The Client Revolution

image

"The way American businesses get legal help is broken. Law firms focus on billing hours instead of fixing problems. They talk about how experienced they are, and that they’ve opened an office in Prague. But they never talk about helping you save money. Now clients are standing up and demanding value from their lawyers, instead of just hours. If your company deals with lawyers, or if you are one yourself, this blog is for you."

Author: Jay Shepherd is the chief executive of Shepherd, an employment law firm in Boston. He also authors Gruntled Employees.

Blawg Related Categories: Law Firms • Solos/Small Firms • Law Practice Management • Trials & Litigation • Attorney Fees • Solo / Small Firm

Recent Posts from The Client Revolution


  • An alternative to "alternative billing"

    Words matter. What we call something matters. The name we give something usually provides people with the first opportunity to form an opinion about that something, so it's important that the name fits. I hate…

  • Boston Business Journal reports on killing billable hours

    The Boston Business Journal ran a nice profile on our firm, Shepherd, and how we got rid of the billable hour three years ago. Lisa van der Pool, the BBJ's top-notch legal-beat reporter, did the…

  • Are cellphones companies smarter than law firms?

    Could be. Now, it's true: I've been known to criticize law firms and their business models on this page and elsewhere. But I'm also no kind of fan of cellphone companies. I've been an iPhone…

  • Why law firms should be treated like pizza joints

    Less than a mile from my house, just over the town line, is the village of Wellesley Lower Falls. It's not quite as quaint as it sounds. Basically, it's a quarter-mile strip of fairly busy…

  • "How do you set your prices?"

    This is the question I hear the most. (It isn't, sadly, "How did you get to be so flippin' handsome?" That's second.) Unsurprisingly, I get this question mostly from other lawyers, and sometimes from in-house…

  • Hourly billing: the end of the beginning

    Over the past day and a half, I've gotten bunches of emails and tweets all asking the same questions: Had I read the Wall Street Journal story? What about the Corporate Counsel piece? Is the…

  • Glengarry Glen Ross, LLP?

    My brother Bill Shepherd is a world-class salesperson. Literally. He has sold many millions of dollars of services and products all over the world. (Fans of our sister blog, Gruntled Employees, will remember Bill from…

  • Free your mind, the cash will follow

    During our family vacation last month, I was sitting on the beach talking about my blogs with my mother-in-law. (I mean, doesn't everybody do that?) Lily is pretty sophisticated about the world of tech; she…

  • How lawyers save the world ... with disclaimers

    So I'm watching the Red Sox beat up on Roy Halladay and the Jays on NESN, and during the C-break (that's cool TV-speak for commercial break) in the middle of the eighth, I see the…

  • Are your associates working?

    When I talk to other lawyers about our law firm's business model, their reactions range from envious to incredulous. No, we haven't billed an hour since 2006, I tell them. OK, fine, they say. But…