-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
2019 Was a Record Year for the Am Law 100 But What Will 2020 Hold?
David Thomas
After a 5% increase in gross revenue and 3% growth in revenue per lawyer, the Am Law 100 were in a good place at the start of 2020. Then a global pandemic started. Now what?
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
Adopting COVID-19 Cuts, Law Firms Balance Image and Economics
Patrick Smith
Firms Are Applying Communications Lessons from the Great Recession As They Deliver Bad News During the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Many firms have appeared in recent weeks to be signaling compassion, embracing (relative) transparency and sharing sacrifices across lawyers and staff. That can help make even painful cuts less harmful for a firm’s internal morale and outside reputation.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Pension Plans Changes: Will Retiring Partners Shoulder the Risk?
Dylan Jackson
For some firms in the Great Recession, reduced revenues combined with the overwhelming pressure from multimillion-dollar pension liabilities — a holdover from the days when pensions were simply a promise firms made to retiring partners — were too much to bear. But with the Great Recession now a decade in the past and another recession brewing, has the industry learned from its mistakes?
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How a Law Firm’s Comp System Affects Profitability and Partner Satisfaction
Hugh A. Simons
Compensation systems are typically a strategic afterthought, seen as the means by which to allocate the spoils of a successful strategy. They’re viewed as affecting the level of grousing among partners, but not a firm’s performance. The data, however, indicates the reverse is true.
Read More ›
-
The Bankruptcy Strategist
COVID-19: As Coronavirus Ravages the Economy, Bankruptcy Attorneys Prepare for the Flood
Samantha Stokes
Law firms have always counted on bankruptcy as a countercyclical practice in hard times. Now, those that prepared when the economy was booming may be about to get their reward.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How to Survive (and Even Thrive) During and After the COVID-19 Lockdown
Valerie Chan
The ability to adapt, be nimble and pivot as necessary is crucial to surviving and thriving in ever-changing economic climates. Communicating in the age of social distancing requires a new way of thinking and being — not just in the virtual workplace with our peers but also how we communicate and partner with our clients.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Adopting COVID-19 Cuts, Law Firms Balance Image and Economics
Patrick Smith
Firms Are Applying Communications Lessons from the Great Recession As They Deliver Bad News During the Coronavirus Pandemic.
As firms echo their response to the COVID-19 crisis, they are also showing they learned from the experiences of a decade ago, including the negative effects of delivering cuts unevenly, clumsily or with unnecessary secrecy.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
How to Make Working from Home, Work for You
Sharon Meit Abrahams
In the legal industry it is time for a paradigm shift. Many firms have struggled with allowing people to work from home for a myriad of reasons. At this point, we have no choice. To help you get off on the right foot, the following are some best practices as we move forward into this new working environment.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
COVID-19: Economic Stimulus and SBA Loans
Jacob Weichholz, Daniel Mayo and Chris DeMayo
A summary of information on the various Small Business Association (SBA) loans that are available under the new federal economic stimulus package. Continually updated; last update May 26.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The State of Legal Finance in 2020
Ari Kaplan
Legal industry analyst Ari Kaplan interviewed 32 lawyers from Finland, France, Hong Kong, Norway, Singapore, the UK and the U.S. about the evolution of legal finance. He also surveyed 20 in-house lawyers at Fortune 500 companies and 18 law firm lawyers from Australia, the Cayman Islands, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, Sweden, the UK, and the U.S. about emerging trends in legal finance. Below are some of his findings and what they indicate about the current state of the sector.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Recovery Models for e-Discovery and Litigation Support Services that Make an Impact
Nathan Curtis
In 2019, Mattern went to the market to conduct its first deep dive into e-discovery and litigation support cost recovery in the 2020 e-Discovery and Litigation Support Cost Recovery Survey. Some of the results surprised us.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firm Mergers and Predictions for the Year 2020
Marcus Dyer
2019 went down as another record year for law firm mergers. But what do the numbers teach us? Did the tendency to merge apply to law firms across the board? Is the merger mania likely to continue in 2020? What was the impetus for record number of mergers? This article breaks down the available data to answer these questions and attempts to give us a glimpse into the future.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Outsourcing: How to Do Better Than Flipping a Coin
Rob Mattern
The legal industry is on the cusp of transformational change making the “siren song” of a successful outsourcing engagement ever more alluring: increase expertise and flexibility while lowering costs, and significantly mitigating risk.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How Law Firms Are Overcoming New Business Development Challenges
Julie Savarino
With the intense competition for new legal work, demands on lawyers’ available time and the increasing discounts clients demand, it’s getting harder for law firms operating under a billable-hour business model to support the consistent development of new legal work by investing in and maintaining a marketing department alone.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms Adopt a Legal Operations Perspective
