I have a new matter on which I inherited local counsel. I send emails asking simple questions, like "did you do a choice of law analysis before saying State A’s law applies." Days later, I’m still waiting for a response. I am waiting for, literally, a one word response. The fact that I haven’t gotten… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Change And The Art Of The Possible
Posted in CommentaryI can change things I have control over. I cannot force others to change things that others control. I cannot force clients to forsake their rule that lawyers must submit timesheets. I cannot force every court I practice before to abandon their practice of relying on heavily on timesheets when reviewing fee issues. I can discuss… Continue Reading
Timesheets. Are They Core To Your Business Model?
Posted in CommentaryYesterday on Twitter, a query was made as to whether there were any truly new law firm business models. A highly regarded legal consultant identified Valorem, Bartlit Beck, Traverse Legal and Shepherd Law Group as examples. There ensued a debate whether any of these firms other than Shepherd Law Group were different. According to the… Continue Reading
Storytelling … and Client Service
Posted in Client ServiceIt is amazing how one well-written sentence can communicate volumes and engage the reader to think beyond the sentence. My friend Dan Hull writes my favorite blog, What About Clients?. He had a post the other day with the simple title, Storytelling. The entirety of the post was this quote from Anton Chekhov: Don’t tell… Continue Reading
Valorem’s Mark Sayre: sharing insights on securing insurance coverage is great client service
Posted in Client ServiceMy partner Mark Sayre spent a lot of years trying cases on behalf of insurance companies. Turns out, all that work for insurance companies not only helped him become a great trial lawyer, but it also gave him loads of insights into the netherworld of insurance coverage. Mark has written a paper on how businesses… Continue Reading
Data Point: Experience and Size save money
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesI don’t know why I didn’t see this article before, but I just read Inside Counsel’s September 2009 article on game-changing law departments. CN, a multinational transportation company, shifted work from large firms to smaller firms. How has that worked out? Well, it seems. The results have been surprising. "I was expecting to pay X per… Continue Reading
What Were The Firm’s Incentives Under This Fee Agreement?
Posted in CommentaryNot every alternative fee creates the same incentives. Check this one out, as reported in the AmLaw Daily: Drinker took on a patent case for a company called AgriZap and signed an agreement under which the firm would be paid its full fees over an 18-month period if AgriZap lost at trial. But if Drinker… Continue Reading
Great Article On The Ethics Of Ediscovery: Implications for AFAs?
Posted in CommentaryConsider this simple fact: because of the way duplicate electronic documents are handled (or, more appropriately, mishandled), clients overpaid or grossly overpaid for their documents review nearly half of all productions. This comes from a survey that is discussed at length in a terrific article, Ethics and Ediscovery Review, published in the ACC Docket. … Continue Reading
Writing plainly is good client service
Posted in Client ServiceI am a huge fan of Ken Adams‘ blog, Adams Drafting. His post, The Perils of Definedtermitis, wonderfully illustrates both clear writing and the cost to clients when lawyers write like, well, lawyers. Here’s the setup: I was reviewing a clause in a software sale agreement with a major third-party distributor. I got to the assignment… Continue Reading
Document Review: People or Machines?
Posted in Client ServiceOne of the great battles law firms have fought with their clients is over e-discovery. Law firms have wanted to have their people do the document review because they then capture the profit associated with that review. Smaller law firms that do not have the manpower to conduct internal reviews have urged use of outside… Continue Reading
Alternative Fees: “This, too, shall pass.” Really?
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesLet’s start with a huge caveat. The guy doing the talking in this interview, Stephen French, is the Managing Director of Legalbill. According to the firm’s website: Legalbill is committed to providing corporations worldwide with unsurpassed solutions for legal cost analysis and management. So, in real world terms, Legalbill manages hourly billing data, slices and… Continue Reading
A Call For Benchmarks II: comments and response
Posted in CommentaryI received a couple of interesting comments in response to my earlier post, A Call For Benchmarks, and it seemed prudent to share them in the most public way. Comment 1 was from Steven Levy, renowned expert on Legal Project Management, with whom I will be presenting in March: Many of these are substitute metrics, which… Continue Reading
Altman Weil Survey: Law Firms Are Raising Rates in 2010
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesAltman Weil has just issues its flash survey on 2010 billing rates. Apparently, many law firms have decided to shoot themselves raise rates in 2010. The survey reports that “US law firms project an average overall increase in rates of 3.2%.” The increase will be higher in bigger firms, an average of 4%. Few firms, just 13.1%, are… Continue Reading
A Call for Benchmarks
Posted in CommentaryWe live in a world that is increasingly data driven. And that includes the world of law. Some may want to debate whether that is good or bad, but that it is so is beyond debate, at least in my view. With that in mind, I ask this question: when making a decision to buy… Continue Reading
Nicole Auerbach named one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Illinois
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsJust before the new year, I predicted that my partner, Nicole Auerbach, would have a break-out decade. Well, things are off to a good start! Nicole was just named one the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Illinois by Illinois Super Lawyers. My partners, Mark Sayre, Hugh Totten and Stuart Chanen, know that this honor is… Continue Reading
Watchwords for 2010? Project Management
Posted in CommentaryAs 2010 begins, I am making one more prediction (earlier predictions here). I wanted to make one more. The watchwords for 2010 are project management. Project Management skills are sorely lacking in the legal profession, but they may do more to help lawyers more efficiently and effectively represent their clients than any other tool. I… Continue Reading
Optimism Trumps Gloom
Posted in General2009 is over. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Friedrich Nietzsche The men and women of the legal profession are stronger today than they have been in quite some time. “I will survive.” Gloria Gaynor So will we all. 2010 is here. Work hard. Life will be better.