Alex McPherson Featured on the Katchr Podcast: Building a Law Firm That Does Things Differently

From rainmakers to drizzle makers

One of the first things Graham picked up on was the language Ignition deliberately avoids. Rather than labelling senior lawyers as “rainmakers,” a term that implies business development is either innate or it isn’t, Ignition talks about “drizzle makers.” It’s a small but telling choice. The idea is to encourage every lawyer to build incrementally, celebrate smaller wins and grow their confidence over time, rather than waiting to cross some undefined threshold before they’re considered commercially credible.

This philosophy extends to how Ignition structures incentives and rewards, tailoring goals to each individual and recognising a broad range of contributions, from winning new clients to achieving technology milestones and community engagement.

A firm built around entrepreneurs

Ignition’s focus on SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups isn’t just a positioning statement; it shapes how the firm operates day to day. Alex described how many of Ignition’s lawyers have run their own businesses or work flexibly alongside other ventures, which means they arrive at client conversations with genuine empathy for the pressures of entrepreneurship. Clients benefit from technically strong lawyers who understand cash flow, risk appetite and the need to move quickly.

That same commercial mindset informs Ignition’s approach to pricing. Alex discussed the firm’s move towards subscription and retainer models as a way of giving SME clients the budget predictability they often struggle to get from traditional hourly billing. After some early lessons, including an overly rigid “use it or lose it” approach that has since been replaced with far greater flexibility, the firm now offers rolling packages with discounts built in for clients who commit.

On risk, technology and AI

The podcast also turned to the risk landscape for modern law firms. Alex spoke candidly about the areas that keep him focused: cost transparency, cyber security and the evolving SRA scrutiny around how firms communicate scope overruns. Ignition’s dispute resolution and commercial law work brings it close to the kinds of issues that can escalate quickly when clients feel they weren’t kept informed, so the firm has invested heavily in risk management infrastructure to stay ahead of that.

On AI, Alex was thoughtful rather than breathless. He noted that Ignition has started receiving inbound enquiries, including from a new hire who found the firm entirely through Gemini, reflecting the firm’s strong performance in LLM search results for terms like “SME lawyers” and “lawyers for entrepreneurs.” That visibility reflects years of genuinely focused positioning rather than any shortcut. He also raised a nuanced point about clients increasingly arriving part-prepared, having used AI tools to draft contracts or research their position before engaging a lawyer, which is reshaping how employment law, corporate law and other advisory work is scoped and priced.

His conclusion on AI was direct: it won’t replace lawyers, but it will replace lawyers who don’t use it.

What he’d prioritise if starting again

Asked what he’d do first if rebuilding Ignition from scratch, Alex’s answer was clear: get the right people in the right leadership roles early, invest in brand and values from day one, and be braver about going to market sooner with a mix of pricing strategies, including fixed-fee and subscription models, rather than defaulting to hourly rates until confidence builds.

Listen to the full episode

The full conversation is available on the Katchr Podcast. It’s a genuinely candid discussion about what it takes to build a modern law firm and well worth an hour of your time if you’re scaling a business and thinking carefully about your legal strategy.

If you’d like to speak with the Ignition team about how we work with growing businesses, you can get in touch here or find out more about becoming a client.