Milking a Cash Cow
June 29, 2007
With all of the reporting capabilities of sophisticated time and billing systems, it is easy to lose sight of the most basic rule of law firm economics: Cash in must exceed cash out. To that end, one of the most valuable assets any business can have is a cash cow. Yet, we find that many law firms never benefit from practices that could be cash cows because they just don't seem to understand the concept. I know, it sounds pretty simple ' bleed as much revenue as you can out of practice areas in which your firm has a dominant position. But, somehow, we keep screwing it up.
Strategic Talent Acquisition: How to Be More Competitive in Recruiting Top Talent
June 29, 2007
It is a well-reported fact within the legal industry that law school enrollments have flattened in recent years, with total J.D. enrollments showing little or no growth since 2004. This trend, in combination with the significant and ongoing growth in the size of law firms, translates into an intensely competitive market for top law school talent. With only a few exceptions, firms throughout the industry are struggling to secure as many of the best candidates as they need and want. The widening gap between law firms' investments in campus recruiting and the resulting payoff in terms of candidate acceptances is driving law firms to take a harder look at their approach and strategy in law school recruiting. And the smartest of these firms are asking the hardest of questions: What is the best way to approach law school recruiting?
Movers & Shakers
June 29, 2007
News about lawyers and law firms in the product liability field.
Case Notes
June 29, 2007
Highlights of the latest product liability cases from around the country.
The Political Question Doctrine: An Unusual (and Unused) Path to Dismissal of Product Liability Suits
June 29, 2007
As litigation grows more complex, the costs of defending tort lawsuits continue to rise. Defendants frequently settle such cases, not to avoid potential liability, but to avoid the high costs of discovery and other litigation expenses. Motions for summary judgment reduce those costs, but only to a certain degree. Consequently, defendants in tort suits are constantly searching for strategies and defenses that will result in dismissals early in the litigation. One such defense is the 'political question' doctrine, a longstanding legal principle that has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years.
Practice Tip: Firing Your Expert
June 29, 2007
During a recent product liability trial, the plaintiff's expert opined in his original disclosure that the subject machine was defective because it lacked a clutch safety mechanism. Trial counsel, retained just weeks before jury selection, learned from the same expert that no machine in the industry contains such a mechanism. They concluded that cross-examination of the expert on this point would probably outweigh any benefit that such testimony might add to the plaintiff's case, and that a simpler explanation for the accident was the manufacturer's failure to place conspicuous warnings to the user on how to operate the device properly. They decided that it would be wise to have the expert testify about the missing warnings instead of the design defect. The problem was that the expert's design defect theory had been presented in the plaintiff's pretrial disclosure statement, which had been served on the defendants, but nothing was disclosed about the failure to warn.
Inhalation Litigation: Mold to Engineered Nanoscale Materials?
June 29, 2007
Asbestos litigation finally may be winding down, and personal injury mold litigation seems to have been stopped in its tracks. That means something else must rise and be the next wave of inhalation litigation, and it looks like it is the emergence of engineered nanoscale materials. Venture capitalists and the government itself predict that engineered nanoscale materials will transform the field of engineering. Such engineering proclamations have been made in prior generations; Henry Adams once warned that 'every day nature violently revolted, causing so-called accidents with enormous destruction of property and life, while plainly laughing at man, who groaned and shrieked and shuddered.'
Practice Building Skills: Building the Ideal Business Development Plan
June 29, 2007
Many attorneys ask us, 'What is the ideal prospecting plan for attorneys? Can't my associates and younger partners just follow our top rainmakers for a few days and then just do what they do?' These are two of the initial questions that we hear when we begin working with law firms. Many attorneys assume that there is an easy magic formula for developing new clients, and if they can just get their hands on this secret formula their business development problems will be solved forever. Unfortunately, our experience tells us that a 'one-size-fits-all' magic formula for success does not exist.
