Pricing Matters

Michael Katz is the Pricing & Data Analytics Director at Holland & Knight, where he pioneered the pricing function over four years. Key elements of the pricing program are partner education, matter budgeting, and tracking, RFP/pitch support, and one-on-one consulting on alternative fees and profit improvement.

His prior legal industry positions include Treasurer at Orrick, FP&A manager at WilmerHale, and Advisor at SB2 Consultants.  Prior to working in the legal industry, Michael held a series of financial management positions at McGraw-Hill, where he supported senior management of the information technology function and several publishing units.

Michael has an MBA in Finance, Rutgers University BA and an MAT, Binghamton University.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Find a good solution, as there is seldom a best solution! When creating fee proposals keep it simple and remain flexible.
• Wear your Marketing Hat! Ask open-ended questions, find out who else is bidding on the work and create pricing proposals that will help win the business. 
• Showcase Best Practice. Clients are asking for more information about law firm technology and legal process management. Use this as an opportunity to highlight how specific practices are differentiating their legal service delivery.

To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

This week, we take a deep dive into Intersect 2020 which is the True Value Partnering Institute (TVPI) Annual conference, held in Miami in January.  You can also enjoy this video recapping the event. 

Our guests James Shoemaker and Steven Manton speak to us in their capacity as TVPI advisors. We explore highlights from the Intersect 2020 conference, including key takeaways from sessions on leadership, change management and resilience with a focus on the evolving role of the business of law expert. 

The True Value Partnering Institute is a legal industry think tank focused on professional development and thought leadership at the intersection of the practice and the business of law. The Institute has become the definitive community for senior legal business professionals - those responsible for delivering value inside and outside their organizations. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Peel back the onion. Good leaders know their weaknesses and use this self-awareness to improve their relationships within their team and the firm.
• Do you know what keeps the managing partner awake at night? Answering this question can help you break out of your pricing silo and get more involved in cross-functional projects across the firm.
• Avoid solution-jumping.  Change management requires that you take time to understand the problem or opportunity first and empathize with the end-user.
• Just breathe! Your ability to be a good leader, deliver value and manage change starts with a focus on mental health and well-being. 

James Shoemaker is an Accredited Legal Pricing Professional (ALPP) and certified legal project manager with nearly 20 years of industry experience.  In his current role as the Director of Pricing and Matter Management at Miles & Stockbridge P.C., he is responsible for setting pricing strategy, consulting with partners and clients on pricing solutions, and establishing a matter management framework of tools and processes to ensure efficient delivery of legal services.  This includes oversight for all the following functions: pricing, rate setting, legal project management (i.e., “matter management”), new business acceptance, and the establishment and maintenance of the required supporting systems and infrastructure for these functions.

A frequent speaker on the topics of legal pricing and project management, Jim’s core focus remains on maximizing the value of legal services by helping align the firm’s pricing and service delivery models with its clients’ legal needs and business objectives.

Steven Manton is a Pricing Director at McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Steven is responsible for the creation and development of the firm’s pricing and legal project management function across all the firm’s offices.

Steven is a highly knowledgeable law and business graduate with a Masters qualification and twenty years of legal sector experience.  Recognized as a leading law firm pricing, practice optimization and profitability specialist who regularly teaches and publishes on pricing legal services and building the law firm pricing function.

Steven is active in the legal community and serves on the Advisory Council of the True Value Partnering Institute, a legal industry think tank and is also a member of the Research Advisory Board for the Client Value and Law Firm Profitability Report published by Jim Hassett Phd.

Adam Minielly is the Manager, Pricing at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, where he plays a key role in overseeing the firm’s pricing activities and operations, driving firm strategy related to the development, analysis, and implementation of creative, workable solutions in response to client pricing demands. 

Prior to Osler, Adam worked in roles in competitive intelligence and pricing at Dentons LLP, Blakes, Cassels and Graydon, and Norton Rose Fulbright.

