Trending for Law Firms in 2012: What to Expect This Year

Posted on January 3, 2012 by kowalskiandassociates

Trending for Law Firms in 2012: What to Expect This Year.

Filed under: Alternaive Business Structures, Alternative Business Structires for Law Firms, Alternative fee Arrangements, Crisis management, Downsourcing legal services, Electronic Document Discovery, Global law firms, Hiring and training lawyers, Internet based marketing, Lateral law firm partner, Lateral law firm partner movement, Lateral Partner, Law firm blogging, Law Firm Crisis Management, Law Firm Dissolution, Law Firm Dissolutions, Law Firm Implosions, Law Firm Internet Based Marketing, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, Law firm marketing, Law firm partner layoffs, law firm project management, Law Firm Risk Management, Legal Project management, Legal Project Outsourcing, Legaltech, Marketing the Law Firm on the Internet, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Outsourcing legal services, Project management for law firms, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century, Value Billing | Leave a Comment »

Trending for Law Firms in 2012: What to Expect This Year

Posted on January 3, 2012 by kowalskiandassociates

Here is the definitive list of items that will dominate the news for the legal profession for 2012.

It’s going to be a challenging year. Please fasten your seatbelts, hold on to the handrail and make sure that your arms and legs do not extend outside your car. We are in for an interesting year.

Filed under: Alternaive Business Structures, Alternative Business Structires for Law Firms, Alternative fee Arrangements, Crisis management, Downsourcing legal services, Electronic Document Discovery, Global law firms, Hiring and training lawyers, Internet based marketing, Lateral law firm partner, Lateral law firm partner movement, Lateral Partner, Law firm blogging, Law Firm Crisis Management, Law Firm Dissolution, Law Firm Dissolutions, Law firm financial reporting, Law Firm Implosions, Law Firm Internet Based Marketing, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, Law firm marketing, Law firm partner layoffs, law firm project management, Law Firm Risk Management, Legal Project management, Legal Project Outsourcing, Legaltech, Marketing the Law Firm on the Internet, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Outsourcing legal services, Project management for law firms, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century, Value Billing | Tagged: , , , | 57 Comments »

I Know You Hate Keeping Time Sheets, but Even in the New Era You Must Still Do So and Here’s Why

Posted on December 20, 2011 by kowalskiandassociates

I Know You Hate Keeping Time Sheets, but Even in the New Era You Must Still Do So and Here’s Why.

Filed under: Hiring and training lawyers, Law firm associate efficiency, Law firm associates, Law firm financial reporting, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, law firm project management, Law Firm Risk Management, lawyer training, Legal Project management, Legaltech, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Project management for law firms, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century, Value Billing | Leave a Comment »

I Know You Hate Keeping Time Sheets, but Even in the New Era You Must Still Do So and Here’s Why

Posted on December 20, 2011 by kowalskiandassociates

Time sheets – the bane of lawyers everywhere – you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.

The endless debate continues as to whether in this era of AFA’s, fixed fees and the like, lawyers and law firm managers continue to debate the question of whether we still need to be bound to the ball and chain of time sheets. The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

There are numerous reasons: First, in any fee application in which a court approves fee awards, courts require detailed and contemporaneous time sheets.

Second, The Model Code of Professional Responsibility does not explicitly recite AFA’s as a permissible method by which to charge a fee. The hourly rate remains the Model Code’s gold standard.

Next, some courts have actually held that fixed fees are unethical and unenforceable and the only method to recover on a quantum meruit basis is through time based billing.

With project management becoming such a key fixture in the profession, contemporaneous recording of time is key to the success of project managers.

And recording time spent on all firm-related matters is key to management; assuring that time-keepers are on task and then, at year end, assessments of the contributions made by all members of the law firm can only be objectively made by having a full and complete record of every lawyer’s contribution at every level.

Filed under: Alternative fee Arrangements, Hiring and training lawyers, Law firm associate efficiency, Law firm associates, Law firm financial reporting, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, law firm project management, Law Firm Risk Management, lawyer training, Legal Education, Legal Project management, Legaltech, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Project management for law firms, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century | Tagged: , , , , , , | 14 Comments »

The Key for Law Firm Growth and Survival for the Coming Years is Contingent on Mastering Collaboration

Posted on December 8, 2011 by kowalskiandassociates

As we face a challenging 2012, it is obvious that among the critical tools each law firm must master is the art of collaboration. For law firms to survive what will be a bumpy road, collaboration and full engagement at every level is critical. Just like “plastics” was the magic word in 1967 and .com in the early 90’s, collaboration is the magic word for the months to come.

Clients continue to place pressure on outside counsel on pricing and efficiency. More work is done in house and by alternate vendors. More work is outsourced and sent offshore. More work is downsourced.

The key to being relevant and prosperous is to develop a culture of collaboration and engagement.

This collaboration must be vertical, lateral and horizontal. Full collaboration and engagement with the client is essential. Full collaboration with alternate vendors and other law firms representing the same client is equally critical.

At the same time, the law firm partnership itself must be fully engaged in a fully collaborative mode.

Thus, we present the essential primer of collaboration on the new playing field in which the legal profession finds itself.

Learn the art of collaboration and thrive. Ignore it at your peril.

Filed under: Alternative fee Arrangements, Downsourcing legal services, Electronic Document Discovery, Hiring and training lawyers, Lateral law firm partner, Lateral law firm partner movement, Lateral Partner, Law firm associate efficiency, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, law firm project management, Law Firm Risk Management, lawyer training, Legal Project management, Legal Project Outsourcing, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Outsourcing legal services, Project management for law firms, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century | Tagged: , , , , | 14 Comments »

The End of Alternative Fee Arrangements?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by kowalskiandassociates

The End of Alternative Fee Arrangements?.

