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Law by the Numbers

By Ed Poll

Statistical analysis can be a practical tool to help any lawyer measure personal and firm performance against objective standards. This makes “The Business of Law'” understandable ' and makes the firm stronger as a result. Every law firm is a business and every business should know where it's going. Lawyers who understand statistical analysis of their firm's operation can explore operating efficiencies, gauge the firm's performance relative to its financial goals, and better assess and reflect value to clients in their bills.

This can be a challenge because too often the firm's owners lack basic business knowledge. Even partners may not possess the business competency to calculate, or even understand, the traditional key measures of law firm performance: realization, utilization, leverage and expenses. Many don't know, or understand, the firm's collection rate ' or even their own personal one. This is not to say that lawyers are oblivious to all financial numbers. The trend of national legal magazines publicly reporting annual financial information for the biggest law firms has transformed the profession's outlook. For the first time there was comparative data on revenue per partner, earnings per partner, and similar measures. Unfortunately, just like companies trying to impress investors and competitors, law firms began to make decisions based on maximizing revenue and profits per partner ' and neglecting financial basics.

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