Years ago I got into the legal speaking circuit after presenting on the future of the legal profession to a group of bar leaders. I called the presentation “Staying Relevant.” I credit this moment with pushing me into the spotlight of change in the legal profession since it lead to a slew of speaking invites
Comp on the Client Side: Living in a Glass House
The billable hour has been trashed repeatedly over how it motivates bad behavior in law firms. The reasoning goes that rewarding hours billed motivates lawyers (associates and partners) to spend more time on tasks than necessary, resulting in inefficiencies. My personal opinion is that rewarding hard work is not the problem, but instead poor management
On the Perils of Compensation, Pricing and Future Business Strategies
Of all the adaptations law firms need to make to be successful, the biggest challenge going forward will be making changes to their partner compensation systems. Ben Weinberger of Prosperoware tackles the subject head-on in today’s guest post.
The earliest known written legal code, Ur-Nammu’s Code, has been attributed to have originated in 2050
Creating a Law Firm Profit Culture
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| Image [cc] evan p. cordes |
One of the biggest question marks in the legal industry is around driving change in law firms. We all know change is needed, but it tends to come very slowly for law firms [insert shocked exclamation here, soaked in sarcasm]. There are a number of classic law firm change methods
A Day in the Life of a Pricing Professional
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| Image [cc] Xtreme Xhibits |
Whenever I try to explain to my friends and family what my job is as a pricing guy, they usually give me a blank stare. My kids have even comment they think I might actually work for the CIA since I can’t seem to explain it well. The reason is is
The Profession is Doomed
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| Image [cc] slworking2 |
Recently I participated on a panel on the future of the profession for the National Conference of Bar Presidents and walked away thoroughly convinced the profession is doomed.
For those of you unfamiliar with how bar associations make decisions, I offer the following story:
If someone asked for permission to go to
Why Mega Firms Will Win
A few recent news posts have changed my thinking about the future of mega firms. This thinking was also influenced by knowledge from colleagues working with some of the big ones. Which mean this is one of my usual puzzle-piece ideas, but I think I may be on to something here.
Previously I have ranted
Stop it with the Stupid Rules
Ryan has previously waxed poetic about how some mandatory bars are imposing odd and counterproductive ethics rules and opinions.
This topic resurfaced for me recently as I have been asked to present to a futures committee of a mandatory bar in November. They are wanting me to give them a picture of all that is
The Next Target
Previously I posted on some knowledge gained at the Bridgeway Conference in Nashville. I wanted to add one more item to the list.
Jeff Paquin, who now works with Bridgeway, gave a presentation called Legal Department 2050. He started by looking back at the evolution of legal departments and then projected forward on what
Listening to Clients
Last week I was able to attend the Bridgeway Customer Connective Conference in Nashville. Unlike many of the conferences I attend, this one is directed at clients, not law firms.
One of the sessions I attended really got my attention. Pratik Patel and Peter Eilhauer of Elevate presented on a Practical Data-Driven Roadmap for