Mechanics of Law Firm Profitability: People, Process, and Technology

TOBY BROWNToby is the director of strategic pricing & analytics for Akin Gump. In this role Toby works with firm partners and clients in developing pricing arrangements and service delivery models that drive successful relationships. Prior to this, Toby served in similar roles for both Vinson & Elkins and Fulbright & Jaworski, where he also drove knowledge management (KM) initiatives and various marketing efforts. Before joining Fulbright, Toby served as the communications director for the Utah State Bar. In his tenure with the Bar, he also served as the CLE, access to justice and programs director.Toby presents nationally on legal pricing, marketing, technology, and law firm management for associations, law firms, legal departments, law schools, and paralegal programs. He has also published numerous articles on these topics. Toby has served on a number of legal services boards, bar association task forces, and legal market organizations. He received the Peer Excellence Award, the President’s Award, and the Anne Charles Award from the National Association of Bar Executives. Toby maintains the ABA award-winning 3 Geeks and a Law Blog along with two colleagues, and can be found on LinkedIn. MICHAEL ROSTERSteering committee co-chair, Association of Corporate Counsel’s Value ChallengeJACK BOSTELMANJack Bostelman is president of KM/JD Consulting LLC in San Francisco, California, which advises law firm leaders on practice management, including knowledge management and other productivity improvements. Before founding KM/JD Consulting, Jack was a partner for over 20 years at pre-eminent AmLaw 20 firm Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City, where he had a nationally recognized transactional securities law practice and exercised management responsibilities.CHRIS BOYDChris Boyd is senior director of professional services at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati LLP in Palo Alto, California. Chris runs the firm’s recruiting, training, and knowledge management programs, all of which are designed to help the firm deliver superlative value to its clients. Chris was previously an attorney at the firm and also led KM programs at several internet start-ups.JIM HASSETTAuthor and Founder, LegalBizDev.WENDY CHANGA partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson, represents lawyers in all types of complex matters that involve the practice of the law, including risk management counseling, ethics, crises management, fee related issues, discipline defense, hotline counseling, professional liability, and litigation defense. Ms. Chang is a certifi ed specialist in Legal Malpractice Law by the State Bar of California’s Board of Legal Specialization. Ms. Chang is a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and is an advisor to the State Bar of California’s Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct. She is a past chair of the State Bar of California’s Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct.TIMOTHY B. CORCORANTimothy B. Corcoran has led very profitable companies as a senior executive of several prominent businesses serving the legal profession, as well as leading the business development function of one of the world’s largest law firms. He now advises law firm leaders on how to profit in a time of great change, with particular emphasis on strategy, business process improvement, legal project management, and business development. He also advises legal vendors on market strategy and sales force readiness. He is a noted speaker and columnist and the author of Corcoran’s Business of Law blog.ANTHONY DAVISBest described as a lawyer’s lawyer. Mr. Davis is a member of the Lawyers for the Profession® practice group and his practice focuses on the laws that govern lawyers. He advises attorneys and law fi rms on legal professional and ethics issues, law fi rm creation, merger and dissolution, risk management, and loss control. Mr. Davis is a lecturer-in-law at the Columbia University School of Law, teaching “Professional Responsibility Issues in Business Practice.” As an adjunct professor of law, Mr. Davis taught “Legal Profession” at Brooklyn Law School for many years. Mr. Davis has served as a member of the New York City Bar Professional Ethics Committee and is a former chair of the Professional Development Committee.KEITH MAZIAREKKeith Maziarek recently joined Perkins Coie as the senior director of client value. In this newly-created role, Keith works closely with the legal operations executives at the fi rm’s top clients to establish strategic pricing arrangements, implement customized communication/collaboration tools and effi ciency solutions, improve performance monitoring and reporting, optimize service delivery models, and establish metrics that will enable client legal departments to qualify and quantify the value they are capturing through their work with the fi rm. Prior to joining Perkins Coie, Keith served as Head of Strategic Pricing for DLA Piper LLP. There he developed, implemented, and managed the fi rm’s strategic pricing, profi tability, and