We will soon start accepting submissions for the 2008 Law Firm Economic Survey.  This is our 3rd year to conduct the survey and in two short years we have created the largest survey of its kind focused on the mid-sized law firm.  Our survey serves several purposes, including but not limited to:

• Providing a measure of annual performance for mid-sized law firms based on per-partner income;
• Validating the core profit drivers that affect per-partner income;
• Providing expert analysis and content for managers to help increase per-partner income.

This year we are adding a focus on client development activities.  In our 2007 survey, 25% of managing partners responded that marketing and business development activities were their firm's best ways to achieve higher profitability.  In the 2008 survey we are asking managing partners what marketing and business development activities they utilize and how effective each are.

We are also asking questions regarding rate as it pertains to practice area.  I have had more questions regarding what firms charge for specific industries than any other finance-related question.  Attorneys want to know whether they are charging the appropriate market rate for their specific industry.  Since each industry can be pretty specific, we have chosen some broad practice areas that we hope will give firm leaders some insight into pricing. 

We are also hoping to do more regional breakdowns by rate, utilization, margin, leverage, etc.; another area in which we receive many requests.  Of course, the main focus of the survey will remain the law firm business model and the key profit drivers that affect per-partner income.

The survey will be broken down into two main parts:  the first part requires financial data and will take some time to assemble since there will be questions regarding 2007 year end numbers (such as standard blended rate by equity partners, non-equity partners and associates, and paralegals).  We will be conducting this part by telephone to help respondents with any questions.  We hope this will also reduce the possibility of invalid responses.  There have been several instances of firms having their responses disqualified due to inaccurate numbers after we were unsuccessful in our attempts to contact them to correct the responses.  We believe the best time to validate responses is at the time of submission and hope the telephonic interview process will help in this regard.

The second part will be for managing partners/shareholders/directors/etc.  Because this part doesn't require financial data (and thus shouldn't require assistance to complete accurately), it will be offered as an online questionnaire to encourage participation by managing partners.

The survey is geared to mid-sized firms.  For us, that means firms from 5 to 100 fee earners (which includes partners, associates, paralegals and others who bill clients for their work).  Although we hope to broaden the scope of the survey in the future, this year we are only accepting submissions from firms in the United States.

All respondents who complete the survey will receive a complimentary copy of our 2007 Law Firm Economic Survey and 50% off the price of the 2008 Survey.  The price has not changed and is still $495, so the value for participating is approximately $750.  The cost of the survey at $495 is among the lowest (if not the lowest) in the industry.  Further, firms who also complete the Managing Partner section of the survey will be offered a summary benchmark comparison of their firm against other respondents.  The benchmarking comparison is valued at over $1,200. 

Due to the time it takes to compile the data and prepare the survey for release (which we hope will be mid-summer), we are only accepting submissions for a two month period and may stop accepting submissions at any time after we reach our target of 375 respondents.  If you would like to participate in the 2008 Law Firm Economic Survey, please email me by clicking here and fill out the email request.

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Paula Black knows graphic design. John Remsen, Jr. knows marketing. The author of The Little Black Book on Law Firm Branding and Positioning has teamed up with Remsen to create The Little Black Book on Law Firm Marketing and Business Development.

The layout of the book has the trademark of a graphic artist - plenty of variation of font, paper type and thickness. This is no dry business book!

The content is, of course, what matters. The book takes a mixture of survey findings, anecdotes from several managing partners representing mid-sized firms, and a simple formula for marketing success:

Build a plan;
invest in the plan;
implement the plan;
measure the results.

John Remsen founded The Remsen Group in 1997 to help bring effective and cost-efficient marketing and business development programs to commercial law firms of all types and sizes. The Remsen Group provides services ranging from developing firm-wide marketing plans to helping firms plan firm retreats. The Remsen Group also organizes and presents the managing partner forum.

For more information or to purchase the book, click here.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris®. For information about Juris products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income contact Juris National Sales Center:

877/377-3740, e-mail info@juris.com or go to www.Juris.com.

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The flag flew from the second story of the Collins home over the long weekend in honor of our service men and women, past and present. I have a namesake nephew currently stationed in Iraq. To him, and all service men and women currently in harm’s way, thank you for your service and may God keep and protect you.

