Law Practice Management Asked and Answered Blog

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Feb 17, 2015

Transitioning to a More Business-Like Law Firm

Question:

I am a partner in a 12 attorney general business firm located in St. Louis, Missouri. I was elected as managing partner earlier this year. I have been a lawyer and with this firm for eight years. I also have a MBA degree and managed a small business before becoming a lawyer. Frankly, I have been amazed at how law firms conduct business and I would like to change our thinking and our culture. Do you have any thoughts?

Response:

Here are five tips that you might find useful.

TIP #1: Work with the attorneys in the firm and help them develop more of a business mindset. Try to get them to become more entrepreneur and learn how to think like businesspersons. Encourage them to look at the world from their client’s perspective and consider their clients their business partners. 

TIP #2: Encourage all attorneys to select their clients carefully. Establish client acceptance criteria. Learn how to say no. Dump undesirable clients.

TIP #3: Encourage all attorneys to brand themselves. Ask them to look for was ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors and to become perceived as the only attorney that can do what they do. Ask them to make a decision – what do they want to be known and remembered for? Unique services, unique client groups, different service delivery strategy, personal style. Have the firm and each attorney create a five-year plan for goal accomplishment.

TIP #4: Encourage each attorney to become “solutions orientated” and become consultants – trusted advisors to their clients as opposed to simply their task and process attorneys. Solutions may involve activities and services other than legal services. Ask each attorney to think out-of-the-box and outside of typical frameworks in which they are comfortable.

TIP #5: Conduct a firm-wide management and leadership assessment and identify strengths and weaknesses. Enhance management and leadership skills through skill development training and personnel acquisitions.

Good luck!

https://www.olmsteadassoc.com/blog/category/strategy/

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

 

Feb 11, 2015

Law Firm Succession – Client Transition Plan

Question:

I am a founding partner in a 17 attorney firm with nine partners and eight associates located in Chicago west suburbs. We represent business firms and other institutional clients. I am the primary rainmaker in the firm. I am 60 and am planning on retiring when I am 65. My concern is how to effectively transition clients. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Response:

Successful client transition – moving clients from one generation to the next – is a major challenge for all law firms. Shifting clients is not an individual responsibility but a firm responsibility. To effectively transition clients the individual lawyer, with clients, must work together with the firm to insure the clients receive quality legal services throughout the transition process. Both the individual lawyer and the firm must be committed to keeping clients in the firm when the senior attorneys retire. Potential obstacles include:

Transitioning client relationships effectively can and where possible should take a number of years – preferably five years – typically not less than three years. 

The following client transition plan might be an approach you could take to transition clients over a three to five year period:

  1. Review your Top Client List and develop and implement a detailed action and milestone plan for each significant client.  
  2. In consultation with the Firm Executive Committee, designate one or more Co-Responsible Attorney(s) for each existing client, and each new client as to which you are the Responsible (Primary) Attorney. You, in consultation with the Firm Executive Committee, may for cause adjust or amend the Co-Responsible Attorney(s) designation as to any Transitioning Client. The stated goal in designating one or more Co-Responsible Attorneys for each client is to facilitate the transition and retention of your clients upon your retirement and phase-out from the practice of law. You will agree to introduce the Co-Responsible Attorney(s) to the client when you are reasonably available, and work with the Co-Responsible Attorney(s) to transition the client and client matters to the Co-Responsible Attorney(s). You and the Co-Responsible Attorney(s) shall meet to discuss and evaluate the timing for the transition of each client. However, notice to clients shall be solely at your discretion. The Co-Responsible Attorney(s) may, at your discretion, prepare all invoices for legal services rendered. You will review and approve all invoices unless you agree to the contrary in writing. The client’s wishes shall be paramount in the designation or selection of any Co-Responsible Attorney(s) and client satisfaction shall at any time allow for change of the designation of same.    
  3. You will perform such duties as the Firm Executive Committee of the Firm may from time to time determine to be in the best interest of the Firm and which are agreeable to you. You will  agree that your professional procedures will be in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the Firm Executive Committee. You will also maintain the records as reasonably required by the Firm Executive Committee. 
  4. Of Counsel. After the conclusion of the final transition year, the firm may enter into an “Of Counsel” relationship with you. In that event, you would be listed as “Of Counsel”. The relationship would be subject to both parties agreeing on the terms and conditions of the “Of Counsel” relationship.

Effective client transition takes time so start early. Clients hire lawyers not law firms.

