July 14, 2006
Law Firm Prerequisites for Effective Competition
The following was extracted with permission from a paper by Howard L. Mudrick, president of HM Solutions.
The firm must be well-organized internally to allow the partners to focus their efforts externally—dealing with the firm's competitive position in the marketplace rather than bickering about internal issues. You have to be well-managed, which means a number of things:
- Having a well-understood decision-making process that defines specifically who is responsible for, and has authority to make, which decisions. Where major decisions are delegated to a managing partner or an executive committee, a means to building consensus and communicating direction is critical. A formal decision-making structure is not enough. To be in a position to make quick decisions, the firm's culture must be one where partners support decisions with which they may not agree. Decision by veto or stonewalling can take a firm out of competition faster than anything else.
- Developing a culture in which partners are willing to be held accountable and are willing to hold their colleagues accountable for their actions. This is one of the most difficult things to achieve in most small firms. Whether it is an unproductive partner, one whose quality of work is not on par with others in the firm, one who is a malpractice risk or one who is a disruptive force, most small firms hesitate to take action. This can be a major obstacle in moving the firm to a position of strategic strength.
- Having partners adhere to practice management guidelines dealing with specialization, quality control, quality service to clients, work intake, billing and collection guidelines, work assignment, and delegation.
- Having a financial management system to help ensure financial stability. You want to make sure that you're getting the most from your resources.
- Involving all partners in marketing, client service and the growth of the practice. Being well-managed means instituting a partner compensation system that rewards activities crucial to the firm's success.
More about Howard L. Mudrick: Mr. 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 complete copy of Howard Mudrick’s paper Will Fate Plan Your Future or Will You? , email HLMudrick@aol.com.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
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