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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Billing Rates Have Increased, But Not Enough to Beat Inflation
Andrew Maloney
Law firm billing rates have increased across all law positions in 2022, but not necessarily enough to keep pace with inflation. That’s according to news reports that point to some more challenges for law firm profits.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Are We Over Thinking Office Return Strategies?
Anthony Davies
Routines based around ‘work from home’ are calcifying, and commuting, parking, sandwich shops and childcare are fading into distant memory. With each passing week, the challenge to win attorneys back into the office increases.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Recession Proofing A Law Firm
Melissa “Rogo” Rogozinski
Whatever term the economists use to describe the slowing pace of commerce, the real question is: how do you protect your law firm’s revenue stream when economic pressures are causing current and prospective clients to tighten their budgets?
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Marketing The Law Firm
The Four Legal Sales Strategies
Eric Dewey
The ‘best choice’ provider pitch may not be the optimal sales strategy. It's better to adjust to where the prospect is in their buying decision process — whether that means they are looking for providers, they are studying the situation, they already have counsel, or they have decided not to address the issue.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms May Make ‘Course Corrections’ to Battle Inflation
Andrew Maloney
If inflation remains at current levels, law firm billing rate increases won’t be able to keep pace. But firm leaders may make other “course corrections” to capture profits through the end of 2022, analysts say, by utilizing leverage and alternative pricing models and making additional investments in technology.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The 2022 GC Compensation Survey: Pay Spikes After Pandemic Pause
Phillip Bantz
Pay for the nation’s most powerful legal chiefs has rocketed back into the stratosphere following a slump amid corporate austerity measures during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — and a familiar name has reclaimed this year’s cash king crown.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Great Unbundling: Do Law Firms Need to Re-think Outsourcing Strategies?
Anthony Davies
Service “‘bundling” provides economies of scale, lower overheads, a single point of contact and a single invoice at the end of each month. However, the bundling of services to create a single multi-service provider may now be hurting firms who are increasingly looking for specialization, especially with regards to onsite workplace experience services.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Top Law Firms Look to Invest Profits In Future Success
Dan Packel
There’s no doubt that much of the legal industry’s profit gains are simply the result of surging demand. But smart firms were also able to harness booming demand to push through rate increases, owing to clients who were desperate to see their deals go through. There’s no doubt that the firms taking advantage of this confluence are in an enviable position. That doesn’t mean they are sitting on their laurels.
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The Bankruptcy Strategist
The Interplay Between Vendor Finance Agreements and Bankruptcy
Ann Pille, Richard Tannenbaum, Alexis Leventhal and Emily Costantinou
While regularly used among lenders, manufacturers, and dealers, treatment of Inventory financing program agreements in bankruptcy is not uniform, and uncertainty exists with respect to how such agreements may be treated in the context of a manufacturer’s Chapter 11.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Current Economic Climate Likely to Cause Law Firms to Offer Flexible and Creative Fee Arrangements
Nicole R. Rekant and Stevan J. Pardo
The current economic climate will incline lawyers, specifically litigators, to rethink their fee structures. With inflation at a 40-year high, residential and commercial rents rising, and a predicted looming recession, clients are tightening their budgets, but also demanding the same level of service and results from their attorneys.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
After Another Big Year, Law Firms Should Plan for Recession
J. Mark Santiago
Planning for the downturn in a clear, methodical way by investing the existing good fortune that most firms enjoy into strengthening your technical infrastructure, trimming expenses, and rethinking how administrative services are delivered to the attorneys.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Know When to Hold ’Em And Know When to Fold ’Em: 4 Questions to Ask When Thinking of Merging
J. Mark Santiago
Deciding to merge is a process that is best undertaken when a firm has as much information as possible about what their objectives and desired outcome is. Developing that information is best achieved by answering four questions.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
New Approaches to Outsourced Labor
Ben Schmidt
Employees are the lifeblood of an organization. Companies, including law firms, are rightfully attempting to navigate what the past two years have meant to the labor force and make sense of the changes to the landscape so that they can successfully manage their businesses. Included in this mix are outsourcing service providers.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Biden Administration’s 2023 Budget: Déjà Vu All Over Again
Lawrence L. Bell
The Treasury’s Greenbook commenting and explaining budget recommendations for FY 2023 raises warnings of tax increases. But what are the odds Congress passes anything before the midterm elections this November? This article presents a summary of the proposed tax increases and the likelihood of these provisions being enacted into law.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms Reviewing Contracts to Battle Inflation
Phillip Bantz and Trudy Knuckles
As inflation worsens, legal chiefs and their in-house teams are stepping up and finding ways to help their companies tamp down a vast array of price hike fires. And a significant part of that work is reviewing contracts with service providers, clients and other business partners.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Ensure Financial Health Ahead of an Economic Downturn
Derek F. Meek and Hanna Lahr
Proper planning is key to ensuring a company’s financial health when facing an economic downturn. Although companies will come into such planning with different levels of financial health, the same considerations can be helpful in determining the best path forward.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firm Profits Soared In 2021, Despite Increased Expenses
By Gretta Rusanow, Gloria Gomez and Scott Kesselman
Strong demand growth led to a war for talent, but it was also a major driver of the industry average double-digit revenue growth seen in 2021.
