Redwood Analytics

As any organization increases in size, what worked as a smaller organization begins to break down. It becomes increasingly important to have a “play book” so everyone in the organization understands what is expected of them and what rules (core beliefs) should guide the decisions and actions of all in the firm.

Consider the real life example of a 50-attorney firm that will not allow its attorneys to enter their own time. The founding partner doesn’t believe attorneys should do “administrative work”. I’m sure that practice worked fairly well when the firm was small and everyone, including secretaries, knew what everyone was doing. But for a sizable 50-attorney firm, the practice is surely folly and will, sooner or later, get the firm in trouble.

Forty two percent of corporate clients think law firms pad their bills and the courts are not understanding about lax law firm practices for accurately tracking attorney time. The attorney is the only person who can accurately answer “What work was been done and how much of the attorney’s valuable time was spent doing it?"

Many first generation firms are the product of defections from big law. The firm was founded as a rebellion against rigid big law policies and procedures. As the product of the environment from which they fled, the founding partners didn’t require their own rule book. They were already disciplined by their experience. They did the right things without the bureaucracy. With growth, new people enter the organization without the benefit of a similar experience in a structured environment. They need the current law firm to provide structure since they bring none with them.

What about your firm? Do you still have “small firm” traditions in place that are no longer appropriate? Are you still trying to preserve an environment where there are no formal rules to play by? We have to change as we change and as the world in which we do business in changes. You can be accidentally successful for a while, but long term success and durability takes purposeful management.

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