Helen Ager, Managing Partner, Crutes Law Firm

Sep 13 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

The first female managing partner of a North East commercial law firm has been at the helm for over four years. Peter McCusker catches up with Helen Ager of Crutes.

HELEN Ager took over from Stephen Crute as managing partner of Crutes in 2006. Although not the first non-Crute to head the 100-year-old law firm, she is the first woman.

Ager had a clear vision for the Newcastle-based business and that vision is still driving it forward today with recent results – which show profits up 50% – an indicator of its success .

And while acknowledging her gender achievement, she shies away from celebrating it. “I am gender- blind. It’s all down to the individual and their abilities,” she stresses. “It’s really a sign of where Crutes is as a firm that they chose a female managing partner.

“Even just four years ago it was still relatively unusual, and this sent out a message out across the region and the wider legal world, that we are a progressive firm.”

Ager says she has not encountered any overt sexism but elaborates with a steely smile on an isolated incident where, as the only woman in the room, she was asked to pour the coffee.

“I have no problems pouring the coffee,” she says, but adds it was the ‘she can pour it’ attitude that rankled.

Ager had joined Crutes in 1994, making it to partner in 1997, as she developed a much-sought-after reputation in the field of professional negligence. When she took over top spot she had a clear strategy in mind.

“We were involved in a lot of volume claims processing – ‘slippers and trippers’ accidents and domestic conveyancing – but took a view we wanted to improve our market share as a high- quality firm.

“That change in focus is still under way and we are working at putting distance between ourselves and that cheap and cheerful, turnover-driven, high street work.”

With staff numbers now just under 100, Crutes employs fewer than half the number it did in 2006, although partner numbers at 18 have seen little overall change.

The firm, which also has offices in Carlisle and Stockton, had traditionally been strong in insurance and public-sector work but since taking over, Ager has encouraged it to develop a stronger commercial portfolio.

Its offering now includes employment law, commercial property, intellectual property, corporate finance, debt-recovery, commercial disputes and mergers and acquisitions.

Recent results indicate the progress it has made at a time when many of the region’s commercial law firms have seen results stymied by the recession.

It posted a year-on-year revenue rise from £5m to £5.3m for the 12 months ending March this year. Operating profits rose by nearly 50% from £1.2m to £1.76m over the same period and revenues are up over 10% in the first few months of the current financial year.

Ager says: “Crutes had gained a strong reputation over the years for its litigation work in defending public- sector clients. This is still a major strength but we took a strategic decision to diversify our offering.

“The strength of our insurance and public sector work sees us operate on a national scale. Our expanded range of commercial services have allowed us to give added value to our existing clients.

“We very much see ourselves as a law firm which works with SMEs and owner-managed local businesses. This area of our commercial work is developing strongly.

“Our focus on providing top-class legal services, and value for money, has served us well during the recession. Our approach combines first-class people with the value that a smaller practice can offer.

“We don’t claim to have the strength and depth of a national firm yet, but we have individual lawyers as good as anyone, and our size means we can offer them a partner-led services at rates that are attractive to local business.”

Ager chose law after being inspired during a school-organised law weekend at Oxford University.

She landed her first job in Nottingham before qualifying at a commercial law firm in London in the late-80s.

She specialised in insurance law, but the lure of home and the desire to start a family brought her back to the North East with her osteopath husband Mark in 1994.

And she found Crutes the perfect place to pursue her indemnity work. She says it is a privilege to have the opportunity to comment on the work of a fellow professional, and Ager still does fee-earning work as managing partner.

Like all lawyers she fiercely guards professional confidentiality. Although when pressed on any amusing anecdotes, and choosing her words deliberately, she recalls a case in London many years ago when a 300-year-old National Trust residence was burnt down and the insurance claim included an unusually large amount for hunting jackets.

Ager is an accredited mediator at the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and believes it’s a path more lawyers need to tread.

“Lawyers need to bear in mind the costs involved in taking disputes to court and bear in mind the mediation process can be far more cost-effective for the clients,” she says.

“We buy into that philosophy and believe more law firms should follow suit. There is no need to hack off your clients by forcing them to pay more down the line.”

Like all good lawyers Ager posses a keen, analytical mind and often asks for clarification during our interview. But for a woman in a serious job she is always full of smiles and disarmingly self-effacing.

Another aspect of Ager’s leadership is the drive to ensure the practice operates in a more business-like manner, as firms like Crutes face increasing competition from a number of quarters.

From the bottom up there is the so-called Tesco law – which allows non-lawyers to own and operate law firms for the first time – and top down is the increasing trend towards consolidation and globalisation.

But Ager remains resolute: “There is a increasing tend for firms to go national or international with the big firms looking at Europe and elsewhere, but I believe there will always be a thriving North East legal sector.

“We can provide the quality of service that local firms are looking for and we continue to look to develop locally. Law will always be a very personal and personable business.

“With Tesco law this is a looming threat to some of the profession but not to firms like us. We took the view that we wanted to improve our market share as a high-quality law firm and that is where we are heading. The budget law firms will not be able to provide packaged merger and acquisition advice.”

The collapse of major UK law firm Manchester-based Halliwells earlier this year rocked the legal community with Ager saying it is an indication of the essential need for law firms to be run in a more commercial manner – a message she feels is slowly making headway in the legal community.

She says her job is helped by her management team: “Having managers who know and run their areas as well as they do means that they offer me fantastic support and the whole team can drive forward together.”

She believes the next managing partner of Crutes may need to have an MBA as well as legal qualifications; it was something she considered.

On the change from being a lawyer to a manager, Ager says: “You have to refocus a bit and we thought about sending me on an MBA but I’d already had a reasonable amount of management experience and decided against it.

“But as law firms shift to becoming more business-focused, it’s more and more likely that managing partners are going to need MBAs in the future.”

Her predecessor Stephen Crute lasted 10 years and Ager, self-effacingly, says: “It’s up to my partners. I think it’s important for a business to stay fresh. I wouldn’t want to outstay my welcome. You have to have people behind you, It’s a difficult enough job anyway. But I enjoy it and have no plans to step down.”