Lean Adviser Legal

August 19, 2022 | Lean Adviser

The grass is always greener … you know the saying. Lawyers who toil away in law firms, burning the midnight oil working on an assignment that's due the next day, daydream about the cushy life of their in-house colleagues. "Those lucky ducks work 9-5, weekends off, corporate perks, and no firm politics to navigate," they lament. But is that really the case? Is the in-house life the low-stress ultimate legal gig?

By Lean Adviser Legal

5 minute read

August 12, 2022 | Lean Adviser

The question isn't whether geopolitical risk affects the legal industry, it's how law firms can help their clients and themselves navigate it. The answer, or at least one part of the answer, is reflected in the early lessons of lean law — collaboration, communication and knowing your client's business.

By Lean Adviser Legal

4 minute read

August 05, 2022 | Lean Adviser

The law may be a business, maybe even big business, but it's still just people: the clients, the talent, and now the investors. They're all people, and people are drawn to organizations with core values they recognize and admire. Very few agree with autocracy or unchecked power, and this is precisely why, happily, the rogue law firm leader is a disappearing breed.

By Lean Adviser Legal

2 minute read

July 29, 2022 | Lean Adviser

The answer to the talent war is to focus on the talent, not the war. It's not about the rival firms, or about the money, it's about your own talent and making them feel valued. Talent is what draws people to join an organization and inspires people within it. It's the first thing clients notice.

By Lean Adviser Legal

2 minute read

July 22, 2022 | Lean Adviser

Isn't it fair that we ask what the "lawyer hour" means to the lawyer working it? Once you examine the "lawyer hour" in that light, you reach a startling conclusion: Attorneys and clients view the proposition the same way — it's law firms who are the odd ones out.

By Lean Adviser Legal

2 minute read

July 15, 2022 | Lean Adviser

Whether it's inflated salaries in the talent wars, or hikes in insurance premiums, whatever happens to law firms gets passed on to clients. The medium of that pass-through is always the same — through hourly rates. But what are they based on?

By Lean Adviser Legal

2 minute read

July 07, 2022 | Lean Adviser

Insurers are hiking rates because malpractice payouts have grown exponentially, and because they fear that hastily recruited lawyers and hybrid working will make things worse. The way to secure attractive insurance rates is to have a good claims profile, and the keys to that are all in the fundamentals.

By Lean Adviser Legal

3 minute read

July 01, 2022 | Lean Adviser

Having established what clients are for, we ask what attorneys are for. Again, firms who get this right will navigate the downturn far better than those who don't.

By Lean Adviser Legal

2 minute read

June 24, 2022 | Lean Adviser

Not all firms are client-oriented. There is a spectrum spanning firms with a "commodity approach" at one end, and firms with a "professional service" approach at the other.

By Lean Adviser Legal

3 minute read

June 17, 2022 | Lean Adviser

In a bear market, clients become more strategic, they reduce demand, cut their spend, and spread the work around. The real impact is the shift in power from the talent back to the client. As the available work declines, and clients become more inquisitive and discriminating. Not just in rates, where traditional old sensitivities return, but in how the legal services are actually provided.

By Lean Adviser Legal

2 minute read