Walker Clark
Worldview Archives
Is social entrepreneurship part of your firm's strategic future?
Does your firm know about social entrepreneurship? Should you be thinking about it as a possible strategic initiative?
The answer to both questions should be "yes."
This is one of ten most frequently read posts in the Worldview Archives, with more than 10,500 views since it was first published in 2015.
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.
Too Many Good Ideas
A managing partner of a client law firm of Walker Clark recently told me, "The problem with our firm is that we have too many opportunities and too many good ideas. At the end of the day we are like dogs chasing our own tails."
This is a frequent phenomenon in successful law firms.
“Zero-Tolerance” Profitability: Quality Assurance and Profitability
Every law firm says that they delivery quality.
For most of them their quality program is nothing more than a slogan on their website.
This is the final installment in a five-part series of posts that focuses on profitability in small law firms and solo practices.
“Zero-Tolerance” Profitability: Do you always make money for your partners?
"Hyman Roth always makes money for his partners."
Forget for a moment the somewhat less desirable business practices of the Miami-based gangster Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part II. Can you say the same thing about each of your partners? Can they say that about you?
This is the fourth in a five-part series of posts that focuses on profitability in small law firms and solo practices.
“Zero-Tolerance” Profitability: Why are we doing this work?
Have you ever been tempted to discontinue some of the services that your law firm offers? That could be one of the most important things that you can do to improve your firm's profitability.
This is the third in a five-part series of posts that focuses on profitability in small law firms and solo practices.
“Zero-Tolerance” Profitability: Should you fire some of your clients?
One of the worst mistakes that small law firms make is to hold onto clients that are not profitable and probably never will be profitable.
This is the second in a five-part series of posts that focuses on profitability in small law firms and solo practices.
“Zero-Tolerance” Profitability in Small Law Firms
This is the first of five posts about the most dangerous mistakes that small law firms make with respect to profitability.
These same problems exist with at least equal frequency in large and midsize firms. They are "zero-tolerance" issues, however, because small law firms usually have much less tolerance for unprofitable practices and operations than do larger ones.
Are traditional law firm networks obsolete?
A number of our law firm clients have asked whether they should try to join a law firm network.
Our answer usually is “it depends.”
Debunking the Cult of the Rainmaker
Too many law firms sacrifice too many opportunities and too much human capital as they worship before the idol of the rainmaker.
Priorities, Low-Hanging Fruit, and Risks
One of the most intriguing and sometimes most frustrating issues in strategic planning often arises when a law firm's leaders consider the question "What should we work on first?"
Among all of the attractive strategic goals that we have set for ourselves, which ones should receive the most immediate priority in terms of our management attention, resources, and action?
Knowledge Management: The Bottom Line(s)
Is "knowledge management" worth the investment?
Even now, well into the 21st century, I frequently hear this question from managing partners, practice group leaders, and other fee earners, especially those in smaller law firms with limited resources to invest in technology.
When does “professional courtesy" become “free advice?”
Law firms can lose a lot of money on what should be profitable client relationships by providing too many services "off the clock." This phenomenon usually arises when a partner repeatedly provides advice as a "professional courtesy" or as a "client relations" activity, rather than charging a fee.
Social Media: a Two-Edged Sword
Although there are a limited number of situations in which social media can be a useful part of a law firm's marketing tactics, social media also present serious risks for managing partners and other prominent lawyers whose firms depend on their market presence and reputation.
In short, social media can make you look ignorant, intellectually eccentric, or just plain silly.
The Vortex Just Over the Horizon: Strategy, Succession, and Governance
Most of these firms are midsize firms (for their respective markets) that have enjoyed fast growth and financial success over the past 15 to 20 years. Their partners feel, with considerable justification, that they "are at the top of their games."
As these same partners look into the middle distance of 2020 to 2025, the most perceptive of them see serious problems ahead. Another of our clients recently referred to this as "our vortex — a place just over the horizon were several forces could come together in a way that could put in jeopardy everything that we have achieved and maybe even sink us."
Does your law firm have an associate retention plan?
Recruiting good associates into a law firm is difficult enough. Keeping the good ones is even harder.
In almost almost every legal market in the world, the toughest competition is not for clients but for legal talent.
Five Things Outside Counsel Don't Know
There was a very important panel discussion at today's session of the World Services Group North American regional meeting in Park City, Utah. Every law firm lawyer who works with a general counsel in a client organization could take away some valuable insights.
Why Law Firms Fail: Not Understanding Profitability
This the third and final post in the current series about the most frequently observed factors in the business failures of law firms. The previous two articles on this subject described the failure to observe and anticipate and the failure to invest as two weaknesses that, if one probes deeply enough, can be found in most law firm failures. They also describe important risk management tactics that can improve the odds of long-term success.
The third frequent factor in law firm failures is the partners' lack of an understanding of profitability — how their firm makes money or, as is often the case, doesn't.
Why Law Firms Fail: Failure to Invest
One of the most difficult challenges for law firm leaders is to lead their partners from a short-term focus on cost (and the effects of operating costs on their end of the year profit distributions) to an investment mentality.
This is the second in a series about factors that most frequently contribute to the business failure of law firms.
Why Law Firms Fail: Failure to Observe and Anticipate
There is no simple answer to the question "why did a law firm fail?"
This is the first in a series of posts that will point out some of the most frequent causes.
