Featured
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
Law firm rates have been on the rise for years—and continue to climb. Yet rumblings indicate clients may have just about had enough. Is the era of continuously rising rates about to hit a snag? Or is it all smooth sailing?
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
Law firm leaders are increasingly saddled with dissent and opt-out mentalities that threaten firm culture, impede operational efficiency and ultimately hinder the firm’s ability to thrive in a competitive legal landscape.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
Effective leadership has the power to reshape the legal sector. Research shows leadership behaviors—not leaders, but demonstrated leadership skills and characteristics—have direct and indirect impact on virtually every aspect of law firm performance.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
Combining insights from macro-trends in organizations worldwide with critical shifts within the legal industry, five prevailing trends promise to impact the legal workplace in 2024.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
When it comes to leadership transitions, there are no easy answers. Unlike corporate organizations, many law firms deploy models more akin to political spheres, switching out leaders on predetermined term limits rather than based on performance.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
Statements from firms cite their interest in promoting far-reaching benefits including collaboration, creativity, innovation and skills development. A noble pursuit? Perhaps. And a strategic misstep that is entirely undermined by evidence to the contrary.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
Distinct contrasts in ways of working, personal motivators and prevailing attitudes have left many leaders frustrated and disillusioned.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
Effective leaders and successful law firms of the future will learn to embrace change, reject perfection and accept the vague.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
Leaders, rightly concerned with the cultural impact and absence of collaboration and development opportunities, began to explore ways to make hybrid work. Most publicly, firms instituted guidelines for when and how to be in the office.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
Reality: The 80-hour in-office work week has gone the way of the rotary phone. Lawyers and professional staff alike are refusing to be bound by hard-and-fast rules chaining them to their desks. This shift was inevitable—and the pandemic accelerated it to a whiplash pace.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
The pandemic, global unrest, political extremism, the war for talent and more are placing a great burden on today’s law firm leaders, leaving many feeling burnt out and underprepared.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
Law firm leaders are experiencing this heightened state of anxiety at multiple levels. Personally, many leaders feel ill-equipped to manage the stressors of guiding a multi-million or -billion-dollar organization on top of personal challenges.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
The legal industry is at a tipping point. Talent holds the cards and will for some time as law firms sort out how best to reimagine their structure, recruitment efforts, retention and professional development.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
The role of leaders in shaping cultural experience is broad and far-reaching. Decisions on virtually every aspect of a firm—from strategy to operations to compensation—all imprint culture.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer.
Cultural transformation is not for the faint of heart, nor is it an endeavor that will yield immediate results. It is, however, perhaps one of the most impactful and rewarding undertakings a leader can call her own.
Since April 2021, more than $19 million US employees quit their jobs, spiking turnover and turmoil across sectors. Another 40%, approximately, are at least somewhat likely to do the same in the coming months according to McKinsey’s report on The Great Attrition. These figures are sobering. And while they represent a broad range of industries, they reflect equally the legal sector’s experience.
Originally published on ALM
Rapid innovation is scary. It is also necessary, particularly in times of crisis and great change. The legal industry has undergone drastic transformation. The pandemic accelerated underlying trends – the move to remote work, client demand for greater value and efficiency, the need for enhanced diversity efforts, restructured operational models, use of technology, and more – at a pace that was wildly uncomfortable for many. It is now incumbent upon law firm leaders to harness these changes and to help their firms emerge stronger and healthier than before. Yet are they prepared?
Originally published in The Leader Intelligencer
What does it take to be a leader in a law firm – and what should it take? What effects has the pandemic had on the role of leaders? And, perhaps most importantly, what is the potential impact leaders can have on the legal industry in the aftermath of 2020?
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
With intention, firms can avoid falling into old habits. With intention, firms can sustain the positive outcomes they have achieved beyond COVID. And with intention, firms can continue to make improvements for the betterment of all.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
Investments in DEI have climbed, with what feels like daily appointments of new Chief Diversity Officers and social media posts abuzz with activity about DEI initiatives at firms. Yet the million-dollar question remains: will firms (and, society in general?) maintain the DEI momentum once this initial flurry of activity dies down and, if so, how? Or, put more simply, will this time be different?
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
Many economists today predict a K-shaped recovery for 2021: some sectors of the economy will bounce back quickly and sharply as we enter a post-pandemic world, rapidly returning to pre-COVID heights (if not higher).
Please join us in congratulating the third graduating class of The Tilt Institute’s online, on-demand training program, CI for BD Professionals…
These December 2020 graduates join ten of their esteemed colleagues who graduated in December 2019 and another 13 outstanding professionals who graduated in June of this year.
With large gatherings on the sidelines for the foreseeable future, one might expect law firm professional development activities to be at a standstill. Not so, say heads of training at many AmLaw 200 firms.
Co-authored by John E. Mitchell. Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer
Covid has done what few incumbent leaders have managed to do: created a sense of urgency to ignite change. It is now the responsibility – nay, the obligation – of leaders to take advantage of this occasion; to use this global pandemic and societal turmoil, which has wreaked havoc on the lives and livelihoods of so many, to make a positive, lasting impact on their organizations and the world.
Please join us in congratulating the second graduating class of The Tilt Institute’s online, on-demand training program, CI for BD Professionals. These dedicated professionals spent more than 12 hours learning about how to elevate their use of data and analytics for competitive advantage. They studied everything from how to differentiate in an RFP process to storytelling and presentation to anatomy of a go-to-market plan.
The Tilt Institute and LawVision release a brand new report, The Expanding Role of Professional Development: Preparing Lawyers for Business, based on insights and perspectives from professional development leaders at more than 70 large law firms. Learn more about the report and download your complimentary copy today.
Read law.com’s coverage, Gap Remains as Firms Focus on Business, Professional Development by Patrick Smith.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer.
Amid the turmoil and upheaval caused by the global spread of COVID-19, many law firm leaders are facing unprecedented decisions. Whether due to actual exposure or the risk of such, escalating concerns necessitate choices which have implications that extend far beyond the firm’s financial health to the well-being of staff, clients, lawyers and their families. With all this at stake, it is natural to wonder, how equipped are lawyer leaders to handle such unique situations?
With over $1B being funneled into LegalTech in 2018 alone, and an estimated $65B of legal work at risk of being automated, per a McKinsey Global Institute Report, the opportunity to invest in your firm’s future is now. Organizations in virtually every sector are exploring ways to better leverage data into strategic advantage. Only a few succeed. Access a complimentary recording of this brief 30-minute webinar on the 7 essential elements to becoming a data-driven law firm. This is fast-moving, half-hour executive overview with tangible action steps and a clearly defined road map for change.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer.
In an era of “what’s in it for me,” leaders seeking to ensure the long-term well-being of the firm and its talent often find change initiatives especially challenging. Innovation, technology deployment, restructuring, collaborative business development and other important large-scale change efforts demand shifts in behavior and mindsets. They also require considerable investments of time and money. Few law firm compensation systems adequately accommodate rewarding these crucial shifts in behavior.
Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
Gallup studies attribute most variability in engagement to “middle managers.” Within law firms, this suggests partners may hold the key to transforming their firms into sought-after opportunities with staying power.