Walker Clark
Worldview Archives
Partner Compensation: a Small Law Firm’s Biggest Risk?
Smaller law firms have much less tolerance for poor management. The loss of just a few clients or even one partner can have a disproportionately larger impact than in a larger firm.
One of the biggest risks to a small law firm — and one that is frequently overlooked or, in some partnerships, deliberately ignored — is its partner compensation system.
Merger, Best Friends, or Something Else?
Many small and midsize law firms find themselves in some difficult — and for most of them, unprecedented — strategic predicaments.
They also are confronted with a wide range of possibilities such as, mergers, Vereins, general and specialized networks, and "best friends" relationships.
How can each firm make the decision that is best for them?
When a Lateral Partner Candidate is at Your Door
The melodramatic title and image for this posting might overstate the point, but it is one that small and midsize law firms frequently overlook when recruiting a partner from another law firm.
Don't make decisions about how to navigate through this very important decision based only on what you believe that you see.
Confronting Cultural Realities
"Why don't we get the results we expect?"
This is a common frustration of many law firm partners and managers. One way partners can dramatically increase the likelihood of achieving satisfactory results is to incorporate cultural due diligence into their decisions and the execution of their strategic priorities and goals.
Is your partner compensation system a strategic liability?
The legal press this week gave us two interesting examples of how partner compensation systems, and the cultural assumptions and values that they represent, can thwart the efforts of excellent law firms to achieve their strategic objectives.
Is your law firm's partner compensation an asset in your efforts to achieve sustainable business success, or is it an obstacle?
Adopt a "merger mentality" even when it's not a merger.
Small and mid-sized law firms are receiving lots of proposals for affiliations that are less than a traditional law firm merger. They frequently ask us, "How should we evaluate these opportunities?" We advise our clients to approach them in the same way that they would to consider a full merger.
This is one of the ten most frequently viewed posts in the Worldview Archive, with more than 10,000 visits since it was first published in 2015.
Is merger the only answer?
Pay close attention to the recent flurry of merger discussions among midsize law firms. Unlike merger discussions during the past two or three years, which tended to be motivated by a defensive strategy -- i.e., increase size to protect the firm's ability to complete -- some of the recent discussions appear to be aimed at expanding market share and increasing the client base, rather than just maintaining it.
Let's look ahead to the period between now and 2020. The recent activity presents some strong clues about the future.
