Law Practice Management Asked and Answered Blog

Category: COVID-19

Jan 20, 2021

Law Firm Merger – What’s in a Name?

Question: 

Our firm is a ten attorney boutique litigation firm located in Memphis with four partners and six associates. We are in very early discussions with another firm in town that has three partners and four associates. We believe that a merger would improve our lawyer talent base and help us grow. In our last meeting the topic of firm name was discussed and it was an unpleasant discussion and we are concerned that we may a difficult time agreeing on the name of the firm. Is this a common issues and problem?

Response: 

Yes. Deciding on a name for the new firm is another interesting reason why some firms decide not to merge. It is unbelievable how egos can override important business decisions when the time comes to choose a name for a combined practice. It is ludicrous for the receptionist to greet you with six names when you call a law office.

Nowhere in the business world should a caller have to wait that long before being able to ask for the person sought. The truth of the matter is that everyone remembers the first and possibly second name of most law firms, and this point should be dealt with in negotiations. The importance of the firm name in marketing and branding should also be considered.

If the combined firm is having trouble with the name of the firm, then obviously the firm is going to have a lot more trouble in the future. Where there are problems in selecting the name of the firm, I would recommend that the firms not merge because of the egos involved. It is a sure sign of future problems when people cannot sit down and immediately offer to give something up – such as inclusion of their name in the firm name. What is more important – firm security, bottom line, future growth, or “your name in the firm?” Some may say all four, but the point is to look at the business opportunity at hand.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

 

Oct 21, 2020

Law Firm Effective Communications – During and Post COVID-19

Question: 

I am the firm administrator of a sixteen attorney firm in Kansas City, Missouri. We, like many other firms, have done our best to face up to the challenges presented by COVID-19. For several months attorneys and staff worked remotely from home office using the internet, telephone, and video conferencing as the primary means of communications with clients and the office. To our surprise it worked fairly well but most of the attorneys were glad when they were able to return to the office. We have been having discussions as to the long-term impact of COVID-19 both in the short-term while we continue our fight against COVID-19 and in the long-term after COVID-19 has been defeated. I would be interested in your thoughts.

Response: 

For years law firms have held the attitude that employees – attorney and staff alike must been seen, observed, and on premises in order to be productive.  Law firms that have had and continue to have their attorneys and staff working remotely during COVID-19 have disproved this premise. They have found that not only have their attorneys and staff been able to remain productive but in many cases even more productive then when they worked face to face in the office. However, communications has been a challenge for many firms.

Below is what I refer to as the scale of communication media and richness of each:

1. Face to face
2. Video Conferencing
3. Telephone
4. Email and text

Face to face is the richest form of communication and should be used for sensitive communications such as performance reviews and other such discussions concerning performance, praise, training and mentoring, etc. It should still be used when ever possible in these situations.

Video conferencing using platforms such as Zoom, GoToMeeting, Team, etc. in the second richest form of communication and should be used when face to face would normally be used but is not possible.

Telephone is the third richest form of communications and should be used for less sensitive communications or for face to face situations discussed above when a face to face meeting is physically not possible.

Email, text, and other written communications should be used for routine communications such as assignment of projects and tasks, work instructions, etc.

Sensitive and difficult communications should be communicated through a rich medium such as face-to-face meetings or video conferencing and routine communications through a lean medium such as a memo.

Media richness is determined by the speed the media provides, the variety of communications channels on which it works, the extent of personal interactions allowed, and the richness of language it accommodates. As tasks become more ambiguous, you should increase the richness of the
media that you use.

Our law firm clients have advised us that after awhile they missed the face to face interaction and found that the major problem with working remotely was that the communication with other members of their work team took much longer than walking over to the next office or desk and was frustrating. While I don’t believe that traditional offices will completely disappear, I believe that law firms have learned lessons from COVID-19 and we may see the following changes in the future:

  1. One lessen that was learned was that law firms could trust their lawyers and staff to work and be productive without being on premises and being seen.
  2. More work and related processes will be reengineered. Law firms have identified work and processes that simply don’t need to be done or need to be done in different ways.
  3. More law firms will implement cloud-based practice management and telephone systems.
  4. Video conferencing is an effective communication medium replacement for certain face to face communications and will be use more frequently for team and client meetings as well as initial new client intake meetings.
  5. Law firms will be more willing to institute remote work programs.
  6.  Law firms will reexamine how they use office space and will consider alternative office space arrangements.
  7. Lawyer to secretary ratios will increase.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

May 14, 2020

Law Firm Marketing – Using Webinars to Market Estate Planning and Probate Services During and Post COVID-19

Question:  

Our firm is a four attorney estate planning and probate specialty practice in Fresno, California. We are in our 15th year of practice. In addition to word of mouth referrals from past clients as well as referrals from attorneys and other professionals, seminars has been a major source of new business for the firm. In fact, for the last several years seminars has been our number one source of new client business. As a result of COVID-19 we are no longer conducting seminars and we have concerns that this is going to have a major negative impact on our business both now and even in the future after current stay at home restrictions are lifted. We would appreciate any thoughts that you may have.

