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The Practice Group: A Firm Management Tool Or an Anchor?

By Bruce W. Marcus
June 28, 2007

The popularity of the practice group ' an entity within a firm comprised of those who practice a specific area of law or serve a specific industry ' is well grounded, in that it opens a number of advantages to managing a practice and better serving clients. But so complex and management sensitive are practice groups that they open, as well, the easy propensity to misuse the practice group concept in a classic case of poor management canceling the value of a good concept.

The business environment faced by lawyers today is very different from that of just a decade ago. The practice of law is changing rapidly before our eyes, and increased competition calls for stronger and more imaginative competitive measures. Other factors responsible for this new environment comprise a long list that includes globalization, new regulation, increased client sophistication, competition, and substantial technical advances. The practice group, and its ability to focus on the singular needs of an area of legal practice served by specific practices and client groups is, therefore, an effective contributor to a firm's ability to compete and function in this decade and beyond. It's both a tool and a weapon for effective firm management. It changes the traditional concept of firm and practice management, for the good of the firm and its clients. If properly managed, it's both a tool and a weapon for firm management on many levels. And ultimately it offers the firm greater transparency of all of the firm's practices.

Where once the practice of law was performed essentially by as many entrepreneurs in a firm as there were lawyers, with the practice group structure, the group creates a synergy that allows the firm to function with the full force of a firm's skills.

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