BigLaw: How to win more work from an international law firm alliance

In this post on How to win more work from an international law firm alliance, John Grimley uses the alliance between the UK’s Bird & Bird and South Korean firm Hwang Mok Park (HMP) to highlight the potential attractiveness—as well as pitfalls—of international law firm marketing alliances.

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Posted by on Feb 21, 2017 in BigLaw firms, Clients | 0 comments

Pricing efficiency

Pricing efficiency is Hans Schuurman’s first post on Dialogue. His perspective from his base in The Netherlands is a welcome addition to the discourse on BigLaw and fees. Hans reasons a low hourly rate is not always the cheapest solution for BigLaw to offer clients. He argues the core theme in fee discussions between BigLaw firms and clients remains the variable or the hourly rate and then asks whether this helps the client and the firm reach their desired goal? Hans explains ‘on a napkin’ that a low hourly rate is not always the cheapest solution for BigLaw firms to offer and that there are better ways to achieve pricing efficiency.

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Posted by on Feb 21, 2017 in BigLaw firms, Clients, Pricing | 0 comments

Rudderless ships

‘Rudderless ships‘ is a new post by Mike O’Horo, a foremost proponent of how lawyers in BigLaw firms can improve the effectiveness of their business development activities. The volume of debate and activity around law firms’ evolution into sales organizations continues to ramp up. There are lots of opinions – and accompanying solutions offered – around every aspect of this emerging business function.

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Posted by on Feb 2, 2017 in BigLaw firms, Clients | 0 comments

You’re not selling what we’re buying

Demand is flat or falling at large law firms, says the newest Wells Fargo survey released yesterday. Revenue is now being driven solely by hourly rate increases, the last remaining income enhancement button that law firms can press and one they will presumably continue to press until it no longer responds. This is not an especially new development: as has been the case every year since 2011, the 2015 Altman Weil survey of Chief Legal Officers found that more law departments decreased their spend on outside law firms than increased it.

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Posted by on Jan 25, 2017 in BigLaw firms, Clients | 0 comments

The General Counsel Revolution

The General Counsel Revolution is the subtitle of The Future of the In-house Lawyer: The General Counsel Revolution, edited by Richard Tapp and published earlier this year by the Law Society in London. This book’s significance lies in its timing, breadth of coverage and demonstration of the now indisputable, permanent power of in-house lawyers in the legal services supply chain.

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Posted by on Nov 21, 2016 in Book review, Clients, Legal services ecosystem | 0 comments

Stop Pummelling BigLaw

Ken Grady’s title of his post today, Stop Pummelling BigLaw, is a really important sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree. The BigLaw industry (remember BigLaw refers to the business model of all but a handful of today’s larger law firms) comprises 10s of 1000s of firms around the world. As Ken says “BigLaw is tough enough to take the punches and it doesn’t need me to defend it“, but the commentariat and NewLaw are serving no one’s interests by BigLaw bashing. 

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Posted by on Oct 25, 2016 in BigLaw firms, Clients, Lawyers | 0 comments