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LJN Quarterly Update: 2024 Q2
Steve Salkin
The LJN Quarterly Update highlights some of the articles from the nine LJN Newsletters titles over the quarter. Articles include in-depth analysis and insights from lawyers and other practice area experts.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Leveraging Law Firm KPIs for Business Success
Peter Oliva
Utilizing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in a law firm is crucial for evaluating performance, profitability, client satisfaction, and overall success. Understanding which attorneys are the most profitable, which matters are the most lucrative, and the cost of acquiring new clients is crucial for making informed business decisions.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Staying Nimble and Embracing Values Are Essential for Mid-Size Law Firms’ Survival
Michael Ferachi
In the ever-evolving legal landscape, mid-size law firms find themselves at a critical juncture. Seismic shifts, accelerated by the pandemic, have reshaped the very fabric of our industry. Now, more than ever, agility, innovation, and a steadfast commitment to meeting client needs are not just desirable traits, but essential for business survival.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
5 Ways AI Can Strengthen Revenue Generation and Client Relationships
Jody Glidden
Maintaining consistent communication with clients can be time-consuming for most law firm professionals. Balancing this task with other competing responsibilities becomes challenging when case management, administrative duties, and strategic planning also demand the lawyer’s attention. The time has never been better for firms to start introducing technology, like AI, to improve their overall business.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
CLE Shouldn’t Be the Only Training Mandatory for Attorneys
Sharon Meit Abrahams
State law bar associations mandate Continuing Legal Education (CLE) for attorneys to ensure that legal professionals remain informed of the evolving laws and to maintain a high standard of professional competence. Unfortunately, “how to be successful” is not taught in law school nor approved as a CLE topic.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Diversity Gains Continued, But Slowed, In 2023
Dan Roe
Results from American Lawyer’s Diversity Scorecard
The pace of growth slowed for representation of diverse attorneys in 2023, but every underrepresented group still made gains.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Adequate Tech Budgets Are Essential For Effective Marketing Department Performance
Deborah B. Farone
Adequate investment, especially for marketing technology, enables departments to function effectively. Unfortunately, this funding is often insufficient. Technology without support is like installing a lightbulb in a home that has no electricity.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
Majority of U.S. Law Firms Plan to Change Real Estate Footprint Over Next Two Years
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
Roughly 85% of U.S. law firms plan to change the size of their real estate portfolio over the next two years, with more than half expecting to add space and about a third planning to reduce it.
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LJN Quarterly Update: 2024 Q1
LJN Editorial Staff
Highlights some of the in-depth analysis and insights from lawyers and other practice area experts from the nine LJN Newsletters titles over the first quarter of 2024.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
CRM Success: A Playbook for Disrupting Traditional CRM
Kiara Hughes
Here’s the playbook for disruption: Take attorneys out of the equation. Stop building CRM that succeeds or fails on their shoulders. We need to shift the focus and, instead, build the technology from the ground up for the professionals who actually use it: marketing and business development.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How Law Firms are Reducing Redundant Real Estate by Bringing Onsite Support Services Back to the Office
Tim Haught
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the industry in many ways, pushing law firms to rapidly adopt remote work solutions, digital transformation and cost cutting measures. While some adjustments proved effective, most industry leaders are prioritizing higher office attendance as a measure for future success.
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Marketing The Law Firm
A Playbook for Disrupting Traditional CRM
Kiara Hughes
Here’s the playbook for disruption: Take attorneys out of the equation. Stop building CRM that succeeds or fails on their shoulders. We need to shift the focus and, instead, build the technology from the ground up for the professionals who actually use it: marketing and business development.
Read More ›
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
What Your Clients Need to Know About Succession Planning
Nanette Miner
Business people are often confused about the differences between succession planning and exit planning. Attorneys are in the unique position of being able to guide their clients through the confusion.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Improving Billing Security Improves Client Experience
Saurabh Mehra
Client service doesn’t end before the invoice goes out. Every interaction is an opportunity for the firm to provide the best experience current knowledge and technology is able to deliver — and since security is a key component of what clients want, security needs to be part of that equation.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
Law Firms are Reducing Redundant Real Estate by Bringing Support Services Back to the Office
Tim Haught
A trend analysis of the benefits and challenges of bringing back administrative, word processing and billing services to law offices.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
IRS Keeps Hold On Employee Retention Credit Claims to Protect Small Businesses from Fraud
Julie Potts
While the IRS has new ERC claims on pause and works to investigate possible fraud, business owners still have the opportunity to protect themselves from potential civil and criminal penalties.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Partner Pay Spread Increases for Top Law Firms Amid Partnership Model Changes
Andrew Maloney
Amid unprecedented billing rate hikes and an escalation of the battle for rainmaking talent, Am Law 100 law firms again raised the stakes on partner pay last year. At the same time, the average spread among Second Hundred firms fell a bit.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Big Law Leverages Buyers Position to Influence AI Development to Suit Their Needs
Justin Henry
In the AI edition of the classic “build versus buy” dilemma, some marquee firms have opted to leverage their position as the largest buyers of legal tech to influence vendor development of AI-powered services to suit their needs.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Unbiased Thinking: A Blueprint for Your Law Firm Billing & Collections Transformation
Dan Safran
Law firms generally experience a similar set of common challenges and costs tied to inefficient billing and collections practices. This is a cost no firm can afford; and to that end, this article offers a blueprint for transforming billing and collections
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Crafting an Effective Roadmap for Implementing Information Governance In Law Firms
Gregg Parker
This article discusses why a robust IG program is critical to modern-day law firm operations, the complexities associated with crafting such a program, and what a high-level roadmap for implementing the program looks like.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Prospective Partners Ask Small and Midsized Firms Tough Questions About Succession
David E. Wood
Do Their Chief Finance Professionals Have Good Answers?
