Walker Clark
Worldview Archives
What is the ROI for your partner compensation system?
At Walker Clark we view partnership compensation as a strategic issue. Our experience advising law firms worldwide demonstrates that a fully informed, well thought-out partner compensation system can produce a clear and measurable positive return on investment in less than two years. A good compensation system is also a major factor in creating long-term sustainable profitability.
A bad system, however, usually produces no ROI at all, and sometimes even a negative one.
Bad times? Good opportunities!
Law firms in some regions of the world are going though uncertain times.
At Walker Clark we believe that uncertain times can be the best times in which to invest some time, intellectual effort, and — yes! — even some consulting fees in getting a crystal clear understanding of two issues.
Partner Compensation: a Symptom or a Cure?
Partners in law firms sometimes tell me that their biggest problem is partner compensation. As one lawyer told me recently, "It is the only thing that is holding us back."
There can be a lot of truth to this statement.
Survival Tools for North American Law Firms
Law firms — indeed, most professional services firms — in North America will be confronted by some formidable challenges between now and the year 2030. Consolidation of the legal market, the emerging dominance of large service providers with national and global capabilities, a continued profitability crunch, and increased competition for professional talent are probably the most obvious threats to continued success. Independent small and midsize firms are the most vulnerable.
Resisting the Temptation to Cut Costs
Although some of the world's law firms are beginning to enjoy the results of a slow economic recovery, many others are not. In eastern Europe and Russia, for example, many firms are confronting the prospects of sharply declining fee revenues in 2015 from what were some of their most profitable practice areas and clients in 2013 and 2014. In such a scenario, it is very tempting to start cutting operating costs.
Resist that temptation.
Change Management and Strategic Success
Over the years — and especially in the past eight years — our firm has observed a direct positive link between the skill with which a law firm manages change and its return on investment in strategic planning.
Start small. Start now.
The new year has already begun!
We have never had a formal business plan or marketing plan!
Is it too late?
Are we truly doomed?
Why? and How? — Frequently Overlooked Questions in Marketing Plans
Law firms that have formal marketing plans (and every firm should have one) usually do a very good job of describing the what in marketing plans.
However, many of those plans do not consider the questions of Why? and How? These omissions make it much more difficult to manage the marketing plan to successful results.
What is your plan for network affiliations next year?
Business planning should be an intellectually rigorous and disciplined process, not just the last-minute production of a spreadsheet.
Opportunities for network affiliations should be one of several unifying and coordinating themes in planning. In too many business plans and marketing plans, however, they appear to be little more than afterthoughts.
Three Suggestions for Planning for the New Year
For law firms about to begin their 2015 fiscal year, this is when they should be putting the finishing touches on their business plans and marketing plans for the new year.
This post offers a few suggestions on business planning and marketing planning. If you adopt even one of these ideas, you will significantly improve the probability of successful results.
Three Questions for Better Crisis Management
The closing weeks of 2014 are proving to be very challenging for many law firms, large and small, around the world. There are things that every law firm should do now so that it can manage a crisis if it arises, rather than try to rely on improvised responses.
Should your firm have a non-lawyer CEO?
When should your law firm start thinking about hiring a full-time non-lawyer CEO to run your business?
The answer is highly specific to the firm, its location, and its practice areas. However, in our experience advising law firms about this issue, we have observed four indicators that it is time to give serious consideration to hiring a non-lawyer CEO.
Seven Tips for Better Panel Discussions
Based on the author’s experience as a moderator or member of more than 200 panel discussions at major international legal conferences, here are seven tips for a successful program.
This is one of ten most frequently read posts in the Worldview Archives, with more than 13,000 views since it was first published in 2014.
Fire? Flood? Storm? Earthquake? Epidemic? Plague of Locusts?
To help our clients prepare for, and respond to, emergencies better, Walker Clark LLC has studied how law firms respond — or fail to respond — when a disaster strikes.
We have identified four common but usually critical weaknesses in law firm disaster preparedness. These are not the only potential problem areas; but a weakness in any one of these areas poses a very high risk to the continued success — indeed, the continued survival — of a law firm.
Spin-Off: A Little-Known Strategy to Improve Profitability
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has left Barcelona.
The restructuring of their Barcelona-based practice reminds us of an often overlooked strategy to manage the profitability: the spin-off.
What if we go to a three-day workweek?
What if your managing partner announced that lawyers in your firm were required to work only three days per week and could take unlimited holidays?
What would be the reaction of partners in your firm?
When Risk Walks in the Front Door
Some of the biggest business risks in a professional services firm arise at the beginning of the client relationship, but they are often overlooked or not detected at all until a crisis strikes.
The Succession Balance
First-generation law firms face a special challenge when planning and managing the transition of the firm from the founding partners to the "next generation.”
Is your management team a profit center?
Where (or who) are the most important profit centers of your law firm?
Most lawyers would reflexively respond, "Our partners, of course!" or, if they are in a generous mood, "Our lawyers."
Well, not exactly...
How strong is your bridge to the future?
We expect to see an unprecedented number of law firms go through their first generational transition of leadership between now and the mid-2020s, as founding partners retire and the next generation assumes leadership of the firm.
This will not be a smooth transition for many small and midsize law firms, especially in emerging and recently emerged legal markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
