Bruce MacEwen, an economist at heart, reminded law firm leaders that sooner or later, they are going to face another recession. His post on Adam Smith, Esq. noted that the Hildebrandt/Citigroup 2007 Client Advisory anticipates that the 2007 bottom line for U. S. law firms will be squeezed by increasing cost with little, if any, revenue growth over 2006.

Morepartnerincome’s outlook for midrange law firms is more optimistic. Nevertheless, as Bruce reminds us “….we all know one lies in store sooner or later.” The important question posed by MacEwen is, “Will you be ready?”

Prepared organizations not only survive the periodic downturns of a cyclical economy, they prosper in relation to peers. They come out of recessions stronger with increased market shares. Bruce MacEwen’s post includes some examples from the commercial world. Morepartnerincome offered the following 2007 advice in the earlier post Law Firm View of the Economic Outlook for 2007:

While the outlook is for a good year, it may be one best suited to consolidating your gains and strengthening your law firm financial health and operation performance—emphasizing improved planning, workflow efficiency, and the firm’s overall performance metrics. Concentrate on improved effective rates, better scheduling and delegation to the firm’s associates and paralegals as well as on faster billing and collection. Use this period to replace any remaining legacy systems. You don’t want to get caught in recession or downturn with systems that are no longer supported or that become operationally unsound. Nor do you want to have the competitive disadvantage of being behind your peers.

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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The Harvard Business Review’s February 2007 issue included a scholarly article dealing with protecting a business’ reputation. The authors noted that firms with a strong positive reputation attract better people, can charge a premium for their services and products, and enjoy greater client loyalty. 

The Catch 22 is that the more important your reputation is, the more vulnerable it is to anything that damages that reputation.  So what proactive measures can you take to protect this extraordinarily valuable firm asset?  After-the-fact crisis management is not the answer.  Actions taken at that point are attempts to minimize the damage already underway. 

Start by assigning someone the responsibility for managing the risk. It starts by monitoring and intellectually questioning three important aspects of the risk and then mobilizing coordinated efforts through the firm leadership to head off threats that appear on the horizon.

We are always judged by others—clients, vendors, employees, peers, competitors, etc.  What we are is determined through their eyes and not our own. The responsible individual should take steps to track through various means the three aspects of reputation risk listed below.  Report to the leadership and recommend prophylactic measures where appropriate.  The three areas are:

Reputation Gap: How are we perceived by those who judge us versus our reality?  The greater this gap, the greater the risk.  Action is needed to change the perception or the reality to close the gap. A failure to live up to inappropriate reputation can be as costly to the firm as a failure to live up to the reputation you previously earned. Likewise, the failure of the public to give the firm due credit and market position means it will not get the business it should have and is likely to attract the wrong prospective clients.

Changing Expectations: How are the standards of those who judge you (and enterprises like you) changing?  Are tastes, ethics or values changing?  Are clients changing what they look for in terms of how they relate to their providers?  What about the things they value most? Is it loyalty, responsiveness, friendliness, or other things?  Do they want to socialize or get right to business? Do they value gray hair or youth?  Do they want to do business by phone, email, or in person?  Do they expect a center city premium location?  Is convenience or prestige more important? Failure to see changing preferences in our fast-paced times can erode your reputation in a few short years.  How quickly did your law firm embrace e-mail or the growing expectations for law firm web sites?  Do your attorneys understand the expectations of the Generation X and Generation Y clients that will replace your baby boomer clients as they leave the scene?

Organization-Wide Coordination: Once we understand the reputation we have and want, the next question has to be, are we acting in accord with that reputation? Is every department and every individual aware of our reputation goal and performing accordingly?   Do our phone handling practices reinforce our image or bring it into question?  How about how we receive visitors to the office?  Are our communications with clients consistent with our image? Do our couriers represent us consistent with our reputation?  Do we have partners, associates, or others who aren’t on board?

In most firms, risk to reputation is not currently managed.  Responsibly has not been assigned.  Those who enjoy a stellar reputation should take note: their most valuable asset will always be a risk.  The first step in managing that risk is to put someone in charge.

