Planning

White Papers

• International Review - Fall 2011
  by Patrick J. McKenna
  

  Twice a year, MPF faculty member Patrick McKenna publishes and distibutes his magazine called International Review to leaders of firms with 50 or more lawyers in the US and Canada. He is kind enough to make it available to our readers, as well, in PDF format. This issue includes articles about strategic planning, leading change and handling difficult partners.

• International Review - Spring 2011
  by Patrick J. McKenna
  

  Twice a year, McKenna Associates publishes a magazine called International Review. Each issue strives to contain a "balanced blend of contributions covering the subjects of law firm strategy, economics and leadership," and this issue includes articles by David Maister, Patrick McKenna and others. 
  
  It is distributed in hard copy format to firm leaders of US and Canadian firms with more than 50 lawyers. Going forward, we're pleased to make a PDF version of the magazine available to our readers, as well.

• The MPF 2010 Annual Conference
  A Summary of Discussion Points and Findings 
  by Charles F. Huxsaw and John Remsen, Jr.
  

  Over 90 managing partners, firm leaders and top consultants to the legal industry participated in The MPF 2010 Annual Conference on April 29th in Atlanta, Georgia. This comprehensive White Paper summarizes the key findings revealed through the use of state-of-the-art Audience Participation Technology. It focuses on how law firms approach strategic planning and the role of the managing partner; including what they do, how much time they spend in the role and how they get paid for all that non-billable effort. This is really good stuff.

• Fulbright's 6th Annual Litigation Trends Survey Report 
  by Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP
  

  Good news for litigators! This year's trends survey, conducted by Fulbright & Jaworski, reports that litigation is up in most every area of law due in large part to the sour global economy. Contracts, bankruptcy, employment and personal injury lead the way. Electronic discovery is another hot, rapidly growing area of law. The 64-page survey report, which includes over 400 US and UK respondents, also cites an increase in the use of alternative fee arrangements for litigation matters.  

• LexisNexis
  State of the Legal Industry Survey Report 
  by LexisNexis
  

  This 48-page report reveals deep divisions in how law firm leaders and in-house counsel perceive the future of the legal profession. Most corporate counsel insist that there will be fundamental changes in the way law firms operate, and that they have changed far too little in the wake of the economic downturn. Many law firm leaders disagree. On top of that, 65% of law students feel unprepared to enter the profession. 300 firm leaders, 150 in-house counsel and 100 law students participated in the survey which was conducted in late 2009.

• Legal Marketplace in Late 2009
  by Smock-Sterling Strategic Management Consultants
  

  As we approach year-end 2009, our friends at Smock-Sterling report good news to law firm leaders. They surveyed over 100 midsize firms, asking 26 important questions about the present and future legal marketplace. While many firms and practice areas have taken big hits during the economic downturn, most have not; and the law firm business model has proven itself to be remarkably resilient, especially for midsize firms.

• Law Firms in Transition
  by Altman Weil
  

  Our friends at Altman Weil recently released this survey which reveals how larger law firms are adjusting to the economic downturn. It asked firms to identify both temporary and longer term changes they have made in a number of key areas.