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Legal Marketing & PR

Legal Business Development

Trends and techniques, updated every Wednesday

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Last Entry: March 30, 2011 at 02:00:00

Alternative Fees (Part 24): Management and risk

Posted on September 09, 2009
In my recent webcast panel on ?Alternative fees: How to implement sustainable programs for the long run,? one of the topics that came up over and over was the importance of effective project management. Bryan Ives of Alston & Bird...

Alternative Fees (Part 23): Examples from the AmLaw 100

Posted on September 02, 2009
According to Bryan Ives, a partner at AmLaw 100 firm Alston & Bird, "Law firms our size have no choice but to aggressively talk to clients about alternative fees. These days, almost every new engagement begins with an active discussion...

Progress report: Our AmLaw 100 survey of alternative fees

Posted on August 26, 2009
In the last few weeks, I?ve interviewed chairmen, chief executive officers, and senior partners at more than 20 of the largest firms in the US about how they are using alternative fees, and about what they expect in the future....

The course you should have taken in law school

Posted on August 19, 2009
If you think bloggers should avoid shameless self-promotion, please skip this post and come back next week. This fall, I will be offering a series of five one-hour webinars to help lawyers improve business development skills and bring in new...

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Alternative Fees (Part 22): More recommendations

Posted on August 12, 2009
Last week?s post listed the first five recommendations from the new third edition of our free LegalBizDev Guide to Alternative Fees. Here are the rest of them: 6. Define and measure success Some alternative fee projects will be much more...

Alternative Fees (Part 21): Recommendations

Posted on August 05, 2009
The new third edition of our free LegalBizDev Guide to Alternative Fees ends with a series of recommendations. Here are the first five: 1. Don?t over analyze; just do it Law firms tend to make decisions by committee, which is...

New edition of our free LegalBizDev Guide to Alternative Fees released today

Posted on July 29, 2009
Approaches to alternative fees are changing so rapidly that it has been necessary to publish three different editions of the LegalBizDev Guide to Alternative Fees within seven months. The basic concepts and conclusions from the first edition (January 2009) and...

Alternative fees (Part 20): How many kinds are there?

Posted on July 22, 2009
When lawyers are just starting to consider alternative fees, one of the first questions they ask is: how many kinds are there? That?s a logical question, and indeed was one of the first things I asked when I started studying...

Alternative Fees (Part 19): Structuring contingent fees

Posted on July 15, 2009
In contingency arrangements, fees depend on success. Of course, this approach has long been used by plaintiffs? lawyers, but it is now becoming more common for the defense. For example, Duane Morris billed on a contingency basis when it defended...

July 29 webcast on alternative billing

Posted on July 15, 2009
I am pleased to announce the final panelists for our July 29 West LegalEdcenter webcast on ?Alternative Billing: How to Implement Sustainable Programs for the Long Run?. All four are in the forefront of the movement toward alternative fees. I...

Alternative Fees (Part 18) ? Risks

Posted on July 08, 2009
By their very nature, contingent and fixed price arrangements involve risk. Lawyers hate risk. DuPont has led the movement to change the legal service model for nearly 20 years, and may have more experience with alternative fees than any other...

Alternative Fees (Part 17) ? Costs

Posted on July 01, 2009
Alternative fee arrangements can help law firms to survive and thrive in the current economy. Aligning the interests of lawyers with their clients produces more stable long-term relationships, and can help firms improve their competitive position. But these benefits come...

Alternative Fees (Part 16) ? Win-win, or win-lose?

Posted on June 24, 2009
When a law firm agrees with a client on an alternative fee arrangement, both sides usually see it as a win-win for the long term. That?s why they reached the agreement. But what about the short term? Are fixed and...

A panel of experts discuss alternative billing

Posted on June 23, 2009
If you?d like to hear a panel of experts discuss ?Alternative Billing: How to Implement Sustainable Programs for the Long Run?, you can listen in from your PC on July 29, 12:30-2 PM EDT. This is the third webcast in...

If you?d prefer to read my blog in Russian...

Posted on June 23, 2009
Be sure to see Ivan Timshin?s blog Legal Gleanings for translations of selected items, starting with a post I wrote about listening a few years ago. Here's the Russian version.