One of the Memorial Day activities over the long holiday weekend included the Edgar Soto Memorial Stage Races held in Nashville and the surrounding communities. About 500 cyclists competed in the Races. Cyclists were from all walks of life including the legal profession. One of the competing teams wore Juris® jerseys and another wore the green morepartnerincome™ jerseys. The morepartnerincome team is comprised of juniors and under-23 cyclists. It is a development team that will undoubtedly produce some world-class competitors.

Stephen Collins, CEO of Juris, Inc., (pictured above) has been the driving force behind the Edgar Soto Memorial races and their growing popularity. You can learn more about the event by reading the attached article that appeared in The City Paper on Tuesday, May 22, 2007. A copy of the article is posted on the blog Mastersracing.com. For the attached article, go to the post titled Edgar Soto Stage Race.

Cycling as a popular activity for lawyers has grown significantly over the last 10 years due in part to the success of Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner from Texas. There are parallels between competitive cyclists and successful managing partners. In cycling, as in law firms, measurement improves performance. Competitive cyclists use sophisticated computers installed on their bikes to meticulously record and measure every aspect of their training and racing to increase their odds of winning.

Stephen and I have talked about the possibility of having a morepartnerincome cycling camp for lawyers involved in law firm management. It could be a fun and effective way to bring lawyers together to network and learn how to better manage their firm. If you would be interested in a morepartnerincome cycling camp for attorneys, send me an e-mail at morepartnerincome@juris.com.

I can promise you world class cycling coaches as well as workshop sessions that will send you back to the law firm with profitable ideas and insights for increasing law firm performance and per-partner income.

If you are a cyclist and would like to help support the morepartnerincome junior team, you can make a contribution or purchase a morepartnerincome.com jersey by going to www.BikeReg.com. If you are not already registered on the site, do so and then use the search function to search for morepartnerincome.com. The proceeds of your jersey purchase go to support the team. Or if you prefer, e-mail me at morepartnerincome@juris.com.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income contact Juris National Sales Center: 877/377-3740, e-mail info@juris.com or go to www.Juris.com.
 

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As I headed to Las Vegas for the 2007 ALA conference, I started thinking about the one message I would like attending Legal Administrators to take home to their law firm leaders. My answer came from an e-mail I received that included the following sentence:

My old boss used to always tell me “Don’t try to save money on your attorney, your CPA, or your computer technicians.”

There is a lot of wisdom behind that advice. Attorneys understand the value of their own professional services and the benefit that their clients gain from the attorney’s experience and expertise. When it comes to making changes in the firm’s technology, the services of an experienced technology professional will, likewise, deliver benefits far in excess of their cost.

Law firm leaders, including managing partners, are revenue producers. They ration the non-billable time they devote to administrative and technology areas. While they are producing revenue, they look to their administrator to pull together the details for purchasing and implementing new technology. The administrator thus becomes the project owner. Firm leaders expect the administrator to make it happen. If the implementation is a success and the intended benefits are achieved, the administrator becomes a hero. Unfortunately, they can also become the villain of that story.

The role of hero or villain is cast during the purchase phase. The same project can turn one administrator into a villain while another, at a separate firm, becomes a hero. The difference invariably arises from the amount of training and professional assistance included in the proposal the administrator takes to the partners. The hero opportunity is forfeited when an administrator trims the proposed project costs by cutting recommended assistance and training.

Firms that go through change with ample training and with the guiding assistance of an experienced implementation specialist consistently have positive feedback about both the benefits realized and the implementation process. Firms that opt to “save money” by pushing through change on their own with limited understanding of the new technology or the impact that it will have on the firm often find the process painful and the intended benefits slow to realize. Those firms invariably wind up paying a much bigger project price in terms of disruptions and delayed benefits.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income contact Juris National Sales Center at 877/377-3740, e-mail info@juris.com or go to www.Juris.com.

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Last week I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of more than 50 managing partners and their administrators on the subject of law firm economics. The event was the annual managing partner luncheon held by the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the ALA. The timing was appropriate because the current Juris Law Firm Economic Survey is now open for participation. Survey materials have been mailed to over 2500 midrange-size law firms throughout the U.S. Law firms can also participate by going to http://www.jurisinsight.com/2006survey. Links to the survey are also available on www.Juris.com and www.morepartnerincome.com.