Response: 

While I don’t have a crystal ball I believe that you are correct in assuming that people are going to be guarded and less likely to want to attend such seminars after current stay at home restrictions are lifted. Even before COVID-19 we have been seeing a trend of more and more people preferring to receive information online. For several years now state bar associations have seen their online CLE attendance surpass attendance at live events. More and more college programs are being offered online – either partially or totally. Several years ago I began advising my estate planning/probate law firm clients to begin experimenting with webinars and many firms have being doing them very successfully and have had good results.

I suggest that you look at some of the webinar platforms such as www.gotowebinar.com, www.webex.com, and zoom.us/webinar. View videos from each product as well as their demos and sign-up for a service. Then attend the vendor’s online training for both organizer and attendee so you have a feel for both sides of the webinar tool. Customize settings for your firm and add you logo, etc. Plan the date for your webinar, decide on a topic, prepare your registration invitation, email invitations, prepare handouts, and prepare your PowerPoint. Generally you need more slides for a webinar than you do for a live presentation. Then practice and practice some more. You need to be comfortable both with the webinar tool as well as giving a presentation to a computer screen. I suggest that you have someone serve as your moderator that will introduce the program and the general program procedures, introduce you, review online questions as they come and read the questions to you either as they come in or at the end of the presentation (depending on how you decide beforehand to take questions), and close out the program.

I think you will find webinars a suitable replacement for live seminars and at a lower cost and time investment.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

 

Apr 30, 2020

How are Law Firm’s Doing During COVID-19

Question: 

Our firm is a four lawyer estate planning firm in Bakersfield, California. As you know our state has been under stay at home orders for sometime. We have everyone except our receptionist and one attorney working remotely from their homes. We are doing much better than I expected. In fact we are getting new clients at close to our usual number per month and our fee collections have actually exceeded our normal monthly fee collections. How are other firms doing?

Response: 

It depends on practice area and firm size. Many of the very large firms are facing dramatic work slowdowns and are laying off attorneys and staff and or cutting partner, associate, and staff compensation. However, many small consumer facing practices such as estate planning/probate, general practice, family law, and personal injury advise us that they are doing well in terms of fee collections and new matter signups. Intellectual property firms also advise us that they are holding their own.

The biggest issues for many of these small firms have been:

Small firms that are “paperless” and are using cloud-based billing and practice management systems are having the easiest time of working remotely.

Don’t get too comfortable based on March and April’s numbers. I believe that May or June will provide you with a better glimpse of the future both in terms of new business and fee collections. There could have been initial client demand based on the need for people to get some things done in preparation for the virus lock-down and you could see in May or June client demand dropping off. Also keep in mind that some of your fee collections were based upon accounts receivable and prior unbilled work in process. In addition, some of the billable work for the past month or so was probably performed on matters or cases that you already had in the pipeline.

May or June may give us all a better picture.

Good luck!

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

 

Apr 16, 2020

Law Firm Planning During COVID-19

Question: 

I am the managing partner of a fourteen attorney business law transaction and litigation firm in St. Louis, Missouri. Our area is in lock-down as a result of COVID-19 and everyone in our firm except for our receptionist has been working remotely. We had planned on putting in place a strategic plan this year and completed a couple of initial meetings. As we move forward how do we plan in this environment or should we even try?

Response: 

These are definitely uncertain times and the legal profession will be facing an uncertain future. I believe that COVID-19 will leave a lasting imprint on the legal profession and will change and accelerate law firms into the digital age. This digital transformation will effect law firm clients, law firms, and the judicial system. Status quo will be altered permanently and new operating procedures will be developed. Entrenched legal service delivery methods will be abandoned. The following practices that we are seeing now will become commonplace:

Competition for legal talent will intensify and commodity work competitive will be greater than ever.

I believe that long range/strategic planning will be more important than ever but more difficult. However, right now everyone is in survival mode with a focus on the day to day. While these are unusual times with a very uncertain future, short and long-term planning will be more critical than ever. Right now I believe your focus should be on short-term tactical operational planning with three month planning horizons. The following are just a few of the topics that you should focus on:

You will need your short-term planning to be flexible as the current situation changes.

Once you have a handle on the short-term you can continue working on your strategic plan. I suggest that it initially be for a five year time period. You should incorporate some degree of scenario planning with different strategies for different future scenarios. While the future may be uncertain an uncertain plan is better than no plan at all.

Finally, if you have people in your firm that are casual users of technology I suggest that this is a good time to push them to get up to speed. Recently I was speaking with the partner of law firm that advised me that he wished he was more comfortable with technology and he is severely handicapped since his IT skills are limited to checking email and browsing the web.

Good luck!

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

 

 

Apr 08, 2020

Law Firm Succession and Exit Planning in the Era of Covid-19

Question: 

I am the owner of a general practice firm in the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago with four associates and four staff members. I am 66 and was planning on beginning to work on my retirement plan this year and approach two of my senior associates regarding acquiring my practice. I was hoping to retire and exit the practice two years from now. Now with the Covid-19 situation I am not sure what I should do. Is this a good time to even think about approaching my associates? While business is slow we are doing fairly well working remotely. I still want to retire and be done in two years. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Response: 

One thing is for certain, you will continue to age regardless of the virus and unless you needed higher income in your last year or two, your retirement goal and timeline has not changed. While I would not suggest approaching your associates for the next few months I believe you could begin some of the preparatory work. When I work with law firms on succession planning projects there is a sequence of work steps that take place that take time and often the process can take several months. For example:

  1. Initial call with owner or partners.
  2. Document request to law firm.
  3. Law firm collecting and gathering documents (financial and other) and sending to us.
  4. Financial and document reviews.
  5. Telephone with owner or partners.
  6. Telephone interviews with associate candidates that you are thinking of transitioning the practice.
  7. Preparation of opinion letter (valuation, approach, etc.)
  8. Telephone call with owner or partners re discussion of opinion letter and next steps.
  9. Preparation of proposal to be presented to associate candidates.
  10. Conferences calls.
  11. Presentation of proposal to associates.
  12. Execution of legal documents.

So as you can see there is a lot of pre-work that needs to be done before you even approach your associates. Slow times are a good time to work on non-billable administrative and management projects and unless you have changed your mind on your retirement and exit goals this might be a very good time to begin working on your succession and exit planning.

Since legal skill, client, and management transition takes times you don’t want to wait too long otherwise you may have to move your retirement timeout out further.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

 

Mar 26, 2020

Law Firms Working Remotely During Covid-19

Question:

I am the sole owner of an estate planning firm in downtown Chicago with four other attorneys and six staff members. Since we are considered by the state of Illinois to be a  necessary business service most of us are still working at the office. I know that many firms are working remotely. How is that working out and what are the specifics of how to make that work – new client intake meetings, work on client matters, coordination with attorney and staff team, and client document signings?

Response: 

It is working out very well for many firms and better than expected. Here is what one of my estate planning law firms with four attorneys and seven staff members is doing:

  1. The firm has the receptionist at each of its two offices working at each office.
  2. The receptionist at each office answers the phones, makes appointments for new clients, and since the firm has landlines emails remote attorneys and staff their phone calls/messages who in turn return phone calls.
  3. The receptionist at each office receives mail at the office, scans the mail, and emails to appropriate attorneys and staff. Incoming client documents are scanned to client files. Vendor invoices are scanned and emailed to the firm administrator who in turn updates the billing and bookkeeping systems.
  4. The receptionist at each office makes remote bank deposits using the remote deposit scanner provided by the bank. A copy of the deposit report is emailed to the firm administrator who updates the billing and accounting systems.
  5. All new client intake interviews are being done over the phone or via Skype, Zoom, or GoToMeeting.
  6. Client document signings are being postponed or done at the office in a special sanitized room after clients are screened.
  7. The firm has been paperless for some time and attorneys and staff are able to access form documents and client files remotely. GotoMyPC was setup on each attorney and staff member’s PC in the office and access is obtained to the firm’s server via GotoMyPC.
  8. The firm administrator initiates the billing process by generating prebills in pdf and emailing to attorneys who in turn markup with comments on the pdf. The administrator makes changes, generates final invoices, email to clients that receive email invoices, and emails to the receptionist at each office who in turn mails to those clients that receive paper invoices.
  9. Virtual team meetings are held weekly.
  10. A new employee hired before Covid-19 will be trained virtually

This approach is working pretty well. The firm has sufficient work in process to keep people working and the firm, although new client calls are down, the phone is still ringing are the firm is signing up new business.

It would have been easier had the firm had cloud-based billing and accounting systems as well as VOIP phone system. However, the procedures and protocols the firm is taking is working reasonably well.

Personally, our firm went remote 20 years ago and we don’t miss the days of high office space cost, overhead, wasted commute time, etc. At that time I built out and dedicated 1,000 square feet of space in our home and we have all the systems (phones, file servers, conference room, etc.) that would be found in a typical office. We supplement this with a virtual arrangement with Regus.

Good Luck to all during this challenging time.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

 

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