LJN Newsletters

Law firms are back ' sort of.
Revenues and profits were up by nearly 10% in 2004, a clear sign that firms have shaken off the tech bust slump.
But even as the biggest legal shops are reaping the harvest of a buoyant economy, they face some difficult choices ahead to maintain revenues ' and to grow profits.

In January, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, alleging discrimination in connection with that firm's demotion of a group of equity partners. The suit highlights an area of potential uncertainty for law firms and other businesses organized as professional corporations and limited liability partnerships ' whether the shareholders and partners of such businesses are entitled to the protections afforded "employees" under federal and state employment laws.
Although the outcome of the EEOC's case may not be known for some time, recent decisions illustrate a developing legal standard that will likely impact the organization of many professional service businesses.

Personal goal setting has been popular and effective in other professions and industries for many years. Lawyers have been slow in coming around because they are afraid that the exercise will be a waste of time or will restrict how they practice. As consultants, we still hear partners say, "I'm a partner, I can do as I damn well please." This attitude is not as prevalent as it was in the past, but it still exists and must be dealt with.

Rejecting an appeal brought by three law firms that demanded portions of the $55 million in attorney fees awarded in the $3.2 billion settlement of the Cendant Corp. securities litigation, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the lawyers who were named to lead the case have the power to say who gets paid.

Changes in business strategies, rising client demands, and technology advances all have made a law firm's choice of accounting software an ever more important management decision. Five years ago the Y2K scare led many firms to upgrade or replace their accounting systems out of perceived tactical necessity. Now, however, an assessment of your accounting software should be strategic: how well does it support your overall business objectives?

For use in preparing partners' individual business models and plans, design a standard worksheet form. The goal of a standard worksheet is to promote uniformity in the process for creating personal plans, not to seek rigidly uniform results.

With thousands of mid-sized law firms ' and hundreds of thousands of lawyers - all competing for the same pool of clients and prospects, differentiation is one of the most important ways to gain recognition and build brand awareness. Communicating your firm's unique characteristics, expertise, strengths and successes to a large number of prospects can be achieved through advertising.

I think law firm marketing is in a "funk." Recently I've been doing some research on law firm Web sites and have noticed that the look, the feel and yes the content of many of these sites is virtually the same. In a couple of instances, the exact wording from another firm site was used to describe a practice area. Could this be a coincidence? I don't think so.