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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Reimagining Business Development Training and Coaching
Debra Baker
Six Pillars of a Successful Bus-Dev Program
For firms wanting to thrive through the next economic downturn and beyond, mastery of business development fundamentals is as essential as mastering legal skills. Yet training and coaching — whether done internally or through outside consultants — requires an investment in time and resources.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word, Even When It’s the Right One
Carlos Arcos
In this era of social media and a 24-hour news cycle, each day seems to bring a fresh story of PR missteps, whether it be a brand, organization or high-profile individual. Although you may feel you’ve read enough about these latest public relations nightmares, one area on which you might want to focus is the importance of an apology.
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Marketing The Law Firm
10 Top Strategies for Retaining Tomorrow’s Talent
Sharon Meit Abrahams
All lawyers want to be wanted and valued by their firms. It has become apparent that tomorrow’s legal talent requires even more hand-holding than previous generations because the “just do it” attitude, does not work. They want to understand why and what’s the payoff of their efforts. By creating a firm culture that addresses these concerns you will heighten your firm’s ability to retain precious talent.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Determining Who Should Serve As the Billing Partner
Joel A. Rose
Due to a law firm’s team-oriented approach to business development and client service efforts, it is not always clear who should logically and most efficiently serve as the billing partner for a client or a particular client matter. A person should only be a billing partner if he or she is or will be performing the functions outline herein.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Digital Dive: New Report Reveals Opportunities for Improvement on Digital Marketing Strategy for Law Firms
Jamie Diaferia and Jennifer Johnson Scalzi
For those of us who have devoted more years in legal marketing than we’d care to admit, it’s heartening to see the field receiving the recognition it deserves. The demand for top talent has never been higher and marketing plans are getting more attention from firm management. Still, there is more work for law firms to do. That’s particularly true in digital marketing.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Professional Development: Proactive Marketing for the Win
Meg Pritchard
I Tend to Think of Marketing and Business Development Efforts In Four Buckets: Passive Marketing, Active Marketing, Reactive Marketing and Proactive Marketing
The view of (most) law firm leadership has evolved, but there is a long expanse of ground between viewing the marketing function as a cost center and recognizing — and capitalizing on — its potential to drive revenue and profits.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Determining Who Should Serve As the Billing Partner
Joel A. Rose
Due to a law firm’s team-oriented approach to business development and client service efforts, it is not always clear who should logically and most efficiently serve as the billing partner for a client or a particular client matter. A person should only be a billing partner if he or she is or will be performing the functions outline herein.
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Marketing The Law Firm
How to TOOT Your Own Horn: Exceptional Self Evaluations
Sharon Meit Abrahams
It’s that time again. As the year comes to a close many firms are beginning the associate review process. Even if your firm does not have a formal review process I recommend that you write a self-evaluation that outlines your achievements and specifies your goals for the coming year.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Professional Development: Reimagining Business Development Training and Coaching
Debra Baker
Six Pillars of a Successful Bus-Dev Program
For firms wanting to thrive through the next economic downturn and beyond, mastery of business development fundamentals is as essential as mastering legal skills. Yet training and coaching — whether done internally or through outside consultants — requires an investment in time and resources.
Read More ›
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How to Become a Rainmaker
Arnold Keiser
Almost anyone willing to develop the qualities necessary can become a rainmaker.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Competitive Intelligence: Assumptions and CI Don’t Mix
Patricia Ellard
Sometimes I assume my clients know what I can do for them and what they should ask for. You all have heard the old adage about what happens when you assume. I still laugh when I think of my elementary teacher saying it, but It’s such a basic idea, and applies in so many situations. Here are just a few of which I’ve been reminded.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Preparing the Next Generation of Lawyer Leaders
Marcie Borgal Shunk
A new crop of leaders is gearing up to take the helm. Like their brethren before them, they have little in the way of formal experience or training for the roles they are about to inherit.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Sales Speak: Five Ways to Start a Business Development Streak
Ari Kaplan
Since business development is often comprised of a series of incremental efforts that generate momentum, embrace the idea of connecting daily streaks to obtain results.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Global 100 Are in the Midst of a Growth Spurt
Dan Packel
The World’s Largest Firms Turned In a Second Straight Year of Robust Revenue Gains Amid Near-Universal Progress
Mergers, rapid growth among Chinese law firms, and a healthy American market coalesced to turn 2018 into a spectacular year for the world’s largest law firms.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Resolving Fee Disputes: It’s in Your Best Interest, Too
Patricia King
Lawyers should know that they ignore clients with questions at their peril. The first thing to remember is the client is entitled to an accounting of the fee and costs. No matter how exasperating the client, or how stupid the question appears to be, client questions need to be resolved.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Podcasts Are the New Black for Law Firm Business Development
Gina Rubel
Before jumping into the podcast foray, law firm leaders must think strategically about podcasting as a tool for marketing and business development. Resources, bandwidth and buy-in are needed to produce a successful podcast — along with patience as podcasting success is determined by long-term results.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Marketing Innovative Law Firms
Vivian Hood
Law firms today are increasingly looking at innovation to help distinguish their practice offerings, strategy, and leadership, and need inspiring marketing to develop meaningful campaigns that resonate with their audiences.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Media & Communications: Grab the Wheel and Drive Yourself!: How Law Firm Marketers Can Grow Professionally … and Some Sage Advice
John J. Buchanan
So, you’ve been in your role in the marketing department at your firm for a few years. Things are going well — but you want to expand your skill set, try something new, or take on a fresh challenge. The lawyers you work with routinely attend CLE classes so why shouldn’t you focus on your own professional development?
