economics

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Based on comments from the prior post, “The End of Write-offs?” I thought it would be a good idea to peel back another layer on this onion. The prior post was purposely over-simplified, to focus on the issues of AFAs and LPM. This post will better explore the impact of realization on

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Greg and I were talking over lunch recently about the role of Legal Project Management (LPM). The more I have dug into this topic, the more skeptical I have become about its role with AFAs. The common wisdom is that the fixed fee aspect of AFAs will drive the need for LPM. On its face,

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I’ve heard variations of this phrase too many times lately. Most recently on the HBR blog, where Mark Medice states, “I would suggest that if the economy were to swing to a strong recovery in six months …, then major changes to pricing structures would be muted.” Every law firm has a cadre of

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Ron Baker left one of his usual insightful comments on the 3 Geeks blog this week, so I wanted to address some of the issues he raised in relation to the concept of Efficiency.

Ron notes: “There’s a fundamental problem with this relentless focus on efficiency. A business isn’t paid to be efficient; it’s paid

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In the UK, based on the Legal Services Act, investors can buy lawsuits from clients being sued. They then turn around and hire lawyers to handled the suit, typically on some sort of discount / success fee arrangement. This allows them to spread the risk of losing the law suit (and investment) partially to

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A recent conversation lead me to draw this graph on a napkin over lunch. The graph is a comparison of pricing power and profit margins for monopolies versus competitive markets over time. What the conversation was about was the shift in the legal market away from monopoly pricing – towards a competitive market. As one

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Last week I spent some time meeting with a legal vendor. We covered a variety of subjects. At the end of the discussions we picked up the topic of selling technology and services to law firms. The vendor commented on how that has become a challenge because the point of contact for the sale is

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We keep hearing reports on how the economic upswing is slow and we might even be in for a double dip. Depressing news to say the least.
So here’s some counter-news on that subject to cheer up your Friday.
I have the privilege of serving on the Board for AMA Houston and we held our

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In response to Mark Medice’s post – Yes, it is past time for law firms to re-think expenses. There have been a lot of discussions about firm’s cutting expenses. And an equal or greater number of discussions on being more efficient (even here on 3 Geeks). What is needed is a re-thinking that merges these

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