Much has been written about 2011 being a banner year for mergers including articles in the Wall Street Journal and the American Lawyer. It is true that there were somewhere around 60 mergers involving U.S. firms last year and that represents a 54 percent increase from 2010. But this may be much ado about relatively [...]
When a law firm leader is asked why his or her firm is considering a merger with a particular firm, the most common answer you hear is, “They’re just like us.” It’s probably human nature to seek out kindred spirits, and certainly dealing with people who share your values and have a similar history is [...]
It is relatively rare to find a major business developer in a law firm who maintains a truly large practice. Certainly there are situations where a partner is the responsible attorney for a large corporate relationship that may involve $10 or $15 million in billings. There are situations where, by virtue of a relationship with [...]
For the past decade, law firms have taken the easy way out with personnel decisions. To avoid making hard choices and delivering uncomfortable messages, U.S. law firms have gone on a staffing spree with non-equity partner positions. As a result, firms find themselves massively overstaffed at the partner level. While there are no quick fixes [...]
Law firm leaders frequently ask, “Where is the blue ocean?” What they really mean is, “Where are the opportunities? What practices, locations and industries are not being fully served; where could the firm gain a “first mover” advantage?” But when faced with a rare opportunity to be a first mover, most firms balk precisely because [...]
It’s difficult to pick up any periodical dealing with the practice of law these days without reading about some new trend that is going to revolutionize the relationship of law firms and their clients. Whether talking about legal project management, outsourcing, alternative fees or corporate legal departments recruiting directly out of law schools, there are [...]
I used to think that there was no such thing as a bad strategy – just bad execution. I thought that any strategy was better than no strategy and that a law firm with a plan of action couldn’t possibly be bad. I’m pretty sure I was wrong. Here’s the problem. A strategy is a [...]
For the past couple of years there has been a lot of speculation about the impact of the UK’s Legal Services Act (known as “the Clementi Reforms”) on private practice law firms in the U.S. Yesterday, Jacoby & Meyers filed suit in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut challenging bar regulations prohibiting non-lawyers from owning [...]
Law firm leaders often describe running a law firm as being like “herding cats” because lawyers are so fiercely independent. Despite being accustomed to operating in a structured legal environment, for some reason lawyers seem to take pleasure in rebelling against organizational rules and procedures. Yet, a few firms seem to be able to enforce [...]
Most law firms have great difficulty implementing change or enforcing any form of rules or discipline among their partners. Even trying to get lawyers to get their time in and their bills out is a battle that management frequently loses. In fact, the problem is often as much with a firm’s leadership as it is [...]
Law firm leaders and the legal media frequently talk about the size. But, unlike the way most businesses address size (annual revenue), law firms seem to define size as the number of lawyers practicing at a firm. Managing partners talking about growth, are typically referring to adding lawyers to reach “critical mass” and when there [...]
As clients become more sensitive to legal fees and law firms are hesitant to raise hourly rates, cost control becomes a primary issue for legal managers. Of course, the largest expense for law firms is people, both timekeepers and support staff. But another part of the equation (and a prime target for many law firm [...]
It’s a shame that we tend to make New Year’s resolutions on January 1st. For law firm managing partners, this time of year is so busy with closing the books and compensation meetings that we barely have time to focus on anything beyond what went right and wrong in 2010. Let me give you a [...]
Lateral hiring is among the most frequently used strategies by law firms as a means of increasing profitability. Unfortunately, for many firms it doesn’t work out as well as the firms hope. But that doesn’t necessarily make it a flawed strategy. The problem may be in the execution. Almost every law firm’s strategic plan is [...]
The classic definition of a merger in the corporate world is where two companies become one. And this definition has long carried over to the legal world where mergers were viewed in the bright line context of all or nothing – when two law firms get together it is either a merger or it is [...]
Today’s Wall Street Journal details the halting of mortgage foreclosures due, at least in part, to possible improper handling of the supporting legal documents by the mortgagers’ law firms. This could, at least in the short term, be very good news for the real estate and corporate transactional departments of mid-sized law firms. The firms [...]
The growing emphasis on alternative billing options will cause a lot of law firms to reconsider how they price and bill their services. While lawyers will have to learn some new skills to function in a fixed fee environment, the real challenge will be for the Compensation Committees that have to figure out new criteria [...]
For years I have talked about the most sophisticated legal work being like brain surgery where clients look for the absolutely best possible person to do the work regardless of cost. But now that I have been in the position of actually using a brain surgeon, I’ve found out that the analogy may be more [...]
When children are given food they don’t like and are told, “Eat it, it’s good for you,” they have this special way of nibbling small amounts of it and making it look like they are actually eating. When law firms go about creating and implementing strategy they often use the same technique. They nibble around [...]
The recession brought about some rapid changes for law firms, most of which involved temporary cost cutting. Then, almost as if the cost cutting exercise was designed to simply demonstrate what was possible, firms began returning to their free spending ways. It makes one wonder how much could be added to partner earnings if law [...]
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