Law Firm Management Consultant Joel A. Rose & Associates, Inc.

Joel A. Rose & Associates, Inc. is a firm of management consultants
which specializes in law firm management and legal economics.

P.O. Box 162
Cherry Hill, New Jersey 08003
Telephone: (856) 427-0050 or (800) 381-1645
Fax: (856) 429-0073
E-mail: JROSE63827@aol.com

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You are welcome to access and download Joel A. Rose’s articles on the following subjects:

Retreats and Strategic Planning
Governance
Practice Management
Compensation Issues
Increasing Profitability and other Economic Issues
Law Firm Administrators; Marketing
Mergers
Partner Issues

New articles are added regularly, so please continue to access our website.

Managing Partners and members of Executive Committees in law firms of all sizes and specialties across the United States and Canada have retained Joel A. Rose to recommend on methods and procedures to:

SPECIFICALLY

What We Can Do For Private Law Firms

Improve Law Firm Organization and Long Range Planning

Firm governance, administrative and financial management
Management of practice areas
Strategic planning and marketing of legal service studies
Retreats and other meetings
Total quality management
Mergers, other offices, and problems of growth
Computer models for projected growth (contraction)

Recommend on Lawyer Compensation Plans

Assessing current plans in light of the firm's objectives
The most appropriate compensation criteria and weighting
Methods for administering subjective, objective and combination systems
Implementing and administering partner and associate evaluation plans

Enhance the Economics of the Firm and its Practice Areas

Lawyers' earning plans and income expectations
Capital requirements and evaluation of proprietary interests
Evaluation of economic results by lawyer, firm, fields of law, office and clients
Fees and billing policies
Alternative billing arrangements
Comparative analyses of income and disbursements; planning for profit, containment of overhead and projected growth (contraction)
Methods for addressing cash flow problems

Plan and Facilitate Retreats and Other Meetings

Identify priorities of the firm and individual/groups of partners and other discussion issues designed to improve communications
Prepare agendas and retreat workbooks about strategic and financial planning, governance, lawyer compensation, practice management and marketing, retirement planning, etc.
Facilitate discussions to achieve consensus
Identify current and anticipated trends and describe how successful firms deal with them
Recommend alternative management and economic practices tailored to your firm's immediate and long-term needs
Prepare Follow-up Reports
Assist in the Implementation of Agreed Upon Policies and Procedures

Recommend Feasibility of Mergers/Acquisitions of Law Firms/Lateral Hires

How law firms may become more desirable merger candidates
Feasibility studies about potential mergers/acquisitions
Identifying and evaluating target firms
Merger strategies and negotiating techniques
Integrating the merged firms

Recruit Managerial Personnel

Managing Attorneys
Executive Directors
Directors of Administration
Office Administrators

Streamline Financial and Administrative Systems

Controls for client matters and attorney workloads
Time and money records and cost controls
Bookkeeping, accounting and alternative billiing
Utilization of financial and management information
Filing, indexing and retrieval of information and docket controls
Records retention and retrieval of prior work product
Library

Recommend Career Development Programs - Professional and Administrative Staffs

Salaries and other compensation
Methods of evaluation and training
Recruiting practices
Progression to partner/shareholder/principal

Practice Development

Marketing plans
Role of the marketing committee/"Marketing Czar"
Conduct client surveys
Client and workload analysis
Cross-selling of services to existing and potential clients
Enhancing synergism among and between practice areas, teams and departments

Educational Programs

Custom Designed In-house Educational Programs that address the specific requirements of law firms
- Motivating Attorneys to Improve Their Billings and Collections
- Compensation Systems that Reward Attorneys and Motivate them to Achieve Firm Objectives
- Partner Withdrawal, Retirement, Disability and Death
- Planning and Implementing Strategic and Business Development Plans
- Law Firm Leadership and How to Get it
- Changing Firm Culture
- Improving the Firm's Revenue Stream and Managing Cash Flow
- Succession Planning for Administrative and Substantive Management, and Clients
- Growth Strategies: Merger, Acquisition, Incrementally or Combination

About Joel A. Rose

Joel A. Rose is a Certified Management Consultant and President of Joel A. Rose & Associates, Inc., management consultants to the legal profession. The firm, national in scope, is headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Mr. Rose received a B.S. from New York University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. He has extensive experience consulting with private law firms and government agencies. Mr. Rose performs and directs consulting assignments in law firm management and organization, strategic and financial planning, lawyer compensation, the feasibility of mergers and acquisitions and marketing of legal services. He has extensive experience planning and conducting retreats and special expertise resolving problems among and between lawyers.

Mr. Rose's articles on law office management and economics appear in the Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer, the Pennsylvania Law Weekly, the New Jersey Law Journal, The Texas Lawyer, publications of the Association of Legal Administrators and other state and local bar association journals. He is the principle contributor to "Thrive," the blog of the Law Practice Management Committee of the New York State Bar Association.

