The Best of MLF 2009: More Fabulous Articles

As Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Anne “Betiayn” Tursi told us last month when she reviewed January through June 2009, “In my long career in law, I've never seen a year quite like 2009 ' I think it was good for the profession, because it forced law firms to find new ways of doing business.”

Here is the rest of “The Best of MLF 2009,” from July through December.

JULY

Karen Sloan, a reporter for the National Law Journal, an ALM sister publication of this newsletter, interviewed our own Betiayn Tursi on Women in Law. Here are some excerpts:

Q.: What is your honest assessment of how women are faring in the law firm world?

A.: I don't think they are faring very well. There's a problem. There are two areas that need to be emphasized: business development opportunities and leadership opportunities. Neither one is being addressed in law firm women's initiatives, and they should be. Part of the problem is a generational thing and a succession thing. According to a 2007 study by the National Association of Women Lawyers, 84% of equity partners are men and 92% of managing partners are men. That, in and of itself, is the problem. The men are still controlling the business development and firm leadership. It's interesting, because the women are really left to their own devices. They're not being given opportunities to build a book of business or to become leaders. It's not looking good for the future.

Q.: What is the remedy to these problems?

A.: I believe the remedy is education. This is where the women's initiatives can play a vital role. They need to provide real-life examples of how to go out and get business. They also need to foster leadership by providing education on how to become a leader. Men become leaders because they have books of business. They're involved in business development. The boys' club still exists, so initiatives should strive to create educational programs that show women how to mine opportunities and understand the politics of the firm, and to express interest in becoming leaders. That's what my group does. We train women to develop business and be leaders.

Q.: What problems do you see with the women's initiatives at many law firms?

A.: I don't think spa weekends are very productive. I don't think bringing in a guest speaker to talk to women is very helpful. There's no substance there. These initiatives need to be about education, not inspiration. They need speakers who have built their own books of business. A lot of women go out and hire private coaches because the law firms aren't providing that education.

Q.: Should law firms be focusing on so-called “women's issues” such as flextime?

A.: At this point, the issue of flextime and work/life balance is in overkill. For better or for worse, sometimes it works at law firms and sometimes it doesn't. We don't talk about flextime in my group because that's a soft issue. In this environment, you want to be [in the office] anyway. These soft issues have been out there for 10 years. To me, that's not a priority, and I think a lot of women lawyers would agree. You want to be a leader and a business developer. For the women who have held leadership roles, business development is what got them there.

Q.: Has the focus on “women's issues” been a hindrance to raising the profile of women in law?

A.: Absolutely. Positively. The issues should be business development and leadership. A lot of women have said to me, “I can do it all.” No one can do it all. The nomenclature of “the mommy track” hurt women in law.

Q.: How should women go about developing business?

A.: Women develop business differently than men. You can't put them in the same room and teach them the same things. Men have more opportunities because many of the industries lawyers deal with ' like finance ' are dominated by men. They have those opportunities to bond and develop business. Women need to be shown how to develop those relationships. It can be as simple as local community activity. But more than that, it's about meeting the right people. You have to cultivate people who will give you business, but I don't think that means hitting the golf course. Become involved in philanthropy. I'll give a New York example, because I'm a New Yorker. You can join the Lincoln Center Business Council. You'll find board members of banks there. Women have to think of where the men are.

Q.: Do you think women generally want leadership positions in firms?

A.: I think more women would want to be there were they not intimidated. Law firms are still controlled by white males. They're the ones on the management committees and the compensation committees, and those are the leadership roles that count. Hiring partner, head of the practice ' those don't count.

Q.: Can you give me some examples of women who have figured out the law firm leadership puzzle?

A.: Candace Beinecke, the chair of Hughes Hubbard & Reed [in New York]. She's built a book of business and she's been a head of her firm for a long time. She and Mary Cranston [former chairwoman of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman]. She has a large book of business. Business development is key. Keeping your head down and being a good soldier isn't the key, even though that's something women have been taught to do.

AUGUST

Board Member Christy Burke taught us how to network for a cause:

Altruism. Many people pay lip service to it or aspire to do it “one day,” and yet many professionals seem to never quite get around to actually becoming involved. There are so many charities, foundations and volunteer organizations, all of which need guidance, energy and money, so it would seem so easy just to pick one or two causes or organizations you really believe in and then make time for those. Easy? Not always!

