We’ve found over time that law firms often experience the following challenges. Overcoming these challenges can put you ahead of your competition and help your firm become the one that you have always wanted. Rate each of these challenges that your firm is experiencing with the following scale:
0 = Not a problem
1 = Minor impact on the business
2 = Medium impact on the business
3 = Large impact on the business
Challenge A: They are risk-averse and they protect themselves from risk. While it’s good to protect the firm from risk, it can go overboard and reduce the growth and profitability of the firm. All industries need to try new things and to innovate because the market changes over time. Businesses who refuse to adapt eventually get left behind. Business will always require some risk however it’s about managing the risk to get the desired outcomes. Managing the risks will make it safer to take chances and to take advantage of opportunities. One way is to test new things on a small scale to see if they work.
Challenge B: Insufficient or ineffective marketing. Many firms do not stand out from the competition which means that there is an opportunity to improve the branding and positioning of the firm in the marketplace. Many firms do not market themselves enough (within the regulations) so many potential clients do not know that they exist, resulting in missed opportunities.
Challenge C: Insufficient infrastructure such as processes, software integration, and automation make the firm less efficient. This costs the firm time and eats into the profitability. Processes, systems, and organization reduce chaos, duplication of work, and time to complete tasks. Profitability and free time can increase by putting in place standardized processes, procedures, integrated software systems, and financial controls.
Challenge D: Lawyers often rely on their intellect and will power to run the business. This approach takes more mental and emotional effort to run the business. By putting in place processes and systems for administration, management, and communication, the business will require less effort to run. This frees up your intellect and will power for other types of work.
Challenge E: Each partner runs their own fiefdom or silos so there is no overall system to manage everything. Standardized processes, procedures, and systems enable information sharing, efficiency across the firm, and reduce the time to train new hires. Putting these things in place will save time.
Ask yourself the following:
- How did your firm do on the assessment?
- How long has your firm been like this?
- What effect have these challenges had on your firm?
- Is your firm being held back or slowed down from achieving its goals and reaching where you want to get to?
- What does your firm need in order to solve its challenges?
- What will your firm do to solve its challenges?