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

 

 

 

 

Feb 04, 2015

Law Firm Financial Performance – Billable TIme and Fees

Question:

I am the managing partner of a four attorney (all partners) estate planning firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are all working hard but I do not believe that we are making the money that we should be. Last year our fee collections were $600,000 and our net income $250,000 which was the total amount that was available for partner compensation. Thus, we each made $62,500.00. Each of us have been practicing for over 20 years and I believe this is totally unacceptable. We appear to be busy and have plenty of work. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Response:

I agree that the firm should be doing much better. Regardless of practice area (unless you are an insurance defense firm) and where you are located I believe you should be averaging $300,000+ fee collections per lawyer. You are averaging $150,000 per lawyer. You expenses of $350,000 ($67,500 per lawyer) is actually low and not the problem. You need to dig into the numbers and look into why the revenue numbers are not higher. Usually the culprits are lack of business, inadequate billing rate (or effective rate for flat fee matters), not putting in the hours, or poor time management and time keeping habits. Each attorney should strive for 70% of worked time to be billable (client production) time. Lexis has published a couple of studies on billable hours that you might find useful - Billable Hours Survey Report, Non-Billable Hours Survey Report and Where Do all the Hours Go

I find that many estate planning firms that do much of their work on a flat fee basis often are not realizing effective rates anywhere near their target time billing rates.

Look into the numbers and determine the culprit or culprits and then develop a strategy for dealing with each one – marketing to improving work ethic and time management and time keeping habits.

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

Jan 28, 2015

Law Firm Succession – Succession Plan for the Solo Practitioner

Question:

I came across your firm while researching law partnerships. The short story is as follows: I am a sole practitioner and have been practicing for over 35 years. I have a high volume practice and I employ 7-8 people. Business is good and actually on the rise. I have a great office manager and outstanding loyal staff. The practice is on semi- autopilot for me. I have a young associate lawyer in my office that shares space and is  learning my practice but actually seems to be making his own way in a different practice area. He wants to buy into my practice. We have had some serious talks. He's capable and I think the right person to transition with. I have asked myself why sell/partner/transition when I don't have to? I am not ready to retire. With that said a 3-5 year plan may make sense. Let me know your thoughts.

Response:

The real value for most practitioners is the cash flow from working in the practice. Exit value is secondary and only makes sense when you are ready to quit or retire.

Eventually, however you will retire (retirement, death, etc.) as the clock runs. The biggest problem that I am finding is that practitioners that are ready to exit the practice is finding attorneys willing to buy the practice or buy out partnership shares in the event of a partnership. I am working with practices where is has taken a couple of years to find the right WHO and this often dictates the WHAT – merger, partnership, Of Counsel, sale, etc. The approach that works best is an internal transition via bringing an associate into partnership. So, I would take a serious look at the attorney that you are speaking about, maybe have him become a partner (member in a LLC) with minority interest initially, and incorporate into your agreements how compensation will be handled, him acquiring additional interests down the road, and the arrangement for your retirement payout upon your actual retirement.

Don't wait until you are ready to retire – take some baby steps now.

Good luck with it.

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

Jan 20, 2015

Law Firm Hiring Practices – Pros and Cons of Hiring Lawyers that are Children of Firm Partners

Question:

I am a partner in a four partner firm located in Houston. We have three associates in the firm. One of our partners has a son just finishing law school and he would like him to join the firm. We have never had children of partners work in the firm before and I am concerned about setting a precedent. We have a good relationship among all of the attorneys and I do not want to see our relationship tarnished. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Response:

I have seen it go both ways. Many firms have brought children and other family members into the firm and have had excellent results. Others have not. In general I believe that law firms do a better job at this than do other business firms. Your situation is more complicated since you have associates in place that may feel threatened and uncertain as to their futures when you bring in family members. I believe that if you lay the proper foundation and go about it correctly you can successfully bring your children into the firm. Here are a few ideas:

