6 Common Law Firm Accounting Practices That Need to Be Re-evaluated There are a number of tried and true practices in law firms that need more thinking. Not because law firm managers are stupid; it's just that some practices need to be periodically re-evaluated and adjusted to reflect the changing times.
What Lawyers Can Learn From Dentists
Nobody enjoys visiting the dentist, but everybody knows you still must pay him or her on the day of service. Attorneys, however, have historically let the client lead the payment dance. Lawyers do the work and hope/expect to be paid without waiting too long or discounting the invoice too steeply. What can we do differently?
Prebilling, the process of generating invoice drafts and circulating them for annotation/adjustment, is one of the most important monthly tasks a law firm conducts. Since prebilling involves bringing money into the firm, the more efficient the process becomes, the better off the law firm is financially.
Being asked to join the partnership of a firm is a measure of success as a legal professional. With that achievement comes tax and financial responsibilities that, surprisingly, few attorneys are fully prepared to deal with. These responsibilities include the unexpected individual federal and state and local tax filing and payments.
Orion's ePrebill Manager allows corrections to prebills to be tracked and applied in real time, with a one-click acceptance and approval process. Further, by distributing prebills electronically, attorneys can see the edits made by others, the overall net effect of write-downs, and how these affect the realization of both the working timekeepers and the client overall, in real time.
"You have to spend money to make money." Or, so holds the well-worn cliché. For those firms struggling to find meaningful growth in today's market, where do they find the funds they need to spend in order to spur growth?
The Manner in Which Law Firm Leaders Measure Profitability Has the Potential to Have a Profound Impact on Behavior and Motivation, Particularly As More Firms Integrate This Metric Into Their Compensation Systems The manner in which law firm leaders measure profitability has the potential to have a profound impact on behavior and motivation.
In an age where law firms can quickly disseminate news to target audiences via multiple social media platforms as well as their own websites, is it finally time to put the press release out to pasture? The press release is a valuable PR tool that deserves to live on. Executed correctly, the benefits outweigh the cost.
Given the Obstacles Law Firms Are Facing, Profitability Shouldn't Be Increasing
Rising competition from alternative service providers and the ever-forward march of technology adoption should be having a similar, negative, effect on profitability. This raises an obvious question — how are law firms doing it?
Raising Costs and Declining Demand are Sapping Profits
The “New Normal” of today is one in which raising operating costs, associate salary increases, and reduced realization rates coupled with AFAs and demands from corporate counsel for reduced rates are sapping firm profits and there is no relief on the horizon. Law firm leaders, seeing current conditions, should be asking if there is a better way.