There is clearly no shortage of philanthropic activities that a lawyer can engage in, nor is there a limit to the positive results that can be gleaned from them. Civic and charity work puts you shoulder to shoulder with people who are leaders in the community and in the business world. By investing your time, skills and money in volunteer efforts, you stand to benefit your own morale, while also making and furthering contacts that can be extremely helpful to your legal career, both now and down the road. Altruism doesn't have to be something you do “one day” ' it can be something you do “today”!

SEPTEMBER

Ari L. Kaplan discussed “A New Beginning” for today's law schools:

Those producing lawyers and those employing them are proclaiming that expectations have changed, and that law students must adjust their behavior accordingly. “Thinking of law school as an assured meal ticket or as simply a safe harbor in which to weather the economic storm is probably not appropriate in today's world, particularly given the substantial debt that law students typically incur in order to pay for their education,” notes University of Miami School of Law Dean Patricia White.

In this new beginning, law students will be free to draw on their natural talents and capabilities at the outset of their legal career rather than ten years into it. And, the contraction in the market is likely to create more options, like customized career tracks, for the next generation. “If law students thoughtfully consider their future, it may end up in a better outcome for them, especially in this market,” says Laura Saklad. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

This transformation at schools and firms is altering the nature of careers in the profession. “American law schools now produce more graduates than there are traditional lawyering positions,” says Meg Reuter, Assistant Dean for Career Planning at New York Law School. “There is more opportunity to secure an alternative legal job, which often can be better remunerated,” she adds.

Opportunity-making is emerging as an essential element of success based on fundamental principles of thoughtful interaction. For that reason, it is incumbent on each student to forge a unique footing along this path, and for those in the profession to support that reinvention.

Those who flourish tend to: 1) highlight an area that is most interesting to them; 2) identify the people with whom they want to associate; and 3) understand where key issues in their areas of interest proliferate. These factors give them a sense of direction. Students who take the time to craft this brief plan are not just looking for a job; they are architecting a career. It is a mindset that has been passed from senior partner down to junior associate, and must now be transferred from practitioner to pupil.

This self-reflection is essential in an era where employers are looking for more than a block of clay to mold. They are looking for an individual who already holds the foundation for many of the qualities that they are expecting a few years in the future. A new level of legal training is emerging, which shares responsibilities between the student, the school and the profession. “It is important for those of us in the business of educating people to make sure that people are understanding what we can promise and what we can't promise,” says Dean White.

For that reason, students (and their now-licensed alumni of the past few years) need to immediately begin developing the techniques that rainmakers have honed over their careers. The advantage for them will be that because they are making the investment earlier, their dividends could be much greater than that of their predecessors.

OCTOBER

Mark Beese and Suzanne C. Lowe wrote an insightful article entitled “Leadership Isn't Management”:

Most marketing professionals and other non-attorney management realize that developing one's leadership skills is critical to success in a law firm. There is lots of guidance available ' in books, articles, blogs, conferences and more. Fortunately, much of it is specific to the business models of the service industry.

But let's be clear: Leadership is important, but it is not the same as management. You won't be as effective a leader of your organization unless you understand the difference. And, you have to consider how the management of a professional service enterprise is changing. Our marketplace is changing at a breakneck pace and on many fronts. Our firms are changing as well, from how we charge clients to how we compensate attorneys. A new kind of approach is required for effective management and leadership.

The difference between managing professional firms ' versus leading them ' came to light to Suzanne Lowe as she conducted research with scores of professional service firm managers, senior business developers and seasoned marketers for her new book, The Integration Imperative (Professional Services Books: 2009).

Many of these people remarked about the early days of the professional and business-to-business service arena, where executive committee members and managing partners held almost honorary positions (more akin to figureheads than actual managers). Leaders of professional firms tended to address marketing and business development effectiveness at the individual, geographic, or practice level (and still do).

This organizational model created a troubling legacy for today's firms. When it comes to growing their revenues and market share, today's professional firms aren't effectively integrating their marketing and selling functions. Most firms struggle to overcome numerous organizational structural and cultural silos. Their functional disconnects prevent professional firms from competitive effectiveness, impede their financial success, and hinder them from delivering optimal client service.

Even worse, professional service firms appear to be looking for marketplace effectiveness in all the traditional expansion tactics such as mergers, geographic expansion or star lateral recruiting. The real Holy Grail lies inside the firm: harnessing people differently, ensuring that marketing and business development is integrated into every function, and finding ways to engage attorneys and staff around a common vision and purpose.

