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.
Lawyers are good at many things, most of them associated with legal knowledge and analysis. We’re less good at many other things, most of them having to do with business and management. One of the things we’re least good at, I believe, is ...
Jordan Furlong - November 16, 2011Do you have that nagging feeling you’re just not enjoying your work as much as you used to? Are Sunday evenings beginning to weigh on you because you know you’re going back to work Monday morning? You might be ready for a change. Change can come ...
Marcia Pennington Shannon - November 14, 2011One way us old guys comfort ourselves about aging is by proving our continuing usefulness to the firm through mentoring new lawyers. While we may think that pearls of wisdom just drip from our lips, I wonder: Do we really have anything useful to ...
Otto Sorts - November 8, 2011Each year, some of the greatest minds in the world of law practice management convene at the Annual Meeting of the College of Law Practice Management. Fellows of the College are accomplished professionals from all walks of “legal” life: small ...
Steve Nelson - November 4, 2011
“The best thing about owning our own firm is to have the control and autonomy to decide how you want to do it and when you want to do it,” says Roberta D. Liebenberg, a senior partner at Fine Kaplan in Philadelphia. Whether you prefer ...
Joan Feldman - November 3, 2011Part of making Microsoft Office work better for you involves tweaking key settings. Trouble is, finding which settings can make your life a little easier is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Here are four you should consider checking.
Deborah Savadra - October 26, 2011
There's a scene in the movie "Men in Black" when Will Smith's character tries unsuccessfully to get the attention of his bosses, and finally succeeds when he bellows “Hey, Old Guys!” That's a familiar scene around my firm. No, I don't mean we ...
Otto Sorts - October 13, 2011I read my horoscope this morning and here’s what it said: “Letting nature take its course is not advised. Passivity will bring unfavorable results. Take charge of your destiny.” You needn't be a Virgo (as I am) to see the good sense in that. ...
Marcia Pennington Shannon - October 12, 2011I spend a fair amount of time watching my nephews and niece, ages six, four and two, respectively. They tend to cycle through the kids’ shows, but there’s one they keep going back to, time and again: The Wonder Pets. I know. At ...
Gwynne Monahan - October 10, 2011Mobility is a bedrock consideration for modern business practice, including the practice of law. But today’s mobile tool kit may be incomplete without a portable scanner, that will allow you to roam free, and paperless, wherever you happen to be.
Jared Correia - October 6, 2011