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The Bankruptcy Strategist
Corporate Resiliency Revisited: Ensure Financial Health Ahead of an Economic Downturn
Derek F. Meek and Hanna Lahr
now is a critical time for companies to reassess their business and finances if they have not already, so that they can be prepared for the future. Proper planning is key to ensuring a company’s financial health when facing an economic downturn.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Are Lawyers Packing More Billables Into Less Time?
Andrew Maloney
Are lawyers working harder than ever? Recent figures in the legal industry show only a slight increase last year in the number of average hours billed per lawyer. Yet analysts and firm leaders say the total amount of hours worked — not just billed — is likely higher,
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Tax Implications of Budget Reconciliation Bill
Lawrence L. Bell
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
This installment discusses how to use benefit laws that have been on the books for over 30 years to fund not only death benefits but also alternatives to deferred compensation for business and estate planning purposes for pass-through entities.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Sales Enablement: The Next Big Thing In Legal Services?
Eric Dewey
Sales enablement is how law firms can take control of their business development and marketing processes and improve the effectiveness of their revenue growth initiatives.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Data Analysis Is Cementing Important Role In Law Firms Talent Evaluation
Patrick Smith
As more law firms embrace the power of mining data to inform talent-related decisions, some have predicted that Big Law hiring could become like modern Major League Baseball: A data-centric endeavor that trusts the numbers, and those who know how to interpret them, over all else.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Remote Work Yields Savings, But Watch for Tax and Jurisdiction Issues
Troy Ayala
While the rapid ascent of home offices may have initially come as a shock to more than a few corporate cultures, the truth is that business leaders who embrace long-term remote working can yield significant cost savings and boost employee morale.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Tax Implications of Budget Reconciliation Bill
Lawrence L. Bell
In this two-part article, we look at the proposed tax law changes in the budget reconciliation bill — the major legislation in 2021.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How Law Firms Can Gain a Competitive Advantage With Financial Intelligence
Ari Kaplan
The results of a new report — Implementing Financial Intelligence to Give Law Firms a Competitive Advantage in 2022 and Beyond — revealed a striking shift in the role of law firm finance leaders, both in their value and impact. Many are using data to drive change in their organizations, amplifying the power of profitability, and leveraging their skill to fuel innovation. Ultimately, they are helping their firms gain a competitive advantage.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Build Back Better: Considerations for Tax Advisers & Planners
Lawrence L. Bell
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed by the President on Nov. 15, 2021, presents a number of issues for advisers, planners and taxpayers to consider.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Messaging on Growth Important to Attract Top Talent and Prospective Clients
Jesse Dungan and Nicole Tackley
By keeping these communication tips in mind, firm leaders can ensure that their most important stakeholders understand the significance of their expansion and why it is a win-win for the firm, its people and its clients.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Rate Hikes Threatening Trusted Status with Clients
Dan Packel
After years of clients working to trim their roster of firms to a trusted group that understands the specific challenges of their businesses, rate hikes are threatening to upset these delicate relationships.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How Should Law Firms Use Their Windfall of Profits?
Patrick Smith
After many firms experienced a highly profitable 2020 and sky-high demand levels in 2021, they found themselves with more cash than usual. While more than enough Big Law money has been lavished on associates and laterals recently, those aren’t the only ways firms are spending their riches.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Leading Through Disruption
Julia Mercier
Some tried and true leadership practices for firms and partners who are focused on retaining and developing top talent in the current context.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Registered Nurses In a Top Hat Plan
Lawrence L. Bell
As the healthcare industry is emerging from the pandemic they are looking for ways to reward, retain and recruit a very important segment of its people — Registered Nurses. Employers are looking for ways to provide benefits in an economically efficient fashion that does not create an immediate and punitive tax on the participant.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Enabling Monetization of Non-Monetary Victories
Russell Yankwitt and Anxhela Mile
This article proposes language to include in retainer agreements to enable the monetization of non-monetary victories and compensate attorneys for all their work on behalf of their contingency clients.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How Many Is Too Many? Billable Hours Can Reach Diminishing Returns
Dylan Jackson
By now, it is well known that this year has been defined, at least in part, by the furious pace at which lawyers have been working. At what point do high billable hours mean diminishing returns for both the lawyer and the firm?