Tomorrow's law firm leaders will be expected to achieve meaningful gains in competitive advantage, market share and profitability. In order to do this, they will have to harness their people differently through three “best practice” structural frameworks and three new cultural paradigms that benefit all the firm's stakeholders.

Tomorrow's professional firm executives will manage their organizations' go-to-market processes. But this focus must be on more than just watching the hand-offs from one functional “silo” to another. The Process Imperative calls for the creation of a broader functional oversight for marketing and business development, and a better prioritization of all marketing and business development initiatives. It includes making the marketing, business development, and client service processes more visible to everyone in the firm. Marketers need to become process engineers ' creating and evaluating integrative marketing and business development processes that can be applied throughout the firm. The current recession has forced many firms to “do more with less,” a trend that will not soon end. Law firm managers need to continually reinvent processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

The Skills Imperative

Tomorrow's professional firm executives need to direct and support each person's pathway to marketing and business development skills growth. Of course, many professional enterprises have well-recognized career pathways ' but these are focused mainly on revenue-generating practitioners. The Skills Imperative calls for managers to reframe advancement pathways for lawyers and staff, and to more clearly direct the steps every professional can take toward competency growth in marketing and business development. Marketers need to take responsibility for their own skill development and create opportunities for their staff.

The Support Imperative

Tomorrow's professional firm executives will redefine the lateral working relationships between one's peers in human resources, information technology, finance, legal, and other operational functions. Like lawyers, staff-level directors often act in silos of their own. Many professional service firms already enjoy the results delivered by the friendly, informal working relationships that exist between these support functions and their marketing and business development colleagues.

Three Cultural Models

When directing improvements of their firms' process, skills and support structures, managers should also direct three cultural models that foster the integration of marketing and business development.

The first cultural imperative is the adoption and communication of common vocabulary and process about marketing and business development. At too many professional firms, people struggle with serious misunderstandings about what marketing and business development actually are, and what attorneys and staff should be doing. Firms benefit from understanding the “company way” of marketing and business development, from the firm brand statement and elevator speech to acceptable processes for business development and client service.

The second cultural imperative is the creation of formal collaboration, shared accountability, and co-leadership standards for marketing and business development. At too many professional firms, people experience problems with boundary confusion, unevenly assigned accountabilities, or feelings of marginalization regarding marketing and business development. It's hard to drive toward marketplace effectiveness when people aren't working together as best they could.

The third cultural imperative is making expectations more explicit about how everyone can contribute to marketing and business development. At too many professional firms, job descriptions and performance measures are either nonexistent or outdated when it comes to outlining exactly how every function can help the enterprise achieve greater competitive advantage. This is where the difference between leadership and management is most obvious.

It's Time

It's time for law firms to move beyond their legacies of siloed marketing and business development functions. In order to do so, they will need to embrace the best practices of leadership, as well management principles about how to run a professional enterprise. The structures and cultural standards of the Integration Imperative can serve as important guideposts toward competing more effectively, realizing meaningful market share growth and serving clients optimally.

NOVEMBER

Of course, November marked the Fifth Annual MLF 50. According to Betiayn Tursi:

Back in April of this year when I started to think about announcing The Fifth-Anniversary MLF 50, I tossed and turned about whether, in these challenging times for law firms, there might be anything to talk about. I am happy to say that there is, and the great news is that what is going on in firms with active marketing and communications departments is quite remarkable. The big difference is that the programs being created and implemented are all tied to business development. Even in the branding corridors, business development is the catalyst and that's as it should be.

DECEMBER

In her Law Firm Intelligence column, Shannon Sankstone reminded us of the following:

We've all heard it: More work is staying in-house, law departments have been consolidating for years, and the work that is being sent to outside counsel requires alternative fee arrangements. As the marketplace for legal services has become more and more competitive, law firms have hired business development professionals to develop targeted responses to RFPs. Is it working, though? Has the firm brought in more business, and has it capitalized on its success?

Many firms cannot answer those questions, and for good reason: They do not have a win/loss analysis program in place. Fortunately, many firms have instituted components of a win/loss analysis program. These can be leveraged, combined and tweaked to develop a rich system for determining why the firm does or does not win new business.

---

Wendy Kaplan Stavinoha is Editorial Director of this newsletter.

As Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Anne “Betiayn” Tursi told us last month when she reviewed January through June 2009, “In my long career in law, I've never seen a year quite like 2009 ' I think it was good for the profession, because it forced law firms to find new ways of doing business.”

Here is the rest of “The Best of MLF 2009,” from July through December.

JULY

Karen Sloan, a reporter for the National Law Journal, an ALM sister publication of this newsletter, interviewed our own Betiayn Tursi on Women in Law. Here are some excerpts:

Q.: What is your honest assessment of how women are faring in the law firm world?

A.: I don't think they are faring very well. There's a problem. There are two areas that need to be emphasized: business development opportunities and leadership opportunities. Neither one is being addressed in law firm women's initiatives, and they should be. Part of the problem is a generational thing and a succession thing. According to a 2007 study by the National Association of Women Lawyers, 84% of equity partners are men and 92% of managing partners are men. That, in and of itself, is the problem. The men are still controlling the business development and firm leadership. It's interesting, because the women are really left to their own devices. They're not being given opportunities to build a book of business or to become leaders. It's not looking good for the future.

Q.: What is the remedy to these problems?

A.: I believe the remedy is education. This is where the women's initiatives can play a vital role. They need to provide real-life examples of how to go out and get business. They also need to foster leadership by providing education on how to become a leader. Men become leaders because they have books of business. They're involved in business development. The boys' club still exists, so initiatives should strive to create educational programs that show women how to mine opportunities and understand the politics of the firm, and to express interest in becoming leaders. That's what my group does. We train women to develop business and be leaders.

Q.: What problems do you see with the women's initiatives at many law firms?

A.: I don't think spa weekends are very productive. I don't think bringing in a guest speaker to talk to women is very helpful. There's no substance there. These initiatives need to be about education, not inspiration. They need speakers who have built their own books of business. A lot of women go out and hire private coaches because the law firms aren't providing that education.

Q.: Should law firms be focusing on so-called “women's issues” such as flextime?

A.: At this point, the issue of flextime and work/life balance is in overkill. For better or for worse, sometimes it works at law firms and sometimes it doesn't. We don't talk about flextime in my group because that's a soft issue. In this environment, you want to be [in the office] anyway. These soft issues have been out there for 10 years. To me, that's not a priority, and I think a lot of women lawyers would agree. You want to be a leader and a business developer. For the women who have held leadership roles, business development is what got them there.

Q.: Has the focus on “women's issues” been a hindrance to raising the profile of women in law?

A.: Absolutely. Positively. The issues should be business development and leadership. A lot of women have said to me, “I can do it all.” No one can do it all. The nomenclature of “the mommy track” hurt women in law.

Q.: How should women go about developing business?

A.: Women develop business differently than men. You can't put them in the same room and teach them the same things. Men have more opportunities because many of the industries lawyers deal with ' like finance ' are dominated by men. They have those opportunities to bond and develop business. Women need to be shown how to develop those relationships. It can be as simple as local community activity. But more than that, it's about meeting the right people. You have to cultivate people who will give you business, but I don't think that means hitting the golf course. Become involved in philanthropy. I'll give a New York example, because I'm a New Yorker. You can join the Lincoln Center Business Council. You'll find board members of banks there. Women have to think of where the men are.

Q.: Do you think women generally want leadership positions in firms?

A.: I think more women would want to be there were they not intimidated. Law firms are still controlled by white males. They're the ones on the management committees and the compensation committees, and those are the leadership roles that count. Hiring partner, head of the practice ' those don't count.

Q.: Can you give me some examples of women who have figured out the law firm leadership puzzle?

A.: Candace Beinecke, the chair of Hughes Hubbard & Reed [in New York]. She's built a book of business and she's been a head of her firm for a long time. She and Mary Cranston [former chairwoman of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman]. She has a large book of business. Business development is key. Keeping your head down and being a good soldier isn't the key, even though that's something women have been taught to do.

AUGUST

Board Member Christy Burke taught us how to network for a cause:

Altruism. Many people pay lip service to it or aspire to do it “one day,” and yet many professionals seem to never quite get around to actually becoming involved. There are so many charities, foundations and volunteer organizations, all of which need guidance, energy and money, so it would seem so easy just to pick one or two causes or organizations you really believe in and then make time for those. Easy? Not always!

