The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Legal research options abound, more so than ever before.  This is in line with the general proliferation of law firm technology, buoyed by the rapid advancement of cloud technology for use in business.   But, with legal research, the challenge of finding the right products at the right rate structure is particularly important, because legal research is still a high - number budget line item for law firms.     Legal research is the life-blood of substantive work for so many attorneys that the systems they use for research just have to work.  But, no law firm has an unlimited budget.  And, if you try to research legal research tools on Google, or a lesser search engine,  the results are often overwhelming, and only bring more confusion into the equation.  Ah, the irony drips.   To cut through the noise, check out the ‘ Legal Information Buyer’s Guide & Reference Manual ’ , which   is  updated annually,  ...

Law firms tend to not track things well.  That includes time and billing, where they regularly tend to leave hours on the table.  But, it also extends to other parts of the practice.  So, when was the last time you examined your budget?   Lawyers who know their overhead are empowered because they have a baseline idea of what they need to make to keep the lights on, and what they need to make over and above that to earn a comfortable living.  Knowing those things means that the law firm can better forecast revenue and also set revenue goals, both of which are important to effective law firm management.   This all makes sense; but, the challenge lies in creating a current snapshot of the law firm budget.  Many managing attorneys don’t track their expenses effectively, which means they never get an accurate sense of their overhead, which by extension means that their revenue projections are less likely to be accurate and the revenue goals are less likely to be...