9
Feb/12

Good pointers – where to start with “lean thinking”

by Allan Carton under Budgets, Business Strategy, CRM, Client Relationships, Performance

If you’re on LinkedIn, it’s worth checking out the comments in this discussion about first steps in introducing lean business processes.  For us, getting leadership from the top and engagement with the people doing the work are the key to implementing lean, focused on improving the working environment, reducing stress, reducing costs and delivering better value to clients. 

http://lnkd.in/pwu6zK Some background here about our work on lean in law firms.  To find out more and how we could start to work with your practice, contact us here or call +44 (0)161 929 8355.

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23
Jan/12

Client relationships and CRM systems – now is the time to make some decisions

by Allan Carton under CRM, Client Relationships, Marketing, Merger, Outsourcing, People Development, Performance

If you have a CRM system that isn’t working well enough for your practice, or if you are looking at options to improve your management of client relationships, we can help you.

CRM is high on the agenda for most legal practices right now … and also a critical area of weakness for many, both in the lack of use of the technology AND because lawyers often struggle to understand why and how best to develop strategic relationships with clients.  If you are interested in Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems whether for a first time implementation or to improve what you already have in place, we can make sure you know …

A]  Which CRM system is the right one for you at your current stage of development, with your people and with your plans going forwards?    Is it …

  1. Your Practice Management System (PMS) supplier; 
  2. Microsoft CRM;
  3. LexisNexis InterAction
  4. Conscious (Sugar CRM)
  5. SmartCRM
  6. Microsoft CRM4Legal
  7. Microsoft xRM4Legal
  8. Sage Sales Logix / e-metis
  9. SalesForce
  10. Tikit ClientConnect
  11. Thomson Reuters’ Hubbard One
  12. CDC’s Pivotal; or,
  13. Do you think you should build your own? 

These are the key players in the legal sector right now, but how do you know which is right for you? We can save your people a lot of time in researching and evaluating all these options as we already know their strength and weaknesses in features, implementation and usage.

B]  How your people should make most effective use of CRM within the business?  This should of course be decided before you buy a system to meet your needs, to make sure you make the right selection.

We can help you make the right decisions to get your people actively engaged in using CRM effectively and earlier than if you try to handle all of your CRM projects internally.  External objective involvement in these projects makes a crucial difference for the better.

If you want to find out more … call Allan Carton on +44 (0)161 929 8355 or complete this contact request form suggesting some times to talk and I will call you.

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4
Jan/12

30 Successful solutions to make 2012 a good year for your practice

by Allan Carton under Business Strategy, CRM, Client Relationships, HR, IT & Technology, Marketing, Performance, ROI, Risk Management

2012 will see very significant change in the UK legal sector, when lawyers will need to be more agile, pro-active and innovative than ever before in developing the practice.  However, with the right focused initiatives and conviction to see them through, it could be a very good year for you.

For information on 30 pragmatic solutions that could help you implement your strategy during the year ahead please complete this contact form .   These solutions (number in each area in brackets) will help you to:

  1. Improve financial performance, strengthen your position in merger discussions, get more and better terms from your bank  (4)
  2. Improve your return on investment in IT, reduce cost of ownership, improve integration and user adoption … and productivity (4)
  3. CRM: Create new business opportunities through proactive management of client relationships, produce better results when adopting CRM “systems” (6)
  4. Reduce operating costs to improve bottom line profits, also improving service to clients. (5)
  5. Control manageable risks that impact on the performance of your practice (5)
  6. Adopt cost effective solutions for marketing & promotion (6)

To discuss your plans in any of  these areas informally and in confidence, please call Allan Carton on +44 (0)161 929 8355 or complete this contact form suggesting the best time/s for him to contact you.

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3
Jan/12

Stay in the Driver’s Seat – Agile, pro-active and innovative law firms are winning

by Allan Carton under Budgets, Business Strategy, Cashflow, Merger, Performance

Leaner and better managed firms are making their mark now as they benefit from the fallout from less successful firms that have struggled to manage their practice effectively and just can’t carry on any longer.  The most recent examples in Leeds and Manchester …

Brooke North - 3 January

One of Yorkshire’s oldest law firms, Brooke North, has closed after being hit by the recession. All 15 lawyers at the Leeds-based practice, which is thought to have been established around 150 years ago, have found work at other firms. Rodney Dalton, a senior figure at Brooke North for 16 years, said the effects of the economic downturn and the firm’s business model had impacted on recent performance. 

Mr Dalton said Brooke North’s approach of offering a bespoke service for its clients across different areas of law, rather than a “one stop shop” for all its clients had actually had a negative effect. This was because many of its owner-managed business clients had stopped using the firm when the recession hit as their own organisations had been impacted by the downturn and other work hadn’t filled the gap, he said. “If you add all that up it doesn’t present a particularly encouraging picture,” Mr Dalton said. “We tried to do a deal with our landlord to enable us to continue, albeit in a slightly different format. But unfortunately we couldn’t do a deal.  “We then looked at ourselves and another problem was there was little opportunity of a solution across the board. We didn’t have the bulk stuff such as second mortgage items to fall back on.