There is clearly no shortage of philanthropic activities that a lawyer can engage in, nor is there a limit to the positive results that can be gleaned from them. Civic and charity work puts you shoulder to shoulder with people who are leaders in the community and in the business world. By investing your time, skills and money in volunteer efforts, you stand to benefit your own morale, while also making and furthering contacts that can be extremely helpful to your legal career, both now and down the road. Altruism doesn't have to be something you do “one day” ' it can be something you do “today”!

SEPTEMBER

Ari L. Kaplan discussed “A New Beginning” for today's law schools:

Those producing lawyers and those employing them are proclaiming that expectations have changed, and that law students must adjust their behavior accordingly. “Thinking of law school as an assured meal ticket or as simply a safe harbor in which to weather the economic storm is probably not appropriate in today's world, particularly given the substantial debt that law students typically incur in order to pay for their education,” notes University of Miami School of Law Dean Patricia White.

In this new beginning, law students will be free to draw on their natural talents and capabilities at the outset of their legal career rather than ten years into it. And, the contraction in the market is likely to create more options, like customized career tracks, for the next generation. “If law students thoughtfully consider their future, it may end up in a better outcome for them, especially in this market,” says Laura Saklad. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

This transformation at schools and firms is altering the nature of careers in the profession. “American law schools now produce more graduates than there are traditional lawyering positions,” says Meg Reuter, Assistant Dean for Career Planning at New York Law School. “There is more opportunity to secure an alternative legal job, which often can be better remunerated,” she adds.

Opportunity-making is emerging as an essential element of success based on fundamental principles of thoughtful interaction. For that reason, it is incumbent on each student to forge a unique footing along this path, and for those in the profession to support that reinvention.

Those who flourish tend to: 1) highlight an area that is most interesting to them; 2) identify the people with whom they want to associate; and 3) understand where key issues in their areas of interest proliferate. These factors give them a sense of direction. Students who take the time to craft this brief plan are not just looking for a job; they are architecting a career. It is a mindset that has been passed from senior partner down to junior associate, and must now be transferred from practitioner to pupil.

This self-reflection is essential in an era where employers are looking for more than a block of clay to mold. They are looking for an individual who already holds the foundation for many of the qualities that they are expecting a few years in the future. A new level of legal training is emerging, which shares responsibilities between the student, the school and the profession. “It is important for those of us in the business of educating people to make sure that people are understanding what we can promise and what we can't promise,” says Dean White.

For that reason, students (and their now-licensed alumni of the past few years) need to immediately begin developing the techniques that rainmakers have honed over their careers. The advantage for them will be that because they are making the investment earlier, their dividends could be much greater than that of their predecessors.

OCTOBER

Mark Beese and Suzanne C. Lowe wrote an insightful article entitled “Leadership Isn't Management”:

Most marketing professionals and other non-attorney management realize that developing one's leadership skills is critical to success in a law firm. There is lots of guidance available ' in books, articles, blogs, conferences and more. Fortunately, much of it is specific to the business models of the service industry.

But let's be clear: Leadership is important, but it is not the same as management. You won't be as effective a leader of your organization unless you understand the difference. And, you have to consider how the management of a professional service enterprise is changing. Our marketplace is changing at a breakneck pace and on many fronts. Our firms are changing as well, from how we charge clients to how we compensate attorneys. A new kind of approach is required for effective management and leadership.

The difference between managing professional firms ' versus leading them ' came to light to Suzanne Lowe as she conducted research with scores of professional service firm managers, senior business developers and seasoned marketers for her new book, The Integration Imperative (Professional Services Books: 2009).

Many of these people remarked about the early days of the professional and business-to-business service arena, where executive committee members and managing partners held almost honorary positions (more akin to figureheads than actual managers). Leaders of professional firms tended to address marketing and business development effectiveness at the individual, geographic, or practice level (and still do).

This organizational model created a troubling legacy for today's firms. When it comes to growing their revenues and market share, today's professional firms aren't effectively integrating their marketing and selling functions. Most firms struggle to overcome numerous organizational structural and cultural silos. Their functional disconnects prevent professional firms from competitive effectiveness, impede their financial success, and hinder them from delivering optimal client service.

Even worse, professional service firms appear to be looking for marketplace effectiveness in all the traditional expansion tactics such as mergers, geographic expansion or star lateral recruiting. The real Holy Grail lies inside the firm: harnessing people differently, ensuring that marketing and business development is integrated into every function, and finding ways to engage attorneys and staff around a common vision and purpose.

