Great post and insights for #Oldlaw firms (i.e those firms that still leverage people x time x hourly rate-which are still most firms) Jordan. Language and incentives matter-as of course does the business model.
Luckily the firms I work with and respect don't have billable or non billable hours anymore. They don't even have "fee earners" and "non fee earners". They price all their work up front.
If you measure and reward time-which #Oldlaw/Biglaw still do, that is what you will get - and you will get it in spadefuls ( which is admittedly going to get harder with the advent of GenA! etc as you point out).
As Matthew Burgess, ex BigLaw partner and now owner of one of Australia's pre-eminent specialist estate planning firms ViewLegal (which has never billed by time and has never kept time sheets) says,
“With timesheets you think what is billable. Without timesheets you think what is valuable”.
Everything we do as you point out is an investment in the future. Like all investments sometimes they are good-sometimes not so good. Sometimes valuable sometimes not so valuable.
Anecdotally Jordan I have found over last 15 years those firms that have moved away from the "we sell time" #Oldlaw business model tend to make better investments decisions-both for themselves and their clients.
I work on my own as a free-lance research lawyer serving small firms and sole practitioners. This article has made me look at how I describe my time to myself and recognize that I have to think differently about it. It's not the first time your articles have helped my rethink what I do and how I do it.
I especially like the line: "law firms fracture the mental and emotional pipelines that connect investment to revenue". Emotional Pipeline! Feed the Pipe! Thanks for a particularly well-written work.
Great post and insights for #Oldlaw firms (i.e those firms that still leverage people x time x hourly rate-which are still most firms) Jordan. Language and incentives matter-as of course does the business model.
Luckily the firms I work with and respect don't have billable or non billable hours anymore. They don't even have "fee earners" and "non fee earners". They price all their work up front.
If you measure and reward time-which #Oldlaw/Biglaw still do, that is what you will get - and you will get it in spadefuls ( which is admittedly going to get harder with the advent of GenA! etc as you point out).
As Matthew Burgess, ex BigLaw partner and now owner of one of Australia's pre-eminent specialist estate planning firms ViewLegal (which has never billed by time and has never kept time sheets) says,
“With timesheets you think what is billable. Without timesheets you think what is valuable”.
Everything we do as you point out is an investment in the future. Like all investments sometimes they are good-sometimes not so good. Sometimes valuable sometimes not so valuable.
Anecdotally Jordan I have found over last 15 years those firms that have moved away from the "we sell time" #Oldlaw business model tend to make better investments decisions-both for themselves and their clients.
Your posts are always insightful — this post is particularly brilliant.
Language reflects values. Let's value *all* business aspects that increase revenue (both today and tomorrow).
I work on my own as a free-lance research lawyer serving small firms and sole practitioners. This article has made me look at how I describe my time to myself and recognize that I have to think differently about it. It's not the first time your articles have helped my rethink what I do and how I do it.
I especially like the line: "law firms fracture the mental and emotional pipelines that connect investment to revenue". Emotional Pipeline! Feed the Pipe! Thanks for a particularly well-written work.
Most insightful Jordan, particularly from an investment of time
As ever Jordan, perfectly articulated and absolutely spot on - if only we could get all the law firms to listen to you!
When lawyers stop billing time as a business model, the lessons in this post are far easier to understand.