By Philip Rodney, Senior Advisor, Saxton Bampfylde
Interview originally featured in PSMG’s Centrum Magazine: Summer 2025 edition
For Philip Rodney, a home renovation project highlighted an important message as pertinent to law firms as it is to steel lintels and knocking down walls – more doesn’t necessarily mean better.
Recently, my wife and I were looking at buying a house in need of drastic renovation. The biggest challenge was clear from the start: how could we connect the house with its garden in a meaningful way? We didn’t just want better access or nicer views – we wanted a real sense of flow between indoors and out.
The obvious answer to us seemed to be to add a glass-box extension. You know the kind favoured by Kirstie and Phil that blurs boundaries with floor-to-ceiling windows and modern flair. But our architect took a different approach. Rather than add, he suggested we remove part of the existing structure – cut away a section to open the space entirely. It was counterintuitive, but the result would be lighter, more connection, and paradoxically, more garden, not less.
That principle – subtracting to create more – is a powerful idea for law firms.
Like many professional services organisations, law firms tend to grow by accretion and stealth. We add new practice areas, new service lines, new offices, new partners. We create committees rather than solve problems, we devise roles instead of managing risk and set up initiatives to chase trends. None of these additions are wrong in isolation but, taken together, they can weigh a firm down. Complexity creeps in, clarity fades, and agility disappears.
Colin Chapman, the founder and of Lotus Cars and a legendary figure in Formula One racing, once said: “Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere.” Chapman won seven F1 Constructors’ titles by building cars that beat the opposition, not because they had the biggest engines, but because they were the lightest and best-handling. His philosophy holds unsurprising relevance for law firms.
In law, we often think about adding: expanding laterally to keep up with peers, growing headcount to cover every niche, or launching new offerings to appear full-service. But while firms don’t generally shrink to success, more doesn’t always mean better. Sometimes, a firm performs best not when it does more, but when it focuses harder—on its core strengths, on its most profitable clients, on its differentiating expertise.
“Complexity is the silent assassin of performance”
We’ve all seen the opposite: firms that stretch too far into areas where they lack depth or differentiation. They spread resources thin, dilute their brand, and confuse the market about what they truly stand for. It’s tempting to try to be all things to all clients, but that strategy rarely delivers sustainable success.
Consider Apple’s transformation under Steve Jobs. When he returned to Apple in 1997, the company was in disarray – losing money, producing dozens of unfocused products, and lacking clear direction. Jobs didn’t start by inventing the iPhone. He started by simplifying. He cut the product line down to just four. He discontinued projects going nowhere. He eliminated distractions, refocused the business around design and innovation, and aligned everything – hardware, software, and retail – around a clear, elegant vision.
That focus laid the foundation for some of the most iconic products in history and the creation of the largest technology company in the world. And it started not with more, but with less.
Law firms aren’t tech companies, of course, nor do they have the scale of Apple. But the lesson is transferable: complexity is the silent assassin of performance. The most successful firms are those that know what they do best – and have the discipline to say no to the rest.
This means hard choices. It might mean winding down a practice group that isn’t viable. It might mean exiting a market where you can’t lead. It might mean politely declining client work that doesn’t align with your long-term strategy. These decisions are rarely easy, but they free up time, talent, and capital to invest in what really matters.
The analogy with gardens is apt. Pruning isn’t about killing the plant. Removing what’s dead or underperforming creates the space for healthier growth elsewhere. The same applies to law firms. Prune away the parts that are no longer serving your purpose and you create room for real, strategic growth.
At a time when the legal sector is facing relentless pressure – from technology, from clients demanding more for less, from new market entrants – it’s tempting to respond with more: more service lines, more tech pilots, more teams. But the smarter response might be to simplify. To double down on what differentiates your firm. To reduce friction and focus on delivering real value with real clarity.
“In a world where too often growth walks hand in hand with complexity, the best law firms may be those with the courage to do less – but better. Fewer distractions. Sharper focus. Greater impact”
One recent and polarising example: in January 2025, Elon Musk was appointed to lead the DOGE initiative to cut federal spending. While the politics and methods were controversial, to say the least, the underlying idea was compelling: simplification, transparency, and focus as a path to better performance. You don’t have to agree with the execution to see the merit in the principle.
Law firm leaders face similar questions, albeit on a different scale. Is our growth strategic or reactive? Are we building for differentiation or just scale? Are we clearer or more cluttered than we were five years ago?
Chapman’s mantra – simplify, then add lightness – has never felt more relevant. In legal services, lightness doesn’t mean cutting corners. It means removing the unnecessary weight that slows down decision-making, confuses the market, and distracts talented lawyers from doing their best work. It means focusing your investment where it will convert to sustained profile and prosperity.
In a world where too often growth walks hand in hand with complexity, the best law firms may be those with the courage to do less – but better. Fewer distractions. Sharper focus. Greater impact.
Sometimes, in law as in life, less truly is more.