Splitting the Pie: Some Thoughts on Profit-sharing among Partners
According to the great David Maister, “Profit-sharing arrangements between partners are among the most difficult set of issues in professional service firm management”. The way partners share profit goes right to the heart of a firm, what it values, behaviours it seeks to foster and reward, the way it defines and recognises contribution, and the […]
Knowing the Enemy – and Setting up Battle Lines
All over the world, the legal profession remains a fragmented sector with a bewildering choice of possible legal advisers facing every client. It is very difficult for law firms to be truly differentiated or set apart from competitors in terms of developing and marketing unique products or services or being or becoming the only show […]
Strategy Day
Like any well-managed law firm, you have a strategy. It was written after a lengthy process, perhaps assisted by an outside consultant. Partners wordsmithed it for hours, then approved it for your executive to implement. But like the merchandise on the bottom shelf, that strategy has been gathering some dust. Perhaps it has been overlooked […]
Driving Growth and Sustenance in Competitive Economies
Higher Brand Loyalty, Stronger Client Relationships and Brand Positioning for Better Sustenance and Growth The Indian legal Industry is going through a phase of re-organization. With growth rates dropping to single digits across the globe (Including India), most firms have recognized that a larger market share, consolidation, deepening client relationships and enhancing loyalties are the […]
Lateral Hires and the “Slam Dunk” Myth
This is an edited extract from the second (and much expanded) edition of Ark’s best-selling report Tackling Partner Underperformance in Law Firms by Nick Jarrett-Kerr, released in April, 2018. It seems logical that both law firm growth and the plugging of a skills and market gap can be met by hiring a partner with […]
Developing Law-Firm Strategy in a Buyer’s Market
Right now, law firms of all sizes in a majority of jurisdictions are facing several serious challenges, including the following: Firm revenue and partner profitability in some of the larger jurisdictions have flattened or are steadily declining; Clients are pressing firms for lower fees and are insourcing growing numbers of tasks; Lower-cost alternative-service providers are […]
Business Development: An Introduction to the 2-4-8 Model, Revenue Gaps, and the Relationship Bell Curve
The 2-4-8 Model This model compares revenue against time allocation, helping us to make informed decisions around clients, productivity and sustainability. Identify each of your clients in descending order by revenue ($) or profit margin (%). Place each client into the grid below, inserting your highest value client at number one and so on. You […]
The Fading Power of Niches
It has often been stated that only two broad strategic directions are available to law firms, summed up in the often quoted platitude “Get Big or Go Niche”. Over the last few decades, many boutique firms have successfully followed a niche direction by doubling down on particular areas of focus and creating depth in sectors […]
Remodelling Change Projects
A couple of years ago, I proposed a three-stage programme designed to revive stalled strategic projects – repainting the vision, remodelling the project and changing the project team or team leader. The remodelling (second) stage of that programme suggested that if a project has stalled or remained uncompleted, it sometimes helps to modify the initiative […]
Three ways to revive difficult strategic projects
Many law firms of a reasonable size may well have conducted some form of strategy review within the last five to ten years. This makes many partners of law firms and indeed their leaders somewhat resistant to further reviews, especially if much of the previous strategy remains unfulfilled or in cases where the more intractable […]