Mr. Rose is a contributing author of the book, Model Partnership Agreements for New York Law Firms, published by the New York State Bar Association, and author of chapters in the monographs, "The Quality Pursuit, Assuring Standards in the Practice of Law", and "The Professional Managers in the Law Office", both published by the American Bar Association. Mr. Rose is on the Board of Editors of Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms and Law Firm Partnership and Benefits Report. Mr. Rose is a member of the Law Practice Committee of the American Bar Association. He frequently presents tele-seminars and webinars for the New York State Bar Association, The New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education and national and international Law Firm Networks.

Mr. Rose speaks at national, state and city bar association meetings and at chapter meetings of the Association of Legal Administrators. He is a member of the Law Practice Management Committee of the New York State Bar Association, an associate member of the American Bar Association and a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management. Mr. Rose is listed in Who’s Who in America.

A Closer Look

Busy lawyers frequently put off the chore of finding solutions to difficult management and economic problems because of the pressure of clients' affairs or their lack of knowledge about the subject. Thus, inadequate or inappropriate organization and systems, and poor administrative procedures continue to exist for long periods of time at the expense of lawyers' income and welfare.

As specialists in law firm management and economics, our consultants can identify the most appropriate and cost-effective solutions to management and economic problems confronting your law firm that are consistent with the culture and values which have guided its operations. Our extensive experience in this field enables us to effect improvement rapidly and with the least demand on the valuable time of your partners.

Investigate Without Obligation

If your firm has organizational or economic problems which we can help to solve, or if you could benefit from an objective appraisal of your firm's operations, please contact Joel A. Rose, without obligation, to determine how we may be of service. Recent client references about our work will be provided, as desired.

Call on us for speaking for Law Firms and Bar Associations

We hope that you will call upon Joel A. Rose, if you are looking for an effective speaker for your firm’s retreat, a partners’ meeting or bar association event, or desire assistance with the planning process. Below is a list of Joel’s recent and future speaking engagements:

2013 Engagements:

January 15, 2013 ~ LEGUS, Webinar, Admitting New Partners, Classes of Partners and the Feasibility of Part-time Partners in Less Than Profitable Times

March 14, 2013 ~ New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Webinar, Dealing with the Economic Downturn: Will Your Firm Survive Despite a Sluggish Economy?

April 11, 2013 ~ American Bar Association, Center for Professional Development on Law Practice Management, Webinar, Managing and Acquiring Law Firms of All Sizes

April 29, 2013 - Middlesex County New Jersey Bar Association, Live presentation, "Strategic Planning will Differentiate Your Firm From the Competition," and "Planning the Orderly Succession of Law Firm Management and the Orderly Transitioning Clients from Senior Partners to Other Members of the Firm."

July 22, 2013 ~ New York State Bar Association, Webinar, "Developing and Implementing Internal Controls for Ethics, Conflicts, Quality Review and Employee Responsibilities"

2012 Engagements:

February 14, 2012: Legus Legal Network, “Planning the Orderly Succession of Firm Governance and the Orderly Transition of Clients from Senior Partners to Other Members of the Firm.”

February 16, 2012: New York State Bar Association, “Billings and Collections: "Converting Hours Worked into Dollars Received, How to Get the Bills Out and Receivables Collected."

February 29, 2012: Miami Florida Association of Managing Partners Meeting, "Client Selection and How it Affects Profitability" and "How to Profitably Hire Laterals."

April 19, 2012: Montgomery County Managing Partners Meeting, “Managing the Levers of Profitability of Lawyers, Departments and Offices to Produce Positive Results: Ratios, Rates, Realization and Hours.”

April 20, 2012: Maryland State Bar Association, Managing Partners Committee Meeting, "Managing the Levers of Profitability of Lawyers, Departments and Offices to Produce Positive Results: Ratios, Rates, Realization and Hours."

April 25, 2012: New Jersey ICLE, “Admitting New Partners, Classes of Partners and the Feasibility of Part -time Partners in Less than Profitable Times.”

May 18, 2012: New York State Bar Association Webinar - Starting a Law Practice, "Profitability Techniques Other Than More Hours and Higher Rates"

August 9, 2012: American Bar Association, Law Practice Management Section Webinar, "Merging and Acquiring Law Firms of All Sizes"

September 13, 2012: New York State Bar Association, “Partner Compensation Systems – Ensuring Your Partner Compensation System Works: Evaluating the Contributions of Business Originators, Producers of Legal Work and Non-Revenue Producing Activities.”

September 11, 2012: Center for Competitive Management, Webinar, Associate Compensation

October 16, 2012: New York State Bar Association, “Strategies for Progressing Equity Partner, Classes of Partners and Part-time Partners in this Difficult Economic Environment.”

October 19, 2012: Nebraska Association of Legal Administrators Conference, "Guidelines for Legal Executives: Executive Directors, Administrators, Office Managers and Functional Specialists"

October 25, 2012: New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education Webinar, "Developing and Implementing Internal Controls for Ethics, Conflicts, Quality Review and Employee Responsibilities"

November 13, 2012: Center for Competitive Management Webinar, Origination Credit and Cross Selling Legal Services

Re-prints of Articles Available at No Charge

As a courtesy to our clients and friends, