Law Firm Management

This article reviews a methodology that has transformed our practice group leaders and our firm's approach to practice group management. What follows are some best practices and lessons learned from one midsize firm's year-long endeavor.

Just because you want a new "look and feel" doesn't mean you should enter into a lengthy, complex and potentially expensive rebranding project. There are a number of "signs," though, that might indicate you should consider rebranding or at least refreshing your firm's brand.

The Global 100 appears to have found its groove. After the turbulence of the financial crisis, which in 2009 caused the world's 100 highest-grossing law firms to collectively suffer their first-ever fall in aggregate fee income, the group has now settled into a pattern of slow, steady growth.

Storing and sharing data "in the cloud" has become, in many instances, a business necessity. The practical and economic advantages of cloud computing are clear ' it eliminates the need to send client data via traditional, costly methods, and is significantly less expensive than building and maintaining the same data storage capacity in-house.

The speed with which negative Internet postings spread can cause immediate reputational harm. To remedy this harm, the nature and extent of the damage must be quantified, which is no easy task. However, new digital tools can now be used to assess and quantify damage caused by these kinds of negative Internet postings.

The authors began their two-part series on "communication babble" in the July Issue of this newsletter They conclude herein with "an only slightly disguised true story."

Having thick skin is critical to success in law firms, especially when your job centers on developing programs that help a firm compete in a dynamic and increasingly competitive environment.

Whether or not to meet with clients on a regular basis will now significantly impact a firm's success. And this means all inactive important clients of the firm, not just the firm's current active clients.