Allen Iverson and the Value of Legal Services

Google today is worth more than $100 billion. Does that mean that the lawyers (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, I imagine) who incorporated Google should have gotten a $90 billion fee on a “value” basis? Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom generated $2 billion in revenues in 2010. Does that…

Mar 14, 2011 2:22 PM CDT

Is There a Trade-Off Between Efficiency and Innovation in Law Practice?

A while ago, I attended a seminar teaching the basis elements of Legal Lean Sigma™, a marriage of the principles of Lean and Six Sigma. At its core, the program was about process management and efficiency. I posted about the program on Twitter, and received a response from a friend…

Mar 7, 2011 3:00 PM CST

Top 10 Ways to Better Manage Legal Spending

As it becomes increasingly apparent that 2011 and beyond won’t bring a “return to normal” for annual double-digit growth in legal budgets, I thought it would be useful to recap the top ways I’ve found to better manage legal spending. None of these are new, but all are rooted in…

Feb 17, 2011 6:39 PM CST

NAACP Hires ‘Trailblazing’ Solo as General Counsel

Solo practitioner and ‘10 Legal Rebel Kim M. Keenan has been tapped as general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Keenan—the youngest attorney and second woman to hold the position—was selected, in part, for her dedication to “redressing the inequities still impacting women and people…

Feb 11, 2011 7:05 PM CST

Pay Outside Lawyers Now, Or Pay Later by the Hour? Later Will Cost You

My partner, Nicole Auerbach, and our client, Karen Klein, the general counsel of Kayak.com, have been blogging for the Association of Corporate Counsel on issues of value from the perspectives of outside and inside counsel. In her initial post, Karen spoke about her hesitancy in utilizing nonhourly fee arrangements because…

Feb 10, 2011 8:36 PM CST

Are Law Firms Long-Term Greedy Enough?

There’s a nice expression (sometimes attributed to Goldman Sachs) describing the right way to balance self-interest, risk-taking, institutional interest and investment: “Be Long-Term Greedy.” Obviously, long-term greed recognizes that folks will generally act in what they understand to be their own interest, but if they act in their long-term self-interest,…

Feb 3, 2011 2:16 PM CST

It’s Time to Consider Law as a System

On Monday I saw Gabriel Buigas, deputy general counsel for Hewlett-Packard, present a terrific keynote at LegalTech New York on “Legal vs. IT: Turn the Battle into a Solution to Meet Compliance.” [Full disclosure: Legal OnRamp has a commercial relationship with HP.] Gabriel perfectly encapsulated my views described in a…

Feb 1, 2011 3:36 PM CST

Law on the Open Road: One Man’s Avocation has Become His Niche

Feb 1, 2011 7:00 AM CST

Firms Need to Offer Incentives for Trying Value Pricing—Or Lawyers Won’t Do It

While Pat Lamb and I are joined at the hip as “rebels,” co-bloggers and by the burden of my “advice”—I’m on his firm’s advisory board—I don’t always agree with him. But my friend Pat has certainly nailed it when he cites the Hildebrandt report (PDF) saying shifting one’s management paradigm…

Jan 28, 2011 9:03 PM CST

Law Is Both a Profession and a Business—Forget That at Your Own Peril

Michael Kinsley, formerly of the New Republic, is credited with the formulation that “a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.” Whether my old boss Daniel Patrick Moynihan, suggesting that family structure was as much a cause of poverty as discrimination, or a McCain campaign adviser intimating that a…

Jan 27, 2011 2:34 PM CST

Do You Solve Problems with Inspiration or Information?

As we’ve discussed before, a nice metaphor for the New Normal is the HSBC ads, which juxtapose conflicting captions (think Pleasure/Pain and pictures of a hot chili and spiked heels). So imagine a picture of a lawyer’s brain with alternate captions, “Inspiration” or “Information.” To a degree most other professions…

Jan 26, 2011 3:40 PM CST

Why Changing From Rate-Focused to Efficiency-Focused Biz Model Isn’t Easy, Not Even Close

The Hildebrandt Baker Robbins/Citi Private Bank 2011 Client Advisory (PDF) contains this remarkable insight: “As law firms struggle to adjust to their rapidly changing competitive environment, many are finding that—like Lewis Carroll’s Alice—they must run ever harder just to stay even. In the first place, shifting one’s management paradigm from…

Jan 25, 2011 2:00 PM CST

As Clients Shift Work, How Do We Deal with This Change Thing?

Editor’s note: The New Normal is an ongoing discussion between Paul Lippe, the CEO of Legal OnRamp, and Patrick Lamb, founding member of Valorem Law Group. Paul and Pat spend a lot of time thinking, writing and speaking about the changes occurring in the delivery of legal services. We hope…

Jan 24, 2011 2:02 PM CST

Law Firm Librarians Defend Operating Costs

Editor’s note: The New Normal is an ongoing discussion between Paul Lippe, the CEO of Legal OnRamp, and Patrick Lamb, founding member of Valorem Law Group. Paul and Pat spend a lot of time thinking, writing and speaking about the changes occurring in the delivery of legal services. We hope…

Jan 18, 2011 2:45 PM CST

New Year’s Resolution No. 2: Make the Network Your Friend

Editor’s note: The New Normal is an ongoing discussion between Paul Lippe, the CEO of Legal OnRamp, and Patrick Lamb, founding member of Valorem Law Group. Paul and Pat spend a lot of time thinking, writing and speaking about the changes occurring in the delivery of legal services. We hope…

Jan 10, 2011 7:51 PM CST