empty office chair with the word vacancy

Why Law Firm Managing Partners Should Bill Fewer Hours

If the managing partner of your law firm regularly bills 150 hours per month or more, they are not spending enough time managing the firm. This is particularly true for boutique law firms, where the value of many managerial decisions far exceeds even the highest hourly billable rate. Moreover, regardless of its size, if you […]

Magnifying glass looking at AI (Artificial Intelligence)

The American Bar Association First Ethics Opinions on AI

Artificial intelligence is an increasing concern in the law industry, even if most lawyers do not recognize the true extent of its potential impact yet. To that end, the American Bar Association offered some guidance regarding the ethics of using Generative AI tools, with the publication of Formal Opinion 512, in July. Their restrained approach […]

sharing financials

The Right Way a Law Firm Should Organize Its Invoicing and Collections Processes

Lawyers are bad at being paid on a timely basis. According to a 2023 report published by Clio, concerning mid-sized law firms:  11% of legal fees go unpaid on average across the industry.  The average time gap between sending an invoice and getting paid in full is 52 days. This tells us that most law […]

human losing chess game to computer

The Future of Law Firms in the Face of Artificial Intelligence

It’s hard to know the extent to which artificial intelligence will impact law firms in the next five years. But studying the history of technological change can shed light on how to approach and answer this question.   The history of computer chess is instructive. For many years theorists argued that it was not possible […]

The Current Status of Non-Lawyer Ownership of Law Firms

In 2022 we wrote an article about the debate surrounding Rule 5.4, which for decades has prevented non-lawyers from investing, splitting revenue, and participating in the management of law firms. Two years later, some incremental changes have been achieved, but the path of a complete reform still seems unlikely.   On one hand, Utah, Arizona, and […]

Five Initial Steps to Raising Your Hourly Rates

This is the first in a series of posts about one of the most important and impactful decisions a law firm can make: how to increase your hourly rates. Law firms and other professionals that charge by the hour often leave thousands if not millions of dollars on the table by not having a strategy […]

working remotely sticky note

Mid-Level Associates Have More Power Than Many Law Firms Realize

The latest development in the ongoing saga to convince workers to return to the office full-time is sadly predictable. Some law firms are becoming more vocal in suggesting that those who don’t return to the office will be laid off in the next economic downturn.  A recent article published by JD Supra is indicative; it’s […]

high rise office lease

Freshfields Signs 15-year Lease in New York City

Reuters reports that UK-based Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has signed a 15-year lease for new larger offices in New York City.  Freshfields is no stranger to New York; it opened its NYC office in 1977 and now has more than 200 lawyers in the U.S. It has had a good track record of hiring lateral partners […]

magic circle

Recent Trends Impacting International Law Firms Looking To Grow their U.S. Presence

A recent article published in the Global Legal Post does a good job summarizing what some of the so-called “Magic Circle” U.K. Firms have been doing to grow their presence in the U.S. Specifically, the article identifies recent moves made by Allen & Overy, Freshfields, and Linklaters to hire lateral partners from Am Law 100 […]

May—A Good Month to Adjust Your Law Firm’s Marketing Plan

The first third of the year is behind us and it’s an opportune time to analyze your law firm’s financial performance and make changes to grow revenue and improve profitability.   Your financial reports should be complete through the end of April, and four months of results are enough to identify potential changes in course. This […]