The Juris economic survey, one of the largest in the legal community, is unique in that it targets midrange-sized law firms, particularly those with 10 to 150 attorneys. The 2005 survey disclosed that partners in the top 25 percent earn twice the income of the next quartile and more than seven times the per-partner income of the lowest 25 percent. We expect this year’s survey to provide fresh insight into the economic state of these law firms and to shed more light on the behavioral differences that distinguish one law firm from another when it comes to the income the partners enjoy.The survey now open for participation covers financial results for the year 2006 as well as the outlook for 2007. Firms that participate in the survey receive the published results and accompanying analysis without charge. Other firms will be able to purchase the survey online from a number of sources including Juris.com and morepartnerincome.com.

The 2005 survey identified ten observations about midrange firms that influence law firm performance and partner income:

Partners bill more than associates

Less than optimal associate utilization impairs partner income

Realization is not a key differentiator for partner income

Top performing firms excel across all key performance indicators

Firm size (i.e. larger) is not a ticket to higher partner income

The negative impact or sensitivity to partner income of underperformance on key profit drivers is extremely significant

Top performing firms spend more

All firms can increase income through faster billing and collecting

Mid-sized firms do not invest in strategic planning and have an opportunity to improve performance by doing so

Law firms believe that they will continue to have pricing power

The 2005 survey results drove home a clear message. The top performing 25 percent of law firms, those whose partners earned twice as much as the next best performing group, paid attention to the numbers. They planned; they set goals; they measured performance; and they held people accountable.

I still have a few copies of the 2005 survey report. While the numbers are now getting stale, the suggestions and recommendations contained in the 55-page publication are still valid and valuable. Send me an e-mail at morepartnerincome@juris.com and, while supplies last, I will send you a complimentary copy of the 2005 report along with a hard copy of the 2006 survey forms. Complete the 2006 forms. Mail or fax them to Juris, Inc. or input your results online by going to http://www.jurisinsight.com/2006survey. Don’t miss this important and valuable opportunity to compare your law firm’s metrics with your peers and to gain new insights that can increase your firm’s per-partner income.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income contact Juris National Sales Center at 877/377-374, e-mail info@juris.com or go to www.Juris.com.

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For regular blog readers who saw yesterday's blog about Tom's surgery, it was a success!  You'll probably hear more about it from him later.  Until he's back at the computer, his pre-written blogs will be posted daily, starting with the following:

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According to a recent survey by Thomson Elite, 50 percent of law firms are planning to increase technology spending in 2007.   A large majority of reporting firms, 80 percent, say they will spend more on software than on hardware. Likewise, the survey indicates that firms do not plan on increasing technology staff levels.  The emphasis is on software and infrastructure investments to improve competitiveness and partner income.

Thomson’s finding parallels the emphasis on software indicated by law firms responding to an earlier Law Firm Economic Survey conducted by Juris, Inc.  In addition to financial information, the Juris survey polled participating firms about their financial and practice management priorities.  It turned out to be a wish list for better tools to guide the firm. Here are their top wishes:

• Real-time information for fee earners

• Improved reporting systems for better business intelligence

• Budgeting & forecasting tools

• Benchmarking tools to improve competitive information

The top two desires, real-time information and business intelligence, signals that traditional reports are no longer adequate. Managing partners want actionable information that is instantly digestible and in time to do something about it.  The new dashboard technology arriving on the scene is delivering on this need for constant situational awareness. Partners want timelier information in smaller doses. Rather than dig for information, they want to be alerted when their attention or action is needed. They want to control the flow of information according to what is important to them at the time. Delivering all of that is a big deal for software vendors. But the leading business system vendors are in business to address buyer preferences, so some exciting new breakthrough products are hitting the market—for example, the new Active Information from Juris, Inc. and Elite 3E® from Thomson Elite. 

Benchmarking's move into the top wish list reflects the growing awareness by law firm leaders that their firms can ill afford to continue flying blind. They need competitive intelligence.  They want to know key financial information from their peer and competitive groups. Surveys that are 12 to 18 months behind the curve aren’t satisfying that need.  Thus, we see the rise of new continuous benchmarking and monitoring services from the likes of Thomson, Redwood Analytics, and Juris.

