Features

Litigation Expense Deductibility: New Appellate Court Decision
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision that explains some of the requirements for deducting litigation expenses. The facts of the case are bizarre, but the controlling legal principles are not.
Features

Voice of the Client: Hearing the Client Through the Noise
At the end of the day, a lot of noise is created in the effort to hear the voice of the client. We propose that while these efficiencies and innovations in law are valuable, the clients keep asking for something different: a lawyer who deeply understands their business and their specific issue — at the time they need it.
Features

Best Ways To Expand Key Client Relationships from the Lawyer and Firm Perspectives
<b><i>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</b></i>
Features

Law Firm Revenue Rose as Demand Dropped in the First Quarter of 2019
The legal industry saw greater revenue growth during the first quarter of 2019 than it did to start the strong year of 2018. However, the drivers of that growth were much different, as the demand growth that characterized 2018 gave way to a demand decline during the first quarter of 2019, and much of the revenue growth came in the form of cash collections from 2018 inventory.
Features

Law Firm Mergers and the Economic Outlook for 2019
As law firms endeavor to survive in an increasingly competitive world, one strategy picking up steam is the law firm merger. In this article, we recap law firm merger activity in 2018 and consider the economic outlook for law firm mergers for 2019.
Features

IRS Issues New Plan 457(f) Non-Profit Exam Guidelines
Planning for executive benefits for top hat employees at non-profit organizations has undergone a frenzy of regulatory roadmap changes. Nonprofit NonQualified Benefits are largely directed and controlled by IRC §457.
Features

Orion Prebill Survey Shows Law Firms Are Troubled by Inefficient, Paper-Heavy Prebilling Processes
Prebilling, the process of generating invoice drafts and circulating them for annotation/adjustment, is one of the most important monthly tasks a law firm conducts. Since prebilling involves bringing money into the firm, the more efficient the process becomes, the better off the law firm is financially.
Features

Best Ways to Expand Key Client Relationships from the Lawyers' and Firms' Perspectives
Part One of a Two-Part Article This article defines the specific and best actions lawyers and law firms can take to expand client relationships. This first part includes specific actions individual lawyers can take to expand client relationships.
Features

Clients Drive Information Governance: Business Benefits Flow to Firm
Information governance and the protection of corporate data are top concerns for law firms. To ensure standards are met, some clients are now tying payment to compliance with Outside Counsel Guidelines (OCG). OCG have moved from guidelines to actual contracts that provide for indemnification of the client for cyber breach and violation of privacy laws.
Features

Sales Speak: Overcoming the Doer-Seller Dilemma
<b><i>Rethinking Sales As an Act of Service</b></i><p>Lawyers are one of only a handful of professionals whose job requires them both to do the work and generate the business. This “Doer-Seller” Dilemma is particularly vexing for lawyers because of a long-held belief that sales is somehow beneath the legal profession and because lawyers have a limited view of what successful selling looks like.
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