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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Yesterday I received a pre-release briefing on the latest addition to the Juris suite of law firm software, Juris Active information.  While I avoid writing blog posts that are, or appear to be, a commercial, there are times when the benefits of new capabilities are just too important not to share with morepartnerincome readers.  

Juris, Inc. has been revolutionizing how business and competitive information is presented and used in the law firm.  The addition of Active Information to the Juris software suite is another example of the performance edge Juris law firms have over their peers.  What Juris has been doing through its product development program is moving the event horizon for law firm leaders to the present and slightly over the edge into the future.  Juris Active Information targets actionable and navigable information to the individual in the firm to whom it is relevant and then can provide it in an instantly digestible form.

What do I mean by “event horizon”?  Event horizon is a boundary in space/time beyond which events cannot be observed.  Managing Partners and other law firm leaders have been at a disadvantage for years because their information systems only told them about events occurring well into the past.  In other words, information available to them is out-of-date.  It is about events that have already occurred.  It is too late to take any action to change the outcomes of events that have already occurred.  

If we draw a vertical line to represent the present in a law firm, the future would be to the left of that line and the past to the right.  See the image below:

Over the years law firm leaders have had little or no information about the present or into the future.  Traditional reports are often available only weeks, sometimes months, after the period on which they are reporting.  Even if they were immediately available, they are still just historic documents—looking only backward into the past.  They give you no opportunity to change the present—your current situation.

What is needed to guide a law firm to a targeted goal is information that is:

• Timely

• Relevant

• Accurate

• Comprehensive, and

• Navigable

Most law firm systems provide accurate and comprehensive information but come up short when it comes to timely.  The less timely it is, the less relevant or useable it is.  And unfortunately the available information is usually not navigable.  It is static or inert-numbers and text printed on paper or displayed on a computer screen.  You can’t navigate through the information to more detail or to other related information.  The typical information provided is not actionable without the additional work of information gathering and analysis.  Rather than information that is instantly digestible and actionable, the individual is left to analyze information to isolate that which is relevant and then to determine if action is required.  All of this is another way of saying “information, information everywhere and nothing to quench my thirst for knowledge.”  The typical law firm event horizon is shown below:

Juris has been moving the event horizon to the present and slightly over the edge into the future.  It is targeting actionable and navigable information to the individual in the firm to whom it is relevant and providing it, wherever possible, in an instantly digestible from.  The information is dynamic versus static and inert.  It can be manipulated, extracted, rearranged and navigated through to more details.

Juris is revolutionizing how business and competitive information is presented and used in the law firm.

• Juris anywhere/anytime .NET technology tracks firm-wide client services (including activity normally beyond the event horizon in that it has not yet been submitted to the firm’s accounting department) to provide a real time view of fee earner activity.

• Juris dashboard technology provides working attorneys and law firm leaders with situational awareness over their area of responsibility.

• Active Information targets and delivers actionable information to the person for whom it is relevant—information that is both tailored to the individual’s need and that is timely, immediate, and navigable with drill down capability.

• Juris Insight automatically collects and tracks the law firm’s performance metrics against its peer group providing firm leaders competitive information and benchmarks for achieving the firm's targeted goals for the future.

And there is more on the way—including advanced budgeting and forecasting to take the present budgeting capabilities of Juris to an entirely new level for law firm management.

By moving the event horizon, Juris Law firms benefit from income increasing capabilities and resources unavailable elsewhere.  While others are digging through reports to find out what happened, Juris dashboards communicate instantly digestible information—current to the moment and in time to change the outcome.  While others are analyzing last year’s surveys, Juris law firms can view the law firm’s performance against current information for its peer group—because measurement improves performance.

The Juris team is unapologetic about the motivation behind its new product development activities.  It is a commitment to increase the income and wealth of law firm owners, the equity partners.  Doing that in a way that benefits all, clients and the firm’s non-partner employees, is accomplished by “Doing the right things and doing them right.”  One of the ways Juris, Inc. has been helping Juris clients do that is by moving the “event horizon”.  

