Legal practitioners, managing partners and senior law firm executives from across Nigeria, at the 5th Annual Managing Partner Roundtable (MPR 5.0), in Lagos Thursday, outlined new equation at thriving in business.
The event was organised by the Association of Law Firm Administrators Nigeria (ALAN).
The high-level industry forum brought together more than 300 delegates to examine the institutional, operational and leadership capabilities required for law firms to achieve sustainable growth.
The roundtable focused on a changing legal services environment in which professional excellence alone is increasingly insufficient to guarantee institutional longevity. Discussions centred on governance, leadership, financial discipline, talent and succession, technology, operational efficiency and the strategic management of growth.
Management excellence as growth catalyst
Delivering the welcome address, Modupe Olusoga, president of ALAN and chief operating officer at Streamsowers & Köhn, highlighted the growing importance of management excellence in building enduring law firms.
She drew a distinction between growth and scalability, noting that while growth reflects an increase in activity or size, scaling requires the institutional capability to sustain that growth.
“Growth is an outcome; scaling is a capability. The capability to translate ambition into an institution supported by strong governance, leadership, financial discipline, and succession planning,” Olusoga said.
She added that although the practice of law would remain anchored in legal excellence, firms seeking to remain strong and relevant would increasingly need to combine professional expertise with sound management systems.
Growth must be backed by institutional capacity
In his keynote address, Osaro Eghobamien SAN, founder and chairman of Perchstone & Graeys LP, examined the tension between rapid expansion and institutional longevity.
Eghobamien challenged managing partners and firm founders to think beyond immediate market demand and consider whether their people, structures and operational systems were capable of supporting the growth they were pursuing.
“As every managing partner knows, you are either chasing demand or backing your people; both are strategic choices,” he said.
His remarks reinforced one of the central themes of the roundtable: that sustainable expansion requires firms to deliberately build the institutional infrastructure needed to support increased client demands, larger teams and more complex operations.
Panel examines what it takes to scale
The keynote was followed by an interactive panel moderated by Ekundayo Onajobi, Partner at Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie. The panel featured ‘Soji Awogbade, Principal Consultant at Harboursim LP; Olujoke Aliu, Co-Managing Partner at Aluko & Oyebode; Toyin Gbagi, Partner & COO at KPMG; Olaniyi Yusuf, Managing Partner at Verraki Partners; and Oluwakemi Ajayi, COO at Banwo & Ighodalo.
The panel explored the practical realities of moving from a successful legal practice to a scalable institution, with discussions spanning multi-office expansion, partner succession, financial discipline, talent development and technology adoption.
Speakers stressed the importance of putting the right systems and leadership structures in place before pursuing aggressive expansion.
They also examined how firms can maintain service quality, organisational culture and client confidence as their teams, offices and portfolios become larger and more complex.
The discussion further highlighted succession planning and talent development as critical to institutional continuity, particularly for firms seeking to build organisations that can thrive beyond the tenure or influence of individual founders and senior partners.
On financial management, the panelists emphasised the need for firms to look beyond headline revenue and pay closer attention to profitability, resource allocation, operational efficiency and the financial implications of strategic decisions.
Technology also featured prominently, with the speakers considering how law firms can use technology and emerging tools to improve efficiency, workflow and client service while ensuring that adoption is driven by clear business objectives rather than technology for its own sake.
The overall message was clear: scaling a law firm is not simply a question of becoming bigger, but of becoming stronger, more structured and better equipped to manage complexity.
Building the business of Law
Reinforcing ALAN’s educational and professional development mandate, Oyinkan Idowu, chair of ALAN’s Learning and Development Committee, outlined the association’s strategy for strengthening practice management and announced professional development frameworks scheduled to run through 2027.
“If you are a law firm owner, managing partner, or senior executive, you must understand the business of law,” Idowu said. “We want law firms to exist, grow, and scale.”
Her remarks underscored the growing recognition that the effective management of a law firm requires competencies extending beyond legal practice to areas such as leadership, finance, people management, technology, operations and organisational strategy.
ALAN unveils new website
A key highlight of the event was the unveiling of ALAN’s new website, marking an important step in the association’s digital development and its efforts to provide greater access to information, professional resources and opportunities for engagement.
The new platform provides information about ALAN’s programmes, membership, professional development initiatives and resources for law firm administrators and practice leaders.
The website is available at www.alanigeria.org.
ALAN describes itself as a professional body focused on advancing competence, strategic excellence and professional governance across Nigerian legal practices, with a particular emphasis on equipping law firm administrators and practice managers to drive efficiency, profitability and sustainable growth.
From conversation to action
In her closing remarks, Grace Oyeniyi, Vice President of ALAN, brought the event to a close, noting that the roundtable had attracted more than 250 physical delegates, alongside numerous virtual participants from Kenya and across Africa. She charged attendees to convert conference insights into tangible internal reforms upon returning to their practices.
The 5th Annual Managing Partner Roundtable ultimately placed a broader question before Nigeria’s legal industry: what does it take to build a law firm that can grow beyond its founders, adapt to a changing business environment and remain relevant for generations?
For the leaders gathered at MPR 5.0, the emerging answer was that the future of the successful law firm will depend not only on the quality of its legal work, but also on the strength of the institution built behind it.