  1. Recognize that for the family members there will be a family system, the family law firm, and an overlapping of these systems. This can be fertile ground for conflict if clear boundaries between the family role and the firm (business) role are not clear. Establish clear boundaries. Family dynamics and business dynamics seldom mix. Your objective should be to draw the clearest possible distinction between the two and make sure that everyone understands that the firm (business) is the firm and the family is the family.
  2. Children should not be brought into the firm unless they want to be involved and satisfy your standard hiring criteria for lawyers. I believe that before your children join the family law firm it is a good idea for them to work for another firm or organization. When they do join the family firm they can bring with them that experience, a supply of new ideas, a network of contacts, and a number of other benefits acquired.
  3. Make it clear to your children that they must "earn their stripes" and come up through the ranks in the same fashion as other associates in the firm. No special privileges. Make it clear that they must earn the respect of other attorneys and staff in the firm.
  4. Put your associates and staff at ease. Make it clear that your children are expected to "earn their stripes" and they will not be promoted to partner over other associates on family status alone. (Unless this is your intent)
  5. Clearly define the role of all parties.
  6. Monitor your own behavior. Don't take sides – either between your children if both join the firm or between your children and other employees in the firm.
  7. Be careful with compensation and other rewards. Compensation should be based up performance and results and consistent and competitive with other law firms of similar size and type.
  8. Communicate, communicate, communicate – your intentions, roles, etc. before and after your children join the firm.

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Good luck! 

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

Jan 07, 2015

Law Firm Marketing – Focusing on a Niche

Question:

I am with a 17 attorney general business firm located in Boston and chair of the firm's three member marketing committee. At this year's planning retreat we discussed the concept of niche marketing and whether we should focus on a specific niche. Your thoughts would be appreciated.


Response:

A niche marketing strategy can help you stand out from the crowd by focusing on a particular segment. Here is an outline of a typical niche marketing program.

  1. Reach Out to Existing and Potential Referral Sources
    1. Contact existing and past client that would be willing to provide leads, give you written testimonials/references and involve you in their professional and trade associations
    2. Contact non-client influentials – attorneys, bankers, editors, executive directors of industry associations, media, and community leaders and work with these people.
    3. Existing practice profile and factors as well as referral sources form the bedrock of a law firm.
  2. Targets of Opportunity
    1. Additional targets of influence
  3. Offer Silver Bullets – Solutions to hot button issues that potential clients have.
  4. Targeting a Niche
    1. Selecting a Niche Target
      1. Size
      2. Location/Zip Codes
      3. Type of Business/Industry
      4. Practice Area
      5. Competitors
    2. Develop an insider understanding of the niche industry (industry success factors)
      1. Critical success factors
      2. Key ratios
      3. Key publications of the niche
      4. Writing, speaking, leveraging memberships with key organizations
    3. Objectives and desired outcomes
    4. Prospective niche client profile
    5. Library of niche publications
    6. Niche database
      1. Existing clients
      2. Prospective clients
      3. Non-client influentials

Often a niche strategy does not involve a new area of practice – it may involve delivering services that you already perform – but marketed to a specific industry group. In essence you are learning the unique needs of a specific industry group, learning their language, and demonstrating that you understand their business better than your competition. An example would by an insurance defense firm that handles the defense for a couple of trucking cases and then creates a niche around the trucking industry.

Place your niche marketing strategy carefully. It takes time, financial resources, and commitment to successfully pull off a niche marketing strategy. Don't try to focus on more than one or two niche markets and insure that the niche that you are targeting is large enough to satisfy your objectives and justify the time and resources that you will be required to invest.

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

 

Dec 30, 2014

Law Practice Management – 5 Ideas for Jump Starting Your Law Firm in 2015

Happy New Year and best wishes for both a personal and professional 2015.

Here are a few ideas to help you jump start your practice in 2015:

  1. During the next week review your 2014 personal and practice performance and consider
    1. Things that you did well and could have done better
    2. Things done poorly
    3. Things that you should have done but did not do
    4. What you should be doing now – in 2015 – to be effective in your practice
  2. Write down what results you expect – goals – for 2015 – both financial and non-financial – and compare actual results against these goals
  3. Ask each person in your firm to create and implement one goal that will improve your practice in some way (revenue, profitability, process, client satisfaction)
  4. Implement one action item that you have been things about for years and procrastinating
  5. Give some though as to what you want to be remembered for – personal and professionally

Good luck in 2015!

https://www.olmsteadassoc.com/blog/category/strategy/

Click here for our law firm management articles

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

 

 

 

Dec 17, 2014

Law Firm Valuation – Establishing a Value for a Family Law Practice

Question:

John, where do you begin to get a value on a family law practice? It seems that one times gross revenue is unfair since it is usually one time business. I saw you speak at an ISBA event and this question was not addressed.