Adam holds an undergraduate degree in political science and a Masters Degree in public policy. His graduate work examined how think tanks influence public policy. He has applied his social science training to his work in pricing to develop data-driven decision making. He recently presented Framing, Anchoring, and Data Biases - What influences pricing decisions? at the Buying Legal Conference.

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

• All data has a story to tell. Just because data is dirty doesn’t mean you can’t do anything with it, you need to dissect the data to understand what it's telling you. 
• Tackling data bias. Set up systems and processes to account for common data biases including sample, exclusion and observer bias. 
• Effective Scoping. Focus on the actual hours to completion of phases and tasks rather than anchoring on a fee amount.

Keith Maziarek is the Director of Pricing and Legal Project Management at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, where he is responsible for building the firm’s formal pricing and legal project management functions.

Prior to Katten, Keith served as Senior Director of Client Value for Perkins Coie LLP, working closely with the client legal operations executives to develop collaboration strategies to improve operational efficiencies. Keith’s career in strategic pricing began at DLA Piper LLP, where he built the firm’s strategic pricing, profitability, and legal project management functions as the firm’s first Head of Strategic Pricing. He previously worked in strategic business development, helping establish a deep understanding of clients’ business needs.

Keith frequently speaks at industry events and publishes articles on related topics. He holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

• Data Analytics. Clients and law firms are collecting and analyzing different data – do you know what your clients are looking for?
• Pricing Predictions. Over the next decade, we will see an emphasis on defining and measuring the ambiguous concept of value, and also an increase in well-scoped retainer arrangements. 
• Optimization. For the next generation of lawyers (and clients), it’s not about precedent (what was done before) but how firms can be more proactive and efficient. 

Frederick J. Esposito, Jr, MBA, CLM, Chief Operating Officer of the regional law firm Rivkin Radler LLP, has more than 25 years of law and accounting firm experience and has been a Certified Legal Manager (CLM)SM since 2006.  Fred specializes in financial and organizational management and has managed and worked in a consulting capacity with several law firms, both international and domestic. Fred brings considerable “real world” experience to his role as a speaker and educator. Also, he is a senior member of the faculty and a consultant for the Legal Lean Sigma Institute LLC. In May 2018, Fred earned a Yellow Belt Certification in Legal Lean Sigma® and Project Management and is working toward his Green Belt Certification.  

With more than 25 years of law and accounting firm experience, Fred is a thought-leader, frequent speaker, and author of articles on a wide-range of topics and best practices. He has been published on topics such as billing and collections, profitability, attorney compensation systems, alternative fee arrangements, process improvement, project management, and strategic planning by Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute blog, Law Practice Magazine, Law Practice Today and Attorney at Work, among others.  Fred is a highly-rated, frequent author and speaker for the ABA, ALA, BNA/Bloomberg, Lexis/Nexis, and Thomson Reuters. In the Fall of 2016, he became a Faculty Advisor and Presenter for the Nassau County Bar Association Academy of Law and in June 2013, he was inducted into the National Speakers Association.  

In 2012 he received the Association of Legal Administrator’s Outstanding Association Volunteer Award for his service as a leader and national speaker and was also named CFO of the Year by Long Island Business News. Fred was the first CLM on Long Island and from May 2013 – May 2016, was the Chair of ALA’s Certification Committee. 

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

• Legal Lean Sigma. Employing the principles adds a whole new dimension to achieving efficiency, client focus and value. 
• Telling the story with data. Identifying the obstacles and constraints in your process will help you understand what data you need to use to support your business case. 
• 2020 will bring a renewed focus on alternative fees that go beyond rates. Firms that focus on process improvement and project management will differentiate themselves in the next decade.

To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Jessica Gichner is the Senior Director of Pricing & LPM Solutions at Pillsbury. She leads a team responsible for matter budgeting and monitoring, process improvement, legal project management, knowledge management, and technology solutions. She regularly collaborates with the firm's attorneys to develop solutions that are tailored to meet individual client needs, as well as provide transparency and predictability.

