Testimonial Policy: Our confidentiality policy requires that we do not disclose the identities of our clients. All the testimonials that follow are verbatim as per written communications retained on file.
My firm has a retainer relationship with dci lyncon. As a relatively young sole practitioner with several employees (including solicitors) I often find that there are decisions I face where I really need a sounding board outside of my firm and Peter certainly provides this. He has been a real help in dealing with various aspects regarding employing and looking after staff, and a monumental help with pricing. His input gave me the confidence to make significant pricing changes and none of the clients even blinked. Those increases travel straight to the bottom line. The commercial side of our relationship is pretty much based on trust. We agreed a monthly figure and for that, Peter is effectively available to give advice on call. It is a very valuable facility to have. I see many other law firms of around our size and I am surprised they do not take advantage of this kind of service. Compared with the benefits, the cost is really quite modest.
Our firm has a retainer arrangement with dci lyncon. It works very well. We have a totally open dialogue with Peter - he's a bit like an extra partner (minus the chargeable budget!). He constantly pushes us to be more disciplined in the way we run the place, and keeps driving us with improvements. The people here trust him - he isn't a head kicker.... and that really matters.
Peter provided facilitation services for my firm at a time when we were expanding rapidly throughout Australia. His style is open and direct which we found helpful when trying to drive through to a result. Our firm is a one of its kind - striking into a niche never before taken National. Peter's progressive thinking assisted where a more conservative consultant might have failed. He has a great nose for the various agendas that people run in helping or hindering the firm. In our other dealings, I have always found him to have a very can-do attitude. He goes out of his way to help.
I have worked closely with Peter Lynch of dci lyncon for over three years, sometimes in relatively trying circumstances. He has been an enormous help and I can say that I trust his judgement, his candour, and his integrity absolutely. I think the difference is that he cares about people at a personal level.
Peter and I have mutual clients where it is sometimes difficult to navigate between individual interests and the interests of the firm. In that environment, Peter brings a fearless independence to the table and regularly seems to be able to find a pathway through all kinds of roadblocks. He hates leaving things half done. He is always pushing to escalate matters, resolve them, or get them off the agenda. He doesn't shy away from spirited debate but never sacrifices respect in the process. I have been practising for over 30 years and I'd have to say Peter commands a very rare package of skills.
Peter is extremely hands-on and experienced, and I think that comes from his mixed commercial and professional backgrounds. He has assisted me in developing a better perspective on structural and performance issues in my practice group.
My partner and I use Peter Lynch as a kind of coach. He is on a retainer but usually delivers beyond that. There's no fixed term - when it isn't working the three of us will know. But it has been working extremely well for nearly four years now and we have found the input invaluable. We have made significant improvements in our focus, systems, processes and financial performance. Further, his contributions on "soft" issues (like culture, staff and interpersonal communications) have assisted us greatly. Peter's technical skills are very broad, so that frees us up to do the things we personally are good at, and that we like doing.
Peter has a terrific understanding of legal firm management and performance. There is no doubt his insights have helped me personally in thinking through my own career, and he also has helped our firm to develop a clearer focus on the kinds of professional traits and behaviours we should be training for.
I work with Peter in various roles. He is a gifted facilitator with a capacity to find a path through highly charged standoffs between business owners. While being respectful of all views, he brings a rigour and discipline to agendas and is able to moderate personality clashes to the extent that they are subservient to the survival and direction of the firm. I regard him highly.
I approached Peter in relation to a partnership offer I had received in a very successful legal practice. Peter's "personal/professional/financial criteria" approach was extremely helpful in assisting me to realise that despite the lucrative financial rewards on offer, I would have been both unhappy and unfulfilled in the partnership over time. That decision freed me to pursue my own path in establishing a boutique litigation firm with another partner. That decision has been the most rewarding and beneficial of my professional life.
I have used Peter Lynch as a periodic sounding board about some of the problems and opportunities for my firm. We would meet for breakfast, and I would pick his brains based on his depth of experience in the profession. I certainly found it a useful process, especially in the area of guiding and managing performance of my partners.
I have used Peter Lynch to facilitate a sensitive estate matter where the future use of a major valuable asset was to be guided by a diverse advisory committee of 10 stakeholders. The discussions spanned many months, but were characterised by remarkable goodwill, which I believe was greatly assisted by the clear process and milestones that Peter set and followed. He was respectful of all views, but was able to constructively guide the final decision by having the group remain objective and focused. I would certainly use him again in similar roles.
I have found it really helpful to have the benefit of what amounts to personal coaching in the decision to buy into a partnership. It was totally unfamiliar territory for me, so Peter’s guidance was invaluable. He is obviously very experienced, and most importantly for me, was totally independent.
Thank you for your assistance and advice . . . a very instructive and detailed contribution . . . assisted me greatly in my negotiations . . . I will highly recommend your services. Partnership negotiations are a minefield and your knowledge and experience in this area have been invaluable.
As a relatively young solicitor, I have found Peter's down to earth approach, experience and advice invaluable in considering an offer of equity in our practice and the possible personal, professional, and financial implications involved.
Our practice is quite successful by any measure, but we are at the stage where we need to move it ahead to the next level so we have retained Peter Lynch to assist us with that. We aren’t really into managerialism, and that seems to make us well suited to his consulting style, which is really about guiding us on what will work and what won’t rather than his trying to make decisions for us.
It is obvious when someone has experience. Peter gives prompt and sensible advice about practical steps to take, and perhaps a course of action you would never have thought of.
We purchased an existing country practice from a long-standing practitioner last year. After the first six months settling in period we realised that changes were needed – some entrenched ‘laid back’ attitudes and procedures needed updating. We required help to move forward and we sought Peter’s guidance to help us identify how to do this. Peter came in and gave a complete overview of the practice, its appearance, its feel, the clientele, the staff and management practices. He gave us three key ways to improve our practice - methods that we implemented straight away. Most importantly he pointed out ‘in a plain language way’ the downfalls of a couple of ideas of our own – while showing us the path to achieve the results we wanted. Many months down the track we realise that if we had followed our own path we would have run into fairly large unanticipated difficulties. We are on track now and with Peter’s help continue to improve and profit.
My partner and I initially retained Peter to assist in the development of our firm, but he ended up mediating and providing guidance on the partnership’s dissolution. The process was about as pain-free as is possible in the circumstances. His input through those stages was invaluable as has been his guidance in relaunching the practice on a different basis.
I originally sought Peter’s input as a sounding board several years ago when looking at the options beyond my employment at the time. Since then, I have opened a CBD-based firm specialising in private litigation and have gradually developed a very open professional relationship with Peter. We speak very directly about how I go about running the firm, my style in dealing with employed lawyers… pretty much everything is always on the table. An area where I have enjoyed monumental assistance is that of getting the best out of people. Our annual reviews of staff (which normally carry no shortage of anxiety for me) went very well at a time when I know that many of my proprietor colleagues in other firms were enduring massive difficulties. The processes we use constantly focus on self-reflection and positive improvement going forward. Peter's judgement on people issues is consistently sound. We now have a monthly retainer agreement. This provides a form of ongoing external review that keeps me on my toes. It works very well. I have no hesitation in recommending dci lyncon to other law firms.
Peter assisted me in planning and gaining the confidence in a career change from a relatively comfortable role in a large firm, to setting up a specialist firm of my own. His advice was very practical and he obviously was experienced in the area. We dealt with issues well beyond the normal financial feasibility – including the brand positioning, the type of person I was and the kinds of things that would make me happy relative to the risk I was about to take. With his assistance, I feel I made about as informed a choice as I could have done. The firm is going well and I have absolutely no regrets.
My firm is using dci lyncon to help push us towards more acceptable partner incomes. We have already made major gains just through more commercial pricing, and with no perceptible loss of business. We are now working on the harder things – personal discipline and work practices. We’re not there yet, but I am confident that over time we will be.
We like the practical and reasonably simple ideas Peter has for practice improvement…. Things like developing confidence in pricing and ways for increasing productivity without trying to turn everyone into battery hens. |
| the people here trust him – and that really matters |
Principal - boutique commercial litigation firm - SE Qld 
Partner - boutique commercial firm 
Managing Partner - national niche firm 
CEO - major personal litigation firm