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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Every managing partner needs a “C” drawer.  What is it?

It turns out the old advice about time management just doesn’t work in our fast-paced world.  You know what I mean…the A—B—C prioritizing system.  Try doing the “A” list first, the “B” list second, and then the “C”s, and you never get back to all the new “A” items or you spend most of your time majoring in minors working on “B” and “C” issues.

Time management is more about what you spend your time on and less about the order in which you spend it.  So as you go through all those items that make their way to your desk, put the Cs in your C drawer.  Most will take care of themselves.  If not, you can deal with them when they return as “A” items later.  Of course, there is always that problem when your “C” is someone else’s “A”, but that is the way the world turns.

As for “B” items, go back through them and decide if they are really “A” or “C” issues. There is no place in this world of “not enough time” for “B”s.

Here are a few other time management concepts I rely on:

M&Ms:  Remember to do the main things your success depends on and do each with the minimum resources required to achieve the objective (minimum doesn’t mean inadequate).

Majoring in minors:  We all prefer instant gratification. It is easy to fall into the habit of shuffling paper–doing those things that can be done quickly. Don’t major in minors.

Count the teeth: It is a long story, but the essence is, don’t waste your time and the time of others speculating on the determinable.  If you want to know how many teeth are in a horse’s mouth go count them. 

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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Lydia Ramsey is a business etiquette speaker and trainer and the founder of Manners That Sell, a firm offering keynotes, seminars and workshops to corporations, professional associations, government agencies, and colleges and universities.  As Lydia explains it, “My business etiquette presentations are designed for organizations that want their people to be at ease in any business situation and to represent them well in the marketplace.”

A number of managing partners have indicated a “lack of polish” among some Generation Y associates entering the law firm. But etiquette is not just about introductions and table manners.   Manners do sell.  People do want to do business with people they like, and people like nice people. Etiquette is about being nice and, we might even say, kind.

If improving etiquette within your firm interests you, sign up for Ramsey’s free Business Etiquette Newsletter.

In her January 2007 newsletter, Lydia Ramsey wrote on the importance of kindness in business referencing Ed Horrell’s new book, The Kindness Revolution: The Company-Wide Culture Shift That Inspires Phenomenal Customer Service. She wrote the following: 

“From the rampant indifference that we all encounter on a daily basis, he recommends that companies, large and small, switch to an attitude of kindness. He's not suggesting that the boss simply tell everyone "to be nice." He states that kindness starts at the top and penetrates every level of the organization. When everyone within a company treats everyone else with courtesy, respect and compassion, that attitude automatically gets passed on to the customers.”

How true that is.  I have always lived by the rule the Common Courtesy is a job requirement.  The notion of kindness kicks it up another notch.

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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One of my colleagues referred me to the article What is Driving Toyota by Mel Duvall on Baseline. There is a lesson for law firm managing partners here.

Behind Toyota’s astonishing success is information technology.  But the same technology is available to others.  So why has Toyota succeeded where others have not?  Why has Toyota been able to consistently produce higher-quality cars, with fewer worker hours, lower inventory, and fewer defects than any other competitor?

Toyota doesn’t credit its success to technology. The article quotes Philip Evans, a senior Vice President with the Boston Consulting Group who has studied Toyota.  Mr Evans explained, “What strikes me about Toyota is, if you were to ask them if they have a technology strategy, they would probably say no, we have a business strategy. They have a very clear understanding of the role technology plays in supporting the business." Technology is the tool they use to pursue the Toyota vision, and the gusto that drives their pursuit of that vision is the organization’s culture. “Its entire culture—its basic DNA—is built around continuously searching for better ways to improve its manufacturing and business processes, and ultimately achieve customer satisfaction,” says Evans.

For law firms to excel, they too must have a vision.  In order for those in law firms to pursue that vision as a team, they must share a core set of beliefs—a common culture. Ultimately, customer satisfaction should be the goal of any business.  What strategies will you rely on to achieve your vision? Once the strategy is set, technology should follow in pursuit of the vision by enabling the strategies.

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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