Is Budgeting! I went through 3 years of law school and the only time I heard the word “budgeting” was when my mother told me I had to budget for food and beer money. I joined a firm that grew to be one of the 50 largest in the country, and as an associate, the word budget was never mentioned. When I became a partner, I heard about budgets for compensation and other business issues, but only rarely for a piece of litigation. And even then, we had to make sure the client understood they couldn’t actually rely on the budget we prepared, nothwithstanding the signficant “fudge factor” that was built in.
I am at a smaller firm now. We speak to our clients and many others in the industry. Budgets are critical for our clients. Some of them live and die by their budgets.
If lawyers don’t learn budgeting in law school or on-the-job (at least at big firms), how are they going to meet this most important client need? But its far worse than just not having training. Everything about being an associate at a larger law firm (and many small ones too, I suspect) is anti-budgeting. Associates are judged on work quality and hours. The institutions brainwash associates into thinking more hours are better. Bonuses are paid if you bill a certain number of hours, but I have never once heard of an associate paid a bonus because he or she exercised restraint on an issue that didn’t deserve to be treated like a Supreme Court appeal. In other words, the way associates advance is to behave 180 degrees differently that what many businesses want.
Great way to run a business. More later.