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Marketing The Law Firm
Digital Dive: 9 Best Practices for Blogging that Gets You New Business
Larry Bodine
Becoming a renowned expert in your field will bring you the best files from the most profitable clients — and the shortest path to becoming a thought leader is to write a blog.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Increasing Client Requirements: Securing Law Firms for the 21st Century
Debra Gray
Gone are the days of “basic security.” What used to be optional is now standard: two factor authentication, complex passwords, clean desk policies, data encryption at rest and in transit, mobile device management and up-to-the-minute patching. Clients expect these items to already be in place and are further expanding their expectations.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The ‘Silly Season’
J. Mark Santiago
That term refers to the months of October through December. It's a way of pointing out to partners that the necessary activities of practice management that so many of them had avoided for the first nine or 10 months of the year now had to be addressed. Clients that had not been billed now had to be invoiced. Outstanding invoices, many issued in the cold days of early March and April, now had to be collected and current work would not only have to be billed but collected as well.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
What Is Your Dashboard Report Telling You? Chances Are, Not Much.
Jim Jarrell
Firms are struggling to capture compelling business intelligence about themselves. Until recently, most operated with a cadre of legacy operating systems, financial platforms and reporting technologies from different manufacturers that have no mechanism for connecting with each other. The disparate nature of these technologies has exacerbated the struggle to leverage data and display results in a reporting mechanism that helps direct the firm’s decision-making.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Producing Breakthroughs in Client Development
Arnold Keiser
It is easy to understand why many lawyers feel that only certain special individuals are blessed with the qualities necessary to be rainmakers. But almost anyone willing to develop the qualities necessary can become a rainmaker.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firm Leadership Isn’t a Role, It’s a Mindset
Michael A. Gerstenzang and Hy Pomerance
When a law firm does not subscribe to a traditional corporate structure
At most companies, the leadership structure is typically clear and hierarchical. But what does leadership look like at a law firm when a traditional corporate structure doesn’t apply?
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Marketing The Law Firm
10 Common Misconceptions Lawyers Have About Media Relations
Randy Labuzinski
Traditional media continue to evolve and constrict in a marketplace consumed by non-traditional influencers, including bloggers, social media stars, bots. Accordingly, the art of media relations is more important than ever to make sure PR professionals are doing all we can to influence the dwindling number of legitimate journalists while managing and enhancing the public reputations of our law firm clients.
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Marketing The Law Firm
When Being a Star Rainmaker is Not Enough: Why EQ Leads to Even Better Business Results
Marla Grant and Yuliya LaRoe
Why EQ Leads to Even Better Business Results
It is not uncommon for law firms to face negative business outcomes caused by the behavior of a star rainmaker who is unaware of the impact that they have on others. And that’s what emotional intelligence (EQ) is about and why it’s so important to lead to better business results. What can law firms do to help their star partners increase their emotional intelligence to avoid potentially disastrous business outcomes for themselves and their firms?
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Marketing The Law Firm
The 5-Step Path to Meeting Your Firm's Marketing Goals
Jennifer S. Bankston
Law firms of all sizes struggle to define a marketing and business development pathway that strikes the right balance to deliver measurable value at a manageable cost. A well-defined, quantifiable approach (proactive, not reactive) is necessary to execute a law firm’s strategy.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Maximize the Impact of Firm Sponsorships with Social Media
Spencer X Smith
Pro bono work on an individual level is often not publicized, but the work you do in the community as a firm should be. Here’s how to ensure both you and the charities, nonprofits, etc. you’re supporting gain the maximum amount of exposure and awareness for their causes.
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Marketing The Law Firm
15 Free Things to Do for Clients That Will Make Them Love You More
Stacy West Clark
There is a huge bonus to doing free things for clients at their place of business: You can bring as many lawyers from your firm with you as you like.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Leadership for the Strong
Silvia Coulter
There are a few things about being an effective leader that books and professors don’t seem to directly address. Here are some tips to help partners who lead operational teams, offices, practices, departments, or the firm itself, to implement for leadership impact.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
When Being a Star Rainmaker Is Not Enough
Marla Grant and Yuliya LaRoe
Why EQ Leads to Even Better Business Results
It is not uncommon for law firms to face negative business outcomes caused by the behavior of a star rainmaker who is unaware of the impact that they have on others. And that’s what emotional intelligence (EQ) is about and why it’s so important to lead to better business results. What can law firms do to help their star partners increase their emotional intelligence to avoid potentially disastrous business outcomes for themselves and their firms?
