Category: General musings
-
The writing on the wall #7 – location, location, location
Let’s for a moment put aside the discussion as to whether an investment by a law firm into premium real estate makes sense. Let’s assume that clients don’t object to funding acres of marble and an atrium full of lush vegetation. This question is about where your firm’s offices are, not what they are. The…
-
The writing on the wall #5 management complexity
Firms are getting bigger. Mergers and International expansion may be the main culprits in recent years, bit add the economy slowly returns to growth, plenty of other law firms face the challenges associated with getting bigger. Some, like the competition for talent are frequently mentioned, but there is another that is less talked about and…
-
The writing on the wall #4 – the commodity game
It seems that whatever the practice area, lawyers talk in hushed tones about their work becoming a commodity. Corporate law, employment law, technology law are among the areas where there is much gnashing of teeth and squeezing of margins. Much of the debate focuses on whether to do the commoditized elements and if so…
-
The writing’s on the wall #3 – resistance to change
There is no shortage of commentary about the need for law firms to change in what is the most significant transition in the profession in a lifetime. Theories from Darwin to Kotter are cited yet firms still struggle with the day to day reality of change. Partners speak of their frustration that things don’t move…
-
The writing’s on the wall #2 – scale back your offices?
Given property is often the second biggest cost of a law firm behind head count, I wonder what the impact would be of scaling back prestigious offices and reinvesting some of the capital in technology that would make a real difference for clients.
-
A new beginning – the writing’s on the wall
Almost exactly three years since I called time on this blog (see The End of the Beginning) , I now feel called to reignite it but in a way that better fits in with the way social media has evolved. The battle for attention has intensified – lawyers and their business colleagues (whether in law…
-
The end of the beginning
This is a post about endings. It has two main parts. Firstly, the legal profession, and my thoughts on where we are in the evolution of the legal services market. Secondly this blog, and where it’s going (if you don’t give two hoots about this, stop after the first section – that’s fine by me).…
-
Excuse me, I think your pricing is broken
I was pleased to read the post on 3 geeks about value billing as this is definitely a topic that needs exploring further, not least because I’m astonished by the number of law firm partners who continually tell me that it’s for clients to find a pricing model that works for the firm’s services. The common…
-
Hasta la vista baby – the termination of the legal profession
Later this week I’m running a session for a group of leading technology lawyers which will explore the future of the profession. Why I think this will be particularly interesting topic for this group is that I believe technology will be the single biggest driver of change for the legal sector in the long term.…
-
The legal market place – carnage or opportunity?
When you look at the legal marketplace, what do you see? With the implementation of the far reaching Legal Services Act finally happening in the UK (albeit with some fairly significant delays in related regulation), it seems the right time to step back and assess the state of the market. Talking to people in the profession about this,…
Intelligent Challenge 