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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By: Guest author Janet Strevel Hayes

I have heard the question a million times - usually from another lawyer poking fun at the politically correct terminology. “Isn’t “flexible schedule” just a politically correct way of saying ‘part time’?” Hmmmm, I struggle to find the appropriate response. After all, most lawyers working a “flexible schedule” are working fewer hours and receiving less pay than their peers. Thus, it would stand to reason that they are “part timers.”

However, in my mind, “part time” conjures an image of a lawyer working specified hours, doing routine tasks until he clocks out, at which point the doors to the office and the courtroom are sealed shut while the lawyer disappears into his own world of personal oblivion until time to show up for the next appointed shift at the firm. While that may be the reality of some “part time” jobs, that is not an appropriate representation of flexible scheduling for lawyers.

Instead, “flexible scheduling” is, as the name suggests, a working relationship wherein the lawyer and the firm both agree to be very flexible in the work arrangement. In some senses, the flexible schedule is the epitome of professionalism in that the lawyer’s focus is on meeting the needs of clients rather than fulfilling a firm’s office hours requirement. The firm expects the lawyer to meet the needs of the clients and meet certain business expectations, then the firm allows the lawyer to determine how and when to best accomplish those tasks.

At its core, “flexible scheduling” seems to be this generation’s best effort to retain women in the legal profession. For years, women have struggled to find a role in the law. Initially, women fought to gain entrance into law school. Then many women who were stars in their law school classes were excluded from jobs within the profession. Now, the opportunities for women to work in the law abound. However, in many cases, it seems that we still struggle. There are some women who are able to continually dazzle jurors with brilliant stories in the daytime and sooth children with magical stories at bedtime. But for many of us, it has been difficult to soar as legal eagles once we become grounded with parenting responsibilities.

“Flexible Scheduling” is a solution offered by some law firms. While the model and method of implementation differs from firm to firm, the basic tenants of flexible scheduling are the same. First, flexible scheduling allows women to work from home. In our world of voicemail, e-mail, handheld wireless and laptops, we have all grown accustomed to working in remote locations. We work in hotels, on planes and in cabs, so why not work from home? Modern technology enables the lawyer working a “flex schedule” to stay at home and stay connected to clients and the office.

Another characteristic of flex scheduling is the ability to work varied hours. I’ve never met a successful attorney who worked nine-to-five. For years we have known that the law sometimes demands weird hours. The attorney working a flexible schedule works during the times when family needs can be met by a spouse or other caregiver. Sometimes that means writing briefs on Saturday nights and sometimes that means meeting with clients in the evening. In all cases, it means working at some times when most other people are not in exchange for being able to stay at home when most others are at work.

Finally, almost all “flexible schedule” models contemplate working fewer hours for some season of a lawyer’s life. At least one hiring partner at a large firm has joked that his “flex schedule” attorneys are a boon for the firm because they end up doing 100% of the work for 80% of the pay. However, most agree that committing to a flex schedule without committing to handle fewer cases is inviting failure for everyone. Some attorneys accomplish this workload reduction by utilizing associates or peers, others limit their practice to a select group of clients and others commit to working in support roles for other lawyers. Of course, the flex time lawyer should expect to pay a price for the reduced workload. The price tag may come in the form of less pay, missed opportunity for promotion, and/or limited potential for growth.

For most, flexible scheduling is not necessary and for many it is not worth the cost. However, for a few, like me, it is a fabulous opportunity. I have worked a flexible schedule for almost four years. Unfortunately, it has not proven to be the secret solution to the working mom’s eternal dilemma. (When I’m at home, I still worry about clients and cases. When I am at work, I still worry about childcare and children’s activities.) However, I am sane (mostly) and very happy. In the last four years, I have savored special mornings snuggling with my son and spending time helping with my daughter’s class at school - things I would have missed had I been obligated to be at the office. I have also savored the thrill of courtroom argument and enjoyed the accomplishment that comes with having a case against my client dismissed – things I would have missed had I given up my practice.

So call it what you want, “flex scheduling,” “reduced workload,” gee I don’t even care if you call it “part time.” For me, it has simply been a gift – a wonderful opportunity that my partners have given me to continue to shine for the clients who call me counselor while savoring precious moments with the angels who call me mom!