Megan Miller
Law Firms Are Following the Lead of Their Corporate Clients In Implementing Legal Operations Methodologies
By understanding legal operations approach, law firms can gain a better appreciation of client needs, share the client’s vision and contribute to client satisfaction, while creating a competitive advantage for the firm.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
Law Firms Adopt a Legal Operations Perspective
Megan Miller
Law firms are clearly in important player in the legal services value stream; as the legal operations movement continues to take hold in corporate client organizations, in-house teams are looking to outside law firms to join them in their efforts to reduce operating costs, improve staffing, take greater advantage of technology, and improve project management processes.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Lateral Hiring: 7 Reasons Why Law Firms Fail
Catherine Dineen and Blane R. Prescott
Firms routinely report that hiring lateral partners is a difficult process with a low success rate. Why do they struggle with lateral hiring? More importantly, what can they do to improve their results?
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Linking Partner Pay to Strategic Firm Objectives
J. Mark Santiago
Pay for performance is not a new concept in this country. The ideas and concepts underlying a graduated pay scale based on contribution and merit are deeply ingrained in our society. However, in general law firms have been slower to adopt pay for performance systems. What law firms need now, and this article describes, is an approach to partner compensation that closely links a partners pay to their ability to contribute to the achievement of the firm’s strategic objectives.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Driving Law Firm Profits Through Data Analytics
John Schrumpf
“Data Analytics” have become more than just buzzwords and are an integral part of well informed decision making. The following best practices have the ability to bring your firm’s data management up to speed with competitors in the law industry, while turning what might be an underutilized resource into a working asset that drives revenue.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Strategies to Avoid or Reduce Billing Rate Discounts
Eric Dewey
For a large portion of engagements, discounts are not necessary to win the work. In fact, discounts come at a price. Both parties assume a degree of risk when margins are thinned. This article presents several techniques that you can use to re-direct discussions away from discounts and help to minimize their financial impact.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Lateral Partner Survey Casts Doubt on Compensation as King
Dylan Jackson
In a survey conducted by Major, Lindsey & Africa, lateral partners put firm culture and practice support ahead of anticipated compensation when considering a new firm.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
Leadership in Law: Getting a Seat at the Table
Peter A. Johnson
How Law Firm Marketers Can Assume a Leadership Role
The marketing director needs to gain “a seat at the table” in order to have a voice in planning, and to be viewed as an integral member of the firm’s management team. How do you go about earning that seat?
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms Enter the Golden Age of Data Mining
Doug Stansfield
Data mining is a relatively new practice in the legal space and the data profiles of firms are highly variable from one organization to another, so identifying the right tools and prioritizing initiatives can be challenging.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
10 Top Strategies for Retaining Tomorrow’s Talent
Sharon Meit Abrahams
All lawyers want to be wanted and valued by their firms. It has become apparent that tomorrow’s legal talent requires even more hand-holding than previous generations. They want to understand why and what’s the payoff of their efforts. By creating a firm culture that addresses these concerns you will heighten your firm’s ability to retain precious talent.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Bursting the Bubble of Associate Compensation
Timothy B. Corcoran
Smart business leaders compete by constantly seeking cost advantages. Yet law firm leaders compete by perpetually increasing associate compensation. As always, this will not end well.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Lawyer Well-Being at Work: It’s a Two-Way Street
John F. Hollway
It’s Not the Number of Hours We’re Billing or the Number of Hours We’re Working; It’s the Way We Feel About How We Spend Those Hours That Matters
Working long hours, tracking those hours and feeling that we have to grind all year to hit a specific number of hours to meet a profitability target can make us feel like fungible, dehumanized automatons rather than highly trained providers of specific and thoughtful solutions to complex legal challenges.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
New Partners Are Worried About Mental Health and a Looming Recession, Annual Survey Finds
Dylan Jackson
Newly minted partners offered up some usual complaints on this year’s New Partners Survey, lamenting unexpectedly low compensation, opaque performance metrics and copious administrative work. But new anxieties have arisen among Big Law’s latest partner class, including the threat of a recession and growing concerns about mental health.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Increasing Client Requirements: Securing Law Firms for the 21st Century
Debra Gray
Clients expect sophisticated and secure systems to keep their information safe. This obviously makes your IT professional’s job much harder. Additionally, attorneys expect instant performance and near 100% up time. Achieving the delicate balance between accessibility and security is a challenge.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firm Debt Levels Shrink as Partners Put More Skin in the Game
Lizzy McLellan
What Does Widespread ‘Deleveraging’ Mean for Law Firm Health?