Bad Advice on Lowering Fees

Posted on June 17, 2009
I rarely read newsletters on weekdays. But I could not resist reading the June 10 edition of Rain Today when I saw the headline: ?What to Say When Your Clients Ask for Lower Fees.? Rain Today is written for lawyers...

Alternative fees (Part 15): The LegalBizDev survey

Posted on June 10, 2009
In a recent survey conducted by the Association of Corporate Counsel, 60% of general counsel and chief legal officers said that the best way for outside counsel to improve relations is to offer more alternative billing arrangements. 77% would like...

Alternative Fees (Part 14): In-house counsel?s reluctance to switch to non-hourly billing

Posted on June 03, 2009
A few weeks ago, after I wrote Why has change been so slow?, I saw some fascinating comments on the post from leaders in the profession. But you probably missed them, because the exchanges were on Legal OnRamp, a private...

It?s time to get serious about marketing

Posted on May 27, 2009
?I?ve been a lawyer for 31 years, and I?ve never seen it like this. Do you have any words of wisdom for me?? The question came from a practice group leader at a 1,300 lawyer firm who subscribes to this...

The down economy (Part 10): The Boston Roundtable meeting

Posted on May 20, 2009
A few weeks ago, senior business development professionals from some of the largest firms in Boston gathered for the quarterly meeting of the Boston Roundtable on Legal Business Development. Our topic this time was ?Developing new business in a down....

Alternative Fees (Part 13) ? Why has change been so slow?

Posted on May 13, 2009
Throughout this series, I?ve been writing about the ways that alternative fees can save clients money and help lawyers build stronger relationships with their clients. The panelists on my recent West Legal Edcenter webcast on alternative fees at large firms...

Alternative Fees (Part 12) ? What?s different for Big Law?

Posted on May 06, 2009
On April 15, I moderated a panel discussion for West Legal Edcenter on alternative fees at large firms. Some of the discussions were similar to those in a related panel on alternative fees at boutiques. But there were also important...

Marketing advice for Harvard Law School students (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on April 29, 2009
When the time comes to find your first summer internship or permanent legal position, the way you relate to people will be absolutely critical. In an article in The Complete Lawyer entitled ?Critical Relationship Building Skills For Associates?, lawyer and...

Womble Carlyle says Big Law has ?changed forever?

Posted on April 22, 2009
Last week, Womble Carlyle announced steps to reduce its annual operating expenses by $5 million, including layoffs and 10% pay cuts. Since the ABA Journal recently noted that ?In the last 15 months, more than 10,000 lawyers and legal staffers...

Marketing advice for Harvard Law School students (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on April 15, 2009
This week?s post was written for a presentation I gave yesterday at the Harvard Law School on Business Development for Law Students and Recent Graduates. The panel was sponsored by the Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Profession, which...

Alternative Fees (Part 11) ? More on how to set a fixed fee

Posted on April 08, 2009
When I talked to four law firm founders during a recent West LegalEdcenter webcast on How boutique firms are delivering greater value with alternative billing, I was surprised by the number of different ways they set prices. Even within a...

The ?Law Firm of the Future? is open for business

Posted on April 01, 2009
For years, I?ve been reading about the changes we will see in the law firm of the future. But until I spoke to Fred Bartlit, Pat Lamb, Bruce Raymond and Jay Shepherd during a recent West LegalWorks webcast, I did...

Wolf-Block goes under - Rainmakers move on, others don?t

Posted on March 27, 2009
Wolf-Block, a 300 lawyer firm in Philadelphia, had survived through good economies and bad ones for more than a century. But now it has joined Heller Ehrman, Thelen, and Thacher Proffit as the latest casualty of the 2009 downturn. An...

Alternative fees (Part 10): Today and tomorrow

Posted on March 25, 2009
Legal gurus have been incorrectly predicting the rise of alternative fees for so long that there is widespread skepticism about how quickly change will occur, or even if it will occur. When The American Lawyer published its Law Firm Leaders...

Alternative fees (Part 9): Hybrids

Posted on March 18, 2009
When I started working on this series, I hoped to find a single definitive list of all possible types of alternative fees. But I?ve given up. There are too many lawyers creating new variations. Consultant Ann Lee Gibson convinced me...

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