7 Steps International Law Firms Should Take in 2013 to Ensure Themselves a Brighter Future Featured this week on the home page of American Lawyer:

http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleALD.jsp?id=1202581776675&The7StepsInternationalLawFirmsShouldTakein2013toEnsureThemselvesaBrightFuture

By E. Leigh Dance: The Am Law Daily

“A legal services management consultant says firms committed to making progress in these key areas will win more business and continue to grow confidently. Those that don't, she predicts, are likely to see their profit margins suffer.”

I wrote these recommendations for larger law firm leaders that likely already understand the 7 ‘to do’s’ that are its focus (link above).   Understanding is a first step, but few firms have really prioritized or allocated adequate resources to these steps.  I say, time to get the ball rolling, and not just the one soon to drop at Times Square.

I hope that marketing and BD people will use this article in meetings with other functions in the firm to consider how to  improve client service.  I also help they'll pass it on, to remind firm leaders of these priorities for real differentiation.  Finally, I hope international corporate counsel will share this 7 steps with their law firm providers as a subtle reminder, perhaps circling what is particularly important to them as clients.

There is likely nothing completely new here for the legal services reader, except perhaps some international insights.  The value of the piece, as I see it, is to bring a lot of relatively complex ideas together all in one place.  They are inevitably interwoven.

I chose not to talk specifically about pricing and alternative sourcing in this article; it’s a subject of its own and too easily distracts from the many other important points.

Please have a read when you have time, and share your comments, on AmericanLawyer.com or here.

Leigh Dance