Managing a Law Firm

Managing a Law Firm


There is a timeless truth in our profession that every attorney eventually confronts: being a brilliant legal tactician does not automatically make you a successful business owner. Running a modern law firm requires an entirely separate skillset—one that balances financial precision, operational scaling, and team culture.

If you are ready to stop firefighting administrative tasks and start building a highly profitable, scalable enterprise on your own terms, explore our complete, interactive master handbook: Managing a Law Firm: The Modern Partner’s Blueprint.

For targeted strategies, quick operational toolkits, and curated expert columns, browse our deep-dive archives directly below.


Loneliness: Taking Care to Stay Connected

Mountain climbers are fastidious about the lines they trust their lives to, and scuba divers are constantly checking the tanks and regulators on which they depend. In the hectic world of practicing law — when one interruption is so often itself ...

J.W. Freiberg - December 6, 2016
Group of lawyers firm culture
Five Ways to Improve Your Law Firm’s Culture

Whether you practice solo with a small staff, at a midsize law firm or in BigLaw, you can always find ways to improve your firm’s culture. It’s true that law firms have a unique culture, regardless of size. One reason is that the billable ...

Mary Redzic - November 30, 2016
Making Clients’ Lives Easier

Lawyers have a lot of questions about how to develop new business. Once they start working with a client, however, the question often becomes, “How can I expand the business?” The simple fact is that clients want to work with lawyers ...

Sally J. Schmidt - November 29, 2016
What's Hot and What's Not 2014
2016 What’s Hot and What’s Not in the Legal Profession

Attorney at Work readers always get the first look at Bob Denney’s annual “What's Hot and What’s Not in the Legal Profession” report on trends in the business of practicing law. Which practice areas are heating up or cooling off? Take a ...

Bob Denney - November 28, 2016
Match Game: Six Tips for Attracting the Right Clients

Finding the right clients is a lot like online dating. The way people find a date has changed dramatically, with eHarmony, OkCupid, Match.com and Tinder, but the rules of attracting and making someone “yours” really haven’t. The same is true of ...

Dan Lear - November 22, 2016
Bored and frustrated businesspeople around a table. More productive meetings in law firms.
Seven Steps to More Productive Meetings

Paul Burton | Add up the loaded employee cost of a simple weekly status meeting. Your answer will make it immediately clear why meetings need to be highly productive.

Paul H. Burton - November 21, 2016
Business Plan Workbook
Emotional Decision Making Is Hurting Your Law Firm and Your Life

You know how when you feel like your back is up against the wall, you sometimes make decisions you’re not 100 percent happy with? The emotional pressure of a financial situation causes you to take on a client that you know will be a ...

Chelsey Lambert - November 17, 2016
multitasking
Have You Got What Clients Want?

You can read all the books and listen to all the podcasts about legal marketing ... apply expert advice to your social media and blogging routine ... study up on how to build your personal network, entertain prospects and ask for the business — ...

Merrilyn Astin Tarlton - November 14, 2016
Five Easy Ways to Create a Healthy, Less-Stressed Workplace

Stress is a natural part of any good lawyer’s life. Recently, however, it's been a bit much, no? Little wonder that soothing GIF that helps sync your breathing has gone viral again. And it actually works, for a while. But, between baseball, the ...

Joan Feldman - November 11, 2016
You Need a Calendar as Smart as You Are

In the practice of law, dates and deadlines are the currency in which lawyers traffic. As filing dates and appearance dates pile up, the likelihood of missing one increases exponentially — with dramatic results. At best, you’ll lose your case. ...

Derek Bolen - November 8, 2016
envelope

Welcome to Attorney at Work!

       

Sign up for our free newsletter.

x