20/20 vision for 2020: law firm strategy for the next decade

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Deborah Farone
Farone Advisors, New York
deborahfarone@gmail.com

Report on a webinar presented by the Law Firm Management Committee

This webinar explored:

• how firms will differentiate themselves in the future;
• what the impact of an oversaturated market will be;
• what role supply chain might play in managing a law firm; and
• what cutting-edge firms think about when they plan for 2020 and beyond.

Moderator

Deborah Farone,
Frone Advisors, New York

Speakers

Heidi K Gardner,
Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, Cambridge

William D Henderson
Maurer School of Law, Indiana University, Indiana

On 7 April 2020, the Law Firm Management Committee presented a webinar to help others to learn from leading thinkers in the United States on the subject of law firm strategy. Together they talked about how firms will differentiate themselves in the future, the impact of an oversaturated market and what role supply chain might play in managing a law firm. The group discussed the latest thinking in the area of business development, collaboration, education and innovation. Here is a summary:

Keep close to your clients

When considering your approach to new business, focus on the familiars, those people you know well and with whom there is a built-in trust factor. Rather than trying to boil the ocean, the best marketing value is found by targeting key sectors for which your offering already has appeal. This is the time to excel in terms of client service.

Collaboration is the differentiator

Why do we need smart collaboration? We face two elements that are coming together. There is increased legal specialisation in expertise, industry and jurisdiction. Add to that the fact that our environment is more VUCA: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The only way to serve clients in this environment is through collaboration. Firms and individuals who continue to collaborate with their colleagues and clients are likely to end up being much more successful. Those who succumb to the stress and isolating professionally could be in for a bad time.

There will be a host of new skills we will need

We’re moving from one-to-one consultative services to one-to-many products and services. It’s uncomfortable for most because we are missing the key skills to make this happen, including collaboration and the ability to model and build businesses.

We can add to the value by using cross-selling tools

If firms could take just ten per cent of their clients who use them for one practice and shift them over by providing one additional service, they would create exponential additional value for their clients and greater fees for themselves.

We will need to take additional risks

For the future, we’ll need increased risk tolerance in terms of financing, overcoming regulatory affairs and more marketing than we have had in the past. The only way we can face the future is for lawyers to share risk among themselves and with the other professionals they bring into the fold.

To do sophisticated work, we need multidisciplinary teams including technologists, systems engineers, marketing and process. We will need to extend our trust between lawyers and the professionals that have various types of expertise.

Strategic planning needs to be disciplined

When crafting your next strategic plan, remember to involve your key players in marketing and technology, stick with limited key goals and implement a follow-up plan with a strict timetable. While good planning is essential, and will include data from outside of the firm as well as from the inside, the implementation is what will make a difference in moving the firm ahead.

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