June 26, 2020
Clients' Speed Paying Bills Could Make Or Break Law Firms
By Aebra Coe
Article on Law 360
Commentary by GLC
Our unprecedented environment may drive legal demand and billings up in the short term, but client liquidity issues and lagging collections could cause trouble for many firms as the year progresses. With many clients struggling through quarantines, and slowdowns their business risk becomes shared with those they owe money.
In times of uncertainty many large companies sit on cash reserves waiting for signals of recovery or another downturn. Most law firms do not have that luxury.
Similar to the financial crisis of 2008 the path to success is focused on productivity, and efficiency gains. However, since then many firms resisted the need for additional change in service delivery, operational efficiency and the impact of remote work on office space required. Cutting costs, reducing space and leveraging technology within firms are again becoming a priority.
Firm professionals are taking a hard look at much of their non-essential work and asking the question, ‘if we can go without it for the last 100 days- why do we need to bring it back?‘
-MH