In 50 years of practice, the law firm that is now Cohen & Malad LLP has evolved from a small general practice, taking whatever legal problem walked in the door, to a 20-plus attorney operation that serves a wide range of cases from family law to bankruptcy to class actions.
It’s frustrating for any high-performing employee: You’re glued to your computer, fingers furiously flying across the keyboard to finish your report, brief or project. Then you look over and see a co-worker chatting with a friend, playing on their phone or scrolling through their Facebook feed, seemingly without a care or a deadline to meet.
Because attorneys are problem-solvers, our services are in ever-increasing demand. Many of us baby boomers and our parents are living longer and facing many living options in our retirements, as well as health issues.
To fill its roster with the best attorneys at a time when the legal profession is struggling to keep pace with changes in technology and the marketplace, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP has turned to an old idea. The firm announced a revamped partnership structure in January.
A respected attorney clearly understood that a walk to the courthouse along a busy city street was a chance to bump into other lawyers, friends, clients and prospective clients. He was not going to miss out on that opportunity by taking a shortcut.
After almost 38 years in business, Montross Miller Muller Mendelson & Kennedy has undergone a significant reorganization. Two founding partners, John Muller and Tilden Mendelson, retired in 2017, and all four associates — Nathan Miller, Belinda Kunczt, Brad Kallmyer and Kerri Farmer — have been made partners.
Though the idea of smart contracts was first proposed by computer scientist Nick Szabo almost 25 years ago, only recently has true potential of the format begun to be realized. Smart contracts soon may change the way many lawyers practice.
Persistence, experience and a healthy dose of intuition — with those three attributes, two retired Indianapolis police officers have created a litigation support operation that local attorneys say provides invaluable investigative work and strengthens their cases.
They’re the silent saviors, the unsung heroes of the practice of law. Without them, most attorneys agree the show could not go on. So, it’s no surprise that the paralegal job market is in the midst of a growth spurt predicted to last for at least eight more years.
Ben Habegger is combining his knowledge of business with his entrepreneurial mindset. He has launched a solo practice, Outsourced General Counsel, LLC, offering his services as an in-house lawyer to small businesses that do not have a legal department, and to larger companies that may need short-term legal help with a project or to cover a leave of absence.
The primary reason why law practice succession planning is needed is to protect an attorney’s clients and their interests. We need to ask ourselves, “If I slow down, retire, close my office, become disabled or die, who will make sure that my clients’ legal needs are served?”
Michael Messaglia has been tapped to be the managing partner of Krieg DeVault LLP, where he began his legal career as an associate in 1993. He succeeds Deborah Daniels, who will remain with the firm as a partner. Daniels had served as managing partner since 2015.
The sweeping changes that came with the overhaul of the federal tax system included a deduction for pass-through businesses, but attorneys and other professional service providers were brushed aside and likely will not be able to reap that tax break.
Are law firms simply fighting the last war? Are they preparing for the future, or are they stuck in the past? Those questions are at the center of a report released Thursday that focues on stagnating demand growth, declines in productivity and a rise in expenses.
In a legal market that continues to ask firms to do more with less, there is a bright spot expected to bring about a possible business increase in 2018: litigation.
Law practice succession planning is the development and implementation of a plan to protect a law practice’s clients and continue its legal legacy. In some ways, it is coming to terms with the fact that our legal careers are finite.
Major Lindsey & Africa, a recruitment and consulting firm for the legal industry, has released its 2018 Industry Outlook report outlining what law firms can expect in the new year. In short, law firms will remain under increasing pressure to keep costs low and productivity high, so firms are expected to focus on core strengths and retaining key personnel.
A recent analysis of how attorneys spend their workdays showed that only 2.3 hours are devoted to billable tasks. The rest of the time is spent on administrative or business development work, according to Clio’s 2017 Legal Trends Report.
When Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP announced Oct. 17 that C.W. Raines III had been named the firm’s new chief operating officer, his new role was something of a homecoming. Raines previously worked in the firm’s Indianapolis office as an associate from 2004 to 2006, where his practice focused on corporate services including mergers and acquisitions, startups, and lending transactions.
Basing plans upon what you would use to measure success can be helpful. In other words, start backwards and list the two or three things that you would say describe a successful firm or a successful lawyer.