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Change has long been a defining element of the legal services market, and over the past decade, the pace of change has accelerated more rapidly than perhaps ever before. The greatest business challenge, however, remains the same: to continue to be competitive and profitable. This Special Report presents practical strategies to help law firms protect and sustain their profitability as shifting client expectations, advanced technology and global influences challenge many of the old paradigms in law firm management.
Authors Norman Clark and Lisa Walker Johnson demonstrate that, although traditional factors influencing profitability remain valid, they must be managed in new ways to meet new financial realities. Insights include:
lessons learned from the global recession of 2009–2010 and the COVID-19 pandemic;
innovations in pricing, productivity and cost management; and
rightsizing the law firm for sustainable performance and profitability.
This report highlights what sustainable profitability really means for the 2020s and beyond, and how any law firm can achieve it.
Price: £125.00
Pages: 128
Publisher: Globe Law and Business
Imprint: Globe Law and Business
Publication Date:
31 October 2025
Trim Size: 11.75 X 8.25 in
ISBN: 9781837231317
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
I. Seismic shifts in the legal services industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. The legal services industry is changing faster than ever before . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2. The elephant still in the room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3. Will the law firm of the future be a computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4. A diagnostic approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
II. The Six Classic Drivers: an overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2. Old questions turned upside down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3. Diagnostic tools in a ‘change-ready’ professional culture . . . 24
III. Classic Driver #1: Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1. A thought experiment: £200 per hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2. Are your fees low enough and high enough? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3. Low price is not a sustainable strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4. Does your pricing respond to market trends? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5. Fully loaded operating cost: a foundation for profitable pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6. Benefits beyond better fee quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
7. Think – and talk – about value, not price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
8. Escaping the squeeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
IV. Classic Driver #2: Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
1. A thought experiment: the 80-hour day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2. Are you working too hard? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3. Is the billable hour obsolete? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4. What is the magic number? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5. Variation in productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6. The over-productive partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7. Technology turns things upside-down: a case study . . . . . . . . . . . 56
8. Disruptive productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
V. Classic Driver #3: Realisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
1. A thought experiment: collecting every penny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2. Leaving money in the street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3. Realisation as a diagnostic indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4. Variation in realisation rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5. Better profits through better realisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
VI. Classic Driver #4: Cost management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
1. A thought experiment: operating a law firm on £100 per hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2. The temptation to slash costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3. Pitfall #1: Not knowing what it costs to produce a legal service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4. Pitfall #2: Over-investment in multiple offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5. Pitfall #3: Not keeping up with the technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6. Pitfall #4: Ignoring partner performance issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7. Pitfall #5: Slashing costs without managing risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
VII. Classic Driver #5: Staff compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
1. A thought experiment: associate compensation in 2030 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2. Are associates becoming inherently unprofitable? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3. Looking through the wrong end of the telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4. It’s not about the money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5. Improving associate profitability now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6. Money into the bottomless pit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
VIII. Classic Driver #6: Leverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
1. A thought experiment: 40:1 leverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
2. Finding the fulcrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
3. Technology, workflow leverage and the future of the law firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
IX. Being the change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
1. Focusing on the how, not just the what . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
2. Change-challenged or change-ready? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
3. Paradigm shifts in the legal services industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4. Is your law firm trudging silently towards oblivion? . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5. Playing a poor hand well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
About the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
About Globe Law and Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128