Profile: John Hall, Chief Executive of Professional Liverpool
Tony McDonough meets John Hall, Chief Executive of Professional Liverpool
After meeting John Hall, it is difficult to imagine him pottering around the garden.
A youthful 62, Hall has been tempted out of retirement after just a few months to revive the fortunes of Professional Liverpool (PL).
The organisation, set up to represent the city’s financial and professional services sector, was thrown into turmoil last year when it lost its annual £200,000 grant from the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA).
That represented 80% of its annual budget and the move threatened its existence.
Chief executive Mark Chadwick departed and has now set up a rival organisation – Liverpool City Region: Business & Professionals.
Last year, Hall retired as managing partner of one of Liverpool’s best-known independent law firms, Bermans, where he grew turnover from £100,000 to £5m.
“After leaving Bermans, I worked as a consultant for a while, and then for about five or six months I was more or less retired,” he said.
“That was nice for a time, but there is only so much golf you can play. I am still fit and active, so I started sending out my CV.
“I got a call from PL. They had been going through a difficult period and asked me if I would like to get involved, and I did but at first, just on a pro bono basis.
“After a while, we both decided that I could do a job there.”
And so, earlier this year, Hall was invited to become PL’s chief executive, working three days a week.
“It is supposed to be three days but I am that busy sometimes it feels more like nine,” laughed Hall, who it is clear is relishing the role.
Priority one was to bring some financial stability back to the organisation, through a fundraising and membership drive.
That meant going cap-in-hand to some of PL’s bigger members.
It has also hired former Liverpool Vision chief executive Jim Gill as chairman.
“We had to take round the begging bowl and the major players among our membership really stepped up to the plate,” said Hall. “Now we are in a much better financial position.”
Hall then turned his attention to expanding the membership, utilising his profile within the city’s professional sectors.
He added: “When I came in, we had around 65 members, and now that has grown to around 90 – so far I haven’t been turned down by anyone I’ve approached.
“We have signed up firms like Charles Stanley, Cheviot, Millen Capital, David Currie, Santander and, of course, Bermans – there’d have been trouble if they’d turned me down,” he joked.
PL also incorporates what was the Liverpool Property Forum, and Hall sees great potential in that sector.
“I found that most of the members from the property sector were agents,” he said.
“So we are now looking to widen that out, and I am talking to firms on the construction side and we are also in discussions with some of the barristers’ chambers.”
Getting more money out of existing members and signing up new ones is a solid achievement, but Hall acknowledges that they are going to expect something in return.
He added: “I have been talking to the members to find out the areas where they thought some change was needed. I have heard some criticism that when people called the office they would be met with an answer phone, so we now have five-day cover.
“When PL was NWDA-funded, I think the focus changed and members have said they want it to go back to the way it was.
“So we are putting together an 18-month programme of events – breakfasts, lunches, black tie dinners with an array of speakers.
“We want to give some value to the membership.”
Hall was brought up in Crosby, and his decision to become a lawyer was literally taken in the space of a few minutes while waiting outside the headmaster’s office in Waterloo Grammar School.
He said: “When I was in the lower sixth form, we had the Lancashire careers adviser in.
“We had to queue up and see him with the headmaster. At first, none of the lads were that bothered, but when those at the front of the queue came out they looked a bit ashen- faced. One said to me ‘you better have something to say in there – that guy is pretty scary’.
“So I went in, and just said I wanted to be a lawyer, and they both said ‘that’s exactly what we had in mind for you’.”
After gaining his legal qualifications, Hall worked for about a year for a Liverpool law firm called Brown Turner.
That was a very general practice, and Hall was keen to break into litigation, so in 1974 he joined Bermans, where he remained for the rest of his career. He became managing partner in the mid-1990s and around that time the firm became a target for bigger outfits looking for a merger or takeover.
“We were approached by a number of firms who were keen to explore merging with us,” said Hall.
“I must admit, I thought a merger was a good idea at that time, and the partners were surprised at how far I got with that.
“But in the end they got cold feet about it. They had always been in control of their own destiny and they felt that if they merged with a bigger firm they would lose that.”
Hall says the firm has weathered the recession well, but says there had been tough times in the past.
“We used to do a lot of work for the Midland Bank in the 1980s – they accounted for about 30% of our turnover,” he said. “When HSBC took over, they said ‘thanks and cheerio’ – that did hit us hard.”
Hall is married to Antonia, also a lawyer, and the couple have three grown-up children – Lawrence, 33, Erica, 32, and Harriet, 29 – and two grandchildren. Living now in Wirral, he relaxes by playing golf and tennis.
Hall acknowledges the threat posed by Mark Chadwick’s venture, but believes PL will be the favoured destination for firms in the sector.
PL is about to relocate from its current home in the University of Liverpool to the Chamber of Commerce in the heart of the central business district (CBD).
He said: “I think PL’s advantage is its track record over the past few years. The university has been very supportive, and continues to be so, but being in the CBD makes a real difference.
“It puts us right where our members are."