“We prided ourselves on giving a bespoke service to individual clients. The recession just slaughtered us.”  Mr Dalton, a property expert who has joined Lupton Fawcett following Brooke North’s break-up, said the firm had considered a merger with another firm but had decided against the move. He also claimed the firm had been approached itself by suitors in more prosperous times. “All we could see is that in 2012 we’ll be looking back at 2011 and saying that was a good year,” he said. “In the long run a takeover might have done us less good than a break-up has done. This has given us the opportunity to negotiate our own deals.”  The majority of the remaining staff at Brooke North, which numbered around 30, have found work elsewhere.

Rowlands Field Cunningham – 22 December

LAW firm Linder Myers has bought the business and assets of fellow city centre firm Rowlands Field Cunningham from administrators.  Insolvency firm MCR were appointed as joint administrators of Rowlands Field Cunningham on 22 December.   Linder Myers has said the deal will create a £16m-turnover business with almost 300 staff, including 43 partners. It will take on all 80 former Rowlands Field Cunningham staff currently operating out of offices on York St in the city centre and in Swinton.  The last filed accounts for the 12-partner Rowlands Field Cunningham show that the firm had a turnover of £4.8m in the year to April 30, 2010, but no profit was declared.

Rowlands was established in 1887 and only merged with Field Cunningham just over a year ago – a deal which was described at the time by managing partner Jon Andrews as “a very good fit”. However, the firm is understood to have since suffered with cashflow, which eventually led to it appointing administrators.  Bernard Seymour, managing partner of Linder Myers, who will head the enlarged practice, said he expects to achieve turnover of £16m in the next financial year and £20m within 18 months.

Earlier this year, Linder Myers bought an eight storey, 47,500 sq ft building at 55 Spring Gardens for its new headquarters building. It paid £8.1m.  Mr Seymour added that Linder Myers would continue to seek further mergers in Manchester and was in discussions with a number of potential targets.  “This is our biggest merger to date. It will give us greater critical mass and expertise, and will enable us to penetrate better in some markets,” he said.

Courtesy of  TheBusinessDesk

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29
Dec/11

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) – first steps?

by Allan Carton under Business Strategy, Outsourcing, Performance, ROI, Risk Management

When it comes to outsourcing legal process, I suspect there’s a misconception of what is actually being outsourced to third parties.  Much of what I see being outsourced is legal administration work – the routine and mundane work that lawyers really don’t want to do; discrete parts of the process, not the whole process itself. 

A couple of examples – in clinical negligence work, there tends to be a huge amount of documents, where it helps the lawyer to have the notes summarised into a concise document they can digest quickly to identify and reference key facts and issues.  There are also wider opportunities to deal more effectively with e-discovery of documents – where data held in multiple formats (from paper to electronic) can readily be searched, compiled, indexed etc to make all the information and evidence more readily accessible to the lawyers.

Both of these examples improve the process and the ability of lawyers at all levels to focus on getting the legal advice right – also reducing the cost of doing the job. 

Lawyers should be looking harder at every opportunity to improve the way they work to home in on more opportunities like these. For now, there should be more focus on the specifics of legal administration components of legal process to decide what can really be outsourced to benefit everyone involved.  Maybe establish a relationship with a legal process outsourcing company by doing some of this (or just transcription – as many have done) for starters to establish a collaborative relationship … and work with them from there?

To discuss, call +44 (0)161 929 8355 or contact Allan Carton

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22
Dec/11

We have a WINNER – Congratulations!

by Allan Carton under Inpractice UK News
Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for 2012 from everyone at Inpractice UKThe lucky winner of a case of wine in our Christmas Draw as the first name drawn at random from the names of everyone who got all our quiz answers right is …  Debi Barr at Wilson Nesbitt!
 
 Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for 2012 to everyone who took part from everyone at Inpractice UK. If you didn’t win this time, there’s always next year.  Have a good one!
 
You may be interested to see which answers most people didn’t get right first time around – correct answer in brackets.  The quiz questions are here – Christmas Quiz
 
 
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14
Dec/11

Admiral consider ABS options following referral fee ban. No surprise there then!

by Allan Carton under Business Strategy, Marketing

FTSE100 insurer Admiral is considering a move into the legal sector following the ban on personal injury referral fees by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) earlier this year. 

The Cardiff-based insurer’s shares dropped by more than 4 per cent as investors recoiled following the MoJ’s outright ban, which is expected to come into force next year. Currently, around 5.6 per cent of Admiral’s profits derive from referral fees.  It is understood that the insurer is looking at establishing an umbrella personal injury firm or becoming a majority investor in one. 

