Law Firm Management

At a recent CIO panel, an audience member asked the three of us on stage: "What do you see as your number one priority in the coming 12 months?" I responded "cybersecurity" without hesitation. The panelist that followed said that cybersecurity was a priority, but that it is a subset of risk management. This was not the first time I have heard the chief information pro and/or technologist in a large company make that point, and I have to respectfully disagree.

These days, productive lawyering, successful onboarding of lateral hires, and effective Legal Project Management (LPM) all place a huge premium on effective collaboration. But lawyers are neither naturally collaborative nor comfortable as team players.

Contradicting the ordinary rules of supply and demand, law firms have continued to jack up hourly fees faster than flat demand and a projected 1.7% annual inflation rate would suggest.

Recent data reveals that Latin America is the fastest-growing emerging market for Am Law 200 firms. The reason for U.S. firms' growing interest in the region is clear: Many Latin American economies boast above-average GDP growth and strong economic ties to the U.S. and Europe.

Legal Project Management has seen an explosion of interest from the legal industry in recent years. It has been touted as the key to efficient legal work and a cure-all for the woes of fixed fees, fee caps, and lawyers who blow budgets. But there are drawbacks.

A $3.5 billion asset forfeiture case that the DOJ brought in July grabbed the public's attention for the alleged purchases involved: a luxury jet, a Beverly Hills mansion, Las Vegas casino junkets and a stake in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Wolf of Wall Street. But for experts in how law firms handle client funds, another detail in the case may merit special scrutiny.

Law firm CI, in practice, can have a powerful impact even if it is not being used to improve management decisions. Despite criticisms, here is why it works.

While most firms like to consider clients to be those of the firm and not of any particular attorney within the firm, it is generally acknowledged that specific attorneys are responsible for developing, nurturing and maintaining the firm's relationship with each of its clients. This article describes a common procedure that may act as a guide to transitioning clients during a partner's pre-retirement years.