As law firms (and businesses generally) confront the growing financial challenges associated with the Covid-19 crisis, a plan for an escalating response is necessary. The appropriate answer for a particular law firm will depend on its current and projected condition and its culture, but consider the following as you develop your plan.
Government assistance –
As the calendar year comes to a close, there is a lot to do at most law firms. Activities like collecting bills, distributing profits and casting next year’s budget can occupy many a leadership team. The tasks at hand can be time consuming and all engrossing. Given the importance of these short-term issues, thinking about
“A discord of personalities” sometimes describes the genesis for marital divorce. It also can be an apt way to explain law firm break-ups when partners decide to go their separate ways. Although law firm break-ups happen regularly, the low level of publicity surrounding most can be due to partners acting rationally even though they can’t
As the calendar year comes to a close, there is a lot to do at most law firms. Activities like collecting bills, distributing profits and casting next year’s budget can occupy many a leadership team. The tasks at hand can be time consuming and all engrossing. Given the importance of these short-term issues, thinking about
Succession planning is an issue that many law firm managers worry about. They ask whether their firm has done enough planning, whether the pool of successors is deep and whether the firm will be stable when transition to new leadership happens. Because succession planning is so important to many of today’s law firm leaders, we’ve
Growth among law firms generates headlines. Legal publications report on a merger here, a planting of a law firm flag there and the lateral moves of significant practice groups. The thing about growth is that it is a planned exercise-an initiative that is a matter of choice based on strategy. The opposite of growth, a
As reviewed in Part One last week, the example of the Morgan Lewis/Bingham McCutchen mass lateral transaction may serve to stimulate the pursuit of distressed firms by healthy firms. Although distressed law firm transactions are nothing new, the model of that deal plus two new legal developments may foster greater distressed law firm activity.
The
Times of transition are strenuous, but I love them. They are an opportunity to purge, rethink priorities, and be intentional about new habits. We can make our new normal any way we want. – Kristin Armstrong
The recent closing of the Toledo, Ohio law firm of Cooper and Kowalski provides another reminder of the
Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go. – Herman Hesse
This is the final post in a series examining law firm decline, inspired by the Jim Collins book, How the Mighty Fall. See the previous four post:
Closing a law firm is a formidable task. The existing management team, prepared for running a going concern, is often unprepared for the various challenges that arise as the firm is wound down. Even though it is advisable for a closing firm to obtain outside assistance, a small but dedicated group from the firm must
