Tag Archives: Innovation

May 01

Launch of Greater Manchester Chamber’s Legal Sector Employer (EOS) Initiative

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GMCC Legal Sector EOS launchAround 100 people attended this launch at MMU Business School on 24 April, bringing together senior management from local law firms with Heads of local secondary schools and Sixth Form Colleges.

Go here to DOWNLOAD your free copy of the booklet that introduces what the Legal Sector Employer Skills Group (ESG) is hoping to achieve; aiming to help lawyers become more agile, competitive and sustainable, backed by significant Government funding under the Employer Ownership of Skills initiative which impacts widely on business development.

Working alongside Greater Manchester Chamber and the 9 legal practices leading the ESG, we are currently helping more local legal practices – of all sizes and focus – to get involved in this initiative.

Contact Allan Carton on 0161 929 8355 or acarton@inpractice.co.uk if you would like copy of the slides from the presentations or are otherwise interested in exploring this further.

Mar 04

Get into bed with clients … and thrash about.

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The best way to develop an innovative legal practice and services is to get out there, talk, listen and be prepared to be candid with the people you meet.  Ask clients what they want and how much harder they can push your boundaries to deliver something better for them … which is generally good for your business too if you get it right and prepared to adapt.

To expose and test new ideas, it helps to start with an open mind and to treat any relationship as a blank sheet, with as few preconceptions as possible.  Even the nature of client and partner relationships is changing rapidly; as are ways of working, communicating and accessing legal know-how that are likely to be attractive going forwards; particularly then enable lawyers to deliver more value for less cost.

However, lawyers are trained to work within defined rules and to use their knowledge to find legal solutions for their clients; not to collaborate with them in building business solutions together.  That has to change, so there is a need now to invest in new skills and development of a new mindset.

Lawyers need to be inquisitive enough to dig deep to find better ways of working that can make the relationship more attractive for all involved.  If that’s not achievable when all avenues have been fully explored – it’s time to look elsewhere.

Lack of understanding of process and technology inhibits lawyers from exploring the host of opportunities available to improve communication and add value to the experience of involving a law firm.  Unfortunately, the IT and process minded managers still rarely get the chance to go face-to-face with the client to explore the options, so these invaluable discussions therefore tend not to happen even now.

So what can senior management do to initiate new strategies that will make enough of a difference to get and stay ahead of competitors?  Throwing new ideas gathered from the real world into a melting point and working them through one by one creates a remarkable focus and drive when intelligent lawyers allow themselves to forget about the legal work for a while. This approach produces results time and again  However managers need ammunition to work with; also permission to be controversial and radical about how the legal services are provided and about the nature of the relationships that could be developed with clients, prospects and others.

Lawyers who have been willing to collaborate with their management team to explore relationships deeply with clients and other contacts – and who have been prepared to look for support to do this effectively – have generally been successful in introducing innovation that “sticks” and grows.  Novel ideas and approaches that make good business sense can develop in this environment in a way that lawyers and others working within a law firm would never have contemplated on their own.

Allan Carton

Jan 11

Employer Ownership of Skills funding for Paralegals for Greater Manchester Law Firms

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The Law Society backs Paralegal recruitment and development through Legal Apprenticeships

Funding is available through the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Legal Sector Employer Skills Group (ESG) to support law firms to employ young people to be trained as Paralegals, in line with nationally recognised Paralegal qualifications through the Apprenticeship Programme. 

We will publish more information here shortly about the “Higher Legal Apprenticeships” and other paralegal qualifications and career paths that are being developed now to take more young people into a rewarding career in the legal services sector – all of which is being supported by this Chamber of Commerce, Legal Sector initiative.  These initaitives will also enable participating legal practices to work more closely with schools to attract the right talent to fill these roles.

Funding available through the Legal Sector ESG will support initiatives that enable participating legal businesses to:

  • Create a collaborative, innovative and enthused working environment where development of young people can thrive;
  • Evaluate and recruit young talent who can learn and develop within the culture and ethos of their employer;
  • Provide legal and business training for paralegals to nationally recognised paralegal qualifications;
  • Develop a rewarding career path, enabling young people to achieve their full potential within the business;
  • Introduce the new mix of business skills needed to manage the development of paralegals throughout the business;
  • Introduce appropriate business structures and processes to enable the practice to maximise the value of paralegals to the business.

