Perils the profession can’t ignore – Lawyers Weekly Dec 9, 2011

Published December 12, 2011 By Jess - Leave a comment

 In 2012 the Australian legal profession faces a number of key challenges which, if disregarded, pose a significant risk to the performance and sustainability of the industry. Briana Everett looks at the top 10 risks to the future of Australia’s law firms.

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Mental health

It comes as no surprise that mental illness is one of the biggest threats to Australia’s legal profession.

Over the last few years, countless reports in the media have revealed the devastating e ects ofdepression and anxiety and the high incidence of mental illness in the legal profession, compared to any other.

But despite the increasing willingness amongst members of the industry to speak openly about mental illness, as well as the signifi cant efforts made by organisations such as the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation (TJMF) to increase education about mental illness, it remains a huge issue and threat to the legal profession in 2011 and beyond.

In September this year, members of the profession gathered in the Federal Court of Australia to hear a seven-member panel address the ongoing issue of mental illness in the profession as part of the TJMF’s annual lecture. Discussing his own battle with depression, panel member and managing partner of HopgoodGanim, Bruce Humphrys, highlighted the need to address ways of preventing the illness, rather than focusing on alleviating the symptoms.

Law Institute Journal – InPrint – December 2011 issue

Published December 1, 2011 By Jess - Leave a comment

centerImplementing Value Pricing

Ronald J Baker, Implementing Value Pricing: A radical business model for professional firms, 2010, Wiley, hb $79.95.

I have read many books on pricing, given my interest in the topic, and this is one of the most comprehensive yet understandable for lawyers.

Ron Baker, founder of The Verasage Institute, a think tank dedicated to teaching value-based pricing to professionals around the world, has written many books on this topic but his latest combines an up-to-date healthy mixture of the theory of value-based pricing and hundreds of practical tips and case studies to enable the theory to be put into practice.

This book is a must read for any lawyer even remotely interested in pricing their services other than by time. Even those who may not see any change happening in the legal profession or are not inclined to move away from time-based billing should read it, if only to be aware of what an increasing number of their competitors are doing.

It is also a book for those who say “value-based pricing is OK in theory but it just won’t/can’t/is too difficult to work in practice”. It is filled with proven, practical examples of how firms can and do price their services other than by time and successfully answer those critics who say it cannot be done.

Lawyers Weekly: Goldilocks solution key to lateral hiring strategy

Published November 30, 2011 By Jess - Leave a comment

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Lawyers Weekly article by Brianna Everett

Goldilocks Solution key to lateral hiring strategy

Posted Nov 23 2011, 12:46 AM by Lawyers Weekly

Law firms with a conservative lateral hiring strategy tend to be more successful than their more active or minimally-active direct competitors, according to new research from the UK. 

As a follow up to research conducted earlier this year into 1,944 partner moves in London across a five-year period, Motive Legal Consulting has conducted new research to determine the extent to which lateral partner hiring delivers value to law firms and the most appropriate strategy to do so.

Recognising that law firm development is affected by a multiplicity of factors, the research report maintains that lateral partner hiring continues to be the “main perceived engine of law firm growth”, with almost every law firm in the UK market having a dedicated strategy to hire partners.

With a serious degree of attrition amongst lateral partner hires in the UK – a rate of 33 per cent after three years and 44 per cent after five years – the research sought to uncover the financial value to firms.

“It stands to reason therefore, that these programmes must be presumed to be having some effect to law firm financials over time. Otherwise, why do it?” said Motive Legal Consulting’s Mark Brandon.

Slater & Gordon to drop billable hours in Family Law

Published September 13, 2011 By John - Leave a comment

Slater & Gordon to roll out fixed fees in Family Law

Slater & Gordon announced last week that they were rolling out fixed fees in their Family Law practice.

Slaters are not of course the first law firm to offer fixed fees in Family Law and will not be the last. Many smaller firms have been offering fixed fees for years, both in Australia and in US, but Slaters is the first high profile national Australian firm to publicly announce a move away from time based billing-albeit at this stage at least in one area of their practice.

In some respects it is not surprising a firm that first gave Australia “No Win-No Fees” and the world the first publicly listed law firm would take yet another radical step into moving away from time based billing.

Just as Slater & Gordon proved to all the sceptics who said “you cannot successfully float a law firm because……” totally wrong, they, together with a growing number of other law firms, will again show the conservative members of our profession who still say “you cannot fix legal fees because……”  totally wrong as well.

The need to adopt fixed fee pricing by lawyers is self-evident

Published July 11, 2011 By John - Leave a comment

An article from the current issue of the IFA magazine, courtesy of David Vilensky, Managing Director of Bowen Buchbinder Vilensky Lawyers, WA.

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