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Marketing The Law Firm
Conflict Strategies: Three Keys to an (Almost) Drama-Free 2023 for Your Law Firm
Susannah Margison
Office drama can be a big problem for law firms. Whether it is showing up as office gossip, the partner who is terrible to their associates and staff, two people who just cannot seem to get along, or a revolving door of lawyers or staff, drama can be distracting, hamper productivity, and reduce billable hours.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How Attorneys Can Have Their (Hybrid) Cake and Eat It, Too
AshLea Allberry
No one would have predicted hybrid operations — but hybrid is here to stay. Firms have a lot to gain in terms of creating a new culture that attorneys love but that new culture will be built on flexibility and dynamism only technology can manage.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Amending (or Terminating) Deferred Compensation Plans Without Penalties
Lawrence L. Bell
This article reminds readers of §409A’s draconian penalties and specific guidance of amending modifying, amending or terminating existing nonqualified deferred compensation plans.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Meeting Client Expectations
Alex Geisler
The New Reality, for which law firms are scrambling to equip themselves, is that law firms no longer define their own service levels. Now it’s the clients, and they have clear expectation parameters.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The DOL and Benefit Planning for Independent Contractors
Lawrence L. Bell
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a rule that would make it more difficult for independent broker-dealers (IBDs), insurers, and other companies to treat professionals who want to flourish in the gig economy as independent contractors.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Outsourcing and the Difference Between Service and Hospitality
Anthony Davies
Today we see outsourcing accelerating as the pandemic has served to highlight the traditional benefits of outsourcing: cost reduction, flexibility, expertise and efficiency. But providers need to do something more to increase satisfaction rates among their law firm clients.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Hiring for Long-Term Success
Corey Castillo
Many law firms are hunting for talent with a focus on traditional “industry experience” and prestigious educational backgrounds as familiar criteria in their candidate search process. But what if law firms are missing high value talent — on both the legal and administrative side — that may be right under their nose?
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Marketing The Law Firm
The Difference Between Service and Hospitality
Anthony Davies
Today, we see outsourcing accelerating as the pandemic has served to highlight the traditional benefits of outsourcing: cost reduction, flexibility, expertise and efficiency. But providers need to do something more to increase satisfaction rates among their law firm clients.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Are You Stuck With the Hasty Tech Decisions Made In Crisis Mode?
Tomas Suros
In March 2020 and the months immediately following, many firms found themselves scrambling to implement tools that would meet the needs of new remote work realities. Understandably, many of these decisions were done quickly without the normal level of due diligence. Now, the same firms are realizing that those hasty, though necessary, decisions should be revisited or undone.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Billing Rates Have Increased, But Not Enough to Beat Inflation
Andrew Maloney
Law firm billing rates have increased across all law positions in 2022, but not necessarily enough to keep pace with inflation. That’s according to news reports that point to some more challenges for law firm profits.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Are We Over Thinking Office Return Strategies?
Anthony Davies
Routines based around ‘work from home’ are calcifying, and commuting, parking, sandwich shops and childcare are fading into distant memory. With each passing week, the challenge to win attorneys back into the office increases.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Recession Proofing Your Law Firm
Melissa “Rogo” Rogozinski
Whatever term the economists use to describe the slowing pace of commerce, the real question is: how do you protect your law firm’s revenue stream when economic pressures are causing current and prospective clients to tighten their budgets?
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Are We Over Thinking Office Return Strategies?
Anthony Davies
Routines based around ‘work from home’ are calcifying, and commuting, parking, sandwich shops and childcare are fading into distant memory. With each passing week, the challenge to win attorneys back into the office increases.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Solving the Information Governance Groundhog Day Syndrome
Ben Schmidt and Nathan Curtis
Security and privacy start with good information governance, and for many firms — trying to get their information governance policy implemented feels a lot like Groundhog Day. Yes, the one with Bill Murray. Let’s take a closer look.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Recession Proofing A Law Firm
Melissa “Rogo” Rogozinski
Whatever term the economists use to describe the slowing pace of commerce, the real question is: how do you protect your law firm’s revenue stream when economic pressures are causing current and prospective clients to tighten their budgets?
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms Loosening Mandatory Retirement Rules Creates Challenges With Younger Lawyers
Patrick Smith
Mandatory retirement policies have dogged Big Law for decades, creating partnership tensions and fractures in some law firm client relationships. But more law firms are beginning to loosen their retirement policies, analysts say, even when it creates more challenges with younger generations of lawyers.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Avoid Making Tech Decisions In Crisis Mode
Tomas Suros
Some law firms are realizing that the hasty, though necessary, decisions made to facilitate remote work should be revisited or undone. Many of the tools implemented in an emergency are insufficient to withstand the increasing cybersecurity threats law firms are facing today. The good news, though, is that it’s not too late to implement the right tech to protect your firm.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Why Collaborate: The Future of Legal Services Is Human
Joey Seeber
It is no surprise that in this environment many lawyers are prioritizing qualitative factors, such as work-life balance and feeling appreciated and recognized at work, rather than compensation alone when choosing where to work. Why is it no surprise? Because many of their employers began valuing quality over quantity with their ALSPs years ago. And this shift might do even more for your organization.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Managing Well-Being In the Legal Industry
Vivian Hood
A recent LMA Well-Being Wednesday program provided a range of big ideas and small tips for legal marketers and law firms on implementing a well-being program.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Legal Sales Strategies
Eric Dewey
The “best choice” provider pitch may not be the optimal sales strategy. It's better to adjust to where the prospect is in their buying decision process — whether that means they are looking for providers, they are studying the situation, they already have counsel, or they have decided not to address the issue.
