Walker Clark Worldview
commentary and insights for law firm leaders
Are you ready for unexpected opportunities?
Sometimes the greatest risk is the risk of unexpected success.
According to recent coverage, some of the largest U.S. law firms have become less likely to contest Trump administration actions in his second term, reportedly due to new executive pressures and retributive policies targeting law firms perceived as adversaries. As a result, cases that would traditionally be absorbed by these firms are cascading down to smaller practices—many of which face limits in staff, technology, and financial resources to handle this new caseload.
Taking on a sudden, unpredictable surge in caseload can jeopardize a small firm’s service quality, staffing capacity, and client relationships.
Is one year enough?
Should your law firm move to a “rolling” two-year business plan?
Engagement Letters and First Impressions
By reframing engagement letters as a strategic communication tool, law firms can strengthen relationships from day one.
Here are three often-overlooked opportunities that can transform engagement letters into instruments of lasting client engagement and satisfaction.
Integrating Business Planning, Compensation, and Career Advancement
The competition for legal talent has never been fiercer.
One strategy stands out for its clarity, simplicity, and effectiveness, especially for small and midsize law firms: integrating business planning, performance-based compensation, and career advancement into a unified career management path for senior associates and partners.
This post explores the structure and benefits of such an integrated system, how each component can be tailored to your firm’s unique needs, and why it is a transformative force for law firm performance and long-term lawyer retention.
Five Ideas for Better Partners Meetings
Better partners meetings build better partnerships.
Law firms make a big mistake when they avoid partners meetings or minimize their importance to being little more than an occasionally required ceremony.
Such an approach, although perhaps understandable in some law firms, is a short-sighted mistake, because it denies the firm access to one of its most important assets: the collective experience, insights, and wisdom of the partnership.
Here are five suggestions that Walker Clark clients have used to make their partners meetings more productive.
Assessing Risk: A Law Firm’s Best Strategy for Managing Regulatory Fluctuation
A centralized strategy for assessing your current practices, gathering information about the effectiveness of those processes, and integrating credible source information into your processes is the most reliable way to assure the most protection for your firm.
Regulatory Analysis for Law Firms
Regulatory analysis is a perfect example of how regular, intentional analysis can yield immediate, sustainable improvements to profitability through greater protection from risk.
Commonwealth Lawyers Association's Declaration on AI: A Commitment to Ethical Governance
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the global landscape, offering transformative possibilities while posing significant challenges. Recognizing its dual potential, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) has issued a comprehensive Declaration on AI, emphasizing ethical governance, human rights, and sustainability. This statement, released on April 9, 2025, outlines seven guiding principles to ensure AI's responsible development and deployment.
“Trump-Proofing” Your Law Firm
As we at Walker Clark have been meeting since January 2025 with clients and professional friends worldwide to discuss their priorities and concerns for the next 12 to 24 months, many of them – across the world and the political spectrum – have used the same phrase to describe their anxiety about the uncertainties that lie ahead: “How can we Trump-proof our firm?”