Filed under: Alternative fee Arrangements, Crisis management, Downsourcing legal services, Hiring and training lawyers, Law firm associate efficiency, Law Firm Crisis Management, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, law firm project management, Law Firm Risk Management, lawyer training, Legal Project management, Legal Project Outsourcing, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Outsourcing legal services, Project management for law firms, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century, Value Billing | 1 Comment »

The End of Alternative Fee Arrangements?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by kowalskiandassociates

Are alternative fee arrangements a relic of the past? After being on the scene for barely two years are they bound for the trash heap?

The answer is resoundingly no. Rather, the market is requiring smarter and more collaborative fee arrangements. The market is also saying that meeting the need for continued reductions in the legal spend is not the sole province of AFA’s.

With the continued reduction in the legal spend, lawyers need to figure out how to deliver more service, higher quality at lower fee structures. Lawyers need to create new efficiencies; they need to learn to work differently. They need to learn to work more collaboratively.

Increasing amounts of work are being sent offshore and law firms as well as general counsel need to develop collaborative working arrangements with these LPO’s.

But, the real key to survival is ongoing collaboration and communication between counsel and client. Lawyers can’t just wait for the client to provide feedback. Most of the time you just won’t get any. A lawyer’s fatal mistake may just be assume that getting a new case from a client is positive and productive feedback. If you do that, the flow of new work may trickle to a halt and you won’t even realize that you have been given negative feedback, until it’s way too late.

Five significant firms failed in 2011. More will crumble next year. As Smokey the Bear says, “only you can prevent a forest fire.”

Filed under: Alternative fee Arrangements, Crisis management, Downsourcing legal services, Law firm associate efficiency, Law Firm Crisis Management, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, Law firm marketing, law firm project management, Law Firm Risk Management, lawyer training, Legal Project Outsourcing, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Outsourcing legal services, Project management for law firms, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century | Tagged: , , , , | 8 Comments »

Citibank’s Third Quarter 2011 Report on Law Firm Profitability: The Good News is That Cash Collections Were Up for the Quarter; The Bad News is There is a Lot More Tunnel at the End of the Tunnel

Posted on November 18, 2011 by kowalskiandassociates

Citibank’s Third Quarter 2011 Report on Law Firm Profitability: The Good News is That Cash Collections Were Up for the Quarter; The Bad News is There is a Lot More Tunnel at the End of the Tunnel.

Filed under: Downsourcing legal services, Hiring and training lawyers, Lateral law firm partner, Lateral law firm partner movement, Lateral Partner, Law firm associate efficiency, Law firm associates, Law Firm Crisis Management, Law firm financial reporting, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, Law firm partner layoffs, law firm project management, lawyer training, Legal Project management, Legal Project Outsourcing, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Outsourcing legal services, Project management for law firms, Public Relations, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century, Value Billing | 2 Comments »

Citibank’s Third Quarter 2011 Report on Law Firm Profitability: The Good News is That Cash Collections Were Up for the Quarter; The Bad News is There is a Lot More Tunnel at the End of the Tunnel

Posted on November 18, 2011 by kowalskiandassociates

Citibank’s Third Quarter 2011 Report on Law Firm Profitability: The Good News is That Cash Collections Were Up for the Quarter; The Bad News is There is a Lot More Tunnel at the End of the Tunnel.

Filed under: Downsourcing legal services, Hiring and training lawyers, Lateral law firm partner, Lateral law firm partner movement, Lateral Partner, Law firm associate efficiency, Law firm associates, Law Firm Crisis Management, Law firm financial reporting, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, Law firm partner layoffs, law firm project management, lawyer training, Legal Project management, Legal Project Outsourcing, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Outsourcing legal services, Project management for law firms, Public Relations, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century, Value Billing | 5 Comments »

Citibank’s Third Quarter 2011 Report on Law Firm Profitability: The Good News is That Cash Collections Were Up for the Quarter; The Bad News is There is a Lot More Tunnel at the End of the Tunnel

Posted on November 18, 2011 by kowalskiandassociates

Citibank’s third quarter report on law firm profitability for 2011 was just issued and while artfully couched in cautious euphemistic terms, there is much in Citi’s reports which should give law firm leaders much to be concerned about. Is it time to don sackcloth and ash? No, but it is certainly time to go to DefCon IV.

While Citi reports that collections for Q3 were strong, expenses are continuing to rise at a faster rate than law firm earnings. Equally disturbing is that corporate demand for legal services continues to decline for the third consecutive quarter and WIP similarly continues to decline. And service partners and counsel are working fewer hours, because there is simply less demand for work. Leverage is declining and the pyramid system only survives insofar as the pyramid has turned completely upside down.

What this tells us is that there is a whole in the bucket and as firms fill their bucket at the trough, more water is escaping than entering. You don’t need to be farmer to know that this is not a very good state of affairs.

Some firms are trying to fill their buckets by actively hiring laterals, which on close analysis does not provide much of a fix, since laterals come at substantial cost.

In short, the news from Citibank is, once again, there’s more tunnel at the end of the tunnel.

Filed under: Crisis management, Downsourcing legal services, Hiring and training lawyers, Lateral law firm partner, Lateral law firm partner movement, Lateral Partner, Law firm associate efficiency, Law firm associates, Law Firm Crisis Management, Law firm financial reporting, Law firm management, Law firm management strategies, Law firm marketing, Law firm partner layoffs, law firm project management, Legal Project management, Legal Project Outsourcing, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Outsourcing legal services, Project management for law firms, Retaining and Training Lawyers in the Coming Decade, Strategic law firm planning, The Law Firm of the Twenty-first Century | Tagged: , | 4 Comments »

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