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Cost Recovery in 2018: An Evolving Internal and External Strategy
It's now been 10 years since the economic crisis of 2008, and just under 10 years since we saw the greatest dip in demand for services experienced by the legal market. The market has stabilized since then, but growth has remained, year-over-year, flat. The Thomson Reuters 2018 Report on the State of the Legal Market shows this trend will continue as we see a market characterized by flat to sluggish growth, a continued decline in productivity, modest rate increases and the continued downward pressure on realization. (A free copy of the report can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/2oaRwbz.)
While over the past 10 years, firms have started to get a handle on their expenses, The State of the Legal Market Report notes a slight uptick in expenses overall for firms — and while this is likely a result of raising associates' pay, it does shine a light that firm's expenses are an area of evolving and necessary strategic thinking. What, if anything, are firms missing when it comes to strategically controlling expenses? Similarly, what, if anything, could firms be doing to improve recovery of costs? Are firms recovering for new areas of support? If so, how?
As stated above, we at Mattern & Associates think 2018 will show an increased focus on costs, as well as the applicable recovery of these costs. We also think that the data will continue to reveal that the greatest obstacle to an improved recovery strategy in 2018 as mostly “internal.” The most recent decade — starting with the downturn of 2008 through today — shows on average a 20% decrease in billable hours actually billed. This means more attorneys every year are writing off billable costs before they reach the invoice. While the percentage of these charges have been paid by clients at relatively stable rates — in the high 80% range — for the same period.
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