Law firm crisis typically brings financial pressure. Reduced demand, slow-paying clients, and now due obligations incurred in better times are but a few of the hallmarks of crisis. As bad as these things can be, the strain can intensify quickly when the
The vast majority of law firms are already or in the throes of or are about to experience a marked decrease in revenue, whether to closed courts, stalled transactions, or simply because clients are pulling back and paying more slowly.
For a very small minority of law firms declining cash balances aren’t a problem thanks
Fingerprints are unique. No two snowflakes are alike. And the more one looks at law firms, the more it is apparent that each law firm has its own personality. Whether small or large, local, national, or international in scope, general service or specialized boutique, driven by profit or public service, each law firm has its own DNA.
Though distinctive, many law firms share common characteristics. One shared by all law firms is the need to be financially healthy. Law firm financial health is the universal need of every law firm—without financial health a law firm’s future is seriously suspect.Continue Reading Optimizing Your Law Firm’s Financial Health in 2019-Four Areas to Focus Your Spring Cleaning
Law firms come in all shapes and sizes. Some consciously specialize in distinct areas of the law while others are more reactionary-willing to do anything they feel generally competent to do. Firms can be local in scope, only serving a home town populace from its home town address. Geographically expansive law firms can have a
Modest attrition at law firms is to be expected-it happens continually and few firms are exempt. But when the lawyer departures spike, or the particular resignations are from your most important lawyers, management must respond quickly.
Lawyer departures don’t just happen for any reason. Unexpected and damaging departures often can be traced to problems a
One of, if not the key responsibility of a law firm leader is ensuring that the viability of the firm is not threatened. No doubt, one of the primary threats to law firms today is excessive debt.
Clearly it is a rare business that functions without incorporating some form(s) of debt as part of
As staid and conservative lawyers and their profession may seem, it is undeniable that change is a part of their world. The change that has confronted the legal profession since the collapse of 2008 has garnered a lot of press, but lawyers and their firms have had to adjust to an altering world for a
For more than a few AmLaw 200 law firms, non-qualified retirement plans exist that are largely unfunded. Although “a good idea at the time” when established, the plans now can represent a significant burden. As James Cotterham wrote in his Retirement Basics for Law Firms a decade ago, the unfunded pension plans can be a