Industry watchers say law firms have become less reliant on bank debt over the past decade, as they explore other funding options. Often, that means raising capital from partners, or turning to other, less common sources.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Exit Strategies: Aging Partners Are Forcing Firms to Reconsider Retirement
Dylan Jackson
Baby boomers control an outsize portion of law firm business. As they inch toward retirement, how are firms preparing for the transition process?
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Reimagining Business Development Training and Coaching
Debra Baker
Six Pillars of a Successful Bus-Dev Program
For firms wanting to thrive through the next economic downturn and beyond, mastery of business development fundamentals is as essential as mastering legal skills. Yet training and coaching — whether done internally or through outside consultants — requires an investment in time and resources.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firm Revenues Rise as Demand Accelerates, Citi Reports
Gretta Rusanow
There is a lot of good news in the nine-month 2019 industry results. While we might not end the year with the strong growth levels seen in 2018, we anticipate that 2019 will be a decent year. For the first time this year, revenue growth exceeded expense growth.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
Determining Who Should Serve As the Billing Partner
Joel A. Rose
Due to a law firm’s team-oriented approach to business development and client service efforts, it is not always clear who should logically and most efficiently serve as the billing partner for a client or a particular client matter. A person should only be a billing partner if he or she is or will be performing the functions outline herein.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How to Become a Rainmaker
Arnold Keiser
Almost anyone willing to develop the qualities necessary can become a rainmaker.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
Marketing Innovative Law Firms
Vivian Hood
Law firms today are increasingly looking at innovation to help distinguish their practice offerings, strategy, and leadership, and need inspiring marketing to develop meaningful campaigns that resonate with their audiences.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
Media & Communications: Grab the Wheel and Drive Yourself!: How Law Firm Marketers Can Grow Professionally … and Some Sage Advice
John J. Buchanan
So, you’ve been in your role in the marketing department at your firm for a few years. Things are going well — but you want to expand your skill set, try something new, or take on a fresh challenge. The lawyers you work with routinely attend CLE classes so why shouldn’t you focus on your own professional development?
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The ‘Silly Season’
J. Mark Santiago
That term refers to the months of October through December. It's a way of pointing out to partners that the necessary activities of practice management that so many of them had avoided for the first nine or 10 months of the year now had to be addressed. Clients that had not been billed now had to be invoiced. Outstanding invoices, many issued in the cold days of early March and April, now had to be collected and current work would not only have to be billed but collected as well.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
What Is Your Dashboard Report Telling You? Chances Are, Not Much.
Jim Jarrell
Firms are struggling to capture compelling business intelligence about themselves. Until recently, most operated with a cadre of legacy operating systems, financial platforms and reporting technologies from different manufacturers that have no mechanism for connecting with each other. The disparate nature of these technologies has exacerbated the struggle to leverage data and display results in a reporting mechanism that helps direct the firm’s decision-making.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Producing Breakthroughs in Client Development
Arnold Keiser
It is easy to understand why many lawyers feel that only certain special individuals are blessed with the qualities necessary to be rainmakers. But almost anyone willing to develop the qualities necessary can become a rainmaker.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firm Leadership Isn’t a Role, It’s a Mindset
Michael A. Gerstenzang and Hy Pomerance
When a law firm does not subscribe to a traditional corporate structure
At most companies, the leadership structure is typically clear and hierarchical. But what does leadership look like at a law firm when a traditional corporate structure doesn’t apply?
