Nicola Manning qualified as a solicitor three days before her 23rd birthday, having taken the "scenic route" leaving school at 17 with A levels and thence through Law Society Parts 1 and 2 and four year's articles with George Carter & Co (now Carter Camerons), a medium sized commercial property firm in London EC4. She has practiced as a solicitor virtually continuously for 25 years since then.
After qualifying, she remained with George Carter for a further 5 years as assistant solicitor and then salaried partner, practising predominantly in property and general litigation.
A short "career break" followed a year after the birth of her second child, during which time she worked as a medical secretary at St George's Hospital, and she then returned to practice law in 1988 through to 1997 at a couple of firms in South London, closer to her home; first doing a stint in conveyancing and then up at the "coal face"; doing predominantly legal aid work in housing, landlord and tenant, personal injury, clinical and professional negligence, and general civil litigation. During this time, she also worked as an Honorary Legal Adviser to the local CAB and sat on their management committee.
In early 1997, Nicola was "head hunted" by the Managing Partner of Bowling & Co in East London, to become their first Practice Co-Ordinator and moved into the field of legal practice management, in which she has continued since. Her move into this field coincided with the Law Society's intentions to set up a new Law Management Section, and she was invited to become part of the working party set up to develop and launch this Section in the summer of 1997.
In 1999, Nicola was elected to the first executive committee of the LMS and became its first Chair. She continues to take a proactive interest in the work of the LMS and of the Law Society in law management and client care generally, and was a member of the CMC for several years.
In 2000, Nicola joined "Magic Circle" firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in a management capacity, in another new role, managing the after hours litigation support teams within the practice. She continued meanwhile as a Practice Management Consultant to Bowling & Co and various other firms on an ad hoc basis, assisting in particular with CLS franchise audit requirements; adopting Lexcel-based systems and procedures, and giving guidance on complaints handling.
She joined McMillan Williams as their first Professional Manager in September 2002.
Her work is varied and challenging, but encompasses:
- Ongoing professional support and development of all the firm's fee earners, including recruitment and personnel matters, annual appraisals and continuing professional development
- Dealing with all client care and complaints issues throughout the practice; co-ordination of potential claims and risk management generally including providing specific guidance and training in this area
- Responsibility for monitoring training and allocating training seats for the firm’s twentyone paralegals and trainees
- Internal and external credit and disbursement control both within the practice, and co-ordinating debt recovery procedures
- Rewriting the firm's procedures; implementing and bringing these in line with Lexcel requirements for which the firm intends shortly to apply
- Organising and co-ordinating all departmental meetings and collation and distribution of legal reference and resource material
- Responsible for overseeing firm wide file audit systems
- Working with the partners and management team towards a planned strategy of exponential growth in key practice areas; developing and building existing teams and promoting a deeper culture of integration and support within the practice generally
- Client Relationship Management and Marketing including for the firm’s associated Home Information Pack companies.
She works closely with the Partners, the firm's Practice Manager, IT Administrator and Head of Accounts.
Throughout her career, Nicola has managed successfully to combine a professional role with motherhood, having five children now aged between 23 and 5 years old.
In what little spare time she has, Nicola enjoys complicated Sudoku puzzles, listening to Fado, and is a Usui Rei-Ki Master Teacher. |
