Legal Operations – What We Know Now
Legal business operations, especially in corporate law departments, is on the rise. Lawyers in both law firms and law departments require an array of business and administrative support. That support makes a huge difference to legal cost, effectiveness, quality, and turnaround times. Yet operations receives less media coverage than,...
Ron Friedmann,
9 years ago
5 min read
Do Large Law Firms Work Differently from Each Other?
I wonder if lawyers at large law firms practice differently. With all the discussions about strategy and competitive differentiation, I rarely read about how lawyers do their work. And I believe this matters more than the market thinks. What do I mean by how lawyers work? Examples...
Ron Friedmann,
10 years ago
3 min read
Reducing Big Law Overhead: Just Cut? Or Re-Think?
Legal demand is flat and large law firms face price pressure. So management has cut Big Law overhead to maintain profits. Above the Law published a graphic summarizing 2013 first-half cutbacks. In the second half, I found 17 ATL reports on AmLaw 100 firms that cut...
Ron Friedmann,
12 years ago
3 min read
Will Law Firms of the Future Have Legal Secretaries?
I initially called this post The Evolving Role of Legal Secretaries. Then I realized that “evolve” suggests a continuous process but what we see today seems a discontinuity, an abrupt change. I am not sure though, that large law firms understand just how profound the...
Ron Friedmann,
12 years ago
2 min read
Lawyer Productivity in Alternative Fee Arrangement (AFA) World
One reason that clients of large law firms want alternative fee arrangements (AFA) is to drive efficiency. The right AFA structure motivates firms to maximize productivity. In AFA World, what does productivity mean and can firms improve it? In Billable Hour World, “productivity” means annual...
Ron Friedmann,
13 years ago
3 min read
Two Big US Firms Cut Staff Costs as Legal Tech NY Starts
In what is likely a pure coincidence but one could view symbolically, as Legal Tech New York begins today, articles today report on two large US law firms that have announced significant steps to reduce staff costs. The bigger announcement is Kaye Scholer Latest Large...
Ron Friedmann,
13 years ago
2 min read
Comments on and Implications of Secretarial Cutbacks in Large Law Firms
Last week in Client Service Lessons from a Large Law Firm Secretarial Cut I wrote about law firm secretarial cutbacks and the implications for client service. Three readers, each an accomplished blogger, commented on the post, which I reproduce here, plus my own observations on...
Ron Friedmann,
14 years ago
3 min read
Client Service Lessons from a Large Law Firm Secretarial Cut
ALM’s Daily Business Review reported Friday that Greenberg Traurig lays off staff to achieve 4-to-1 attorney-secretary ratio. Firms may find this news startling or old hat. For me, it speaks to the issue of improving law firm service delivery. The article notes that with “new...
Ron Friedmann,
14 years ago
2 min read
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