legal project management functions, with a focus on the practice in the Americas.DAVID J. PARNELLDavid J. Parnell is an author, speaker, Forbes and American Lawyer Media columnist, and the founder and principal of True North Partner Management, a partner-level legal search and placement fi rm. Along with his experience in private placement, he has previously worked in-house with the likes of Intel, Xircom, and DreamWorks SKG. Complementing his Forbes and ALM columns, his work can also be found in publications such as The American Lawyer, Huffi ngton Post, Venture Capital Post, Fox News Magazine, Lawyerist, Law360, Bloomberg, Australasian Lawyer, NBC News,JAMES G. PERKINSJames G. Perkins, chief operating offi cer and chief compliance offi cer at Procopio, leads the fi rm’s non-legal operations including fi nance, human resources, administration, marketing, and information services. With 20 years of experience at the fi rm, he has more than 35 years total leading as a chief operating and chief fi nancial offi cer in the professional services, management consulting and manufacturing industries.STEVEN PETRIEmanages the strategy and operations department at Faegre Baker Daniels. In this capacity, he oversees the collection, extraction, and application of fi nancial data and performance metrics for purposes of business analysis, practice development, creative pricing, and strategic planning. Steve holds a Yellow Belt certifi cation in Legal Lean Sigma and provides guidance for the fi rm’s institutional efforts in the areas of legal process improvement and project management. Steve’s department is also home to the fi rm’s administrative operation functions. Prior to his career in law fi rm management, Steve worked for the strategy and operations practice of a large consulting fi rm. He is a frequent industry contributor on topics of law fi rm economics, profi tability analysis, alternative pricing, and process effi ciency.MARK VOIGTMANNMark Voigtmann is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels and leader of the fi rm’s construction law and real estate litigation practices. He is the author of The Automation Legal Reference: A Guide to Legal Risk in the Automation, Robotics and Process Industries, published by the North Carolina-based International Society of Automation. He also co-authored a set of contract documents created for an incremental, education-based lean project delivery model used in two $200 million hospital projects, among others. Both within the fi rm and in the construction industry, Mark implements sophisticated project management and process improvement strategies to deliver optimal effi ciency across the board.TOM SNAVELYTom Snavely has almost two decades of process improvement, operations management, and project management experience. He earned an M.S. in Technology Management from the University of St. Thomas, a Certifi ed Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, and a Mini Master of the Lean Enterprise. Tom has developed Lean Six Sigma programs and training for several organizations that were new to these concepts. He has created and developed project management offi ces for several organizations to align project opportunities to strategic goals and the ultimate success of these projects. As a consultant and an operations manager, Tom has aided several organizations, and a private equity fi rm, to achieve strategic operational goals through process improvement and organizational change management. As a project manager, Tom has led operational and information technology projects for new innovative applications and complex business systems such as PeopleSoft and SAP.VANESSA SAVOIEVanessa Savoie is a senior strategy and pricing analyst at Faegre Baker Daniels law fi rm in Minneapolis. She is part of a team that works with fi rm leadership to provide data driven solutions so that attorneys may best serve their clients, and effectively manage their practices. In support of fi rm management, she applies analytical rigor with creative problem solving to the business review process, complex fi nancial modeling, pricing, and strategic planning. She truly enjoys partnering with and supporting the fi rm’s professionals across the country and internationally. Vanessa studied Psychology and graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1996. After graduation she transitioned her interest in research design, methodology, and statistics into a career in Finance and Technology. She has been fortunate to have worked at some of the Twin Cities’ largest companies, including; U.S. Bank, Carlson Companies, FICO, and Ameriprise Financial.

• + The “every dollar is a good dollar” fallacy: The difference between good and bad revenue+ Increasing profitability by improving client intake + Using KM to increase firm profitability + Pricing, profitability, and compensation+ Measuring different practice groups, differently+ Four challenges in managing law firm profitability+ Strategy and culture driving effective use of people, process, and technology+ Profitability and the Concept of `Managing on the Edge’ – Why It Is Important to Regional Law Firms