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The debate over remote work in law firms isn’t really about productivity, training, or collaboration It’s about control and convenience. Exacerbated by a cash basis business model, individual partners often prioritize their own convenience and short-term gains over the firm’s long-term success, making resistance to remote work all but inevitable.

A lot has been written about the remote work debate within law firms. Law firm management, typically made up of either boomers or Gen X partners, usually wants more in-office work by younger lawyers, associates and legal professionals.

The argument is grounded on the theory that younger lawyers can’t be adequately trained without in-office work. If younger lawyers aren’t in the office, they will miss the random water cooler conversations that are supposedly critical. And finally, older lawyers believe younger lawyers just aren’t as productive when out of the office and will not produce the same quality work.Continue Reading Why Law Firms Won’t Fully Embrace Remote Work: Hint, It’s the Business Model

Bloomberg Law recently reported that the venerable firm Steptoe would allow associates to choose their own billable hour targets. The program will start next year. An associate can choose to bill 2200 hours and receive top pay, or they can opt for 2000 hours and make less, or 1800 hours and make even less. Associates reportedly elect to move to a different tier. Associates are allowed to bill fewer than 1800 hours and have their pay pro-rated accordingly.Continue Reading Billable Hour Tiers for Associates: Progressive or Lipstick on a Pig?

It’s a common theme among law firm leaders, particularly big law firm leaders, to claim that their firms have some sort of vaunted “culture” that has been painstakingly developed over many years. This incredible culture, the theory goes, imbues the firm with some kind of wonderful familial aura, enabling the firm and its lawyers to respect a time-honored profession.

Based on what I’ve seen lately, I have to largely call bullshit on all that. Continue Reading Have Big Law Firms Lost Their Cultural Soul?

AltaClaro, an innovative provider of interactive, experiential legal training (about which I have written before), recently announced the launch of a new course, Guiding Effective Use of GenAI: A Supervisory Course for Law Firm Partners. 

The launch is noteworthy for several reasons. The course is unique in that it focuses not on summer associates or even associates but on partners and senior legal professionals. It’s specifically designed to equip partners and managers in law firms and in-house legal departments with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively oversee the use of Generative AI (GenAI) by everyone on their teams. AltaClaro developed the supervisory course in collaboration with K&L Gates law firm and its AI Solutions group. (Interestingly, according to Abdi Shayesteh, AltaClaro CEO, K&L was AltaClaro’s first client some five years ago).Continue Reading Empowering Lawyer Leadership: K&L Gates and AltaClaro’s GenAI Supervisory Course for Partners. Yes, Partners.

I was recently at a conference of elite trial lawyers where I presented with Dr. Maura Grossman and was on a panel session where we demonstrated how Generative AI could be practically used. But perhaps the most enlightening time was spent outside of the conference in networking conversations which is, of course, typical.

One of those times was when I had a chance to chat with John Trimble. I have known John for several years. He is not only an outstanding lawyer and frequent consultant to small and mid-size law firms but also a thought leader in law practice management.

Standing in the Food LineContinue Reading Law Firm Management: It’s Not All (Or Only) About Tech

Dan Roe of law.com recently reported on a study by Edge International on the problem of underperforming partners. I have written on this issue before.

Identifying and defining underperforming and underproductive partners will prove more and more challenging given the changing dynamics in the profession. Those firms that evaluate partners’ performance and productivity only on current financial metrics may face problems in the future.

The Survey

According to the Survey, more than half of the responding firms believe underproductive partners hurt firm profitability. And two-thirds say they intend to act on the problem within the next two years.Continue Reading Beyond the Billable Hour: Rethinking Partner Evaluation to Enhance Long-Term Financial Health

Working with outside counsel is like getting thrown in a pit of rattlesnakes and hoping one won’t bite you. Anonymous

Axiom, the 14,000-person alternative legal service provider, launched in 2000, together with Wakefield Research, recently conducted and published a Study of U.S. in-house counsel. They conducted a 15-minute Survey online in January and February of this year. Some 300 general counsels of small, mid-size, and large businesses responded.Continue Reading Law Firms on Notice: Adapt to In-House Counsel’s Concerns in the Wake of Axiom’s 2023 Findings. Or Else

The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.

Mark Twain

More and more law firms are opting to require lawyers and certainly associates to be in the office at least four days a week. At some point, this may convert to five-days in the office. Most of the time, management declares that those lawyers (read associates) who don’t comply could see their compensation reduced. (A pretty strong suggestion is that five days is better than 4 for advancement). Continue Reading The Cost of Tradition: Unpacking Law Firms’ Return-to-Work Policies

Lawyers enjoy using the prefix “non”. Nonlawyer, nonequity partner; as someone who was not a lawyer once told me, “I don’t like being referred to as a non anything.”

For law firms, making someone a partner is a little like a marriage. It brings legal obligations, creates emotional bonds, and can be hard to escape. Making someone a nonquity partner, on the other hand, is like living with someone. If you don’t like how it’s going, you can just cut your losses and move on. No fuss, no muss.

The concept of the nonequity partner tier has been around for a long time. ). But it has picked up considerable steam in the last decade as firms grappled with large groups of associates becoming eligible for partnership. Perhaps, given the numbers, equity partners were not as familiar with many of the associates who were eligible for partnership as they once were. These were often associates the equity partners were perhaps unsure of but didn’t want to lose (aka let’s hedge our bets). All too often, these were, unfortunately, women and people of color.Continue Reading Swelling Ranks of Nonequity Partners In Law Firms: It’s Not Personal. It’s Just Business