by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
Changing careers is becoming more the rule than the exception in an increasingly mobile world.
Such is the case for John Marshall, a former attorney who negotiated the multi-billion dollar merger between food giants Kraft and Nabisco, and spent a decade of his life orchestrating mergers, acquisitions and securities deals with King & Spalding in Atlanta.
During the merger-mania heyday of the late 1980s, Marshall handled over $1.5 billion, buying and selling entities. Now he is the president of Special Counsel, a subsidiary of MPS Group, an international human resource corporation.
What compels an attorney to go from being a merger specialist to president of a staffing company? For Marshall, it was simply a matter of showing he could.
“I think most lawyers think they are good businessmen and I wanted to prove it,” he said.
Marshall left King & Spalding to become chief counsel at AT&T (now Convergys). The company was subsequently acquired, and Marshall left, joining MPS Group, which was known then as Modis Professional Services, as their in-house counsel.
“I came here in 1998 to do mergers and acquisitions,” said Marshall. “It was hot and heavy until 2001. In February, our president and CEO put me in charge of MPS Group Services. At the time, it was real estate, securities and the benefits department. Other than human resources and the finance department, I was the corporate office.”
In November, Marshall was approached to take over operations at Special Counsel.
“I don’t lawyer a bit,” he said with a smile. “Profit and loss is my responsibility and I have overall responsibility for the business.”
Because Special Counsel is a legal staffing company, the legal community is its client base, which made the move from practicing attorney to selling to attorneys fairly smooth.
Marshall maintains he does not miss his lawyer days. Even when he practiced, he was strictly a transactional lawyer. He has never filed a motion or taken a deposition.
In his new role, Marshall envisions taking the company to the next level.
“This unit is, and has been, the largest publicly-owned legal staffing company [according to Goldman Sachs],” he said. “I intend on expanding that. My plans relate to offering the full range of services in all of our locations. In some locations, we haven’t penetrated the paralegal market. Another goal is to expand prudently in North America. We’ll do that by either opening our own offices or looking for attractive acquisition candidates. The trouble with goals is that it implies you don’t already do it. We need to be the place where professionals find a career. It sounds like we’re not that already, but you always want to sweep a little cleaner and do things a little better than your predecessors.”
Law firms utilizing MPS’ services are able to find receptionists, filing clerks, paralegals or attorneys.
During the Exxon-Mobil merger for example, Special Counsel placed 100 paralegals on assignment for six months.
“That’s what makes this business kind of fun,” said Marshall. “We do get involved in some really neat projects. I’m sure we’ll be involved somehow in the Enron matter. Either assisting in document review for Enron or their creditors or perhaps both.”
Marshall is in charge of each branch and its 150 staff members nationwide. Making inroads and overcoming stigmas is another part of his task. His biggest obstacle is explaining how legal services can be outsourced.
“There are lawyers still who have never used a temp or project-based attorney or paralegal,” he said, adding of the people Special Counsel places, 37 percent are paralegals, 26 percent are attorneys, 15 percent are legal secretaries and assistants and 22 percent are administrative personnel.
“The legal staffing industry is one of least penetrated of the staffing markets,” he said. “As clients demand their law firms find ways to save money and reduce their bills, I think we have to be viewed as one of the primary ways to do that effectively. There is some perception that they’re people of lesser skill. That perception is really not the reality.”