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How to Cut IT Costs and Streamline Operations with Leasing
Scott McFetters
While analysts predict firms will still see savings from expense cuts in 2021, these savings won't be as dramatic as in 2020 and, moreover, recommend that firms should use profit gains to invest in long-term strategies for growth — like technology.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Beyond Se Habla Español: Insights Into Selling to the Expanding Hispanic Market
Natalie Fragkouli and Liel Levy
Law firms frequently lack the appropriate marketing strategies to engage the growing U.S. Hispanic population. The lack of a cohesive strategy poses a risk to a law firm's current and future growth potential. This article explores practical insights for law firms that want to serve this rapidly expanding market.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Business Development: Biz Dev on a Budget: The Reality for Small and Midsize Firms
Mike Mellor
If you’re still stuck in “making a business case” for the tools needed to perform data analyses to unlock value, uncover trends and identify practice correlations to drive revenue, it’s not the end of the world just yet!
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Hoteling: What Can Law Firms Learn from the Big 4?
Anthony Davies
The success of the decentralized law firm depends in some part on how well firms can shift “hoteling” from the negative connotation of “losing my desk” to the positive connotation of “having a hotel-like experience” as is the case in the Big 4.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Biden Administration Budget 2022: Employer Sponsored Death Benefits a Forgotten Planning Tool
Lawrence L. Bell
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
Part Two provides more scenarios under which an Employer-Sponsored Death Benefit plan may be assigned, based on IRS memoranda.
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Marketing The Law Firm
How to Motivate Attorneys for Rainmaking Success
Jaimie B. Field
How to motivate attorneys to do rainmaking activities they need to do has become a critical question during the pandemic because the usual avenue that the predominance of attorneys used to build books of business of in-person networking had been eliminated for almost 15 months.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How to Motivate Attorneys to Be Successful Rainmakers
Jaimie B. Field
How to motivate attorneys to do rainmaking activities has become a critical question during the pandemic because the usual avenue that the predominance of attorneys used to build books of business of in-person networking had been eliminated for almost 15 months.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How Do Business Development Efforts In High-Performing Law Firms Differ?
Meghan Frank
As firms and their clients continue to navigate ongoing business challenges in 2021, BD and marketing professionals first need to understand how mature their efforts are in specific areas. Then, they can look at what the successful firms are doing differently, so they can position themselves to join those ranks.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Accountability and ROI: Building Cybersecurity into Your Budget
Heinan Landa
If we intend to minimize the risk of a successful attack, we must accept cybersecurity as an ongoing, evolving, relentless effort that requires diligence and discipline. And we have to throw more money at it, too.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Business Development: How & Why Law Firms Should Invest In Associates’ Business Development Efforts
Randi Rosenblatt
Many attorneys don’t actually know how to scale business and require guidance in order to develop and exercise that muscle. This is precisely why law firms should invest in their associates’ business development efforts from the start.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms Try to Hold On to 2020 Savings
Andrew Maloney
A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic caused once-in-a-lifetime expense reductions that could forever alter the business of law. After those cost savings fueled double-digit profit growth for many firms in 2020, don’t be surprised if Big Law leaders try to make some of those gains stick.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Scorecards and Client Book Due Diligence Can Improve Lateral Hiring Performance
Eric Dewey
The lateral partner challenge is, essentially, a vetting challenge. And yet, few law firms take a strategic approach to vetting and hiring laterals.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Pandemic Drives Law Firms and Clients to Common Ground on Pricing
Dan Packel
The current circumstances are giving rise to conversations about pricing, and driving both sides of the law firm-client relationship to seek common ground — both in the form of tried-and-true alternative fee arrangements and those that reflect a more innovative approach.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Digital Dive: The Digital Buyer’s Journey: How to Nurture Your Potential Clients
Spencer X. Smith
Is there an elegant and effective way to use the power of online media to nurture your potential clients? Yes, and here’s a process to follow for each of the steps of that journey:
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Providing Superior Value to Clients In a Rocky Economic Climate
Roger E. Barton
What kinds of firms are best positioned to provide superior value to clients and why this is such a critical consideration in the current economic climate.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Firms Adding Financial Analysts to Calculate Profitability
Andrew Maloney
Law firms are increasingly adding new staff members and software to calculate their profitability, helping firms determine partner compensation and make other business decisions.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How ALSPs Can Effect Law Firms’ Bottom Line
Chad Van Horn
As alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) continue to take root with significant growth across the legal world, law firms have to consider how these niche companies affect their bottom line and how to react to this burgeoning parallel industry.
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