Building a Comp Plan That Works
August 12, 2003
On a recent visit to Altman Weil management consultants in Newtown Square, PA, I met with James D. Cotterman, a longtime contributor to (and just-retiring Editorial Board member of) this newsletter. Jim was the lead author and editor of both the 2nd and 3rd editions of the ABA-published book <i>Compensation Plans for Law Firms</i>. Regrettably I can't share with you Altman Weil's excellent hazelnut coffee, but I hope you'll enjoy the following condensed excerpts from our conversation about Jim's book. With Jim's concurrence, I've also prettied up my sketched notes on some compensation system and profitability interrelationships explained in the book; these flow diagrams appear on pages 2 and 5.
Avoiding Extinction in a Turbulent Legal Market: Financial Hygiene Perils
August 05, 2003
The early days of 2003 have brought a stark reminder to the leaders of law firms: While strong law firms have experienced an exceptional level of prosperity and growth in a consolidating market, continued expansion and ever increasing profitability are not the only potential destinies for law firms today. As the high profile closures of long established firms such as Brobeck; Peterson & Ross; Hill & Barlow and others demonstrate anew, firms can fail.
Fee-saving 'DIY's' for Start-ups
August 03, 2003
The predicted economic turnaround will certainly bring new business start-ups with it. This time around, however, an entrepreneur's first step shouldn't be buying a sock puppet or a Super Bowl commercial.
The USA Patriot Act and Private Equity Funds
August 03, 2003
The Patriot Act was signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001. Title III of the Act impacts the anti-money laundering provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The amendments were made to promote the prevention, detection, and prosecution of international money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Private Equity Valuation: A Significant Decision
August 03, 2003
Insiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.
Client Intelligence: IT, Marketing and Library Services Unite
August 01, 2003
As a futurist to what law firms need to be thinking about, I am always excited about "out of the box" methodologies that can impact the marriage of technology, research and marketing. Over the last few years, as IT and marketing departments have played a more prominent role in law firms, IT departments have rolled out software programs to assist marketing with the capturing of basic client relationship information for mailings, law alerts, programs and the like while at the same time working in tandem with the library to upgrade their legal research tools. Happily, with the advent of solution-based client intelligence/relationship management products, a new method of delivering all of this information can now be aggregated in one interface.
Your Firm In A Nutshell
August 01, 2003
Domestic and international corporations have long used slogans and tag lines as tools to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Think of Avis' "We try harder," Michelin's "Because so much is riding on your tires," and "Thank goodness for Kleenex." Consider as well Coca-Cola and McDonald's.<BR>Decades of research ' and corporate bottom lines ' support branding as a tool to help sell consumer goods. Can law firms use this technique, too?
Rev the Revenue: The Marketing Focused Retreat
August 01, 2003
Tear the roof off most any major law firm and what do you see? Massive amounts of unfocused marketing energy. From this 30,000 foot, leaders-eye view, responsible stewards of their firms should ask, "how do we harness this energy, how do we concentrate it to achieve our overall goals (assuming we have any), and how do we converge the activities of our individual lawyers, the practice groups, disparate offices, and departments in order to unleash the potential that we know exists?
On the Job
August 01, 2003
In law firms, it can be difficult ' sometimes impossible ' to get actionable feedback from responsible partners or administrative management on how well a marketing professional is doing his or her job. While nice, I'm not talking about the "attagirl"s or "you go boy"s that might come from many of lawyers and co-workers as support and encouragement or intermittent salary hikes. I'm referring to a regular, systematic process that lets you know whether your assignments and objectives are being achieved as the firm expects.
Ask The Coach
August 01, 2003
This month's questions:<p>Q: Like many law firms, to create access to new prospects we host seminars on a variety of topics. How can we differentiate our offerings in a virtual sea of seminars?<br>Q: How can we maximize the effectiveness of these investments?