Many senior associates want to know whether the firm is well-positioned financially to grow and prosper when the current generation of senior partners retires. To get the information they need to value an investment in the firm, they turn to its finance professional.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
What We Should Have Learned from COVID, Part 1: When In Doubt, Communicate
J. Mark Santiago
First In a Series
First COVID Lesson: Leaders should communicate regularly to their firms in a more personal way, let their personality shine through, show some vulnerability and maybe reveal that they own a dog.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Minimizing Risks When Working With Contract Attorneys
Shari L. Klevens and Alanna Clair
Law firms commonly rely on contract attorneys to assist with a large project for a single matter or collective overflow from multiple matters. While using contract attorneys to address staffing needs is common and routine, it is not a risk-free arrangement. Here are some tips to help law firms minimize potential risks when working with contract attorneys.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Am Law 100 Insights: How Much Do Realization Rates Actually Matter?
Andrew Maloney
In 2023, Am Law 100 firms saw their lowest realization rates in five years. Despite the lower realization, the industry appears to have had a better financial year in 2023 compared with 2022. So how much do realization rates actually matter?
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Am Law 100 Insights: Does Growth In Nonequity Partners Aid Profitability or Hinder It?
Dan Roe
For a long time, the formula for law firm leverage was simple: grow the base of the pyramid by hiring more associates, keep them busy, and profit. But in recent years, that arithmetic is looking more like calculus as expanding nonequity partner tiers increasingly contribute to the law firm leverage equation.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Retirement Succession Can Hedge Against Lateral Partner Acquisition Risks
David Wood
While growing by acquiring lateral partners and practice groups can be lucrative, it carries many risks. Lateral candidates’ projections of the revenue they will bring to a new firm can prove inaccurate, or a particular candidate may simply be a bad fit culturally.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Impact of Gen X and Millennial Law Firm Leaders
Marci Taylor
Generation X lawyers stand poised to wield considerable influence. Often the unsung heroes in discussions about generational dynamics, Gen X professionals bring a wealth of strengths to law firm leadership. Their pragmatic outlook, honed by navigating shifts in technology and societal changes, positions them as adaptable leaders.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Retirement Succession Can Hedge Against the Risks of Lateral Partner Acquisition
David Wood
Increasingly, law firms rely upon acquiring lateral partners and practice groups to grow revenue more quickly than they can by increasing output with existing talent. With this kind of money at stake, a prudent firm is constantly on the lookout for ways to hedge against the risks of acquiring laterals. Implementing an effective retirement succession program is one of them.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
It’s Time for Lawyers to Return to the Office 5 Days a Week
J. Mark Santiago
It’s time for attorneys to return to the office on a five day a week schedule. There is significant evidence that shows remote learning is not as effective as in-person instruction.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Why Are Lawyers Still Working Remotely?
J. Mark Santiago
It’s time for attorneys to return to the office on a five day a week schedule. There is significant evidence that shows remote learning is not as effective as in-person instruction.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms Eager to Increase Nonequity Tiers
Andrew Maloney
Last year saw a ”staggering” jump in the number of law firm leaders who said they wanted to increase their nonequity tier going forward. Now it’s clear many of the biggest Big Law players are following through, with several Am Law 100 firms growing their income partner ranks by double-digit percentages in 2023.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Big Law Banks On Contingency Fees to Maximize Profitability
Abigail Adcox
In a quest to maximize profitability, Am Law 200 law firms have grown their share of business tied to contingency fees, a gamble that has paid off for some firms in recent years.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Sensory Designed Hospitality: Enhancing Workplace Experience Through the Five Senses
Petra Parros
Organizations understand that their workplace environment reflects the culture of their organization and are making extraordinary changes to their real estate and fundamental differences in their office operations. But is it working?
