Law Firm Management By The Numbers

On May 8, the Managing Partner Forum 2014 Leadership Conference was held in Atlanta, Ga. The conference was hosted by John Remsen Jr., president and CEO of The Managing Partner Forum. Karen MacKay of Phoenix Legal and I were fortunate enough to be part of the faculty. Approximately 85 participants from more than 75 law firms (one Canadian firm attended) participated in the day-long session that began with an address by Timothy Corcoran, president of Legal Marketing Association and Principal of Corcoran Consulting Group.

While Corcoran's presentation was well done, the three memorable quotes for me were:

If you are negotiating rates one of two parties does not have confidence in the value of your service: your client or you; Pricing is not the same as rates; and Law firms should not fear the changes taking place in the marketplace, but should fear firms' inability to change! The rough demographics of the firms attending were:

Less than 20 lawyers: 17 per cent 20-40 lawyers: 46 per cent 41-75 lawyers: 12 per cent 76-150 lawyers: 19 per cent More than 150 lawyers: seven per cent The biggest changes in the participation mix this year was the increase in firms with 20 to 40 lawyers, which was up from 33 per cent last year and the drop in firms with 21 to 75 lawyers, which was down from 30 per cent last year.

The managing partners were almost split in the length of time they had been in the role with 58 per cent having been in the position less than 5 years and 42 per cent having been managing partner for six or more years.

The participants' responses to two questions about 2014 re-enforced the belief the legal marketplace is perhaps best described as being in a "steady state" with responses showing an embracing of "it is what it is" mentality (2013 responses in brackets):

Much better than expected. We had a very good year so far: seven per cent (21 per cent) Somewhat better than expected. A solid, relatively good year: 29 per cent (not asked in 2013) About what we expected. A relatively good year: 42 per cent (44 per cent) Ok, but not where we want to be: 19 per cent (27 per cent) Not good at all. It's been a tough year: three per cent (eight per cent) The above opinion is supported by the answers to the second question about results for 2014 to date, where participants were asked:

What is your firm's revenue per lawyer compared to a year ago?

Up by more than 10 per cent on average: seven per cent Up by five-10 per cent on average: 17 per cent...

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