Convergence

The year 2010 finds us in the final year of the first decade of the third millennium, in the western calendar at any rate. One thing is abundantly clear: the future is not what it used to be. If there ever was a time when one could rely heavily on forecasts in crafting strategy, then that time is past. Today’s leaders of law firms need to be able to simultaneously juggle three seemingly incompatible goals:

1. To define and execute a strategy in order to sustain and maximize the value that the firm delivers to its owners into the future, based on the capabilities and resources that it has and that it can reasonably achieve or realize; and
2. To ensure that the firm is agile, robust and resilient enough not only to withstand unexpected and unforeseen changes in the market but to capitalize upon them; and
3. To deliver sufficient short-term profitability to be able to meet owner expectations and compete effectively for talent.

Never before has this been more difficult, nor the way forward so uncertain.