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Marketing The Law Firm
The Four Legal Sales Strategies
Eric Dewey
The ‘best choice’ provider pitch may not be the optimal sales strategy. It's better to adjust to where the prospect is in their buying decision process — whether that means they are looking for providers, they are studying the situation, they already have counsel, or they have decided not to address the issue.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How to Build a Successful Business Development Plan
Melissa “Rogo” Rogozinski
Driving Growth Through Client Success and Thought Leadership
Business development is a critical part of a law firm’s growth strategy. It balances client success, competitive marketing and new acquisitions in order to sustain the firm’s reputation as a high-quality service provider. It is the bridge between marketing and sales. Here are six steps to building a modern business development plan that is guaranteed to drive growth through client success and thought leadership.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Time Well Spent: Make Meetings Valuable
Sharon Meit Abrahams
“Ugh, not another meeting!” Do you hear this from your colleagues and direct reports? If so, you should turn your meetings from a waste of time to a value-added use of time. We know meetings are important. They increase collaboration, set accountability, and create a shared sense of purpose and progress — all important elements of a happy, successful workplace.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Midlevel Survey Shows What Law Firms Are Getting Right — and Wrong
Dan Roe
Midlevel associates aren’t less willing than their predecessors to do the brain-bending amount of work. It’s that after two years of billing massive hours through an isolating global pandemic, they’re completely disloyal to the status quo. They kept firms going, they made partners rich, and now they plan to reshape the profession in their image.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Are You Facing a Problem or a Crisis?
Elizabeth Lampert and Lara Cupit
Recognizing the many degrees of severity and activity levels is crucial when a matter presents itself. Is it time to go scorched earth or take it in stride and allow a situation to fizzle? When defining the spectrum from minor issue to crisis, it is vital to understand how a problem can become a crisis if left unattended or how jumping the gun and overreacting can be disastrous.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms May Make ‘Course Corrections’ to Battle Inflation
Andrew Maloney
If inflation remains at current levels, law firm billing rate increases won’t be able to keep pace. But firm leaders may make other “course corrections” to capture profits through the end of 2022, analysts say, by utilizing leverage and alternative pricing models and making additional investments in technology.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Great Marketing Initiatives Happening Now
Stacy West Clark
Some great marketing initiatives happening in law firms around the country — as well as some recommendations.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Tips to Minimize Malpractice Claims
Michael R. McAndrew
So long as humans are practicing law, mistakes will happen; but well prepared attorneys are proactive and take the affirmative steps to put themselves in a position to minimize the danger to the client and the case.
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Marketing The Law Firm
6 Steps to a Successful Business Development Plan
Melissa “Rogo” Rogozinski
Driving Growth Through Client Success and Thought Leadership
Business development is a critical part of a law firm’s growth strategy. It balances client success, competitive marketing and new acquisitions in order to sustain the firm’s reputation as a high-quality service provider. It is the bridge between marketing and sales. Here are six steps to building a modern business development plan that is guaranteed to drive growth through client success and thought leadership.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Five Essential Steps for Lawyers to Effective Legal Marketing
Olivia Vizachero
Learning how to market yourself does not have to be difficult. Here are five simple steps you need to follow.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Congress and the Evolving SECURE Act
Lawrence L. Bell
The SECURE Act aims to encourage Americans to save more for retirement, in part by making that process easier. SECURE 2.0, recently passed by the House of Representatives would continue to tweak the rules for contributing to and withdrawing from retirement savings vehicles. It’s on its way to the Senate.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How to Manage 6 Risks Affecting Cybersecurity for Law Firms
Chris Mangano and Edward Keck, Jr.
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting law firms; extortion is quickly realized, given the nature of highly confidential client data. The digital footprint of law firms is constantly expanding, leading to more entrances to a firm’s network infrastructure, which is a direct gateway to data.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Online Accessibility, SEO and Digital Marketing Strategy
Sarah Brodsky
How can you make your user experience the best it can be for all potential clients, and lead with empathy and equity as you demonstrate your knowledge? That’s where your law firm’s SEO strategy comes into play.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Amending the Law Firm Partnership Agreement
Arthur J. Ciampi and Maria L. Ciampi
Many law firms with a written agreement stick it in a drawer, rarely read it, and do not amend it. Failing to amend the agreement can cause harm to the firm and its partners.
