If I gave you all the time in the world to decide whether to purchase a non-essential service, would you tend to buy it quickly? This question has a self-evident answer that leads to a bedrock principal that underlies a lot of sales training programs: If you want to improve sales, establish some sense of […]
If your law firm is planning to do this holiday season what it did last holiday season, please reconsider. Gift giving is a way to recognize and reward those who have been unusually important to your business by giving them one of your most precious gifts—your time and individualized attention. Too many lawyers view the […]
I still come across lawyers who feel that the distinguishing feature of their practice is their technical skill as a lawyer. Most recently that sentiment was conveyed to me by a business litigator with about ten years of experience who feels that many of the lawyers he encounters aren’t as technically proficient or reliable as […]
There are two fairly obvious benefits to projecting revenues. One is cash flow; the second is work flow. Knowing how much money you expect to generate in the next 30, 60, or 90 days helps identify potential cash flow problems. That in turn can act as an early-warning system for a firm’s collections efforts. Likewise, […]
How much would you spend to promote a service that generated a $500,000 profit? There isn’t one single correct answer, but so long as you didn’t have more lucrative options, it certainly wouldn’t be irrational to spend $100k in marketing to generate such a profit. Too many aspects of law firm marketing and budgeting aren’t […]
Some law firm partnership agreements call for the equal division of profits among partners. This is especially true for newly created firms and firms with two, three, or four partners. In my experience this most commonly occurs when two lawyers come together to start a new firm and decide to split revenues and/or profits evenly. […]
You are a subject-matter expert. One of the areas in which you are an expert might, for example, be litigating disputes between healthcare providers. But that is hardly the sum total of your expertise. Experienced healthcare litigators know quite a bit about how physicians groups operate and how doctors think and work. Almost every practicing […]
What kind of law firm are you building? Whether you are a sole practitioner or the managing partner of a 200 attorney firm, that’s the question you have to constantly answer. You have to create the future in advance. That’s the essence of leadership. And one of the singular tasks of law firm leaders is […]
When did you last talk to your banker? Do you even know them by name or are they one of countless vice presidents who work for Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or other enormous financial institution? Your banker needs to understand your business well enough so that they can move quickly to help you if […]
How much should law firms spend to ensure that their computer systems aren’t hacked, and that they maintain the confidentiality of their clients’ information? A recent survey of AmLaw 200 firms suggests that they spend a little less than 2 percent of their revenues on cybersecurity. This estimate is likely to overestimate their actual expenditures. […]