Why Great Management Might Include Failure

Biden held onto leadership as long as he could.  But when it became apparent that he had lost the faith of his party, and that he couldn’t possibly beat Trump in the Presidential election, he was convinced to step down. There can be tremendous strength in quitting a strategy, and trying something different. Lawyers, and [...]

Law Firms and the Business Theory of S-itification

I recently heard about this theory from the tech world, but I think it has relevance in the legal environment, as well. When a business first starts, it aims to produce a product or service that its members can feel good about.  They want to be proud of what they have created, and the service [...]

How Do We Stop the Associate Churn?

(This article first appeared in SLAW).  The other day, an international client of mine thinking about re-entering the Canadian marketplace asked me why there was so little loyalty in Canadian law firms these days.  He was referring to the amount of lawyer churn in most law firms.  I don’t believe this issue is limited to [...]

Preparing For Partnership

I’ve received several requests to outline a good pathway to Partnership.  (I’m referring here to Equity Partner).  A pathway is critical because there are a lot of lawyers (and owners) set to retire in the coming ten years.  Properly preparing for Partnership and being prepared to run what is often a multi million-dollar business was [...]

Three Ways to Run a Law Firm

I was recently asked how a law firm management philosophy relates to the strategic planning process.  It was a great question, because how we manage a firm (or plan to manage a firm) must either be aligned with firm culture, or set out to consciously adjust firm culture.  So how we plan sets the tone [...]

Shaping Your Firm by its Future Inhabitants

In my last post, I talked about predicting our shifting client base.  Today I’m going to touch on the shifting demographics of our talent pool – lawyers and staff. I’ve been researching demographic shifts in the US for a client, and came up with some surprising statistics.  For example: For the next 20 years in [...]

What Law Firms Should Focus On Next

Despite hiccups on vaccine receipt and distribution, we now know that by the end of the year, there’s a very good chance we’ll all be back to normal.  That means there’s still another considerable block of time to get through first.   We don’t want to be in either survival or neutral mode forever.  So as [...]

By |2021-07-12T11:47:44-04:00July 12th, 2021|Strategic Planning|0 Comments

Harnessing the Power of Practice Groups

(This post first appeared in SLAW) Most firms have come to appreciate the value of practice groups in their management and marketing; but not everyone knows why they are more powerful than operating without them, which may result in their under-utilization.  In this post I’ll explain the evolution of practice groups, what they look like [...]

A US/BC Comparison of the Law Firm Zeitgeist

I have a lot of time for Law Firm Marketing Researcher Michael Rynowecer. So, when his blog “The Mad Clientist” arrives in my inbox, I usually read it. The latest edition highlights recent research his company, BTI Consulting, regarding the current US law firm mood, seven months into the pandemic. For fun, I thought I’d [...]

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