Top Performing Firms Invest in Brand Development, Operational Efficiencies
What separates the top-performing law firms from the rest of the pack? A new study looks at some of the differences. The 2020 Dynamic Law Firms Report from Thomson Reuters Institute, Peer Monitor and Acritas, part of Thomson Reuters, looked at the top quartile of law firms, as measured by overall firm profits, revenue per lawyer and average profit margin, to find what separated them from the rest of the pack.
The report found that those firms tend to have strong teams that enable higher leverage, that is, having a higher ratio of associates to partners, which helps control costs and increase profit margins. They also have stronger billing, budgeting and profitability analysis functions, and better management of productivity and lawyer headcount levels, which also help control costs.
The ‘Dynamic” firms, as the report calls them, also invest in brand reputation, investing in marketing and business development. This leads to a stronger brand reputation in corporate boardrooms, helping to drive consideration for high-value work.
The report concludes that these differentiators can not only better position firms for long-term success, but may give them greater ability to adapt and weather downturns such as the current market conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 Dynamic Law Firms Report can be downloaded at: https://www.legalexecutiveinstitute.com/dynamic-law-firm-report-2020.
