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Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Business Process Management and Law Firms Image

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Business Process Management and Law Firms

Zachary Beauchemin & Alisha DiGiandomenico

Though traditionally considered laggards when adopting new technology, law firms have recently started to explore new tricks to fortify performance across their organizations. While this evolution is critical to a firm's survival, it's important that firm administrators understand that substantive improvements are only possible through multi-directional change.

Features

Lack of Gender-Diverse Partnership: Is It the Woman or the Firm? Image

Lack of Gender-Diverse Partnership: Is It the Woman or the Firm?

Daniella Isaacson

<b><i>Data-Driven Research by ALM Intelligence Suggests Three Reasons Why Gender-Diverse Partnership Fails</b></i><p>It is now common knowledge that female headcount within the ranks of Big Law partnership, both equity and non-equity, has held steady for the past few years at around 20%. The obvious question is, why?

Features

Showing Better 2017 Financial Results Just Got A Little Tougher Image

Showing Better 2017 Financial Results Just Got A Little Tougher

John Wilmouth & Gretta Rusanow

Will law firms' financial results for 2017 fall short of 2016? Legal industry results through the first nine months of 2017 suggest that's a real possibility.

Features

Can Millennials Save Your Law Firm? Image

Can Millennials Save Your Law Firm?

Lizzy McLellan

<b><i>After Years of Complacency About Their Business Model and the Pipeline for Talent, There's a Reason Law Firms Are So Worried About Managing the Millennial Generation</b></i><p>For law firms wringing their hands about how to manage the millennial generation — or asking why they should adapt to this crop of young lawyers in the first place — here's the bad news: If you're still clinging to traditional models for training associates and running the partnership, you've already fallen behind. The millennials are here, they're climbing the ranks, and they've already begun to transform the industry.

Features

How Many Excess Partners Does Your Firm Have? Image

How Many Excess Partners Does Your Firm Have?

Hugh A. Simons

It is widely recognized that Big Law has surplus partner capacity. What is less well recognized is just how massive this surplus has become, how unevenly it is spread across firms in different profitability cohorts, and what it portends for when the next downturn hits.

Features

Getting 'Gig'gy with It: The New 'Gig Economy' Image

Getting 'Gig'gy with It: The New 'Gig Economy'

Michael DeCosta

For the most part, law firms continue to structure themselves in a traditional operating and employment models with a dedicated workforce of talent arranged in an organizational hierarchy. In today's Gig Economy, this will unlikely hold.

Features

Read This Before You Set Your 2018 Billing Rates Image

Read This Before You Set Your 2018 Billing Rates

Hugh A. Simons

Setting the next year's billing rates follows a simple formula at most firms: last year's rate plus a common percentage increase across all lawyer cohorts. A more disaggregated approach is needed -- firms should set higher percentage increases for senior lawyers and lower increases for junior lawyers.

Features

The Administrative Services Hat Trick Image

The Administrative Services Hat Trick

J. Mark Santiago

At the ALA annual conference in Denver, I was speaking on how law firms could provide better administrative support for their attorneys and how alternative strategies were being deployed by some law firms to achieve those goals. After my session, the discussion continued with a group of participants and the hat trick metaphor was born.

Features

Law Firms, Partners Await Answers on Trump Tax Plan Image

Law Firms, Partners Await Answers on Trump Tax Plan

Christine Simmons

Will big law firms and their partners benefit from the new Republican tax plan promoted by President Donald Trump? Not necessarily, according to tax experts who say some gains may be eroded by loss of crucial deductions.

Features

What Do Practice Group Leaders Really Do? Image

What Do Practice Group Leaders Really Do?

Joel A. Rose

<b><i>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</i></b><p>Last month, the author discussed the fact that even though managing partners recognize the importance of developing and implementing sound principles of practice management, the extent to which the concept is successfully implemented varies greatly from firm to firm. He concludes his discussion herein.

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