a survival guide for legal practice managers.

Welcome to the industry of law, where revenue is based on inputs rather than outputs. The industry’s cost-plus model guarantees a profit at the expense of clients. For decades, this model has worked while firms tinkered with technology around the edges, stuck to traditional methods and prospered. And clients paid for it all without question.

The age old question asks whether leaders are born or made. And somehow, we never get tired of asking it or seeking the answer. Truth is that perhaps both options are true. In my view most people in leadership positions can develop leadership skills like communication, presence, EQ etc but that won’t always make them leaders.

You have poorly performing or badly-behaved partners dragging the firm down, ‘ruining’ the culture and there is nothing you feel can be, or is being, done to deal with the issues. The ‘wrong’ things are being recognised and remunerated in your firm. Your firm is looking to grow and keeps hiring lateral partners, half of whom leave within two or three years or otherwise stay and exacerbate the other issues already in the firm. Your office premises lease is up for renewal in the next 18 or so months.

People who are considering reducing their work hours in the leadup to retirement, but who are concerned about not having enough disposable income as a result can, through a superannuation transition to retirement (TTR) strategy, access part of their super to top up their income.

If you’re not a solicitor, you don’t need to know about the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules (ASCR), right? Well, actually, no. The ASCR (which have now been adopted in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory) affect the way in which solicitors work in a number of ways which are also critical to the management of legal practices.

Ever since the Great Recession of 2008, many law firms have found themselves needing to make numerous changes in how they practice law so they can best serve their clients. Clients seeking legal counsel today want service that’s faster, easier, and cheaper. As a result, finding ways to strike a consistent balance between efficacy and efficiency is a priority for most law firms.

What’s the secret to making sure your brand is the headline act in your industry? The short answer is, be different. Maybe your point of difference doesn’t yet exist and that’s fine. We have some key principles which are sure to get your mind ticking when it comes to producing new ideas for boosting your brand to market domination.

Law firms are bombarded with advice about transitioning from paper to digital. Much of the reasoning sits around cost savings. But have you considered revenue generation opportunities with your move to digital?

Australian leaders spend many millions of dollars and hours every year developing their own leadership capability and that of their teams, yet as a nation we are undecided about what leadership style really works.