About the author: Knoxville Tennessee attorney Janet Hayes with Lewis King Krieg & Waldrop, PC, litigates a variety of civil defense cases in the state and federal courts of Tennessee. Her practice focuses primarily on the defense of employment-related claims, including workers' compensation, retaliatory discharge, sexual harassment, and discrimination. Ms. Hayes also writes and compiles advisory literature concerning new developments in Tennessee Law. Her most recent works include an Employer's Guide to the Law of Tennessee Workers' Compensation, An Overview of Sexual Harassment, Employer Drug Testing in Tennessee, and Employer's Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act. Ms Hays article first appeared in the November 2006 dicta, the official publication of the Knoxville Bar Association.

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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Competitive intelligence and specifically peer group benchmarking has been growing in importance as law firms increasingly adopt traditional business practices. This post is one of several summarizing information garnered from the September 2006 Benchmarking Symposium held in Nashville, Tennessee.

Juris, Inc. recently joined the ranks of Redwood Analytics and Thomson West in offering automated peer group benchmarking. What sets Juris apart is that its service is targeted at midsized firms—those below the largest 200 law firms. Until now only BigLaw has had the insight one gains from meaningful peer group competitive intelligence. Not any more! Juris has changed that.

Juris, Inc. referenced the company’s recent Law Firm Economic Survey in noting that firms that set goals, measured performance, and held people accountable dramatically outperformed others. The disparity in per-partner income between the top performing 25 percent of midsized U.S. law firms and the rest of the pack is eye-opening. 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.

Intuitively, managing partners understand. For years they have purchased every law firm survey they could get their hands on. Unfortunately, the surveys were always at least one year outdated. Most firms could never find survey segmentations that represented a perfect peer group for comparisons.

Automated benchmarking services change everything for the law firm. Live benchmarking and shared information among anonymous peers will identify areas of competitive advantage as well as areas for improvement—from billing rates to collection days. Just as record keeping in sports has changed the quality of the game, live peer group benchmarking will change the practice of law for the better.

Juris Insight is the first live benchmarking system created solely for the benefit of midsized law firms. Unlike traditional surveys, Insight provides information that is as up to date as your most recent monthly reports. Using state-of-the-art data extraction technology, Insight directly pulls standardized information from your database, encrypts it and sends it via highly secure Web services to the Juris data center – of course, all names and other identifying information are purged from the system – where it is aggregated into our data warehouse. The information is then presented via a customizable Web site called JurisInsight.com.

Today, law firm managing partners and executives invest significantly in the purchase of year-old surveys, and then invest their time and staff time in comparative analysis against imperfectly matched segmentations. They do this in an effort to collect competitive intelligence as a guide for improving the law firm’s own performance. Automated benchmarking eliminates manual compiling of information, replaces year old information with a continuous flow of business and competitive intelligence information.

Juris Insight service is currently available only for law firms using Juris business software but Juris, Inc. expects to eventually expand its offering to all law firms in the future.

Previous posting covering other presentations during the symposium include the following:

• The Importance & Power of Legal Surveys
• Benchmarking Services by Redwood Analytics
• CitiGroup Private Bank Benchmarking Involvement

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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In a previous post, I referred to a soon-to-be-released survey. Well, it has been released. Juris, Inc. just announced the release of the latest annual Juris Law Firm Economic Survey. The survey of midsized firms covers financial results for the year 2005.

The survey identifies ten important factors that influence law firm financial performance. You will find that the top performing firms excelled across all key performance indicators, not just one or two. Firms that understood those factors, set goals, measured performance, and held people accountable dramatically outperformed others. The disparity in per-partner income between the top performing 25 percent of firms and the rest of the pack is eye-opening. 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.

The Juris economic survey, one of the largest in the legal community, is unique in targeting midsized law firms. This year’s survey results are compiled from 274 participating midsized firms in 142 cities spread over 40 states and represent 6,000 lawyers.

Midsized law firms can use the 55-page survey report to identify where they stand against their peers. They will find the accompanying analysis and recommendations of the Juris team a useful tool for increasing financial performance.

The annual Juris survey is shipped automatically to those firms who participated in the survey. This year’s survey is available to others for $375. For more information, select the link below.

