Law Firm Management

For all the chatter, studies, and disheartening stats we read on where Women in the Law rank in the legal services sector, I say "phooey." Yes, the numbers stink; yes, there are real barriers, discrimination, disappointing treatment from law firm leadership, but hey, we are women "with a capitol W" as the phrase goes.

At Bradford & Barthel, LLP, we're leveraging Big Hand, Net Documents, and Tableau in concert with our existing systems toward a 5:1 cost savings ratio for the firm over the next three years. Our strategy is to position ourselves to compete in the most stringent pricing comparisons available within our practice area. How?

In today's competitive practice environment, client origination looms large in its significance to the success of a firm's future. Hence, strong incentives should be provided to partners for "bringing new business from potential and existing clients through the door." Below, several kinds of Origination Credit are examined.

Some 84 million Americans work for companies that maintain ERISA-covered retirement plans that are divisible by Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs), which guarantee the non-worker spouse (the non-owner) a share of the pension. Or the couple can opt for a buyout (sometimes called an immediate offset), by which one spouse trades away pension rights for another asset.

The ACA is not the only health care challenge facing employers. Recent medical disease reclassifications are affecting a large portion of America's workforce, and the long-term impact is proving difficult to predict. These changes may result in an increased number of workers' compensation and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) discrimination claims, but hopefully, they will also result in a greater emphasis placed upon prevention and treatment.

Over and again in our recent consulting engagements ' particularly with large firms, where trends tend to start ' we're seeing signals that the legal profession is caught in the confluence of destructive trends:

Why things tend to go off the rails related to conducting a successful introductory meeting with a potential target (prospective client).

It is almost impossible to open a newspaper today without reading about cybersecurity breaches. Target Corp., Neimann Marcus and many other companies have been targeted, and many experts think it is only a matter of time until law firms are targeted (if it's not too late already). All this "cyber risk" may have you pining for the days before computers, when almost all information was stored on paper.