Partner's Report for Law Firm Owners

Stephen Harper notes that the ABA recently released its report on the U.S. News & World Report’s law school rankings system that the magazine plans to extend to law firms. In his Belly of the Beast blog he reports that the ABA assessment ominously concludes:

Firms are investing more in marketing and business development initiatives, but are they mismanaging the fruits of their labor because they lack the discipline of consistent pipeline management? To become a better steward of the firm’s revenue generation opportunities, partners need to buy into a pipeline management process.

With the pool of new business development opportunities looking more challenging than promising, many firms are still deeply engaged in protecting what they have got and, plotting where they can develop new revenue streams from their existing portfolios. John Timperley, managing director of The Results Consultancy in London says that their success will depend largely on:

Do you really care about your clients? Consultant Gideon Grunfeld thinks the focus on money found in most law firms misses an important opportunity. Grunfeld’s analysis follows.

Bloomberg Law is a particularly well-funded and well-known “underdog” as it prepares to challenge heavyweights LexisNexis and Westlaw on their own turf.

UCLA’s basketball legend John Wooden, who recently passed away just shy of his 100th birthday, was a “coach’s coach.” His great admonition, “Failing to plan is planning to fail,” is a constant refrain in my own coaching advice. The important part of Coach Wooden’s message is not that everything can be anticipated; rather, it’s that, if you make no effort to anticipate at all, life will constantly come as a very unpleasant shock.

Most law firm managers recognize that increased billable hours which eventually get translated into cash receipts is the most fundamental issue to examine in determining the level of profits (or losses) generated by an associate. However, there are other criteria as well, perhaps equally as important, that need to be examined to properly make this analysis and arrive at some intelligent conclusion.

Editor’s Note: Bruce W. Marcus is a leading authority on professional services firm marketing. When he says that a law firm has created the perfect ad, law firm business developers should take heed.