Piper associate conference? Perhaps for you, sunshine. But not in the mid tier.

You see, time is money. And if there’s one thing our clients have plenty of, it’s time. And money. But mostly time. And they can’t afford to have it wasted with lengthy law firm names. Particularly not if they have to pronounce the entire name each time they need a spot of conveyancing done.

Which is why we’ve taken the great leap forward of dropping the ‘Nathanson’ from our practice name. Yup, dropped the whole damn thing. Dropped it like a bad habit – which, in a way, perhaps it had become.

But the revolution at Nabarros does not stop there. Spot the deliberate mistake? That’s right – now we’re Nabarro.

Our roster of bluechip clients don’t have time for the letter ‘s’ and all its negative connotations – words like ‘sluggish’ and ‘stagnant’. And ‘Sheffield’.

Although Sheffield is still a valuable part of our practice and one we’re very much committed to. (Sorry guys, you’re doing a great job.)

There will inevitably be casualties in the war on consonants. An outdated nickname like ‘Nabarros’ just screams ‘mid tier’. Now we have moved on - now we are Nabarro. And if Ashurst can get a stream of hot puff, then we want a piece of that pie. Oh yes.

Is that clear? I sure hope so. Because clarity matters. I mean, matter.

Imon Johnton, Enior partner