The head of Ashurst's Glasgow office talks the business of law
Ashurst partner Mike Polson took on the responsibility of building the firm's Glasgow business from the ground up.
What was your route into the profession?
Law wasn’t actually my first love, I originally applied to do an industry sponsored business degree at the London School of Economics. Law was my plan B, so you can tell where my real interest lies!
Up until I joined Ashurst at the start of 2013, I had a very traditional legal career, going from trainee to corporate lawyer, and through the ranks before being promoted to partner. However, when the opportunity to take up the new role at Ashurst presented itself I couldn’t help but abandon my traditional legal adviser roots and go back to my true love—the business of law.
What has been your biggest career challenge so far?
Building Ashurst in Glasgow—although, I would say it was more of an opportunity and a challenge in a very positive sense. Going from being a senior corporate partner at Dundas & Wilson, to heading up the new Glasgow office, taking on the task of leading the building of the business from the ground up, provided me with a fantastic opportunity. Starting from a blank sheet of paper and looking to design what we do to reflect the changing legal market has allowed me to help create a very successful business within a global business which grew from 0 to 150 people within the first year.
I was closely involved in the whole planning process which included reviewing and assessing critically the current processes and identifying "best practice" going forward in terms of efficiency and streamlining procedures to drive further benefits.
Initially my main focus was to help establish the Glasgow office, capitalising on an available and excellent pool of local talent, to build a team to effectively service all 27 Ashurst offices across ten different time zones. Now my role is much wider and even more varied, overseeing the day to day running of the office to ensure the delivery of excellent service, whilst continuing to identify new ways in which the Glasgow office can assist the global teams with both client work and business support.
If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you choose as an alternate career?
It would have to be a strategic business role, such as management consultancy at the strategy end of the spectrum—helping an organisation to solve issues, create value, maximise growth and improve business performance. I would like to be able to use my business skills to provide objective advice and expertise and help an organisation to shape its future and realise its full potential.
Who is your favourite fictional lawyer?
Tom Hagen, the "family" lawyer from The Godfather. As Tom is seen as the man to call even when your problem isn't exactly legal, I am the man to call when you are looking to apply new resourcing, technology and process solutions within a legal environment. But in a much less scary way of course!
What change would you make to the profession?
Embrace change. The nature of lawyers is to look at change as a negative. I think it is important to change this mindset and to look at how businesses in other industries deal with change and use the opportunities created by change to drive their businesses forward and gain a competitive advantage.
How do you relax?
Watching films and box sets (mostly crime related for some reason) with my wife Alison, walking our dog Coco as well as playing tennis and golf.
