Tweet

Using Law Practice Management Software To Help Create A Succession Plan

Guest post by: Tom Dwyer

Article Overview: Law firms that don't have a succession plan risk losing clients when a senior partner retires. A succession strategy that incorporates law practice management software and law firm accounting software allows a practice to weather the change with a minimum of disruption.

Using Law Practice Management Software To Help Create A Succession Plan

Retirement of a senior partner can be a major blow to a firm. The practice loses a source of legal wisdom, and clients are unhappy with the loss of a familiar face. In order to prepare for a smooth transition, firms must use the latest tools, including law firm accounting software and law practice management software, to create a strategic plan to handle succession.

Define Partner Roles

The first step in creating a succession plan is to document the roles and responsibilities of each of the partners. When a partner exits the practice, it becomes obvious what gaps will appear in the firm and the other partners can formulate a plan to redistribute these roles to existing partners, or to find someone to fill the position.

The duties laid out on paper may not be how the firm actually operates. Law practice management software can be helpful in this aspect because it tracks each attorney's workload and ensures the defined roles are accurate. If a partner frequently operates outside of defined limits, either the partner needs to be corrected or the roles need to be redefined. In either case, an accurate picture of the division of labor in the practice will make succession planning easier.

Scout New Leaders

Many firms choose to recruit new partners after finding out a current partner is leaving. If no suitable talent exists within the practice, they are left to compete for the free agents in the job market or at a competing firm. This is a shortsighted and inefficient method.

Instead, law practices should be scouting for new partners from within their ranks. Grooming today's junior attorney to be tomorrow's partner is a process that can take six to ten years, so it needs to be started well in advance. Law firm accounting software gives the partners detailed reports on how individual attorneys are performing, showing who is getting more done with less, and how much revenue is being generated for the organization. Law practice management software allows senior attorneys to easily delegate duties to these rising stars, giving the junior attorneys the skills they will need to later succeed as a partner.

Compensation and Retirement Plans

Successful compensation plans reward existing attorneys for delegating their duties appropriately, which leads to more efficient operation, better training throughout the firm and building better client relations. Law firm accounting software tracks compensation and productivity, showing who is meeting company goals.

Retirement plans assist partners in the transition between active work and eventual retirement. It is common for "retired" partners to continue to provide services to the firm to help with the transition and with client retention. Law practice management software tracks these activities to ensure all parties are getting the most out of the arrangement.

As part of a firm's succession strategy, all of these processes - the defining of partner roles, grooming of new talent and review of retirement and compensation plans - should be analyzed and updated annually so they always reflect the current state of the firm. Where possible, these processes should be integrated with the organization's law practice management software for ongoing tracking and evaluation of the various elements of the succession plan.

Related Articles
  “Do You Know Where Your Succession Plan Is? And Do You Know What To Do If You Can’t Find It?”
  Succession Planning - Vital For Your Business At All Levels
  Succession Planning – Critical Business Planning
  Succession Planning - Your Route To Sustainable Business Success
  Successful Succession Planning - Driven By Managing Performance
  Guess What? Succession Planning is not Rocket Science
  Develop Leaders with Succession Planning
  Strategically Structured Succession Planning For Company Leadership According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Succession Planning - A Bigger Solution Than You Might Think
  Law Practice Software Eases Transition During Law Office Splits
  Succession Planning for Your Business - 7 Key Benefits
  Business Plan Software Reviews - What to Know Before You Buy
  Will Your Small Business have a Happy Ending
  7 Ideas Owners Must Consider About Succession Planning
  A Strategically Structured Outline For Business Succession Planning From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Succession Planning Tricks in Your Business and Organization
  Are You A Busy Attorney? Using Law Firm Software Can Improve Your Work/Life Balance
  “Succession Planning For Your Business – Better Now Than Later!”
  7 Ideas Owners Must Consider When Succession Planning
  Succession Planning Whats the Latest