Tomorrow's law firm leaders will be expected to achieve meaningful gains in competitive advantage, market share and profitability. In order to do this, they will have to harness their people differently through three “best practice” structural frameworks and three new cultural paradigms that benefit all the firm's stakeholders.

Tomorrow's professional firm executives will manage their organizations' go-to-market processes. But this focus must be on more than just watching the hand-offs from one functional “silo” to another. The Process Imperative calls for the creation of a broader functional oversight for marketing and business development, and a better prioritization of all marketing and business development initiatives. It includes making the marketing, business development, and client service processes more visible to everyone in the firm. Marketers need to become process engineers ' creating and evaluating integrative marketing and business development processes that can be applied throughout the firm. The current recession has forced many firms to “do more with less,” a trend that will not soon end. Law firm managers need to continually reinvent processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

The Skills Imperative

Tomorrow's professional firm executives need to direct and support each person's pathway to marketing and business development skills growth. Of course, many professional enterprises have well-recognized career pathways ' but these are focused mainly on revenue-generating practitioners. The Skills Imperative calls for managers to reframe advancement pathways for lawyers and staff, and to more clearly direct the steps every professional can take toward competency growth in marketing and business development. Marketers need to take responsibility for their own skill development and create opportunities for their staff.

The Support Imperative

Tomorrow's professional firm executives will redefine the lateral working relationships between one's peers in human resources, information technology, finance, legal, and other operational functions. Like lawyers, staff-level directors often act in silos of their own. Many professional service firms already enjoy the results delivered by the friendly, informal working relationships that exist between these support functions and their marketing and business development colleagues.

Three Cultural Models

When directing improvements of their firms' process, skills and support structures, managers should also direct three cultural models that foster the integration of marketing and business development.

The first cultural imperative is the adoption and communication of common vocabulary and process about marketing and business development. At too many professional firms, people struggle with serious misunderstandings about what marketing and business development actually are, and what attorneys and staff should be doing. Firms benefit from understanding the “company way” of marketing and business development, from the firm brand statement and elevator speech to acceptable processes for business development and client service.

The second cultural imperative is the creation of formal collaboration, shared accountability, and co-leadership standards for marketing and business development. At too many professional firms, people experience problems with boundary confusion, unevenly assigned accountabilities, or feelings of marginalization regarding marketing and business development. It's hard to drive toward marketplace effectiveness when people aren't working together as best they could.

The third cultural imperative is making expectations more explicit about how everyone can contribute to marketing and business development. At too many professional firms, job descriptions and performance measures are either nonexistent or outdated when it comes to outlining exactly how every function can help the enterprise achieve greater competitive advantage. This is where the difference between leadership and management is most obvious.

It's Time

It's time for law firms to move beyond their legacies of siloed marketing and business development functions. In order to do so, they will need to embrace the best practices of leadership, as well management principles about how to run a professional enterprise. The structures and cultural standards of the Integration Imperative can serve as important guideposts toward competing more effectively, realizing meaningful market share growth and serving clients optimally.

NOVEMBER

Of course, November marked the Fifth Annual MLF 50. According to Betiayn Tursi:

Back in April of this year when I started to think about announcing The Fifth-Anniversary MLF 50, I tossed and turned about whether, in these challenging times for law firms, there might be anything to talk about. I am happy to say that there is, and the great news is that what is going on in firms with active marketing and communications departments is quite remarkable. The big difference is that the programs being created and implemented are all tied to business development. Even in the branding corridors, business development is the catalyst and that's as it should be.

DECEMBER

In her Law Firm Intelligence column, Shannon Sankstone reminded us of the following:

We've all heard it: More work is staying in-house, law departments have been consolidating for years, and the work that is being sent to outside counsel requires alternative fee arrangements. As the marketplace for legal services has become more and more competitive, law firms have hired business development professionals to develop targeted responses to RFPs. Is it working, though? Has the firm brought in more business, and has it capitalized on its success?

Many firms cannot answer those questions, and for good reason: They do not have a win/loss analysis program in place. Fortunately, many firms have instituted components of a win/loss analysis program. These can be leveraged, combined and tweaked to develop a rich system for determining why the firm does or does not win new business.

---

Wendy Kaplan Stavinoha is Editorial Director of this newsletter.