The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

The chief method for law firm business management is inertia, largely.  That means you can pretty much default to lawyers doing nothing, rather than something, anything.     That, of course, extends to financial management.  Lawyers tend to run up accounts receivable, because they don’t bill regularly.   They never run revenue projections,  either;  so ,  they can’t build to specific financial goals.  They don’t run financial reports regularly ;  so ,  they don’t have a consistent understanding of the financial health of their law firms.   Neither do attorneys raise rates regularly.  Across the country, law firm rates struggle to keep up with inflation. That’s not enough.     And, while most attorneys think that raising rates is a dangerous step, there are ways to manage it, without alienating new or existing clients.  In the first instance -- don’t go crazy: it’s okay to raise your  rates  by $25/hour, let’s say.  You don’t necessarily have to make up for lost time by doubling your ra

Most law firm data and information is ‘siloed’.  What I mean by that is that most law firm software is not able to ‘talk’ to each other.  In other words, data cannot be effectively pushed into or out of systems.  This is most always true of premise-based systems.  But, it can also be the case with cloud-based software s , which can be directly connected, but is often not linked by law firms.     One of the best reasons to shift to cloud-based software (or,  more  cloud-based software) is  that cloud systems, by means of a secure internet connection, can pass data back and forth.  That’s why, for example, law practice management software is so useful as a hub for law firm operations,  because you can add and aggregate data from other systems into it, allowing you to select a client or matter and see, more or less, a complete rendering of the history of that case.  And, while that concept works particularly well in the construct of case management software, interoperability between cloud

Lots of attorneys are short on cash.   But,  lots of attorneys are sitting on unsent or incomplete invoices.  So, if you’re feeling a cash crunch in your law firm, look to a likely culprit: invoices that need to go out.     Lots of attorneys are sitting on lots of cash; those attorneys just need to send out their billing.  And, sending out that billing quickly is essential, because the more it piles up, the harder it is to collect on later: the more aged your accounts receivable, the less likely you are to see the money they represent.   So, here are some tips for getting your billing out quicker:     -Simpl y  set a recurring task for doing so.  Add a task in your calendar at the end of every  month  for sending out your invoices.  And, put a tickler on it, so you know it’s coming up.     - Adopt a single - entry system.  If you’re still writing down your time on a piece of  paper, and  handing it to your secretary :  stop.   Instead, u se a time and billing or case management system

Most lawyers would tell you that the attorney-client relationship can be a  pretty one-sided  equation.  Lawyers do a lot for the benefit of clients.  Clients, on the other hand  --  well . . . they’re relying  o n lawyers to do the things for them.     Part of this, of course, is that attorneys have duties to clients;  but,  it’s also that lawyers set up these relationships like this.  Attorneys, when trying to get the work in the first place, work very hard to tell clients all about what they’ll do for them.  As the relationship continues forward, that how it gets structured: lawyer performs work, client pays for work.     Of course, the attorney-client relationship is better when the lawyer and the client work together.  Like when the client keeps the lawyer informed of what is happening in their life, that is relevant to the case.  Or, when the attorney doesn’t have to ask multiple times for items she needs.  Or even when semi-regular check-in calls become fruitful.     To craft th