Client Growth

For a sample business development organization chart with suggested duties, click the link below. 

If you are going to get work from larger firms, they must know who you (and your firm) are. Sending business to your firm (a) helps the larger firm meet its clients’ local needs; (b) helps the larger firm’s clients and contacts with work the firm may not handle or may not be able to handle economically; or (c) provides a strong alternative solution to a conflict or potential conflict situation. In some cases your firm may handle work related to the larger firm’s practice but not work the larger firm handles at all. Below are some effective ways to increase your visibility and attractiveness to larger firms.

For many years, corporate counsel and other executive-level buyers of legal services have been alerting law firms to their growing concern over the gap between rising law firm fees and the value of services delivered. Despite mounting client frustration, the law firm value proposition in the legal industry has remained relatively unchanged, with most firms continuing to bill clients by the hour and raising rates annually. These trends largely supported paying associates ever-increasing salaries and driving higher partner profits - neither of which served to improve the value of services delivered to clients. Client concerns about rising fees and the “value” of services have been previously overshadowed by years of enormous demand for legal services, enabling firms to avoid undergoing significant change to the traditional service delivery model. However, over the past year, market dynamics have aligned, creating an opportunity to transform services provided by law firms in order to better meet or exceed client demands.

This article is reprinted with permission from Practice Innovations, January 2009 | VOLUME 10, NUMBER 1.© 2009 West, a Thomson Reuters business.

There is nothing quite like helping a prospective client see how your firm’s services will help their company reach its business goals and having your firm hired as a result of your strong presentation and your ability to tie your services to their needs. Contributing to your firm’s revenue builds confidence, wins accolades, and emphasizes that you are part of the team. But today, differentiating one firm’s services from another is becoming increasingly difficult and a real challenge.
To retain clients you’ve fought so hard to sell requires consistent delivery of the services and the brand that your firm promised with the sale.

This article will discuss two areas that will help today’s law firm effectively compete for and retain clients in the evermore competitive legal environment: building the brand and delivering the brand.

This article is reprinted with permission from Practice Innovations, July 2009, Volume 10, Number 3. © 2009 West, A Thomson Reuters business

Social networking can boost your business development efforts.  But first you must educate the members of your organization about appropriate usage, professional conduct and ethics, and avoiding legal liability.

The Hildebrandt Handbook of Law Firm Management draws on the extensive collective experience of the consultants of Hildebrandt International to address the key management issues and leadership challenges confronting law firms in today’s rapidly changing market environment. The Handbook provides the best current thinking on the day-to-day issues central to leading and managing modern law firms as well as identifying the emerging trends.

Are Your Legal Department's Clients Satisfied? How Do You Know? Here's The Answer: From an expert on law department management at Hildebrandt International, more than 225 pages of the latest on measuring and improving client satisfaction, with 30 charts, 70 graphics, dozens of examples and more than 80 best practices.

“Unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality”
–Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO

SOMERSET, N.J., September 21, 2009 – Hildebrandt, the leading management consulting firm to the legal market, today announced the introduction of LawVision™, a new consulting service that helps law firms adapt their business models to changing market conditions.

The current economic downturn has focused attention of the legal profession on the basic structural, economic, and work process models that have dominated law firms for many years. Some of the key aspects of currently prevailing models include hourly pricing, lockstep progression and compensation for associates and a profit model based on growth and expansion.

Eagan, MN, May 11, 2010—Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, has introduced Thomson Reuters Engage, the first comprehensive Engagement Planning & Management (EPM) software tool that enables law firms to create, monitor and manage integrated budgets and work plans for matters and portfolios of matters. Thomson Reuters Engage is designed to meet law firm clients’ demands for transparent, predictable costs.

The landscape of the legal market is rapidly shifting. Firms are under increasing pressure to deliver more value to their clients in a cost-effective manner, and with plans and budgets that are consistent and predictable. Thomson Reuters Engage’s intuitive design and seamless integration with law firms’ existing management information systems – including time and billing, human resources, email and customer relationship management – allows attorneys to confidently manage within the evolving demands of today’s clients, including alternative fee arrangements.

SOMERSET, N.J., and HOUSTON, Dec. 4, 2009 – Hildebrandt and Baker Robbins & Company, the two leading consultancies serving the legal market, announced today that they will merge into a single company, effective Jan. 1, 2010. Both are part of the Business of Law group of Thomson Reuters.

Hildebrandt is the premier management consulting firm serving law firms and corporate and governmental law departments throughout the world. Baker Robbins & Company is the leading technology and business process consulting firm for the same market. Together, the new firm – which will be known as Hildebrandt Baker Robbins – will be the largest and most diversified consultancy serving the legal market, with more than 120 consultants working around the world in a broad range of practice areas.

SOMERSET, NJ, November 18, 2009 – Hildebrandt, the leading management consulting firm to the legal market, today announced the global expansion of Hildebrandt services in Beijing, Hong Kong and Sydney effective January 1, 2010.

The potential growth of the legal profession in Asia is impressive. Global firms continue to invest in the region although many lack a strategic business plan for their offices. Local and regional firms are also growing and we envision some potential consolidation of the market. The biggest challenge for local and regional firms is to put in place a structure and systems that will allow them to compete effectively in this changing market. We would not be surprised if there were consolidation between the growing Chinese firms and a major US or UK firm.

SOMERSET, N.J., September 21, 2009 – Hildebrandt, the leading management consulting firm to the legal market, today announced the introduction of LawVision™, a new consulting service that helps law firms adapt their business models to changing market conditions.

The current economic downturn has focused attention of the legal profession on the basic structural, economic, and work process models that have dominated law firms for many years. Some of the key aspects of currently prevailing models include hourly pricing, lockstep progression and compensation for associates and a profit model based on growth and expansion.

As law firms invest to enhance their CI processes, they seek the perfect mix of people, services and organization to make their attorneys more competitive. An understanding of the CI framework and the details associated with each phase of the process allows the right answer to be different for each firm.  

In many ways, mid-sized law firms are very much like their larger counterparts. They have collections of attorneys who practice similar types of law, serve similar industries, share the same clients, and even market together. The firms also have, for the most part, similar (though sometimes less complex) governance structures, compensation models, and partnership tiers. There are, however, some important distinctions between mid-sized and large firms that can impact the smaller firms’ success operating under a practice group structure. For the mid-sized firms that have addressed these challenges effectively, the results have been very positive:

• Achievement of market positions in some practice areas equal to or better than even their largest competitors
• Significantly higher firm profitability
• More sense of “ownership” – at all professional levels in the firm
• Larger clients and matters
• More investment in associates – training and real professional development/career management
• Less pressure to be a generalist – with the challenges of marketing, risk management and intellectual stimulation
• Greater accountability among practice leaders