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Marketing The Law Firm
6 Risks Affecting Cybersecurity for Law Firms
Chris Mangano and Edward Keck, Jr.
We are all “custodians of data.” Law firms specifically are stewards of some of the most sensitive information stored and shared; a fact that doesn’t elude nefarious cybercriminal syndicates. Below are some of the top cybersecurity risks affecting law firms.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Avoid These Law Firm Marketing Mistakes to Maximize Your Time, Money and Effort
Lorrie Thomas Ross
While all firms have marketing initiatives in place, that does not necessarily mean you’re doing all you can to optimize your marketing efforts. If you’d like to get more out of the time, money and effort you spend on marketing, read on to make sure you aren’t making one of these common marketing mistakes.
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Marketing The Law Firm
The Care and Feeding of the Legal Client
Jaimie B. Field
Do your attorneys know the difference between a customer and a client? I have always defined the difference as a customer is someone who buys something from you once, while a client is someone who keeps coming back to you over and over again; mainly, since the legal industry is becoming more transactional daily. And that subtle difference is what makes a lawyer just a lawyer and one who becomes a rainmaker.
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Marketing The Law Firm
How to Properly Align Marketing, Business Development and Sales
Melissa “Rogo” Rogozinski
As we move into a post-pandemic era of inflation and recession rumors, it is imminent that we make changes in how we operate and grow our businesses in order to move successfully — and profitably — forward. For law firms, we need to understand how marketing, business development and sales work together to produce new opportunities for revenue growth.
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Marketing The Law Firm
To Have or Not to Have Partner Reviews: A Reflection of Firm Culture
Sharon Meit Abrahams
Firms are conducting their mid-year associate reviews around this time. What about partners? Typically, partner feedback is given by means of their new annual compensation. If your firm is not doing partner reviews now is the time to start. As firms are looking for ways to increase retention and survive the great resignation conducting partner reviews might hold the key. Doing reviews makes a statement about your firm’s culture.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Great Unbundling: Do Law Firms Need to Re-think Outsourcing Strategies?
Anthony Davies
Service “‘bundling” provides economies of scale, lower overheads, a single point of contact and a single invoice at the end of each month. However, the bundling of services to create a single multi-service provider may now be hurting firms who are increasingly looking for specialization, especially with regards to onsite workplace experience services.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
What’s the Difference Between a ‘Customer’ and a ‘Client’?
Jaimie B. Field
a customer is someone who buys something from you once, while a client is someone who keeps coming back to you over and over again. And that subtle difference is what makes a lawyer just a lawyer and one who becomes a rainmaker.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
Law Firms Increasingly Opting for Relocations Rather than Renewals
Jessie Yount
Law firms are increasingly opting for relocations rather than renewals, as firms look to sell talent on their unique identity and flexible approach to work.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Top Law Firms Look to Invest Profits In Future Success
Dan Packel
There’s no doubt that much of the legal industry’s profit gains are simply the result of surging demand. But smart firms were also able to harness booming demand to push through rate increases, owing to clients who were desperate to see their deals go through. There’s no doubt that the firms taking advantage of this confluence are in an enviable position. That doesn’t mean they are sitting on their laurels.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Connection Between Process Improvement, Project Management, and Pricing
Catherine Alman MacDonagh and Frederick J. Esposito Jr.
Law firms must continuously review business and legal processes to operate and interact with less waste and costs and develop pricing models that address client needs while generating profits for the law firm. This is actually simple, but not easy to do.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
After Another Big Year, Law Firms Should Plan for Recession
J. Mark Santiago
Planning for the downturn in a clear, methodical way by investing the existing good fortune that most firms enjoy into strengthening your technical infrastructure, trimming expenses, and rethinking how administrative services are delivered to the attorneys.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Stenography Shortage Is Impacting Client Service: What’s the Future of Court Reporting?
Dean Whalen
In the court reporting market, technology has matured to match or exceed stenography’s stronghold on speed and accuracy and, as such, is poised to disrupt the market.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Why Focusing on Client Experience Is Critical and How to Get Started
Kristen Dallman
In this marketplace, one thing is abundantly clear: To remain competitive, you must adapt. So how can you adapt in a way that meets the increased expectations of today’s client? Focus on client experience.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Rising Expenses and M&A Slowdown Could Sink Profit Growth This Year
Andrew Maloney
Stifling expenses and a slowdown in transactional work during the first quarter could sink profit growth for the rest of the year, according to a new analysis of legal industry performance.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Know When to Hold ’Em And Know When to Fold ’Em: 4 Questions to Ask When Thinking of Merging
J. Mark Santiago
Deciding to merge is a process that is best undertaken when a firm has as much information as possible about what their objectives and desired outcome is. Developing that information is best achieved by answering four questions.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
New Approaches to Outsourced Labor
Ben Schmidt
Employees are the lifeblood of an organization. Companies, including law firms, are rightfully attempting to navigate what the past two years have meant to the labor force and make sense of the changes to the landscape so that they can successfully manage their businesses. Included in this mix are outsourcing service providers.
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