Mark Smith
Intelligent Challenge
Upstream strategy and capability-building for leading professional services firms
I work with professional services leaders and partners to improve decision quality and execution in fast-moving markets. I do this by distilling key developments and combining them with strategic insight to produce practical tools teams can apply immediately.
My work is upstream and capability-building. I equip leadership teams, partner populations and emerging leaders with shared language and ways of thinking and operating that enable faster, more effective action.
What I Do
I work with firms on the situations that matter most to their performance. Leadership teams that need to align around strategy and execution. Managing partners making sense of AI, market shifts and competitive positioning. Partners stepping into new leadership roles who need to hit the ground running. I also support the behavioural change that follows — helping leaders shift how they actually operate in committee rooms, client conversations and the decisions they make day to day.
Typical formats include leadership-team working sessions, longer cohort programmes supporting role transition, and partner conference workshops and keynotes. Executive coaching is available on a selective basis for senior role transitions, where it supports the wider capability agenda.
Background
I trained and practised as a technology and outsourcing lawyer in City and national law firms, then led the international legal team for a global outsourcing business. After completing an MBA, I moved into strategy and market leadership—taking a legal process outsourcing business into a significant new market, before joining a global FTSE100 information and technology business where I continue to serve as Director of Strategic Markets.
Alongside this, I am a Fellow and Senior Advisor at a world-leading business school, designing and delivering executive education for professional services firms. I co-authored The Relevant Lawyer: Re-imagining The Future of the Legal Profession and spent five years as an Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge.
I hold an MBA and an MSc in Behavioural Change from Henley Business School, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning from the University of Cambridge, and am completing a Professional Doctorate at the University of Essex. I am an APECS-certified practising executive coach.
Clients
My clients include:
Ashurst
Bird & Bird
Bristows
Eden McCallum
Eversheds Sutherland
Fieldfisher
Fox Williams
Lewis Silkin
LoD
Mills & Reeve
Osborne Clarke
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain
Ropes and Gray
Shoosmiths
Sidley Austin
TLT
Watson Farley and Williams
What Others Say
“Mark is absolutely the leader in the field when it comes to professional services strategy. He draws on his dual experience as a practitioner and academic to give a deep insight into the issues impacting on the market.”
Head of Regulatory Practice, City law firm
“He’s always been the person to ask that extra question which unlocks a problem. He’s incredibly insightful and versatile, and can add value to any discussion or decision-making process.”
Managing Partner, international law firm
“Mark is an excellent speaker, one of the best I have heard. Mark effortlessly conveys complex content in a way that engages audiences with the perfect combination of empathy, insight and intellectual challenge, enriching audiences with practical solutions.”
Partner, City law firm
“He delivered a comprehensive report on short notice. Each conclusion was well researched, clearly supported with extensive market knowledge and relevant to our business. I would definitely engage him again for board level strategy.”
Board Member, national law firm
Intelligent Challenge 