Walker Clark
Worldview Archives
Buying Time as a Wise Investment
Lawyers tend to greatly value efficiency. They tell us that control of their time, above all else, is an important factor in their personal and professional success.
Yet many law firm decision makers get stuck in a downward spiral of procrastination, unwilling to make a financial investment in protecting their time and even their sense of well-being.
Leadership in Times of Change
Law firm leaders tell us “We now have to accept change as the status quo."
And this means making judgment calls when there is insufficient time to find perfect solutions, or even to get all of the partners to agree.
The Value of Pessimism
Pessimism can be a valuable tool for getting things done.
The next time you say to a colleague, “Stop being so negative!” it might be helpful to make sure the benefit of their pessimistic thinking has been fully appreciated and used.
If it has, the better question is then, "How can we bring some balance to this discussion by using both pessimistic and optimistic thinking skills and behaviors?"
Watching How the Numbers Move
Most law firm leaders and managers watch their numbers very closely, but they often fail to notice how those numbers move.
Understanding variation in performance — how the numbers move — can provide profound insights into improving profitability.
Don’t let the big guys scare you.
From all the attention that "Big Law" is getting in the legal press and at legal conferences, one might erroneously assume that a relatively small number of large firms are destined to rule the legal world, and that smaller firms are irrelevant to the future of the legal profession.
Don't believe it.
Your Law Firm’s (Secret) Autobiography
Almost every law firm has some type of "about us" page on its website.
Have you ever considered what an honest "autobiography" of your firm would say?
Of course, it wouldn't be for publication, but it could be more important than what you publish to the world.
Survival Tools for Small and Midsize Law Firms
Law firms — indeed, most professional services firms — 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.
New Paradigms and Old Lessons for Cyberlawyers
Technology has been a fundamental component of the practice of law for a quarter-century; but most law firms have failed to understand how it is fundamentally changing – indeed, already has fundamentally changed – the practice of law.
Law firms must continue to evolve. Not all will be able to do so.
Can't innovate? Ask a client for help.
To paraphrase Marcel Proust, the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.
A focus group of your best clients could be your best guide to seeing, understanding, and becoming a "law firm of the future."
You have decided to change your partner compensation system. What’s the next step?
It sometimes seems as if there is an almost infinite range of structures and options for partner compensation systems in law firms. Choosing among them can be a challenge for anyone.
The biggest challenge for most law firms, however, is actually making the change, once they have decided what it will be.
Artificial Intelligence: The Legal Mind at its Best?
Law firm partners should invest a few minutes in their own future, by watching a recent series of TED Talks about artificial intelligence.
None of these talks deal directly with the practice of law, but all of them are highly relevant to the Scylla and Charybdis of profitability and competition that threaten small and midsize law firms throughout the world.
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.
Will the “lawyer of the future” be a computer?
Artificial intelligence will be as much a part of the "law firm of the future" as desks and paper have been for the past 200 years.
It also can be part of the "law firm of today."
This is one of ten most frequently read posts in the Worldview Archives, with more than 11,000 views since it was first published in 2017
Are American lawyers getting “poorer?”
The ABA Journal reports that lawyer salaries in the United States have fallen behind those of other professions.
It does not have to be that way.
The “Law Firm of the Future” or the Future of the Law Firm?
The International Bar Association has announced a conference on "Building the Law Firm of the Future," to be held in November 2017 in London.
It sounds interesting.
But I wonder if they have the topic backwards.
Are law firm “partners” obsolete?
In the past few weeks, I have enjoyed stimulating discussions with several Walker Clark clients about whether their law firms should have non-equity partners.
This subject leads to one basic question that has profound implications for many law firms today:
Should we have partners at all?
From Strategic Planning to Strategic Success: the “3x3” Model
The implementation of a law firm's most important decisions can be as simple as: Ready-Aim-Fire.
So why, in so many law firms, is it: Ready-Fire-Aim?
Does your law firm have a war plan?
At no time since the 1960s have the signs been more ominous.
One increasingly has the sense that the increasing tensions between the United States and North Korea will not end well.
If your practice involves Asian clients, cases, or transactions, especially in northeastern Asia, you should develop a "war plan" now.
Quality Assurance: Where to Start?
All law firms talk about "quality," but few can actually demonstrate it consistently. To ensure a significant return on investment, quality assurance must be planned and managed using supervision and documentation methods specific to each practice area. It must also incorporate the special needs and characteristics of risk management in legal practice.
With all the possible areas for improvement, even in well-managed firms, where should a law firm start to build a systematic, sustainable quality assurance system?
We recommend that you begin with a quality assurance demonstration project.
The International Challenge to Asian Law Firms
As international law firms from outside the region become more deeply embedded in the legal markets of Asia, the leading local and national law firms, which previously may have held relatively secure market positions, must respond quickly and accurately to these new competitors, or face relegation to the lower, less-profitable levels of the market.
