The Business Of Law

Valerie Fontaine and Roberta Kass, two legal search consultants with Seltzer Fontaine Beckwith, have a great piece on crafting a business plan for Attorneys over a Law 360 (subscription required but well worth it).

In the midst of economic turmoil, Fontaine and Kass direct their piece to both senior attorneys who are looking to join firms as well as junior attorneys looking to position themselves for the future. The bottom line, according to them:

“Having your own client base is an essential element to taking control of your destiny, which can mean having the widest possible selection of job offers, starting your own firm or negotiating a better position within your current firm.”

To accomplish this, the author’s argue attorneys need to create business growth plans for themselves, just like businesses do. Lawyers should identify targets, outline specific strategies (within the parameters of ethical requirements of course) and also recognize the costs of those business development activities.

They’re both right of course, and their point underscores something I’ve been saying for quite some time: if the turmoil in the legal industry has taught us anything, it’s that to be sustainable, our law firms need to behave more like businesses.

At Sokolove law, we try to look at every aspect of our business and really hone in on ROI. Where are we seeing demands from clients, and what types of cases are emerging as new opportunities? Finally, how do we deploy human and financial resources to meet that demand? Click here to listen to what our affiliates say about working with us.

Seems counterintuitive right?  Well, James Wilber over at the must read Legal Intelligencer has a great article on how internal corporate law departments are increasingly placing responsibility for non-legal administrative tasks in the hands of business managers, instead of the general counsel. Wilber writes:

“The law departments of most major companies have business managers, and for good reason: by leveraging the important but non-legal work required of the general counsel and getting it into capable yet less expensive hands, the cost of administration of the law department is reduced…”

Wilber is right of course, and to be sure many law firms employ business managers to handle the non-legal administrative aspects of their business. That said, Wilber’s logic could and should also apply to the marketing functions at law firms.

Here’s the argument. Lawyer’s skills (and their expense) are best leveraged when they spend their time doing what they do best…litigating cases and serving clients’ needs. Every hour that a partner or associate spends “marketing” the firm is an inefficient hour. Moreover, many lawyers are not necessarily comfortable marketing themselves or their firm for fear of being labeled as “ambulance chasers”. (As an aside, why marketing legal services is any different than marketing any other service is something that continues to amaze me.)

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