Read More ›
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Marketing The Law Firm
Don’t Be Content with No Content Strategy: A Law Firm Content Strategy Primer
John J. Buchanan
While it’s great to create a ton of content, without any kind of plan or guide, your content (and messaging) is all over the map. In order for your content to have real impact and to effectively support your firm’s business development goals and objectives, you need to have a “content strategy.”
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Marketing The Law Firm
Voice of the Client: 9 Ways You Could Be Hindering New Business Efforts
Mike Mellor
Nine ways you may be hindering your efforts to win new legal business, and a few ideas on how subtle improvements can maximize both success and overall win rates for firms and attorneys.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
9 Ways You Could Be Hindering New Business Efforts
Mike Mellor
Nine ways you may be hindering your efforts to win new legal business, and a few ideas on how subtle improvements can maximize both success and overall win rates for firms and attorneys.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Sales Speak: Relationship Building: Systemizing Prospect Engagement
Jennifer Bettencourt
Building rapport with prospective or existing clients and referral sources requires intentional ongoing communication and patience. When relationships fail to progress, it is most often due to a lack of follow-up.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Continual Assessment: Preparation for the Next Recession
Phillip Bantz
Assess your legal departments regularly to find and fix inefficient spending and work habits while also implementing new tech solutions now — before it’s too late.
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Marketing The Law Firm
From Blah to Ah-Ha! How to Write Law Firm Case Studies That Win New Business
Michelle Calcote King
Instead of the “Did X for X” format, law firms must embrace a more strategic — and effective — approach by writing case studies in a “mini story” format that focuses on typical client pain points and illustrates the firm’s unique value propositions.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Key Ways to Avoid Negative Publicity
David McCann
Marketing professionals have a responsibility to do their best to protect the brands of their employers. And part of that responsibility means avoiding, limiting or addressing, to the extent possible, any negative or damaging publicity. While there are nuances within each industry that determine what can and can’t be done in this effort, there are some universal strategies I think work well.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Competitive Intelligence: What Is Your Dashboard Report Telling You? Chances Are, Not Much.
Jim Jarrell
Until recently, most law firms operated with a cadre of legacy operating systems, financial platforms and reporting technologies from different manufacturers that have no mechanism for connecting with each other, let alone automatically extracting and updating data points between systems. The disparate nature of these technologies has exacerbated the struggle to leverage data and display results in a reporting mechanism that helps direct the firm’s decision-making.
Read More ›
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Marketing The Law Firm
Leadership In Law: Leadership for the Strong
Silvia Coulter
Law firms have many leaders. Yet in many cases, no formal leadership training takes place, leaving others in their groups or offices performing at less than optimal levels and on their own to get the job done often feeling pressured and stressed. Here are some tips to help partners who lead operational teams, offices, practices, departments, or the firm itself, to implement for leadership impact that books and professors don’t seem to directly address.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Marketing Tech: Five Quick and Easy Ways to Hack Your Business Development
Ari Kaplan
The most popular justification for avoiding business-development activities is a lack of time. There are, however, a number of strategies that will allow you to execute and produce results in minutes — or even seconds.
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Marketing The Law Firm
The Time to Improve Administrative Performance Is Now
J. Mark Santiago
This article focuses on what a firm can do now that will improve future firm economics regardless of what the future may hold. It identifies three areas that offer the great opportunity for improving a law firms’ economics and better positioning them for whatever the future may bring.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
5 Quick and Easy Ways to Hack Your Business Development
Ari Kaplan
The most popular justification for avoiding business-development activities is a lack of time. There are, however, a number of strategies that will allow you to execute and produce results in minutes — or even seconds.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Basic Tax Issues for Social Media Influencers
Robert M. Jason
This article provides a general introduction to social media influencers and discusses common tax issues arising on the income side of the equation. What is taxable income? What happens if the influencer’s compensation is paid in equity?
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Marketing The Law Firm
The Importance of Social Skills: Technology and Data Are Not Enough to Grow Your Firm’s Business
Jamie B. Field
Data is taking over our lives. And preceding that is all of the applications and technology that exists that helps us measure that information. But technology and data are not going to be the only growth drivers of a firm in the future. What’s going to become most important in the face of the technological changes that are occurring in law firms is a lawyer's "soft-skills."
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Marketing The Law Firm
Are Online Reviews Threatening Your Online Reputation?
Melanie Trudeau
An attorney’s reputation may be one of the most important factors that clients consider before hiring counsel. In today’s world of online reviews, managing your reputation can be challenging. How should you manage online reviews to ensure your reputation and trustworthiness are intact?
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Litigation Expense Deductibility: New Appellate Court Decision
Daniel Mayo
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.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Voice of the Client: Hearing the Client Through the Noise
Jennifer Simpson Carr and Amy Knapp
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.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Competitive Intelligence: How Client Intelligent Is Your Firm?
Stacy Rowe
Ready, Set, Benchmark!
Underlying great client service is a strong understanding of the client’s business and goals. There are many barriers to success when it comes to helping lawyers develop a strategic client mindset. So, how do you break down these barriers to create a Client Intelligent Law Firm?
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Best Ways To Expand Key Client Relationships from the Lawyer and Firm Perspectives
Julie Savarino
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
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