Time and time again the news includes another report of a law firm (most often small to medium in size) having been ripped off. The dollar amount involved in a majority of the reported thefts is a few hundred thousand, but in some cases millions of dollars have been misappropriated. In what I consider the
Underperforming Law Firms Risk Failure
The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.
— John Foster Dulles
Former Secretary of State
We’ve Got Trouble…With A Capital “T”
Most law firms go through a similar cycle. Initially partners share an
Five Reasons for Law Firms to Think About a Merger in 2018
There is much to do when a law firm closes out its year. Getting bills out, collecting receivables, paying bonuses, and distributing profits are but a few of the things that get the attention of leadership. As long as the firm’s year has moved along normally, finishing up strong often is the main focus of
Five Common Mistakes Law Firms Make When Entering a New Market
A dynamic law firm growth tactic involves opening an office in a new geographic market. To move a firm into virgin territory requires careful thought about issues that go beyond simply hiring new lawyers. Indeed, expanding a firm’s footprint requires many considerations, including good intelligence about the new market’s practice characteristics, bar personality and mores,
Five Signs Your Law Firm Needs New Energy
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.
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
Four Signs Your Law Firm is Not Ready for Leadership Succession
At many law firms that recognize the need for succession planning, preparation for leadership succession receives too little attention. Succession planning can languish for various reasons. In some instances, the press of regular law firm business distracts existing leadership from the issue. In other cases, the topic is an uncomfortable one so discussions are avoided.
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
Avoiding the Unplanned Law Firm Closure-Five Steps Every Law Firm Should Take
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
Denial and Turning Around The Troubled Law Firm
Hope is the denial of reality – Margaret Weis
As a law firm in decline continues to struggle, there are two primary scenarios in which denial furthers the rate, or degree, of decline:
- undervaluing the risk associated with a significant undertaking; or
- disregarding mounting evidence of decline.
Denying the Risk Associated With