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Features

Estate Professionals Can Be Compensated for Services Performed Before Entry of a Retention Order, Even Without Nunc Pro Tunc Orders Image

Estate Professionals Can Be Compensated for Services Performed Before Entry of a Retention Order, Even Without Nunc Pro Tunc Orders

Sheryl P. Giugliano

Bankruptcy professionals should be relieved by a recent decision holding that although nunc pro tunc orders approving a professional's retention are now considered "inappropriate" in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan, there is nothing in the Bankruptcy Code, Bankruptcy Rules, or applicable case law preventing an award of compensation before a retention order is entered.

Features

Introducing Pricing Transparency to Legal Services Image

Introducing Pricing Transparency to Legal Services

Nathan Cemenska

The COVID-19 crisis has caused a money crunch across industries, and CLD budgets are tightening. This downturn demands that CLDs stop writing blank checks for services of indeterminate scope and duration. Here are some ideas for law departments looking to do better.

Features

Legal Analytics and the Evolving Practice of Law Image

Legal Analytics and the Evolving Practice of Law

Josh Becker

While we may use analytics differently in our respective companies, one thing is certain: Legal analytics is the future and it's time to jump on board.

Features

Corporate Resiliency: How to Ensure Financial Health Ahead of an Economic Downturn Image

Corporate Resiliency: How to Ensure Financial Health Ahead of an Economic Downturn

Derek F. Meek & 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.

Features

Small Law, Big Changes: The Coming Disruption in the Legal Industry Image

Small Law, Big Changes: The Coming Disruption in the Legal Industry

Rinky S. Parwani & Greg Garman

The billable hour is still profitable from a transactional perspective, but from a strategic perspective, in today's economy, that profitability has begun to erode. That's because our economy has fundamentally transformed into a service economy that is based on leverage and scale.

Features

COVID-19 Downturn Likely Won't Impact Health of Law Firm Billable Hour Image

COVID-19 Downturn Likely Won't Impact Health of Law Firm Billable Hour

Frank Ready

Not even the economic downturn imposed by the COVID-19 virus may be able to take credit for eliminating the billable hour. While attorneys could be relying more on legal tech to help defray costs, transitioning to a new pricing infrastructure in the midst of so much uncertainty could prove to be a bridge too far.

Features

Adopting COVID-19 Cuts, Law Firms Balance Image and Economics Image

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.

Features

How a Law Firm's Comp System Affects Profitability and Partner Satisfaction Image

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.

Features

How to Survive (and Even Thrive) During and After the COVID-19 Lockdown Image

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.

Features

Linking Partner Pay to Strategic Firm Objectives Image

Linking Partner Pay to Strategic Firm Objectives

J. Mark Santiago

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.

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