Law Firm Management

Despite a surge in articles, blogs and white papers that focus on top trends in law firm business development and management, few have explored critical changes taking place within law firm management, particularly as they relate to the concept of the rainmaker.

Regulatory and business pressures have upped the ante for data management, and information governance (IG) has emerged as the new buzzword for meeting and beating these stakes. IG is a new way of looking at information management that combines the best of what's come before with new perspectives and approaches to keeping information secure, accessible and available.

Many law firms ' of all sizes and types ' believe that their future organizational and financial security is linked to growth and/or diversification. They are seeking the lateral addition of experienced lawyers through the acquisition and merger of practices. These firms are seeking to anticipate trends of their clients and in legal practice.

Where does a CMO/CBDO belong on the law firm organizational chart? The author explains his point of view.

Law firms have long dominated downtown trophy office space, locating in buildings that are the best-of-the-best at "Main and Main." But times are changing. While growth is slowly returning to the legal industry, slightly rising revenues are still no match for rapidly increasing office space rents. New solutions ' and new locations ' must be found.

Over the last decade, technology has at least conceptually moved from a supporting role to a central role in the legal industry. Law firms market their technology prowess and clients demand investments in systems and expertise to leverage technology on their behalf. It won't surprise any trainers out there, however, to read that law firms continue to face difficulty maximizing effective user behavior, mandating adherence to policies, and even encouraging attendance at training.

Many attorneys run into issues related to the improper management of trust accounts, and some firms don't have the appropriate safeguards and checks in place to help prevent issues. Implementing proper controls can help reduce the risk of trust accounting improprieties and errors.

The collective weight of the new year is upon law firm managing partners, with the season being that of collections, partner compensation and rate-setting. And the latter has proven a bit vexing for firm leaders as they grapple with setting rates in an era where firms span multiple markets and practice concentrations, clients aren't willing to pay the published rates and alternative fee deals are a growing part of firm revenue.