The great majority of practitioners have not discovered cost consciousness. Yet, of all the client service attributes we measure amongst the clients of law firms in our Beaton Benchmarks studies, it stands out head and shoulders in importance – and neglect by solicitors.

“This is a commodity business. In a commodity business, you have little or no control over pricing. The only thing you can control is your costs.” No, these are not the words of a besieged law firm managing partner but those of a misguided Wall Street analyst making a comment about the losses at U.S. Steel...

The pricing function in most law firms is something of an orphan. No-one knows who it belongs to so it ends up belonging to no-one. Individual department heads and fee earners make decisions on the fly with little regard to the firms’ pricing policies, processes and protocols....

Unbundling as a service delivery and price modulation strategy is as old as the hills; for everyone but law firms. It is another example of how our pricing epiphany is most other goods or service providers old rubbish wrappings. Still, let's get on with it as it can be a good pricing option...

Independently-conducted research recently commissioned by London-based European law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, reveals growing interest across Europe in finding new ways to pay for legal advice in high-value disputes. In particular, it showed....

We are long overdue for lawyers and clients to work together more collaboratively in order to take the relationship to a more grown-up place and away from the current paradigm which is at times redolent of a couple of pre-schoolers sitting in a day-care sandpit flicking errant dog poop...

When an in-house or other regular client asks you to “cut your fees,” you want to make sure you’re hearing what they’re asking for. I’d begin any response to such a question by asking what they hope to accomplish. Turn that request for a cut in fees into an opportunity to...

There wouldn't be too many people who remain oblivious to the global coverage of the ‘horse meat burger patties’ furore unfolding in the UK; the widespread clandestine and probably criminal dilution/contamination of processed beef products with up to...

Law firms contemplating or in the throes of a merger, ignore or pay scant attention to harmonising the two firms pricing cultures, governance, analytics and execution at their peril. Synthesising two law firms represents a huge challenge, even if the Balance Sheet and P&L are in harmony....

Nobody wants to fail or likes doing so, least of all highly competitive, risk and failure averse, ‘alpha’ personalities that exist in abundance in our profession. Yet that is exactly what needs to occur if, as individuals and collectively as a firm, we aspire to....

The road to hell is, so the saying goes, paved with good intentions. Firms often know that pricing is something that they need to address, but aren’t quite sure where to start. Or, there have been a number of false starts, leaving the firms’ lawyers...

Following the release of its November results, Nigel Haddon, innovative and progressive CEO of the 25 partner, 65 lawyer North West firm is very confident that it would reach more than £6.5m turnover when it releases its full year results in April, which will amount to a 10% rise year-on-year.