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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
In this two part series, we will look at how the legal pricing role has been drawn into the profitability role and is now being pulled towards the compensation side of law firms. From there we will apply the knowledge being gained from pricing and lay out a possible future compensation approach focused on motivating
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| Image [cc] MyLifeStory |
Dan: My Law Firm Right-Sizing idea received so much positive feedback, it encouraged me to think even deeper on the subject.
Jane: “Deeper” as in all the way to the bottom of the kiddie pool?
Dan: “Kiddie Pool” as in where your limited thinking keeps you Jane? So here’s my next great
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| Image [cc] J. Gabas Esteban |
Jordan Furlong takes on PPP in a recent post. In his usual fashion, he methodically explores what PPP is and makes a strong case for why it needs to be abandon as a profit metric for firms.
But, in typical Dan and Jane fashion, I feel compelled to raise
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| Image [cc] CN Impressions |
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| Image [cc] loungerie |
I have previously called out 2012 as The Year of Pain for law firms. The basic premise is that market demand is flat (per the many market reports) and that firms have run out of cost cutting ideas, such that costs are rising (also per the many market reports). The
Leading up to this final installment in our series – we have defined profitability for firms, described the four profit drivers and looked at how the market is pushing on all of this. In this post we take on how Legal KM can re-focus its efforts to help firms respond to all of this pressure.
The Hill
Having defined profitability and categorized the four drivers of profit for firms, in Part 4, we now turn to the market’s impact.
Why Does This All Matter?
Over the past five to ten years, there has been a significant shift in the economics of the legal market. Previously law firms were able to raise rates to increase
In Part 2 of this series we explored the impact of Rates and Realization on law firm profits. In Part 3 we look at the other two drivers: Productivity and Leverage.
The Profit Drivers:
Productivity (a.k.a. Utilization)
Productivity is the number of billed hours per timekeeper Most firms will have a benchmark productivity of 1800 or 1900 billable hours per