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Setting the next year’s billing rates follows a simple formula at most firms: last year’s rate plus a common percentage increase across all lawyer cohorts. A more disaggregated approach is needed. Specifically, firms should set higher percentage increases for senior lawyers and lower increases for junior lawyers. Why? Because, over the next 10 years, hours leverage (i.e., the number of associate hours per partner hour) at elite law firms will decline as more of the lower value-added work is handled not by junior lawyers but by enhanced technologies, in-house counsel, and alternative service providers. To maintain profitability, the margin that was earned on the displaced junior lawyer time has to be recouped through higher margins on senior lawyer time. Failure to increase senior billing rates differentially, and thus to rebalance the source of margin from junior to senior lawyer time, will result in a calamitous decline in profitability. It can be avoided if firms start now to gradually change their billing rate structures.
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For the New Year, Copy High Growth Firms by Prioritizing Marketing Investment
By Bill Josten
Firms must be cautious as they re-examine budget priorities to not underestimate the harm that can be caused by failing to consider the long-range damage that can be done to a firm’s brand by cutting back too much on their marketing efforts.
AI Is Calling Time On the Billable Hour
By Jason Brennan
The game has changed substantially for law firms today — the evolution of the legal business model is underway and artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a big role in calling time on the billable hour.
10 Ways to Prepare for 2021’s Collision of Business and Society
By Zach Olsen and Ken Kerrigan
As we enter 2021, we should expect the needs of business and society to continue colliding. But if law firms prepare for those collisions, they can drive better outcomes.
Late Year Collections Could Make or Break 2020 Profitability
By Lizzy McLellan
Success in 2020 is likely to come down to who your clients are. If they were hit hard by the pandemic that will trickle down to their vendors, including law firms. But for others, the top line could come out nearly unscathed.