Select any service to read more. We scope each engagement with the firm, and many begin with a single need.
A clear monthly package for management and the partners: results compared against budget, cash position, and the numbers behind them, reviewed each month and ready to use in board or partners’ meeting materials.
A budget that management and the partners agree to, built into a multi-year plan covering revenue creation and expense projections, hiring, capital needs, partner draws and growth, and updated as the firm changes.
A rolling view of cash coming in and going out, with a plan for the coming weeks, so payroll, obligations and partner distributions are never a surprise.
We take over the billing cycle: invoices out on time, receivables tracked and collections followed up, with individual partner reports for ease of follow-up and the bookkeeping the work requires. As the engagement continues, data entry and the billing and collecting move to a hire at the firm or an outsourced provider.
Helping the firm’s management select the appropriate financial and data management systems, and assisting with integration, migration, rollout and implementation within the firm.
Helping the firm choose and set up a document management system: how files are organized, named and secured, migrating existing documents, and training the lawyers and staff so it is actually used.
We serve as an independent third party: soliciting and assessing partners’ and management’s desires for change, growth, improvement and longevity; narrowing their input into a strategic approach and the firm’s strategic imperatives; helping draft the plan; and helping win partner buy-in. Built by office or entity where the firm needs it, with the materials the board needs to act on it.
Improving how the board functions: how meetings run and how decisions get made.
Clarifying who decides what and how partners hold each other accountable, so the firm makes decisions together and acts on them.
Helping the firm create or update its by-laws and governance documents, working alongside the firm’s own lawyers on the legal text.
A neutral, experienced voice for the hard conversations between partners, or with other key employees, so the firm decides and moves on.
Stabilizing a firm in distress: a clear picture of cash and obligations, the first decisions that cannot wait, and a plan to get back to steady footing.
Acting as the firm’s point of contact with its lender: the regular reporting and the difficult conversations, so the partners are not managing them alone.
Identifying the need, defining the role, finding candidates and running the interview process for lawyers and business staff, and assisting with onboarding.
Writing or updating the firm’s HR policies and procedures, such as the handbook, hiring and review practices, and leave and conduct policies. Includes structuring and benchmarking compensation for lawyers and staff and reviewing the firm’s benefits offering with its brokers and advisers.
Coaching for partners and managers, and structured conversations with both overperformers and underperformers, including people whose performance or conduct is a concern.
Supporting people who leave the firm as they move on to their next role, as part of a fair and careful exit.
Handling the process when someone has to leave: preparation, the conversation itself and the paperwork, done fairly and with care.
A senior executive stepping into a CFO, CEO or COO role at the firm for a defined period, running the business of the firm while the partners continue to practice, and handing off to a permanent hire or the firm’s own leadership when the work is done.