Walker Clark
Worldview Archives
Seven Keys to the Future of Independent Law Firms in Asia
The effects of globalization of legal markets pose a unique set of risks and opportunities for independent law firms in Asia.
This brief article outlines seven observations of Walker Clark LLC members, some of whom have more than 20 years’ experience advising Asian law firms on strategic and operational matters.
Market leaders lead the market.
When a group of law firm partners discusses significant possible changes in their firm, at some point one of them often will say: "But no other firm in our market does this..."
My colleagues and I usually have three responses when we hear this from one of our clients.
Could the end of the legal market as we know it be at hand?
Sir Nigel Knowles, the global co-chief of DLA Piper, and the architect of DLA's remarkable transformation from a regional law firm in England to a major global brand, has published some interesting thoughts in today's on-line edition of The Lawyer.
I am not sure that I agree with everything that he says, but I strongly recommend that lawyers everywhere, in large firms and small alike, read and consider carefully his interpretation of ongoing events in the legal markets.
What excites you?
A good business case can be persuasive.
Excitement is what can make it compelling.
Will We Succeed? Five Tests for Strategic Implementation
There are two phenomena that are far too common in law firm strategic planning.
The first is the the exciting, visionary, brilliantly-written strategic plan that collects dust on a remote bookshelf in the managing partner's office and is never implemented.
The second is the plan that consumes substantial resources — especially partner time — but produces disappointing results, and sometimes counterproductive ones.
Does your law firm play baseball or soccer?
This is an excellent question to ask your colleagues in your law firm.
One of the main cultural reasons why many law firms fail to achieve the success that they crave, both collectively and individually, is that the partners metaphorically play baseball, when they really should learn to play soccer (what the rest of the civilized world correctly refers to as football).
What prevents judges from being independent?
Most countries with reasonably developed legal systems recognize the importance of judicial independence to the rule of law. Judicial independence often can be more than a just an academic theory or empty slogan. Nonetheless, the independent judiciary is under assault today, including in the United States.
This is not new.
The Risks Within
The critical issues in a governance consultation can present themselves in many forms, such as: an outdated partnership agreement; a failure to think about succession until it is almost too late; disputes over compensation and the respective rights of partners; the absence of the flexible but reliable internal structures needed to manage change.
However, they almost all involve a profound need to identify and manage internal business risks, which are usually more dangerous than anything that the external market can throw at the firm.
Why Judicial Independence Matters
As world events have made increasingly clear during at least the past 15 years, the rule of law is not only a worthy philosophical concept, but is also a basic requirement for the stable economic environments necessary for sustainable growth and development.
It is a vital interest of every lawyer — even the most hard-nosed commercial lawyers — and every client. Without the rule of law, every client's rights, interests, and future are at risk, even those of the wealthiest and best-connected members of society.
What Binds Us Together
In these days of sanctions, sabre-rattling, and "red lines," it is refreshing to see how the common values and commitments of the legal profession prove stronger than the political, economic, and ideological differences that would divide us.
This is one of the ten most frequently read posts in the Worldview Archives, with more than 11,000 views since it was published in 2014.
A Profitability Agenda Item for Your Next Partners’ Meeting
Do you want to quick-start your firm's efforts to improve your profitability?
At your next partners' meeting or partners' retreat, invest an hour or two in reviewing your write-offs. This exercise can provide actionable insights into issues that you and your partners might not have been noticed otherwise. It can produce very substantial improvements in profitability in a very short time, usually with only minimal investments of time, attention, and resources.
“Backwards” Planning
"We are great at making plans, but we can never implement them."
This is a common observation by partners and managers at many law firms. Their firms invest substantial amounts of time, effort, and money on planning, but most of the plans never achieve anything.
Or, if they do, the results are far less than what the firm had hoped.
Is a network a good strategic investment for your law firm?
This is the fourth and final article in a series of posts that consider the future of professional services networks. It investigates the links between law firm networks and law firm strategy.
Internal Value: A Hidden Opportunity for Law Firms in Professional Services Networks
The internal value of membership in a professional services network has the potential to have a much greater positive impact on a law firm's bottom line than even a robust flow of referrals from other network members. In some firms it could be the compelling reason to join a network.
Currently, internal value is a largely unknown concept for most networks and their members. Law firms should now consider to what extent professional services networks could help them to increase the productivity and profitability of their internal operations.
Does your network deliver external value?
Most law firms join networks to gain substantial external benefits, such as referrals of clients and matters, the opportunity to collaborate with other firms on large projects, and better market visibility. For many law firms, that decision produces disappointing results.
In this post, we will consider the future of professional services networks from the perspective of the tangible external value that they deliver --- or not. What can law firms expect in terms of external value as part of the return on their investment?
This is one of the ten most frequently read posts in the Worldview Archives, with more than 12,000 views since it was published in 2014.
Understanding the Investment in Professional Services Networks
This is the first in a series of four posts that consider the future of professional services networks, with particular reference to their strategic value for law firms.
We will suggest three perspectives from which the future of networks should be considered, and from which law firms that are members and prospective members of those networks should engage in an ongoing evaluation of whether participation in a network is likely to continue to produce a reasonable return on investment.
What fuels your partnership: trust or suspicion?
Trust is one of the most prevalent governance challenges facing growing professional services firms today.
This is not just a "feel-good" issue or a matter of preserving an artificial collegiality that might have been more characteristic of small law firms one hundred years ago. The level of trust that exists among partners has a direct and measurable effect on the firm's business performance.
Diversity: An Overlooked Asset in Law Firms
An article in the on-line edition of The Lawyer on 1 April 2014 paints a disappointing picture of the extent to which women have been able to move up into the senior ranks of partners at leading U.S. law firms in London.
Although the reasons for this poor showing vary from firm to firm, the bottom line is that these firms — like so many others in the United States and elsewhere — continue to ignore the importance of diversity to the business success of their organizations, and a few apparent antediluvians in the legal profession continue to dismiss diversity as irrelevant.
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.
Making Lemonade
Crisis usually brings opportunity, and one of Ukraine's leading law firms, Sayenko Kharenko, has demonstrated commendable strategic agility in response to the Crimean crisis in a newsletter that they published today.