If you are interested in funding for these Paralegal Apprenticeship, secured through the Legal Sector ESG please contact Allan Carton on 0161 929 8355 or at acarton@inpractice.co.uk 

Jan 06

Test Drive 4 Key Initiatives for 2013 – CRM, KPI’s, Lean Thinking, IT

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As we head into a second critical transitional year for the legal sector, there is a driving need to be pro-active in developing any legal practice to meet the demand from clients to “do more for less” and to also maintain and improve profits.  These are challenges we are helping law firms meet in a variety ways for firms at different stages of development and with varying priorities. 

They are aimed primarily at medium sized and larger practices, but items 2 and 4 (in particular) are as realistic and appropriate for smaller (up to 35 people) practices, although the approach to implementation is different. 

The 4 key solutions we are working on across the country that you might want to consider as part of your strategy include:

1.  On Screen KPI Dashboards and Automated Management Reporting - giving fee earners, heads of departments and the senior management team easy access to the key financial, marketing and matter information (Key Performance Indicators) needed to drive performance of the business.  It enables fee earners to manage their own performance, record more time, bill more quickly, get cash in more quickly, progress cases faster and can radically improve the impact of  appraisal and performance management initiatives.  This fills a significant gap in performance management and delivers a quick return on investment.  The solution can also be moved to support any new practice or case management system you move to in the future.

Contact us to ask for a free online demo

2.  Client Relationship Management (CRM) – where getting closer to clients and introducers is essential for survival and success going forwards.  A variet of different initiatives here, depending on where clients are starting from, ranging from market research, through workshops with partners to implementing new systems.  We talk direct to clients of our legal clients and introducers of business to identify new business opportunities and strategies. We implement CRM systems that create the structure and tools to be proactive in developing relationships, where the starting point is to get an agreed single shared view to work with. 

Contact us to discuss how we have used client feedback to develop new business strategies and generate new business for law firms.

3.  Introducing “Lean Thinking“ to reduce operating costs whilst also improving clients’ perceptions of value and reducing work in progress - where we have brought in specialists in this area from business sectors to work with law firms … and it’s working well.  Clients have achieved radical improvements in internal operations and cleint communications, learning to roll the initiatives started in one department across the rest of the practice.

Contact us to request a copy of our FREE introduction to lean in the legal sector, “Lean for Legal Staff – The 7 Hidden Wastes”

4.  Radical Improvements in IT -  Infrastructure, Integrated applications, Processes and User Adoption.  Initiatives range from selection of new PMS solutions to implementing Microsoft solutions that incorporate legal-customised SharePoint and CRM solutions integrated with Office and Lync on premise and also in an affordable, securely hosted environment, incorporating full business continuity as part of the solution. 

Contact us to arrange a free demo of a hosted solution to see what it feels like

You can’t do it all at once, so which of these initiatives would produce the best returns for your practice and what is the best approach to making it happen successfully?

To find out more, just call Allan Carton on 0161 929 8355 to discuss how they might apply in the context of your particular business – or email acarton@inpractice.co.uk to set up a time for a preliminary telephone conversation. 

To take any of these forwards, please contact us to:

  1. Ask for a free online demo of the KPI dashboard and automated management reporting system.
  2. Discuss using client feedback to develop new business strategies and generate new business.
  3. Ask for a copy of ”Lean for Legal Staff – The 7 Hidden Wastes.”
  4. Arrange a demo of a hosted Microsoft-based IT solution.

Allan Carton

Nov 02

DOWNLOAD: It’s Official – The FT says clients want …

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An informative, concise 28-page report from the Financial Times to help understand what makes an effective client-adviser relationship, focusing on lawyers and accountants.  It taps into opinions on both sides of the fence; senior decision-makers on both the client and advisory side from 569 respondents. 
 
Conclusions confirm our experience in handling and helping law firms respond to independent reviews of client relationships over the years.  
 
Download, read and share it with your colleagues; but don’t stop there. Set time aside to talk to them about it.  What does this tell you to do differently, better or more going forwards?  
 
We can probably help you make that happen. 
 
 
Some of those key conclusions about what matters most for clients:
 
Clients want a more strategic, commercial dialogue with their advisers, particularly in a more complex, uncertain and global business environment. This isn’t a new issue: 87% of advisers already recognise that they need to develop a more commercial skill-set. But many firms have been slow to adapt to fundamental shifts in client needs
 
62% of client CEOs say that the impression of being a well-managed advisory firm is an essential pre-condition of selection; but creating a consistent client service and a culture of commerciality is next-to-impossible unless a firm is well-managed.
 
The only way to create the impression of being a well-managed firm is to become one, ideally through someone taking ownership and responsibility for delivering a more sophisticated and client-centric approach to client-adviser relationships.

To explore how we might be able to help your practice respond to the conclusions drawn here by implementing new initaitives, contact Allan Carton at acarton@inpractice.co.uk or on +44 7779 653105.

Nov 01

Download Validatum’s Report on Recovery of Expenses.

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It has for many years been customary for firms to include a variety of sundry charges at the end of the bill but a cost benefit/analysis may well reveal that whilst the practice generates additional gross revenue, this is probably outweighed by the negative effects on client perception and attitudes.  Firms have traditionally had a range of approaches to dealing with these consumables.

This free report based on a mini survey sheds light on what firms are currently doing.

Go here for your FREE DOWNLOAD

Aug 01

Sole practitioner red squirrel strategies

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I liked this comment from Mike Massen of Gartons on LinkedIn today in a discussion about whether there is still a place for sole practitioners on the High Street.

“… make like the red squirrel.  Go and live where there is sufficient protein to live and thrive but not enough to attract the interest of the grey squirrel.”

The analogy works for me.  Take control, get a plan for survival that takes account of your environment.  Think red squirrel.

Allan Carton

Jul 24

Video Case Study – UK Patent Attorneys Wildbore & Gibbons Move to Hosted IT Systems

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We are always wary of talking about using “the Cloud” as it has connotations of fluffiness and lack of control – but we’d prefer to think about securely hosted IT systems accessible from anywhere.  Here one releatively new user – patent attorneys, Wildbore & Gibbons talk you through their rationale and experience of the move to securely hosted IT systems, which reflects our experience of working with a wide variety of legal practices and providers of hosted services … provided you choose the right provider for your practice … which is where we come in to help you make the right decisions.

Options in this area are developing rapidly now, so suppliers that had the best solution last year, may not be the best solution for you now – so you need advice to compare suppliers and the various options available (hosted, multi-tenanted, hybrid – managed by your team or by the suppliers – all of which is possible) and to compare against the relative benefits and costs of potentially continuing with your servers etc on premise.

There are many  considerations beyond cost – the user experience, levels of support, degree of automation / customised help available, limitations on applications …. etc.  so please contact us for at least  a free preliminary discussion before you go too far down the line.

 

If you are considering a move to the Cloud / hosted IT systems, please contact us – Andrew Simmans or Michael McGuire on 0161 929 8355 or via solutions@inpractice.co.uk

Apr 02

Winmark Survey 2012 – the right strategic priority, but is a boost needed to keep up the momentum?

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Do you agree on business priorities with the 96 UK General Counsel and Legal Directors and 49 Managing Partners, CEOs and COOs who took part in Winmark’s Looking Glass Report 2012?  We see a challenge that many legal practices are failing to address effectively at the heart of most strategies on the Number 1 priority.  Does your practice need a boost to keep client relationship initiatives moving, or to re-engage your people? 

No surprise that client service is top of the agenda, but how many law firms are struggling to give lawyers a broader perspective on what client relationships should look and feel like.  It’s time to take a step back with many clients to take a fresh look at how a different kind or relationship could work better for them.  That often involves IT now to improve communications and integration, improve processes etc.  But how many IT people get to meet clients?  And how many lawyers talk about IT and integration when they meet the client?   A more structure and shared approach to exploring and building relationships is needed, driven by a better understanding of the client’s business and what keeps the CEO or FD awake at night.

But are lawyers able to keep up the momentum on the changes that have to be made in minds, hearts and in practice to “walk the talk” on client service?  These stats suggest maybe not.  Although there is a 10% increase in firms wanting to get a better understanding of clients’ businesses, initiatives that focus on all other areas involved in putting this into practice have slowed …. apart from entertainment!

Working as a catalyst for change and innovation, our client and introducer opportunity reviews enable lawyers to open up a different discussion with key clients and provide the most powerful feedback (from the clients who pay the bills) to help lawyers recognise where a different approach will produce more and better business.  More information here.

The other big shift is in activity on mergers and acquisitions where there is

You can download the full Winmark Looking Glass report here.

Contact: Allan Carton

Mar 22

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

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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.