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  • July 6, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Building a law firm brand

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am the owner of a 14-attorney firm in the western suburbs of Chicago. I am 45 years old and I started my practice as a solo 10 years ago. The firm focuses on business litigation exclusively. Like many law firms the name of the firm is My Name, LLC. The firm has grown rapidly and we have been successful. However, I am concerned that I should be building more of a "firm brand" and the firm is too much about me. I would appreciate your thoughts?

  • June 29, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Law firm succession - Discussing equity ownership

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am the owner of a 14-attorney insurance defense practice in Baltimore. I started the firm 20 years ago after leaving behind my partnership at another firm. Of the other 13 attorneys, there are four non-equity partners and the rest are associates. I am 63 and beginning to think about retirement and how I am going to transition out of the practice. Two of the non-equity partners are well seasoned attorneys, have major case responsibility, and have developed solid relationships with clients. I have discussed equity partnership vaguely with them, but their interests seem lackluster and they have been non-committal. I would appreciate your thoughts and advice on what my next steps should be.

  • June 22, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Associate satisfaction and retention

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am the owner of a 20-attorney litigation firm in Seattle. The 19 associates are all in the same tier or category and are paid a salary plus bonus. Their time with the firm ranges from 1-15 years. I enjoy sole ownership but I realize that to continue to grow and prosper I must make some changes. I have recently lost several associates that I would have liked to have stayed with the firm. I am also getting stressed having all of the management responsibility since I currently make all of the decisions. Several associates have told me that the morale is low. I welcome your thoughts.

  • June 15, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Managing performance reviews

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. We are a firm is a 15-attorney firm in Kansas City, Missouri. Our management committee is charged with the responsibility of determining partner, associate and staff compensation. Several years ago we switched to a competency based, goal driven system for partners, associates, and staff. The system requires self-evaluations, peer evaluations for partners and associates, and self-evaluations. This requires extensive performance reviews, tracking, scheduling, and documentation. We are using Excel spreadsheets and MS Word documents and having a hard time managing all of this. Do you have any ideas?

  • June 8, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: How to set up a law firm executive committee

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am a partner in a 12-attorney firm in Downers Grove, Ill. We have eight partners and four associates. We are managed by committee of the whole - all partners are involved in all decisions. We have been considering moving to an executive committee. How do we set it up?

  • June 1, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Law firm succession - Transitioning clients to the next generation

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am a member of a three-member executive committee for a 34-lawyer firm in Austin, Texas. We have been in practice for over 100 years. While we have had partners retire in the past with no issues, we are now facing a situation where seven partners are approaching retirement at the same time and each of them controls significant books of business. What can the firm do to ensure that retiring partners properly transition their clients so the firm can continue to flourish after the partners are no longer here? We would appreciate your thoughts.

  • May 25, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: How to use webinars to market your practice

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am the managing partner of a six attorney boutique estate planning practice located in Madison, Wisconsin. We had a great year last year financially as we have the last several years. However, this year (2016) we are off to a terrible start. Our new matter intakes are down by twenty-five percent. We have a very proactive marketing program - print advertisements, directory listings, top notch website, and we do seminars for prospective clients. I know other estate planning attorneys that do more seminars than we do. Should we be doing more seminars? I would appreciate your insight. 

    1 comment (Most recent May 26, 2016)
  • May 18, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Should capital contributions be required for new equity partners?

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am the sole owner of a 25-attorney litigation boutique firm in Los Angeles. I am the only equity partner with nine non-equity partners and 15 associates. I am concerned that if I don't provide a path to equity partnership, some of my senior talent may gradually defect to other firms or split off to create their own firms. I also believe that providing a path to equity partner for deserving non-equity partners is the right thing to do. Therefore, I am planning on admitting two non-equity members this year. Should I require capital contributions?

  • May 11, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: What to do if you're losing clients

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am a member of our firm's executive committee. We are a 16-attorney business transactional firm in Seattle. Recently the firm has lost several key clients and we want to know what we can do determine why this happened and what we can do to improve client retention. I would appreciate your suggestions.

  • May 4, 2016 | Practice News
    Best Practice: How to structure law firm management team

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am the founder and managing partner of a 27-attorney firm in Dallas, Texas. I own 90% of the stock in the firm. I have a three member management committee that serves as a sounding board, a firm administrator, and several people in accounting that work for the firm administrator. We are anticipating hiring a marketing director and are trying to think our way through how to structure this new position as well as future management positions down the road. I would appreciate any thoughts that you may have.