Professional Services Experience includes ...

Addleshaw Goddard
Clifford Chance
Cobbetts
Deloitte
Department of Justice
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Carey
Donns
DWF
Ernst & Young
Eversheds
Mclay Murray & Spens
Walker Morris

Performance Improvement in Professional Services

The professional services sector faces a number of challenges including:

  • increasingly sophisticated and demanding clients, who expect more and want to pay less

  • the increasing "commoditization" of services, with a consequent downward pressure on billing rates

  • competitive tendering and strategic sourcing by clients, squeezing margins yet further

  • how to find time to maximize professional productivity via effective knowledge management, process improvement, leveraging IT and redesigning traditional organizational structures.

Many professional firms struggle to implement change at the pace that they would like, and which the market demands. There is constant competition for management time between the demands of clients and the longer term needs of the firm.

Managing Partners are asking questions such as:

  1. Are our business developers able to resist downwards pressure on fees?

  2. Are we maximizing our cross-servicing opportunities?

  3. Are we leveraging our knowledge effectively?

  4. How, specifically, can we differentiate our services from those of our competitors?

  5. Are we doing things right? More importantly, are we doing the right things?

  6. Do our business processes fully support our client service objectives and our core values?

We have a solid track record of helping professional firms to enhance their bottom line and answer questions like the ones above.

Our Services to Professional Firms

We bring best practice from a range of industries to bear upon our projects for law firms, accountants and consultants. In addition, we are sensitive to the particular needs of professional partnerships and always adapt our solutions to meet the specific cultural environment of our clients. Over the years we have developed a portfolio of services aimed directly at addressing the needs of professional firms, including:

  • Professional Practice Review - a wide-ranging and objective assessment of current performance across various dimensions such as strategy, management, operations, business development and IT, with clearly presented analysis and sound, practical recommendations for change

  • Process Re-engineering - in areas such as business development processes, time recording, billing, collections and workflow management including an examination of technology support

  • Practice Management Information - how to deliver information that is accurate, timely, relevant and intelligible, leveraging investments in existing technology where appropriate

  • Business Development Performance Improvement - a review of the suitability of current people and processes leading to practical steps to deliver tangible bottom-line benefits

Examples of Our Experience

While much of our work is client confidential, in outline our experience includes projects where we have:

  • Developed a new filing taxonomy and migration strategy and subsequently managed a project to handle the renumbering of over 6,000 legal files for a Government Department (Department of Justice)

  • Assisted a large law firm with the development of an IS and IT strategy designed to maximize fee earner productivity and provide wider access to the firm's knowledge-base

  • Reviewed and improved a variety of processes at a law firm, including client take-on, billing and collections

  • Worked with the business development team at a major law firm to help them to increase their win-rate when tendering for property-related legal services

  • Conducted a wide-ranging professional practice review at a national law firm covering strategy, operations, processes, technology, people and culture, client service and business development. Developed a portfolio of improvement projects to enhance the firm's profitability, reduce risk and leverage existing technology

  • Developed and implemented a strategy for knowledge acquisition, dissemination and re-use for a new practice group within a major consulting firm. Reduced the time required to complete winning proposals by 25% while improving quality, the effectiveness of the sales messages and sharing of best practice

  • Reviewed the market opportunity, IT, organization, operations and management of a real estate remortgaging operation owned by a large law firm that was to be part of a management buy-out

  • Advised senior Partners in a global accounting firm on managing major bids. Presented short courses to relevant staff, advised proposal teams on every stage of the proposal process

  • Used a workshop-based approach to co-develop a Business Development Strategy and plan for a firm of barristers and solicitors

  • Developed the value proposition and supporting material for a services organization providing technical staff to the public sector

  • Reviewed a supplier proposal for additional hardware and software for a medium-sized legal practice, and was responsible for restructuring the deal such that the client achieved a saving of over $80,000

  • Developed the first ever "value-billing" strategy for a professional firm. Proposed and negotiated a shared risk/reward contract with the client. Developed and implemented measurement mechanisms to determine project impact and resulting fees. Contract delivered additional revenues of $125,000 compared with a traditional approach

  • Specified systems requirements for a rural law firm. The application areas considered included client and office accounting, accounts payable, debt collection and conveyancing support. Managed a competitive tendering assignment to select a preferred vendor. Assisted with contract negotiation and implementation planning

  • Provided IT expert witness advice to a number of law firms acting for software vendors in defence of lawsuits that alleged breaches of contract. His advice was very useful in allowing the software house to reach a favourable out of court settlement

  • Specified requirements for the Legal Services Department of a Regional Health Authority and subsequently selected appropriate hardware and software for real estate transaction processing and litigation support

  • Developed an intelligible, focused, Management Information pack for a boutique law firm