May 31, 2006
Partner Goals Should Determine Law Firm Plans
Extracted from a paper by Howard L. Mudrick, President of HM Soloutions
The individual goals and philosophies of the partners form the foundation for building the firm's future. Unless the partners have common goals, the firm cannot have a future direction. Partners may all be pulling in a different direction, fighting for priority over the firm resources they need. When a firm is just starting, the common goal of "making it" from a financial standpoint is often enough to motivate partners to work together. Once the honeymoon is over, the partners need more. They need to develop a common philosophy of practice regarding:
- How hard are they willing to work?
- What level of profits is needed to satisfy partners?
- To what extent should they specialize?
- What kinds of clients do they want to serve?
- What type of work will the firm do? How sophisticated must the work be to keep the lawyers challenged?
- Can the lawyers work as a team? Does the compensation system encourage teamwork?
- What are the partners' marketing attitudes? Are they willing to participate in a formal marketing effort? Do they agree on who, how and what to market?
More about Howard L. Mudrick: Mr Mudrick is president of HM Solutions, Inc., a Dallas based management consultancy to the legal profession. Howard Mudrick, a CPA and a former partner at Hildebrandt, has more than 20 years experience consulting with law firms plus on-ground experience in financial management positions with midsized law firms. For a copy of Howard Mudrick’s paper titled Will Fate Plan Your Future or Will You?, email HLMudrick@aol.com.
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