LAW

The Modern Law Firm’s Dilemma

Recent years have seen remarkable changes in the legal marketplace. The existing Partnership method of managing law firms has been strained by increased competition as a result of the Legal Services Act of 2007, the rise of huge global law firms, and the growth of corporate law firms. Many medium sized law firms are being forced into the uncomfortable realization that the old ways of working will not allow them to survive, let alone compete and flourish. More contemporary forms of business management and organization structure are needed. So the dilemma for the Law Firm is whether to embrace change, or to carry on as normal and potentially wither and die.

A more corporate approach to running the firm brings its own people and attitude challenges. In the past, fee earners, department heads and partners were largely able to run their world in isolation within the paternalistic framework of the Partnership. The needs of the modern firm, with its corporate worldview and emphasis on profitability, cash management and a robust strategy for growth are at odds with this mentality.

So where next? One school of thought sees the law firm of tomorrow being forced to make the transition to a culture of selling. Certainly the attitude of treating the business development department as a necessary overhead is unlikely to continue: BD should become a value creator and therefore revenue generator, just like in the corporate world. We can help.

WCA works with modern firms to manage revenue and margin development in three main areas.

Technology change support

Technology is just an enabler, it gives you the information to enable you to make better decisions. As stated here, many organizations do not realize that for technology to bring the significant benefits it promises it has to underpin corporate strategy and people development, not be considered in isolation. WCA can help you make more money faster from your CRM and business intelligence system implementations by ensuring

the business change challenges are identified and dealt with early
technology specifications reflect what you want from the investment
everyone knows how the changes will impact on them and how they should benefit from the new way of working.

This is about trying to give you an understanding of the business implications of technology change and support you in managing the implementation to run smoothly, on time and on - or below - budget.

You may recall our background as vendors of technology systems, although Wayne is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. A key benefit of working with WCA is that we understand both business development issues and business development technology, having sold it for twelve years.

Staff behavioural change – winning heart and minds

WCA has developed a way of successfully developing and then making explicit professional services firm’s corporate goals and values into a single “Corporate Values” document, created by the team.

This work helps to

make it easier to manage business change within the firm
achieve consensus on the future development of the firm
motivate partners to support change
make department heads and fee earners appreciate the need for financial accountability and responsibility in their departments

This corporate values document work details how fee earners feel about the firm’s current position, operations, the marketplace and their future position, and pulls them together into a single consensus view of how to get there. We have excellent references for this work.

This also helps with Lexcel compliance, as it is forms a solid foundation for business planning. The work incorporates workshops to develop a consensus among department heads, fee earners and staff on the need for change and how this might look. This is proven to be more effective than simply imposing change from the Managing Partner down.

This is often delivered as a capped consultancy project for which the deliverable is the completed Values document reflecting the direction you wish to take the firm.

Value Proposition and Client Development Strategies

All firms claim they are client focused, but better clients are becoming more and more sophisticated. The Firm is under greater pressure to prove the value they add to clients’ operations.

We work with you to develop compelling value arguments which develop sustainable competitive advantage in your target marketplaces and drive a greater return on your sales and marketing investment.

Success for this is easy to quantify: higher profitability from your client relationships, more cross selling, greater opportunities to pitch and more pitch wins.

The aim overall is to develop a culture where everyone is client focused and, crucially, all pulling in the same direction. For more information Contact us