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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Fellow blogger Ed Poll has teamed up with Juris, Inc. to conduct a series of managing partner roundtables around the country. Ed posted the announcement on his LawBiz blog over the holiday weekend.

The Juris® Managing Partner Roundtables are an extension of the company’s successful annual Managing Partner Forum. According to Stephen Collins, president and CEO of Juris, Inc., “The roundtables will extend the Juris Managing Partner Forum benefits by conducting focused monthly meetings in key cities throughout the United States.”

The idea behind the round tables is to provide a forum where managing partners can share best practices and discuss management issues with their peers from non-competing firms. Ed Poll, under the banner LawBiz®, has been successfully conducting similar roundtables in Los Angeles for a number of years. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Juris, Inc. formed an alliance with Ed’s LawBiz Management Company to jointly organize and conduct the roundtable sessions.

The schedule for the remainder of this year and for 2007 has not been finalized. When it is, I will post the schedule, or you can find it on Juris.com. If you are a managing partner, CFO, COO, CEO or equivalent and are interested in participating in a roundtable near you, e-mail me at morepartnerincome@juris.com for additional information.

As the leading provider of business systems and services to midsized law firms, Juris, Inc.’s business mission is to improve law firm financial performance and partner earnings. The company’s Managing Partner Forum and Roundtables are another way for the Juris team to contribute to the financial success of law firms.

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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Ed Wesemann posted an article on Creating Dominance dealing with underperforming equity partners. It is worth your time to read this. The post suggests that the firm needs to develop a standard (minimum performance level) and even gives an example method of analyzing and ranking the performance of your current partners.

The interesting twist is that once you chop off your current underperformers, you raise the standard of performance for those remaining and create a new class of underperformers.  Of course, this assumes that one’s performance is to always be measured by the individual’s relative performance compared to peers.  Whatever your feeling about judging performance based on the curve, Wesemann’s post gives you a powerful new way to look at your current equity partners.

If I recall correctly, it is David Mastier who talks about a hygienic level of performance.  In other words, rather than always judging relative performance compared to peers, the firm should decide what a healthy level of performance is—the hygienic level.  An equity partner that meets the hygienic level is considered a positive contributor to the firm.  Compensation may vary to reflect different levels of performance above the hygienic level (up to a maximum point), and those that don’t make it to the hygienic level must move out of an equity partner position.  Why would you set a maximum for awarding compensation for performance in selected areas (most often billable hours)? Because too much of a good thing can be destructive to the individual and his/her long-term success as a contributor to the firm.  Too many billable hours means something is being neglected, either in the firm or in the partner’s life. 

At any rate, Ed’s post, Looking Tall by Standing Next to Short People, is a must-read item.

 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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If you missed the opportunity to participate in the previous Law Firm Business Survey, now is your chance to get onboard and find out how your firm compares to its peers.

Why should you participate? For participating in the confidential survey, you will receive:

· The completed survey results with analysis and commentary

· Your firm’s key performance metrics compared to peers

· An Excel® spreadsheet business model that you can use to analyze the results of “what-if” questions.

· Information about Juris Managing Partner Forums, where partners from non-competing firms can share ideas and best practices

· For those who complete their survey online, a money green “More Partner Income” hat for that next firm retreat

The information you provide in the Law Firm Business Survey is held in confidence. The survey data is reported only in aggregate form or in a manner that does not identify information about any individual law firm.

The survey takes a little research on the part of your staff for some of the numbers, but the payback from learning how your firm compares with others makes it worth the effort. Add in the value of the free customizable business model, and participation is an option you just don’t want to pass up. There are two ways to participate:

1. You can do it by manually filling out the survey form and then mailing it to Juris Managing Partner Forum, Juris, Inc.,5106 Maryland Way, Brentwood TN 37027 or faxing it to (615) 377-3230.
2. You can complete the online survey questionnaire. When completing the survey online, it may be easier to first print the manual survey form and gather the survey information, then complete the online survey questionnaire.

Why bother doing it online? The bonus is a money green “More Partner Income” hat for that next partner retreat! 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. © 2006 Juris, Inc.

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