Law Firm Strategies for the 21st Century: Strategies for Success, Second Edition

As the legal landscape becomes increasingly competitive, it is clear that law firms do not always do enough to remain at the top of their game. Firms that have embraced the challenges presented by increased competition are undeniably in a better position than those that have not.

This title aims to help partners understand what they can – and what they should not – do to chart the course of their firm most effectively, and covers current topics such as digitalisation and client acquisition and retention. Keeping abreast of market developments is an essential part of law firm management and this edition focuses on helping partners, and their teams, to develop the right strategy.

The second edition of this practical title in Globe Law and Business’s series on the business of law, coordinated Christoph H Vaagt on behalf of the International Bar Association, offers up new ways to think about strategy and how to explore it in the context of a partnership. It includes contributions from leading academics, consultants and law firm partners who share their insights and experience in strategy development and management.

Whether you are a managing partner of a small, medium or large law firm, this book offers a variety of viewpoints in a comprehensive single volume. As well as partners and their teams, it will also prove useful for consultants and academics in developing research in this important area.

New chapters: 

  • Strategies of small, midsize and larger law firms: one fits it all?
  • How to drive change in a partnership setting
  • Implementing a smart collaboration strategy
  • Business model transformation as a tool for driving strategic innovation and growth
  • Matter management in law firms – the impact of legal project management
  • Legal tech as a factor in strategic law firm development

Also new to this edition: 

  • Understand what triggers change among professionals, where the obstacles lie and how they can be overcome, and consequently design successful and harmonious change projects
  • Explains how to build strong law firm strategy based on the combination of its resources that creates unique value proposition, and can sustain during turbulent times
  • With examples of costs and benefits, provides an introduction to legal tech and discusses why it will be useful to put it on the agenda for strategic law firm development
  • Provides orientation across the entire matter management lifecycle to help facilitate the introduction of legal project management principles and practices, highlighting the benefits and challenges alike. Check-list summaries and tables empower readers to easily introduce the contents into their daily routines
  • Contains a new and innovative model for understanding how reputation is developed, leveraged and transmitted, as well as new literature and definitions of reputation, insights into how project quality and reputation interact, and how networks, trust and knowledge build reputation among clients
  • Explores new delivery models such as multi-sourcing, the greater use of data and management information to drive strategic decision making and the emergence of a new generation of sophisticated legal pricing software, all of which will better equip legal professionals to manage these key elements of legal operation