Law firms lose $36bn p.a. because lawyers are not empowered as P&L owners
Lawyers as P&L owners
Lawyers are the primary client relationship holders and lead matter managers. As a consequence, they are also responsible for managing client expectations with respect to all things fees.
Unfortunately, to date, lawyers have not been properly empowered and equipped to fulfil that role.
Matter financial management
Matter partners (or their delegates) are responsible for ensuring their work remains compliant with the pre-agreed constraints such as scope and caps, budgets, estimates, etc.
"As the matter partner, I spend way too much time and effort on ensuring I manage my caps appropriately. Some partners pay less attention to that, but that really hits their realisation."
Billing & collections
The billing process itself might be handled by someone else, but the fee earner in charge remains responsible for deciding when to issue a bill and for how much.
In addition, the fee earner (as the relationship holder) can often help credit control unlock tricky unpaid debtors.
"As the matter partner, I remain responsible for the big decisions on my matters, such as when to bill and for how much. And I should be making better use of our firm's data to make informed choices there."