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
10 Common Misconceptions Lawyers Have About Media Relations
Randy Labuzinski
Traditional media continue to evolve and constrict in a marketplace consumed by non-traditional influencers, including bloggers, social media stars, bots. Accordingly, the art of media relations is more important than ever to make sure PR professionals are doing all we can to influence the dwindling number of legitimate journalists while managing and enhancing the public reputations of our law firm clients.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
When Being a Star Rainmaker is Not Enough: Why EQ Leads to Even Better Business Results
Marla Grant and Yuliya LaRoe
Why EQ Leads to Even Better Business Results
It is not uncommon for law firms to face negative business outcomes caused by the behavior of a star rainmaker who is unaware of the impact that they have on others. And that’s what emotional intelligence (EQ) is about and why it’s so important to lead to better business results. What can law firms do to help their star partners increase their emotional intelligence to avoid potentially disastrous business outcomes for themselves and their firms?
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
The 5-Step Path to Meeting Your Firm's Marketing Goals
Jennifer S. Bankston
Law firms of all sizes struggle to define a marketing and business development pathway that strikes the right balance to deliver measurable value at a manageable cost. A well-defined, quantifiable approach (proactive, not reactive) is necessary to execute a law firm’s strategy.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
Maximize the Impact of Firm Sponsorships with Social Media
Spencer X Smith
Pro bono work on an individual level is often not publicized, but the work you do in the community as a firm should be. Here’s how to ensure both you and the charities, nonprofits, etc. you’re supporting gain the maximum amount of exposure and awareness for their causes.
Read More ›
-
Marketing The Law Firm
15 Free Things to Do for Clients That Will Make Them Love You More
Stacy West Clark
There is a huge bonus to doing free things for clients at their place of business: You can bring as many lawyers from your firm with you as you like.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Litigation Support, E-discovery and the Recovery of Costs
Nathan Curtis
The Data Explosion vs. Recovery Model Stagnation
Firms are struggling with a legacy practice of writing off litigation support/e-discovery and related costs but have been challenged to identify and implement recovery models or managed services models that are both acceptable to the firm and to their clients. On top of all of this, many firms simply fail to dispose of the data at the matter closing and costs continue to accumulate year over year. Mattern has launched the first ever e-Discovery and Litigation Support Cost Recovery Survey to gather that needed data to help drive firms’ better business decisions.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Leadership for the Strong
Silvia Coulter
There are a few things about being an effective leader that books and professors don’t seem to directly address. Here are some tips to help partners who lead operational teams, offices, practices, departments, or the firm itself, to implement for leadership impact.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
When Being a Star Rainmaker Is Not Enough
Marla Grant and Yuliya LaRoe
Why EQ Leads to Even Better Business Results
It is not uncommon for law firms to face negative business outcomes caused by the behavior of a star rainmaker who is unaware of the impact that they have on others. And that’s what emotional intelligence (EQ) is about and why it’s so important to lead to better business results. What can law firms do to help their star partners increase their emotional intelligence to avoid potentially disastrous business outcomes for themselves and their firms?
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Caste System Persists Among Attorneys and Business Professionals
Dylan Jackson
While the last decade has brought a revolution of global law firms employing thousands of attorneys and an army of professional staff — pricing executives, marketers and legal operation specialists, among many others — many professional law firm staff tell stories of a two-tiered system that minimizes their role and contributions. Observers said the caste system is a long-standing cultural mindset that stems from an age when firms were smaller and more informal, without hundreds of employees.
Read More ›
-
Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Data-Driven Law Firm: The Next Frontier
Marcie Borgal Shunk
The next generation of elite law firms may have little in common with today’s leading global providers of legal services. Whereas historically top-performing law firms combine stellar talent with marquee clients, brand reputation and client-focused excellence to rise to the top, future leading law firms are equally likely to rise to power using a distinctly different recipe: namely, a mixture of market savvy, strategic agility and operational effectiveness powered by data.
Read More ›
