The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed many of lawyers’ closely-held beliefs about how to run a law practice.  Not a single aspect of law firm business management is being left unexamined.  And, as law firm concerns over revenue grow, cost - cutting measure s  begin to intercede.  At this point, a number of law firms have furloughed staff; but, many have held onto the second largest office expense: the office itself.   That may change, however, as social distancing requirements linger.  If no one, or fewer people, are at the office, your law firm won’t require as much office space.  And, it’s likely that you and your employees are becoming far more proficient in working at home.   If those trends continue, it’s the smart business decision to reduce office space, and so your monthly rental nut.     Of course, that was the smart move before you ever even heard of the coronavirus; but, you were probably too afraid to pull the tri...

As the coronavirus pande mic continues to force business shutdowns and social distancing , some law firms will be forced to make hard choices about staffing and continued business operations.   But,  all law firms should now start looking at expenses, to see whether they can reduce their overhead – at least over the next quarter.   An easy place to start is with subscription services.  Lots of law firms maintain subscription services they don’t use, especially with respect to technology.  And, many law firms only use a small part of the  softwares  they have access to.    With law firms  now feeling the pressure to build   more virtual business  model s , there’s no time like the present to get  mor e lean .   And, that starts with streamlining your technology.  Determine, then, which software tools you’re  actually using , and to what extent  you’re using them .  Then, begin ...

As ‘social distancing’ has now become part of the American lexicon, it will never be ‘business as usual’ again for law firms.  Everything you did in-perso n before, you now need to be able to do virtually, as well.  Since law firms have thrived on traditional business models, built on handshakes and in-person meetings, that can be a  difficult conversion; but, it’s not impossible.   Even when in-person meetings are off the table, it’s important to be able to talk with people, to see their faces, to make a visceral connection  with them .  In some cases, like for client intake, you may use meetings  as a way  to  authenticate identity.   It may be how you cement referral relationships.  Maybe you just prefer  visual  meetings to the phone or email.   Whatever the case, for now, and potentially more often moving forward, it may make sense to convert all or some of those meetings to video conferences....