Firms Step Up Year-End Billing Collections
Like most Decembers, this is a busy one for law firms looking to collect client fees before Jan. 1.
But lawyers interviewed by the Boston Business Journal say the collection agency part of a law firm’s business is especially tough this year. Payment slowdowns are being reported, no matter the size of the client’s book of business.
A complicating factor is the number of M&A deals that are falling through as part of the Wall Street financial meltdown. Clients are less willing to pay high legal fees for deals that are incomplete. And firms with success-fee structures may have particular trouble.
“Most law firms do not collect fees from clients on an even-keel basis. Most rely on a disproportionate amount of revenue to come in during the last month of the fiscal year,” David Rosenblatt, managing partner of the Boston’s Burns & Levinson, is quoted saying. “For many of us, that’s December, and December happens to fall in the middle of a financial crisis. So we all have our work cut out for us. Just about every firm in town is working hard to get their clients to pay their bills.”
Andrew Glincher, manager partner of Nixon Peabody in Boston says there’s no greater priority than collections this December.
“You do not want to be in the back of the line in an economy when nobody has enough money or resources,” he tells the Business Journal.
