In the previous lesson, we looked at the importance of associate efficiency in retaining talent, justifying rates and building profit. This week we add a couple more ingredients to the conversation, and build out a full definition of what it takes to make a law firm profitable.

Profit = Client Focus + Efficiency + Effectiveness, or P=CE2 for anyone who likes symbolic formulas. In other words, specialize in your clients and then embrace efficiency and effectiveness in every task, every day. Just as Newton had his first law of motion, so for law firms this is the First Law of Profitability.

To understand this is to recognize how all of these ingredients, client focus, efficiency and effectiveness are aspects of getting aligned with the client. Client focus is the most obvious example, and there's no shortage of websites which espouse "client orientation." Firms who really practice this will consistently  focus on what the client needs, what problems the client faces, and how to solve them. This is the subject of the very first module of Lean Adviser, called "Aligning Your Work with Client Expectations"