New Zealand legal services and lawyers — what might happen? (first published in LawTalk)

LawTalk, the journal of the New Zealand Law Society, asked five innovative New Zealanders working in the legal services industry – including our own Simon Tupman – about the changes needed today and what they think could happen over...

Developing future leaders (first published on Legal Futures)

“If we were running real businesses, we would be identifying future leaders in their 20s and 30s and fast-tracking them – whereas in most law firms people first have to prove themselves as a lawyer, and earn high fees,...

Pricing Self-Assessment Health Check

Most firms now recognise that pricing strategy and execution requires considerably more focus and effort than has historically been the case. But as with any initiative, the starting point should be a critical appraisal of how we are doing...

Borrowings, partner capital and profitability (first published in The Journal)

Using illustrative examples, this article explains three key ratios that banks use to assess the profitability of their law firm clients Some firms are doing well; however most firms in Scotland have seen relatively flat profits over the last four…

The perfect legal business? (first published on Legal Futures)

Simon McCrum offers his top ten tips on running and growing the perfect legal business in an article that was first published on Legal Futures. Some people think it is easy to run – and to grow – a law…

Learning from failure: even unsuccessful legal innovations have payoffs (first published in The Law Society Gazette)

‘Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm’ – said Winston Churchill, although not in the recent film Darkest Hour. The legal profession has seen more than a few failures in recent years. Some were due…

Law Consultancy Network welcomes Knowledge Management expert

The Law Consultancy Network continues to go from strength to strength and this month welcomes to its ranks knowledge management expert Hélène Russell, owner of TheKnowledgeBusiness, founder and leader of Knowledge Network UK. Hélène helps law firms and legal service…

‘Yes, we can do it for that price; ‘What would you like me to leave out?’

“I am sick and tired of asking my external law firms for a garden shed and getting a bloody office tower and a bill to match!” So opined [verbatim] a very frustrated FTSE 100 GC in a casual conversation…

‘We worked with over 300 law firms in 18 countries’

Interview with Thought Leader and expert on pricing Richard Burcher, Managing Director of Validatum (first published on Legal Business World) Richard, can you tell us a little bit more about your background and how you became a specialist on pricing? …

Out of this world: how far reaching is your communications strategy in 2018?

In 1984, a non-profit was established in Sacramento, California, by a group of scientists to search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (called SETI). Today, the institute has a three-pronged strategy, comprising education and public outreach, as well as searching for signs...