Managing a Law Firm

Hourly billing actually did not become of age in the legal profession until the 1950s, after a series of reports showed that firms that charged by the hour were more profitable than those that charged on the basis of the service sold. Those ...

Calendar management continues to be a major source of anxiety among legal professionals — with good reason. Calendar-related errors are the leading cause of malpractice actions against lawyers, accounting for more than a full third of all ...

“I don't know what to do!” he cried. “Now we're forming committees to make decisions.” I had listened to his travails for the last year as his firm slowly moldered. Morale was bad, profits had slipped down over time, senior partners had become ...

We’ve all seen how technology can help level the playing field, allowing smaller firms and solos to compete with larger rivals, and scale quickly to meet clients' needs. That’s good news for small firms and clients alike. But just because a firm ...

Some lawyers still think a brand is a logo, the firm name or a tagline. Others don’t see how branding applies to the legal profession at all. Even those who embrace the notion struggle mightily to get it right.

This Friday, let's clear the decks and lay down some fresh thinking. You know, the kind that changes up the way you do things, results in better service to your clients, makes people in the office happier and gets you out of that rut. There's a ...

Think back through a couple of recent decisions you’ve made or helped make, whether at work or in personal life. Did they turn out well? Was that because you did a good job of choosing? Was there any wasted motion or acrimony? Be honest. On ...

Recently I attended the Dad 2.0 Summit, a conference for men who blog about fatherhood. I didn’t realize there was such a strong community among dad bloggers. They are active parents and exceptionally genuine about their triumphs and ...

It gets to be a bit much, all the chatter about the legal profession changing at the speed of light. Even if it is transforming into something quite great — I know, maybe it is and maybe it isn't — it seems nearly impossible to figure out what ...

Question: From a firm administrator’s perspective, what could a lawyer do to be a better boss? Supervising staff can be a challenge, but any lawyer can be a good boss with a little conscious effort. In this edition ...