J Mark Santiago

November 03, 2020 | Law.com

During the COVID-19 pandemic, law firms have learned that a large number of "essential" services and Standard Operating Procedure rules and assumptions about how an office works are 1950's myths that need to be identified, examined and re-engineered or discarded.

By J. Mark Santiago

6 minute read

February 25, 2020 | Law.com

Pay for performance is not a new concept in this country. The ideas and concepts underlying a graduated pay scale based on contribution and merit are deeply ingrained in our society. However, in general law firms have been slower to adopt pay for performance systems. What law firms need now, and this article describes, is an approach to partner compensation that closely links a partners pay to their ability to contribute to the achievement of the firm's strategic objectives.

By J. Mark Santiago

12 minute read

October 07, 2019 | Law.com

That term refers to the months of October through December. It's a way of pointing out to partners that the necessary activities of practice management that so many of them had avoided for the first nine or 10 months of the year now had to be addressed. Clients that had not been billed now had to be invoiced. Outstanding invoices, many issued in the cold days of early March and April, now had to be collected and current work would not only have to be billed but collected as well.

By J. Mark Santiago

11 minute read

June 18, 2019 | Law.com

This article focuses on what a firm can do now that will improve future firm economics regardless of what the future may hold, identifying three areas that offer the great opportunity for improving a law firms' economics and better positioning them for whatever the future may bring.

By J. Mark Santiago

9 minute read

June 15, 2018 | Law.com

Raising Costs and Declining Demand are Sapping Profits

The “New Normal” of today is one in which raising operating costs, associate salary increases, and reduced realization rates coupled with AFAs and demands from corporate counsel for reduced rates are sapping firm profits and there is no relief on the horizon. Law firm leaders, seeing current conditions, should be asking if there is a better way.

By J. Mark Santiago

9 minute read

February 23, 2004 | National Law Journal

Firms looking for ways to save on administrative costs are increasingly considering outsourcing or moving select jobs to less-expensive geographic areas.

By J. Mark Santiago

9 minute read

July 26, 1999 | Law.com

In today's business environment, law firms are under constant pressure to increase profitability -- which, for individual partners, typically translates to a mandate to increase profits per partner. Many firms, accordingly, are turning to mergers to bolster their revenues and profits. But effecting a merger, however prevalent this practice may be these days, should not be considered a panacea for all that ails a firm.

By J. Mark Santiago

9 minute read

March 29, 2004 | The Recorder

Firms looking to boost profit margins are grappling with ways to outsource more core functions, including IT support, human resources and accounting. Yet despite the economic and administrative advantages that outsourcers have, they have made few real inroads into law firms. Why is this? Perhaps the biggest factor is the cultural and liability-related concerns that lawyers have about non-firm personnel serving their clients. A potential solution to these concerns lies in shared service centers.

By J. Mark Santiago

8 minute read

March 26, 2003 | New York Law Journal

By J. Mark Santiago

11 minute read