Jessica also has experience in matter management, business development coaching, marketing strategy, associate development, attorney staffing, and law firm women’s initiatives.

Prior to working in pricing and legal project management, Jessica worked as a practicing attorney at Waller Lansden Dortch& Davis LLP, where she focused on finance transactions, both as borrower’s counsel and lender’s counsel.

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

• As work becomes more commoditized, you need to consider how your firm can change the way the work is being done with processes or technology to match the price that the client and market will pay. 
• Share data with your clients. This enables clients to be part of the pricing discussion, evaluate pricing models and get a better understanding of the work you are doing for them.
• The most successful creative fee arrangements are simple, tailored and reflect the client's needs. 

To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Jenny Brown is the Senior Manager of Strategic Pricing Husch Blackwell LLP. Jenny has over 20 years of experience in law firm accounting, including Strategic Pricing, Partner Compensation, and Financial Reporting and Analysis. While currently managing Strategic Pricing efforts, Jenny and her team also partner with Legal Project Management to develop optimal client service plans.

Jenny leads the annual rate-setting process, participates in developing creative pricing arrangements for clients, and is a consistent participant in client pitches and RFP responses. Prior to her current role, Jenny served as Controller at Welsh & Katz, Ltd. in Chicago.

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

• Internal marketing increases lawyer engagement: Continued education and communication of success stories to your lawyers are central to your internal marketing efforts. 
• The evolving role of legal project management. Matter management is a key differentiator in keeping budgets on track and communicating changes with the client.
• Collaboration is key. Professionals in pricing, proposals and business development are working together with lawyers to scope and create deliver value pricing for clients.  

To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Jim Foley is the Pricing and Legal Project Management Director at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, where he oversees the pricing, legal project management, matter analytics, business intake and conflicts areas.

He has extensive experience in alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), legal project management (LPM), matter budgeting, law firm financial management and financial analysis, and is a catalyst for change within the firm.

Jim joined the firm in 1995.  Prior to his role as pricing and legal project management director, Jim was the firm’s controller and a senior business manager. Previously he held roles as controller, accounting manager and analyst at various manufacturing companies.

Jim was recently Mayor for the town of Ashland, Virginia. He is also very involved with many local community groups and has coached a number of youth basketball and softball teams.

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

• Incorporating profitability into the compensation system. Helps to create accountability and transparency for client matter profitability across the firm. 
• Becoming multilingual. There is a huge benefit to the firm when pricing, project management and analytics professionals understand each other’s language. 
• Alternative fees may be leveling off. The growth in AFAs has slowed and appears to be plateauing around a third of all work.  

To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

In this episode, we speak with Toby Brown, Perkins Coie’s Chief Practice Management Officer. Toby leads the firm’s revenue management and efficiency programs, legal project management, pricing, process improvement, practice innovation, alternative staffing, and new partner integration. Toby has more than a decade of experience in practice management and pricing with Am Law firms and is the former director of the Utah State Bar.

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Opportunities for more pricing roles. Every firm needs this role and if your firm doesn’t have it raise your hand!
• Profitability Evangelism. The biggest impact pricing teams have in law firms is shifting the transparency and awareness around profitability. 
• Resourcing. Many pricing teams are overwhelmed. When asking for more resources focus on how your team’s work directly impacts the revenue and margin of the firm. 

To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Kevin Vaarsi is the Director of Pricing at Fenwick & West, where he leads a team focusing on the development and execution of the Firm's pricing strategy. The team works closely with attorneys, professional staff and clients on creating value-based pricing arrangements and delivering transparency and predictability through legal project management.

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

• Data Analytics: Historical data analysis play a key role in creating task-based budgets and enabling constructive scoping discussions.
• Alternative Fees. When scoping alternative fee arrangements, you need to understand and align with your clients on the gap between what is certain, what is predictable and what is unknown.
• No Surprises! Accurate budgets from the outset and robust matter management infrastructure focused on communicating accurate information to the lawyers and the clients help avoid surprises and keep matters on track. 

To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.