Response:

Regarding your question – it sort of depends on whether you are buying or selling and where you want to start. In general I agree with you that a multiple of one times gross for a family law practice is probably high. It depends on whether the practice has built up more of a firm brand vs. an individual brand. In other words institutionalized the practice. Also on where and how the firm gets business – advertising, referral sources, etc. A firm that has practice (institutional) goodwill might very well start at a multiple of one whereas a practice where the goodwill is personal goodwill the multiple might be .75 or less – in some cases even zero. I know of a few family law practices in the Chicago area that have been sold for .33 of gross revenue. 

Often the initial asking price has little to do with regard to where you end up. Often, due to the concern that the clients and business might not materialize for the new buyer many firms are sold on various forms of an "earn-out" or a small payment at closing with the remainder paid and based on a percentage of revenues collected over a period of time – 3 to 5 years.

I have seen PI and other one shot matter firms sell for one times gross revenues but this is a best case scenario. CPA firms fare much better.

If you are the seller and your practice is a personal practice you probably will have to start with an asking price around .75 or less – if you have branded the practice and have others besides yourself – you might ask for more.

If you are the buyer I would balk at 1 times gross and would want to discuss provisions for reduction in purchase price if revenues fall below a certain level over a certain time period. Better yet – no payment at closing with the payout totally based and paid as revenues are collected in the future.

Getting to "the number" will involve balancing the seller's concern that the buyer will let the practice die on the vine versus the buyer's concern that the clients and referrals with not materialize.

Click here for our blog on succession

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 06, 2014

Law Firm Collections – Reducing Accounts Receivable Writeoffs for Family Law Matters

Question:

I am the managing partner in a eight attorney firm in Nashville, Tennessee. We are exclusively a family law practice and while we charge a few client on a flat fee basis – most clients are time billed. We ask for a $5000.00 security retainer up front. After the retainer is used we invoice clients for additional time spent on a monthly basis. We are having problems getting paid and are having to write off a large amount of accounts receivable. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Response:

This is a common problem that I hear from family law as well as other firms representing individuals. The law firm collects the initial retainer, the retainer is used up, additional work is done, – often to the conclusion of the matter – the client is invoiced for the remainder of the time expended, and the bill either does not get paid or is paid partially. The law firm ends up writing off the balance.

The best solution is to require the retainer be replenished at a certain point and, within your state's ethical parameters, not perform additional work until the additional retainer is received. Recently a client told me that his office manager's number one responsibility is a daily review of unbilled time compared to unused retainer. When the unbilled time get to 90% used the client is invoiced for additional retainer. When 100% is reach work is stopped until the additional retainer is received.

With today's client billing systems that have integrated trust accounting, assuming that timesheets are entered directly and daily, an office manager or bookkeeper can simply print or review on screen a summary work in process report that shows for each matter the unbilled values for fees and costs, unpaid receivable, and retainer balances in the trust account. Matters with unbilled fees and costs approaching the retainer balance can then be invoiced for additional retainer. The key to making this work:

  1. All timekeepers must enter their own time via direct time entry and daily.
  2. Someone must be assigned the responsibility for daily monitoring and daily invoicing for additional retainer replenishment and help accountable.

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

  

 

Nov 25, 2014

Law Firm Partner Compensation – Individual vs. Firm Based

Question:

I am the managing partner of a 9 attorney firm in Cincinnati. We have four equity partners and five associates. Partners are compensated on the basis of their ownership shares which are currently 25% each. In the past the system worked well – but now we are having problems. The two senior partners are working and contributing less and are taking out half of the compensation which is causing dissatisfaction and division within the firm. We have been discussing alternative approaches. Should we consider a system total focused on individual partner performance and production – an eat-what-you kill if you will?

Response:

I agree that personal production and performance should have a relationship and a tie to compensation. However, a move to a total eat-what-you-kill system might be a drastic first-step move. Eat-what-you-kill approaches can often destroy teamwork in firms that desire to be team-based firms. For firms that want to be lone ranger firms eat-what-you-kill is fine.

Since I don't know what you have done so far it is hard to identify the first step. Sometimes all that is needed is a frank and open discussion and a realignment of percentages tied to recent performance. In other cases is might be appropriate to have different percentages for compensation (participating compensation percentages) based upon say a three years rolling performance average/ratio. One approach would be to use this instead of ownership percentages for allocating profit to the partners. Another approach might be to create two profit pools – say 70% of firm profit and allocate this profit to the partners based upon participating percentages and 30% of firm profit and allocate this profit to the partners based upon ownership percentages.

Obviously there are many of approaches that you can take. This approach moves closer to individual performance but retains firm participation as well.

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

 

 

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