Financial stability within a law firm practice does not guarantee harmony within the partnership itself — far from it. Law firm management that does not acknowledge or reflect the importance of firm leadership and the contributions and needs of its members endangers a firm's cohesiveness and its very existence, no matter how many clients come through the front door.
It's now been 10 years since the economic crisis of 2008, and just under 10 years since we saw the greatest dip in demand for services experienced by the legal market. The market has stabilized since then, but growth has remained, year-over-year, flat. The Thomson Reuters 2018 Report on the State of the Legal Market shows this trend will continue as we see a market characterized by flat to sluggish growth, a continued decline in productivity, modest rate increases and the continued downward pressure on realization.
Years ago, when trying to improve some of my snacking habits, I stopped buying cookies, candy and savory chips. Magically (and perhaps obviously), I quickly found that I ate less junk food. In effort to find a few more minutes a day for marketing, I recently applied this same basic, but effective, technique to my time management and the results have been just as immediate.
Last year, the FTC released a staff report on Cross-Device Tracking, which added to the FTC's efforts to regulate emerging issues in the ever-evolving area of online behavioral advertising. The advertising in question involves the collection of data from a particular computer or device regarding a user's Internet-viewing behavior over time and across non-affiliate websites. Cross-device tracking is the logical next step for this technology.
The new law offers two obvious potential benefits: a 20% deduction for pass-through entities such as partnerships, and a 21% tax on corporations.
Business Development Leadership
Part One of a Two-Part Article
If you were hoping I would define leadership for you, I can't. What we will address includes zombies, stampeding horses, a former King of Prussia and how they fit in with the six primary elements of exceptional leadership.
This article describes the provisions of the Act most likely to impact law firms.
Under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, should certain employees of a tax-exempt organization receive compensation greater than $1,000,000 during the tax year from any combination of a tax-exempt organization and/or its related organizations, the organizations would be subject to an excise tax on that employee's compensation in proportion to their payments to the employee.
Stop Obsessing About the Millennials (for Now)
For decades, members of Generation X have been stuck between two behemoth, attention-draining generations, wondering if they would forever be relegated to back-bench leadership — mere seat-warmers for ambitious millennials waiting for baby boomers to retire. Now, as boomers slowly face their own mortality and aging bodies after a lifetime of devotion to work, there is no longer a need to question whether Gen X will have an opportunity to lead.
When it comes to law firm business, not everyone is depressed about the slow growth that plagued many firms in 2017, and that's predicted to persist into the new year. Or at least they won't admit it.
