Carolyn Elefant at My Shingle suggests that airlines new fees for passengers who check baggage may be seen as "nickel and dime" fee increases. And, she wonders out loud whether lawyers are doing the same thing to clients when they charge for photocopying, etc. (more…)
Adam Smith echoes my philosophy — and discusses the importance of the intake procedure. Collecting Your Fee from Intake to Invoice further echoes the importance of the intake process. I maintain that you can tell at the beginning, from the intake interview, whether you will get paid at the end!
Michael Brychel, Senior Legal Auditor at Stuart Maue, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, writes an interesting review of our newest publication, Law Firm Fees & Compensation: Value & Growth Dynamics.
He says, "For those who accept the premise that “law firms ARE businesses – get over it” this book will be an effective jump start to incorporating that perspective into useful practice."
Last week-end, I was attending a Vintage Airstream rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as mentioned in a previous post.
Because our “new” vintage Airstream is still being built and our “old” vintage Airstream was totaled from our December accident, we could not stay at the rally, but had sleeping quarters about 10 miles away, a short car ride. To get there, we had a short stint on Highway 550, a heavily trafficked thoroughfare in the area, so I’m told. As we got close to our destination, I noticed the highway was streaming with police. It looked like a major car accident; as I got closer, it looked like a disaster. I could tell the roadway had been narrowed by cones and police cars into one lane. And as I approached the head of the line, a policeman approached me. Suddenly, I realized that I was in the middle of a road block!
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The season is over for 2 elite basketball programs. But, for neither, was this a losing season. Both won more than 30 games this year, against some very good teams … and all of the Final Four teams, for the first time in NCAA history, were ranked #1 in their respective regions.
Are there any lessons to be learned from this excitement for lawyers and law firms?
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The Ohio Bar adopted a new rule of professional conduct, Rule 1.17, that allows the sale of a law practice as of February 1, 2007. (more…)
Yesterday, I attended the West Regional NCAA basketball game between UCLA and Texas A & M. I also watched the Stanford / Marquette game that preceded the West Regional UCLA game. Both games were about as rough and close as basketball games can be. Both games featured some of the best college athletes playing today. One lesson to be learned from these young athletes is that the game is not over until over … UCLA, for example, had mental toughness to stay in the game despite playing one of their worst games of the year. As a biased UCLA fan, I do not believe their performance was influenced that much by their opposition, notwithstanding that their opposition was excellent.
For me, this is reminiscent of the discussion I had recently with a client who asked me to do a profitability analysis of her firm She and her partner believed that the expenses of their small firm were too high My review of the data indicated that there were areas where reductions or revised characterization would be relevant. For example, several capital expenditures could be removed from the expense side of the profit and loss statement and recast as assets; a management fee could be removed or recast as a draw by one of the partners because such a fee is inappropriate for a small firm. However, the real focus for this firm should be on increasing its revenue. That would have the most dramatic impact on the performance of the firm. Recasting the expenses would not change the cash flow of the firm, but would help generate the mental toughness confidence that they are not in terrible shape, that they could succeed, and provide the mental toughness to continue seeking the appropriate client base to generate increased revenue.
Looking at the relevant data helps remove the fear of failure, engender confidence that small changes in one’s own behavior can have large impact on one’s success, and bring the realization that success is just around the corner.
On a listserv recently, a lawyer requested comments about his proposed letter to his clients. He wants to "shout from the highest roof" (from an old Doris Day film) to his clients that he plans to maintain his current fee structure, that he will NOT raise his fee rates. I responded as follows: (more…)
Our new book will go to press in two weeks: Law Firm Fees & Compensation: Value & Growth Dynamics — A LawBiz Special Report
Stay tuned for the official press release.
If you are salaried staff and not paid by the hour, and if the 29th day of February falls on a weekday, are you working that day for free?
Once every four years, we receive the opportunity to make a gift to our employers. Do you think they appreciate it? <g>