(Author’s note: Read to the end to learn about a scholarship contest for sole practitioners.) During my recent webinar on legal marketplace trends with Susan Cartier Liebel of Solo Practice University, I raised a point about solo law practice that’s been bothering me for a while. Almost every lawyers’ association in North America, I noted,… Read more »
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Are you selling the lawyer or the firm?
From England and Wales, the newest hotbed of innovation in the current legal marketplace, comes word that the first nationwide solicitor franchise is on its way. Legal Futures reports that Face2Face Solicitors “is initially aimed at small private client law firms and will provide franchisee solicitors with centralized back-office systems – including accounts, IT and… Read more »
Follow Friday
I’ve been on Twitter for nearly two and a half years now, but I’ve yet to take advantage of one of its better features, Follow Friday. If you’re not familiar with it, #FF is an opportunity to recommend one (preferably) Twitter stream to your followers, along with a brief explanation why. The main reason I… Read more »
The new price wars
Their World Series victory last fall wasn’t the only surprise the San Francisco Giants sprang on the baseball establishment. Throughout the 2010 season, the team engaged in “dynamic pricing,” changing the price of single-game tickets according to demand. The same seat for a Monday night yawnfest in May against the Washington Nationals, for example, would… Read more »
The year of the free-agent lawyer
Thomson’s acquisition of Pangea3 last November capped off what I think we can fairly call the year of law firm outsourcing. Among 2010′s LPO highlights, in chronological order, were: the departure of Rio Tinto’s GC to take a top position with CPA Global, Microsoft’s move to send general legal work to India, WilmerHale’s outsourcing of… Read more »
Here and elsewhere
It’s time for my semi-regular roundup of articles and items that I’ve written for other websites and publications recently. I hope you enjoy the following entries as much as I enjoyed writing them. 1. Contributing to Stem Legal’s Law Firm Web Strategy blog, as a senior consultant to Stem, is a welcome opportunity for me… Read more »
Meritas Canadian Regional Meeting, Whistler, BC
I’m very happy to be delivering a presentation and facilitating a roundtable discussion at the Canadian Regional Meeting of the Meritas global law firm network in Whistler, British Columbia, on February 11, 2011.
The future of lawyer associations
Thomas Wolfe says you can’t go home again; nevertheless, I’m returning to my alma mater Queen’s Law School tomorrow to give a presentation on the future of the legal marketplace. While preparing slides for my section on networking, I noticed that examples of old-line bar associations (the volunteer kind, not mandatory or regulatory bodies like… Read more »
Lawyers and the red balloon
Like many parents of small children, I’ve gotten to know Thomas The Tank Engine, and the peculiar universe he inhabits, far too well. As an example, I’ve now read the story James and the Red Balloon so often that I’ve begun to draw lessons for the legal profession from it. To summarize: among the trains… Read more »
So what happens next?
As the year winds down and alternative fee arrangements become more widespread among lawyers, I’m finding myself doing something curious: I’m being nice to the billable hour. Not defending it, exactly — others are happy to do that — but being more nuanced in my criticism and even citing examples of billing relationships where it… Read more »