Wednesday 21 December 2011

The Future of charging legal fees is...increased sophistication and increased profit


Something to ponder under your particular "palm tree" enjoying a well-earned rest this holiday season...
The seemingly never-ending babble of attack on the Profession in relation to charging by the hour has caused lots of discussion within firms and within Law Societies and Institutes...
Some of the commentary suggests that lawyers cling to the billable hour because there are no simple alternatives...as if simple must necessarily be better!
Worryingly some of the commentary also draws the illogical conclusion that charging by the hour puts unreasonable pressure on young lawyers to reach targets!!!

Monday 12 December 2011

The Future of the Small-Medium Legal Practice… Beyond Mere Survival…

KMS Forums…The Future of the Small-Medium Legal Practice… Beyond Mere Survival…

Large parts of Australia and New Zealand have suffered from a wide variety of setbacks in recent times, and hardly a legal practice has escaped some impact…
Some firms have gone to the wall, some have been forced to merge, and the bulk of the others are limping along with poor cashflows and poor returns for principals…little more than salaries, if that!

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Law firm cash drying up


How on earth does law firm cash dry up so quickly…so often?
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery”.
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1849

All too often, over the last twenty-three years of my consulting to law firms, principals have bemoaned the apparent “sudden” tightening of cash availability…

Thursday 1 December 2011

Relationship marketing for lawyers...more perspiration than inspiration

Today's thought on the value of perspiration in relationship marketing arises out of the happy event of today confirming an engagement to do a KMSPractice Health Report, and to thereafter facilitate a planning retreat, for a new Brisbane client...taking the firms we've consulted to since the inception of KMS nearly twenty-four years ago to the minor milestone of 1200...