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Marketing The Law Firm
Do Gen Xers and Millennials Make Good Law Firm Leaders?
Marci Taylor
Generation X lawyers stand poised to wield considerable influence. Gen X has always served as a bridge — between tradition and innovation, the old and the new. Unlike their predecessors who were more comfortable with tradition and a stare decisis mindset, they infuse a sense of flexibility and agility into management strategies.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firms Happy to Trade Falling Realization Rates for Strong Rate Increases
Dan Roe
While some firm leaders pointed to market factors such as economic uncertainty, most indicated that declining realization rates were a price they were happy to pay in exchange for several years of strong rate increases.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
An Early Look: The 2024 Am Law 200 Financials
ALM Staff
As firm financials results stream in, we’re covering them firm by firm, as we’ve always done. You can read those story in this continually updated feed. So bookmark it, check back regularly, and stay tuned for the Am Law 100 and Second Hundred reports coming soon.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Revolutionizing Revenue: How 'Invoice to Cash' Innovation Rescues Firms from Billing Woes
Milan Bobde
More and more, firms are understanding that it’s the firm’s ability to convert its agreed rates through billing and collections to collection realization that really counts. So why is it such a challenge for firms to solve it?
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Need to Do More with Less? CRM Could Be the Key
Chris Fritsch
CRM is foundational to the success of marketing and business development teams because it is precisely the tool that allows the firm to efficiently manage and nurture client and prospect relationships.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Leading Legal Department Trends for 2024
Wendy King and David Horrigan
Recent research based on interviews with chief legal officers around the globe found that the increased scope and scale of risk now facing corporations is driving change in how legal teams set their strategies, leverage technology and manage operations.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Is Big Law Ending Its Roller Coaster Ride of Volatility?
Andrew Maloney
It’s still early in 2024, but law firms may finally be disembarking from a nearly four-year “roller coaster” of volatility, and returning to something that more closely resembles the pre-pandemic era.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
AI and Hospitality: Transforming Law Firm Workplaces for the Future
Anthony Davies
As the world ushers in a new era post-pandemic of hybrid operations, it’s really no surprise that workplace experience is a top, strategic lever law firm leaders are driving in conjunction with re-envisioning the space their professionals are occupying.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Strategic Planning for 2024: New Considerations for Legal Industry Leaders
Yuliya LaRoe
The business landscape over the last few years has been changing at an ever-increasing speed, and 2024 promises to be no different. To effectively navigate the challenges and opportunities that present themselves, leaders need to adopt a fresh approach to strategic planning.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
White Box vs. Black Box Compensation Systems
J. Mark Santiago
Having a compensation system that clearly outlines partner expectations, provides the partners with the ability to validate the results by communicating the results back to them does more to build collegiality than an opaque system that, by its design, promotes distrust and ill will among partners.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Case for Partnering with a Financial Advisor
Bryce Sanders
Unless you carry the correct licenses, it makes sense to develop a relationship with several financial advisors and refer business from time to time.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Five Trends that Promise to Impact the Legal Workplace In 2024
Marcie Borgal Shunk
Talent is the single most valued asset within a law firm. And, the role and influence of talent in law firms is on the rise. How law firms engage with, respond to and anticipate changing talent needs has the power to transform the legal landscape and dictate which firms come out ahead.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Mitigating the Potential Consequences of Partnership Audit Changes
Mark L. Lubin
Partnership audit changes present increased exposure to partnerships and their partners, and future legislation may curtail much of the flexibility associated with partnerships.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Start 2024 By Considering The Synergy Between Retirement and Succession Planning
Sharon Meit Abrahams
Attorney retirement and succession planning are critical issues that are often overlooked at the management level of law firms. A key question arises: What should come first, retirement or succession planning? Although they go hand in hand, many firms avoid addressing both.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Start 2024 By Embracing the Synergy Between Retirements and Succession Planning
Sharon Meit Abrahams
Attorneys retiring and succession planning are critical issues are often overlooked at the management level of law firms. A key question arises: What should come first, retirement or succession planning? Although they go hand in hand, many firms avoid addressing both.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Nurture Your Clients To Develop, and Deepen, Relationships
Yuliya LaRoe
Business development is, first and foremost, about people and your relationships with these people. While marketing and visibility activities (speaking, writing, etc.) are critical, it’s the people who ultimately make the hiring decisions. As a lawyer, while time is rarely on your side, developing your Nurture System will help you strengthen and deepen your important relationships in ways that are sustainable and effective.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Advantages and Limitations of a Two-Tier Partnership Structure
Miten Shah
The two-tier partnership structure has gained wider acceptance as a key tool for increasing profitability, as well as talent acquisition and retention. Let’s explore how this model is reshaping law firm dynamics, offering new opportunities and challenges in the war for legal talent.
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