Knowledge Management: Lose the Label and Focus on Clients
The label "knowledge management" (KM) means different things to different people. For IT types, it often means technology solutions to the information deluge facing business today - intranet portals, document management and extranets, to name a few. For MBAs, knowledge management implies organizational systems and processes to capture, disseminate and leverage the collective wisdom of a business enterprise. For most lawyers, unfortunately, the words "knowledge management" mean little or nothing. I'm not suggesting that lawyers do not appreciate the competitive imperative to make the most of their firm's collective knowledge and expertise. But the label "knowledge management" does not work well in law firms. It sounds like just so much vague jargon having little to do with real-life client expectations. Since successful KM requires lawyers to buy in and collaborate, the jargon can stand between you and the significant payback that KM has to offer.
Pennie to Close Doors by End of December
Intellectual property boutique Pennie & Edmonds will ring in the New Year by closing its doors and firing some of its lawyers and staff. Ahead of a likely announcement of a deal for many ' but not all ' Pennie & Edmonds lawyers to join the New York office of Jones Day, Pennie & Edmonds' management informed associates and staff members Monday that the 190-lawyer firm will cease practicing law and wind up affairs by Dec. 31.
Should Your Firm Keep Two -- or More -- Sets of Books?
Most law firms operate as general partnerships, limited liability partnerships or limited liability companies (together, "partnerships", whose members having capital in the firm herein are "partners"). Does your partnership keep two sets of books ' or more? Al Capone kept two sets of books, and the judge sent him to the Federal Pen for doing so. Yet many law firms (and other professional businesses) legally keep two or more sets of books, arising from different accounting systems prescribed by 1) their partnership Agreements; 2) generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) audited statements (which are required by some lenders and landlords), and 3) the tax laws. As a result, the firm's net assets ' and the partners' ownership of the law firm, as reflected in the partners' capital accounts ' may be substantially different under each set of books. Moreover, the amount and timing of the firm's cash distributions to partners, the amount of the partners' annual income taxes, and the availability and amount of bank loans to the firm may all be affected by the firm's applicable accounting methods ' all items that may substantially affect the partners' pocketbooks.
Strategies to Enhance Cash Flow
Managing partners, financial partners, members of executive committees and administrators must devote more of their time today, than in the past, to planning and managing their firms' finances and those functions that improve the cash flow. Part One of this article described the first three of six aspects of law firm management and economics that the author has recommended to assist them in improving their firm's cash flow: 1) cash flow; 2) a business plan; 3) budgets for revenues, expenses and client advances. Part Two examines the remaining aspects: 4) partner compensation; 5) a recommended new business and billing committee; and 6) partners' capital and borrowing.
A Foreign Experience: Arbitrating Insurance Coverage Disputes in London
Many insurance policies now include arbitration provisions providing that disputes be arbitrated in London under the substantive law of New York. To policyholders, the "deck" in an international insurance arbitration appears to be stacked in favor of the insurance company, if only because the insurance company — a repeat player in London arbitrations — knows the results of its past arbitrations and the policyholder (and its counsel) likely does not. However, with careful strategy and preparation, a policyholder can prevail even in a "foreign experience" in international insurance arbitration.
Case Briefs
Highlights of the latest insurance cases from around the country.
Fighting Back: Is Insurance Funding Doctors' Countersuits the Answer to Med Mal Crisis?
Increasingly alarmed by the real and imagined inequities of the medical malpractice system, physicians across the country have been looking everywhere for relief. They have lobbied for law reform at both state and federal levels, they have rallied and protested, and some have even gone "on strike." While their efforts have achieved some success — notably in states that have enacted severe damage caps, such as California and Indiana — malpractice insurance premiums have continued to rise, prompting repeated announcements that the medical profession is facing an economic crisis.
Is 'Medical Justice' the Magic Key?
Increasingly alarmed by the real and imagined inequities of the medical malpractice system, physicians across the country have been looking everywhere for relief. They have lobbied for law reform at both state and federal levels, they have rallied and protested, and some have even gone "on strike." With so much angst and anger among so many affluent professionals, it was only a matter of time before an astute entrepreneur figured out a way to cash in on the problem. Which brings us to Dr. Jeffrey Segal, a North Carolina neurosurgeon and the founder of a new insurance plan called "Medical Justice," which he promotes as a deterrent to malpractice litigation. It is an intriguing idea that just might work. Then again, it might only be a clever marketing ploy.
