In Brief: On Management How Do You Practice Strategy?
Management in law firms often struggle with the implementation of agreed strategies. After an elaborate review that led to a much celebrated declaration of the firm’s future direction, the demands of everyday business on most professionals put the new strategies on the backburner. It is back to business as usual. Arguably the most successful approach […]
Pricing of Services: A Methodological Approach for Intellectual Property Practices
“Many professional services firms put more creativity, mind power and time into a brochure or an advertisement than thinking about pricing policies. This is a serious mistake, [as]pricing is how the firm captures the value it provides to the market place.”Ronald Baker, Professional’s Guide to Value Pricing, 2001 The price, together with the client’s service […]
Building the Perfect Client Service Firm — From Scratch
What fun! The perfect client service firm! Is it possible? Individuals in private practice have said, “I know there is a better way to serve clients — a better way to practice. If I had the courage, I’d start my own firm and it would be different.” Law firms have started greenfield operations — practice […]
How Can You Survive in the Future? The Purpose of Law Firm Management
Anyone involved in law firm management should be able to answer the ultimate question: “What’s the purpose of your job?” During the last ten years, finding the right answer grew more complex as law firms became incredibly busy, mushroomed in size and turned into what some perceived as “factories” or “sweatshops.” Sometime in that hectic […]
Africa: Emerging Opportunities on the Dark Continent
What will Africa be like in the twenty-first century?
Protecting Your Crown Jewels
The Strength of Your Corporate Client Base Will Ultimately Determine How Well You Retain Your Strongest Players
Valuing and Judging Partners — Beyond the Elephant Test!
In recent times, these somewhat informal judgments have become more formalized as they often establish the basis for partner recruitment, promotion and reward. After all, there ought to be a better way of identifying the ideal partner beyond the “ELEPHANT TEST” — a creature which is hard to describe, but instantly recognizable when spotted. But, […]
Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management
A CATALYST FOR MANAGING PARTNERS WHO ASPIRE TO MOVE THEIR FIRMS FORWARDManaging Partners: Why is it that your intelligent (no, make that “super intelligent”) lawyers seem to react to your change initiatives like you were asking them to drink a tankard of poison, even when they know full well that the brilliant changes you are […]