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Seminars on Financial Issues

50 Finance Tips in 60 Minutes (1 hour)
The truly successful practice is also a profitable one.  This session will move beyond thinking just about billable hours and receipts and will help you better understand the financial health of your practice.  Gain a better appreciation of where your money comes from, where it goes, and most importantly, how you can keep more at the end of the day.

Benchmarking (1 hour)
How to use compensation and other surveys of law firm economics; anti-trust considerations of exchanging information. 1.0 hour

Best Practices for Financial and Procedural Management (1.5 - 4.0 hours)
Law firms are unique business organizations whose Rules of Professional Conduct both guide and dictate many aspects of day-to-day management. This course will examine the interrelationship and requirements for trust accounting, engagement agreements, client communications, and proper management of retainers.

Financial planning, forecasting and budgeting will be analyzed as essential tools of the well-managed firm, and examined for differences based on areas of practice.

Accounting department staffing, training, and procedures will be reviewed from a perspective of solid fraud prevention and malpractice avoidance. This course will provide real life stories of actual cases of fraud, explain how fraud occurs, and offer practical advice on how to protect the firm and its clients.

Ensuring the firm gets paid for its services encompasses a methodology from intake through completion of the matter. This course will cover proper management of the matter from beginning to end, to ensure the firm carefully selects clients, services clients based on client expectations, manages matters well, and keeps the client informed and involved. The strategy of suing for fees will be discussed in detail, including the exposure for countersuits for malpractice.

Properly establishing procedures to handle such issues as client intake, end of engagement, conflict checking, financial reporting, records management and so forth will ensure that work flows smoothly through the office and that the firm does not commit ethical blunders or commit more serious mistakes in its day-to-day operations. This session will explore methodologies to keep your firm on track in these areas as well.

Billing Done Right: From Nightmares to Nirvana (1 hour)
You practice for the love of the law, but you have to get paid to stay in business. A big deposit brings a smile to your face, but billing time in a law firm is usually painful. Come and learn ways to make the billing process the best time of the month. Hear about timekeeping tips and tricks, software programs that make the job easier, best billing practices, and measuring monthly billing trends to help predict cash flow.

Bills Out, Money In and Accounting for the Bottom Line: Effective Financial Management Technology (1-1.5 hours)
Why you should automate your accounting and billing; Financial reporting; Cash v. accrual; Using your system to improve financial performance of the firm.

Capturing More Time and Billing it Too (1-1.5 hours)
You can dramatically increase your annual earnings by capturing just 15 more minutes per day. So why isn’t everyone doing it? Capturing all your time is just not as easy as it sounds. And what about alternative billing? Is it a realistic option that will work for your practice? This session offers practical tips, tricks and techniques that will allow you to better manage, capture, enter, charge and collect for your valuable and limited time every day.

Financial Management 101 for Attorneys (1 hour)
In order to operate profitably, law firms must regularly review financial performance in many key areas. This course will cover the key statistics to monitor. Knowing the factors which impact law firm profits per partner enables a firm to take greater control of its bottom line and improve financial operations. Cost-basis or profit-center accounting can reveal a great deal about the firm’s operations, but must be handled carefully to avoid creating divisiveness in the firm. Finally, understanding the anomalies of cash-basis accounting and it’s impact on interpreting the firm’s financial data can greatly increase a firm’s ability to actively anticipate problems and work to avoid them.

Financial Management in a Troubled Economy (1.5-2.5 hours)
Challenging times require firms to tighten belts, increase efficiency, decrease risk of defection, examine compensation and billing practices, and more. Failing to take a proactive stance to maintaining and improving the firm’s financial strength can prove a fatal oversight. Learn what your firm should be doing, and how.

Fraud Prevention (1-1.5 hours)
This course will provide real life stories of actual cases of fraud, explain how fraud occurs, what an attorney’s ethical obligations are, and offer practical advice on how to protect the firm and its clients.

Getting Paid Part I - Basic Concepts (1 hour)
How to ensure you get paid for the work you do including a proven methodology from intake to closing to increase cash flow and decrease bad debt. [Note: this course is also suitable for bookkeepers and other key office personnel who are involved in the receivable management process.]

Getting Paid Part II – Advanced Concepts (1 hour)
This course picks up where Getting Paid I leaves off. It will cover details on how to create an automated receivable follow-up program, taking credit cards, liens on files, reporting to credit bureaus, the pros and cons of suing, and more.

[Note: this course is also suitable for bookkeepers and other key office personnel who are involved in the receivable management process.]

Getting Paid Combo – Basic and Advanced Concepts (1.5 hours)
How do you ensure you will get paid for the work you do? Unfortunately, there is no single magic secret to share as to why some firms get paid and others don’t. Rather, there is a proven methodology you can and should follow. This course will take you through the series of essential steps which are guaranteed to reduce your receivables and improve your cash flow.

Covered topics include the emotional issues connected to managing receivables for both attorneys and clients; performing credit checks; engagement agreements; timing issues billing and follow-up; communications; and when to put the pen down.

This course additionally includes details on how to create an automated receivable follow-up program; taking credit cards; liens on files; reporting non-paying clients to credit bureaus; and the pros and cons of bringing suit to collect fees.

[Note: this course is also suitable for bookkeepers or other key office personnel who are involved in the receivable management process.]

Partner Compensation Plans (1-1.25 hours)
A look at the various types of plans, the strengths and weaknesses of each, what works and what doesn’t, origination credits, managing partner compensation, and more.

Show Me the Money! Taking Your Firm’s Financial Pulse (1-1.5 hours)
This fast-paced course covers financial planning and budgeting, factors which impact profitability, financial reporting and monitoring, effectively capturing time, and a bottom line approach to collecting what you bill.

The Art and Science of Setting and Raising Rates (1 hour)
There are a variety of methods to use in setting billing rates. This course will explore the various methodologies, along with their strengths and weaknesses. How and when to raise rates becomes more art than science; the best practices for doing so will be covered.

Avoiding Malpractice by Improving Staff Relations (1 hour)
A good number of malpractice claims result from staff errors.  Good communications between attorney and staff are essential.  This course will examine the most common complaints from both attorneys and staff, and provide sound suggestions for the changes to make which will have the greatest positive impact both on interpersonal relationships, and on the accuracy of client work.

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