John W. Olmstead
MBA, Ph.D, CMC
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Greetings!
Welcome to Olmstead & Associates Law Practice
News, a law practice management resource for
practicing attorneys, managing partners,
administrators, and others that must keep updated on
all aspects of law firm management.
On February 10th John Olmstead will be participating in a live webcast sponsored by the Illinois State Bar Association from Chicago on Building and Managing the Virtual Law Firm. Consider attending. Click here for additional details
Our Law Practice Management E-Newsletter is distributed on the first Wednesday of each month. Look for it and send us your emails with your ideas for topics that you would like covered. I wish to thank those who take the time to email me with their thoughts and comments. I encourage our readers to do so.
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| New Roles for Legal Administrators |
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During the past decade the roles of legal administrators have expanded dramatically. Today legal administrators can be found in firms with less than ten attorneys. In larger firms, as well as many smaller firms, roles have shifted from day-to-day administration to firm wide leadership.
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| Characteristics of Successful Law Firms: Basic Building Blocks - Block Six - Client Service |
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Last month we continued our discussion on the topic of Characteristics of Successful Law Firms and focused on planning as a building block. The sixth basic building block is Client Service. Successful firms consistently deliver exceptional client service.
This is the decade of the client. Clients are demanding and getting - both world-class service - and top quality products. Many law firms have spent too much energy on developing new clients and not enough retaining old ones. For many law firms, obtaining new work from existing clients is the most productive type of marketing.
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| Solo-Small Firm Question of the Month - Year End Bonuses and Raises |
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Question: Our firm is meeting later this month to discuss bonuses and raises for our staff personnel. Due to the economy we did not give raises and bonuses last year. While we have been holding our own with the present economy we have been trying to watch our overhead very closely. However, we want to be fair to our staff and we don't want to lose key employees to our competitors. Do you have any ideas for us?
Answer: Your situation sounds quite familiar. Many law firms deferred raises and bonuses last year and are wondering what to do this year. Here is what we are seeing:
- Many firms that deferred raises and bonuses last year are doing something this year - raises, bonuses or both.
- Typically raises are in the 3% range.
- More firms are examining ways to hold the line on base salary and shift a larger component of compensation into variable pay based upon performance based bonuses.
We are recommending to many of our clients that they use 2010 raises and bonuses to launch new performance base systems for 2011. They are awarding traditional raises and holiday bonuses for 2010 to clear-the-deck - and advising staff of new programs going into effect January 1, 2011 consisting of goal achievement bonuses where specific firm and personal goals are established at the beginning of the year for each staff member and annual performance reviews.
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| John Olmstead to Participate in Illinois State Bar Assn CLE - Building and Managing the Virtual Law Firm |
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John Olmstead will be participating, along with a panel of others, in an Illinois State Bar Association CLE - Building and Managing the Virtual Law Firm - on February 10, 2011 from 11:55 - 2:15 in Chicago. The CLE will be a live webcast and will be recorded as well. Click here for the Illinois State Bar website and additional details
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| John Olmstead to Participate in Indiana State Bar Assn Solo Small Firm Conference |
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John Olmstead will faciliating a five hour pre-conference boot camp program entitled - Strategic Planning Hands-On Workshop: A Roadmap for Changing Your Future & Taking Your Practice to the Next Level on June 2, 2011 at French Lick, Indiana. The program will be part of the Indiana State Bar Assn Solo Small Firm Conference. Click here for the Indiana State Bar website and additional details.
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| FREE Guide to Law Firm Management Best Practices |
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