Law firms that lack energy dim their prospects for the future. Too often law firms pass over the issue of their own vibrancy (whether by a failure of recognition or simple indifference) and plod along without taking corrective action. A becalmed law firm, especially in these times of legal industry disruption, is flirting with danger.
5 Early Warning Signs of Law Firm Decline
Most problems are more easily resolved when addressed early. Pressures driving law firm instability and decline are no exception.
The likelihood of early detection is enhanced by incorporating a routine self-examination of the firm. This periodic checkup should focus on performance as well as the satisfaction of both personnel and clients.
Here are five
Hoping Your Way to Law Firm Improvement
“Hope is not a strategy”
– Various –
Déjà vu
It seems like déjà vu all over again; demand for law firm services is down, but many law firm leaders expect their firm to see an increase in demand. Based on those expectation hiring and purchasing
Scoping Out Future Law Firm Upheaval-Four Places to Look
Law firms perpetually are in transition. In our changing legal environment, transition can arise when business strategy requires adjustment, merger is considered, layoffs are implemented, lateral hiring is pursued, leadership succession is at hand (see Cultivating the Next Generation), crisis arises or firm wind-up is decided and implemented.
In addressing any transitional event
Does Your Law Firm Deserve a “Freshness” Review?
There has been a recent flurry of articles regarding law firm “spin offs” some referencing actions such 
as the recent Ropes & Gray IP move which appears practice specific. Others target “spin offs” as a means of getting lean. Seth Godin (who you might consider following if you don’t already) had a great and short
No Law Firm Succession Plan? Five Options
A Forbes article entitled Law Firm Leadership Survey: Top Strategic Initiatives of 2017 shared some interesting information about the burning and not so burning issues for today’s law firm leaders. The information was assembled through the work of David J. Parnell (the author of the Forbes article) and noted legal consultant Patrick J. McKenna.
Growing A Law Firm Into Decline
Don’t confuse cause with coincidence. – W. Edwards Deming
In Jim Collins’ book How the Mighty Fall, he describes phase two of business decline as “Undisciplined Pursuit of More.”
When it comes to law firms, we might call this phase of decline a period of Ego Driven Growth. This type of growth
Is Your Law Firm At Risk?
One ought never turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!
Winston Churchill
The first key to
Law Firms in the Year Ahead-Is a Good 2017 That Much of a Good Thing?
Georgetown Law Center for the Study of the Legal Profession and Thompson Reuters released their annual report on the state of the legal market last week and it is, as always, informative. The 2017 Peer Monitor Report is chock full of data and analysis respecting the tendencies in the legal market. While one might conclude
Small Law Firms and Rough Seas-Navigating the Years Ahead
As December ends and January dawns, report cards on the legal profession are issued and crystal balls are studied. This year is no different with many articles offering assessments of the industry’s current state and its prospects.
Two pieces recently written about the industry’s present and the future are worth review. Mark A. Cohen’s Something’s