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will begin to accept applications for ABSs in January.  A spokesperson for Admiral declined to comment on the plans.

Courtesy of The Lawyer

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24
Nov/11

NW lawyers under pressure, but new initiatives are working … for some

by Allan Carton under Business Strategy, CRM, Cashflow, Client Relationships, Finance, HR, IT & Technology, Inpractice UK News, Marketing, Merger, Outsourcing, People Development

A recent survey by PwC showed that the average profit margin for law firms operating in the NW has dropped to 13% (2010: 16%), although average profit per equity partner in the North West increased to £246,000, with 60% of law firms reporting an increase in profits in 2011. Nationally most firms outside the top 10 reported a fall in profits.

The 40% of firms most likely to report falling profits have been the high street operators most likely to be impacted by the introduction of Alternative Business Structures (ABS). The working capital performance of most law firms has held up well, with practices reporting improvements both in the number of debtor days and the length of work in progress – but this is an area where many firms have performed badly in the past so it’s no surprise that financial pressures have forced firms to focus more on these areas. They are the easiest to control internally.

Worryingly, a trend revealed by the survey is that “despite market conditions, headcount has started to drift up again. Utilisation rates for professional staff have been flat or even in slight decline. Equally surprising, given the focus on support costs, has been the renewed upward trend in the numbers of back office staff for many firms.” Larger firms have started to look at more efficient ways of operating their own business, looking towards legal process outsourcing, offshoring and even “North shoring” – ie. maintaining work in the UK, but carrying more of it out in the North where office space and salaries are cheaper.

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Legal Sector can help law firm members in Greater Manchester (all sizes and sectors) to improve and develop their business – to reduce operating costs, increase profits and launch effective new business development initatives. These are areas where we can deliver radical reductions in operating costs and improvements in service to clients. All part of the rationale for the work by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce in supporting the Legal Sector.

To get involved, any employees of legal practices that are members of the Chamber can join their LinkedIn Legal Sector Group here, participate in LinkedIn local “Special Interest Sub-Groups” each relating to Legal Technology, Financial management, HR & People development and Facilities management. We are also organising local forums for members of each SIG like this one for people involved in Legal Technology scheduled for 11th January 2012. To check if your practice is already a member of the Chamber, all you need to do is apply for membership of the LinkedIn Legal Sector Group here and we will take if from there.

Your practice could become members if any of your offices are located in the Greater Manchester area.

Download membership fee details here.

Allan Carton

Survey information courtesy of the Business Desk

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18
Nov/11

Greater Manchester Chamber, Legal Sector Members – the City card saved me £48.80 on a meal for Four

by Allan Carton under Budgets, HR, Marketing, People Development

One of the many benefits of membership of the Legal Sector is the “Chamber City Card” which gives you and all your staff with a card lots of discounts on all the local services and products listed here. They change from time to time. 

Today it includes deals at 26 restaurants and 17 bars and cafes in central Manchester; also 19 restaurants in Manchester suburbs.

I tried it out myself at Hale Kitchen & Bar last Friday night. Using my Chamber City Card meant that I paid £48.80 less than I would otherwise – excellent!   Good for them too as the offer of a discount was enough to get me to try them out, when there are lots of other options in Hale.   I discovered it’s a good place to eat; great food and relaxed atmosphere, so I’ll be back again very soon. 

Could this be good for you AND your employees?  If you have a card, are you using it? 

Maybe I will see you at Hale Kitchen & Bar?

 Allan Carton

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18
Nov/11

Linkedin Users – default setting you may want to change

by Allan Carton under CRM, Client Relationships, Design, IT & Technology, Inpractice UK News, Online Services

This is worth checking out on your Linkedin profile, although Linkedin has changed their policy as a result of user feedback since the piece below was published by Steve Woodruff back in August.  When I checked today I found that my account allowed Linkedin to use my name and photos to be used in third party advertising … which I doubt many of you want.  So you should follow the instructions below to check and amend your profile.

“Apparently, LinkedIn has recently done us the “favor” of having a default setting whereby our names and photos can be used for third-party advertising. A friend forwarded me this alert (from a friend, from a friend…) this morning.

And I expect that you, like me, don’t want to participate.

This graphic shows you how to Uncheck The Box.  (Click on the image to make it bigger):

1. Click on your name on your LinkedIn homepage (upper right corner). On the drop-down menu, select “Settings”.

2. From the “Settings” page, select “Account*”.

3. In the column next to “Account”, click “Manage Social Advertising” .

4. De-select the box next to “LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising” .

*UPDATE: After you finish with Account, check the new default settings under E-mail Preferences (such as Partner InMails); and Groups, Companies & Applications (such as Data Sharing with 3rd-party applications). It’s a Facebook deja vu!”

Worth checking your profile out to see how it’s set today?

Allan Carton

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