Article Tags: law firm accounting software, law practice management software



Related Forum Posts
Seek Venture Capital & Funding - Hello, Greetings from India. I am Seeking Venture Capital for Offshore Software Company Start-up. Need advise along with Business Model Sample. I have a basic outline for an offshore company. 1. Technology - like Microsoft Dot Net, Java, LAMP 2. Talent Team - Found Good Technology Developers. 3. Where I can get the leads/potential customers - Leads have been identified who are willing to move forward offshore projects. 4. I do not have resources like funding. It is a very critical factor to me Industries: Manufacturing, Real Estate, Retail, Insurance, Distribution & Logistics, Healthcare, Industry Associations and Software Product Development, Agricultural Industries and Etc. Services: Offshore Software Development Company. Offices to be located: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and USA. Products/Services/Applications in areas like POS & Billing, Sales & Distribution, Production Planning, Material Management, Inventory Control, Plant Maintenance, Purchasing, Accounting and Logistics. Dynamic Web Programming with Database Driven Content Management Systems, Online Stores for E-Commerce, B2B Solutions, Community Portals, Website Redesign and Development, Custom ERP with Enterprise Wide Functional Modules such as Marketing, CRM, Accounting, Inventory Control, Sales & Distribution, Production Planning, Purchase & Stores, Logistics and Supply Chain. Seek your further questions and help. Thank you, Best Regards, Jayapratap.
HRPreneur - Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and I recently started my own Human Capital (HR) consulting firm called HRPreneur Inc. HRP focuses on making human capital a strategic differentiator for SME's. Below is a summary about HRP; Who We Are: HRP is a Human Capital consulting firm with 30 years of experience that becomes an extension of your company by providing a full array of services to help you create a highly engaged workforce focused on achieving strategic results in order to build a long lasting great company! Mission: HRP provides small and medium sized businesses a Strategic HR Business Partner to increase employee engagement, resulting in cost savings, increased productivity and results at an affordable rate! Vision: To inspire and warrant SME's reach their full competency! Cost Effectiveness: We provide over 30 years of experience at a fraction of the cost at a strategic executive HR business level You will save between 50% to 60% in costs per year on salary, bonus, benefits, training, office space alone We will provide you additional cost efficiencies through our services Services: • Strategic Human Resources Planning • Organizational Redesign • Change Management • Organizational Culture Development • Employee Engagement Programs • Leadership Assessment and Development • Compensation Design • Talent Acquisition • Assimilation and On-Boarding • Performance Management • Talent Management & Succession Planning • Human Resources Due Diligence • Human Resources Audit • Full Service HR Outsourcing
No B.S. Time Management - A great book I read on Time Management is No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy.
Business Innovation - Hi Simon If you can finish off the Business Plan and think about your strategic direction or how you are going to use your product to convince people it's a great idea, it will set the foundation for your programming project. You see, when you are looking for funding you will need a Business Plan and Strategic Plan that will convince companies to invest into your new idea. Has anyone achieved this idea before using another industry besides health and fitness that you know of? You should also design some mockups as a "preview" for your programming project. This will also help reduce your programming costs as everyone will know exactly what you want if you have detailed mockups already completed including any functionality you require. Starting mockups for websites and software applications on paper is the best way if you're not a guru in graphic editing software.
Private Venture Capital Consortiums and Funding Syndicates - From the posts in this forum (all threads) it is very clear that funding is in high demand and many entrepreneurs are unsuccessful in sourcing, not to mention secure, private international venture capital. There are about 6000 international associations linked to venture capital around the globe and they all make their presence noticed on the internet. For most entrepreneurs this will sound very attractive, and it should be, but many unfortunately will stare disappointment in the face at the start of their endevours. The international success rate for venture capital finance / funding in start up projects is an unbelieveable low 2% - 5% maximum. Most venture capitalist linked with associations will require some sort of surity or guarantee of up to 50% of the investment. The entrepreneur will then have to pay fees up front before a cent has been invested, not to mention broker / consultant commissions of up to 12% of the total value of the project. Why is the success rate so low (2% - 5%)? - 1. Business Plan - poor preparation and insufficient information. Every entrepreneur will explain how big a specific market is in potential profits but they all lack the basic important factor every investor wants to see and that is How and What are you going to do to capture 10% of that market sector. Stop telling every investor that you "want" to capture 10%, tell them how you will go about doing so. 2. Management Team - How can anyone expect from an investor to invest in a company with poor management. How about investing $5 million in a one man operation - where is the security for the venture capitalist. Be realistic, put yourself in the position of the investor, argue the facts and then approach an investor if you are able to convince them of your project or business. 3. Project - If your project or business (products or service) is not unique or cheaper venture capitalists will not invest - final. If it is existing technologies, products or services improve them or make them cheaper. Entrepreneurs should always research venture capitalist befire approaching them - it is the difference between success anf failure Always Remember - Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan. ----------------


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ten Things You Can Do To Be a Better Leader

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Log On

Selling What Sizzles vs. Delivering Real Value

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.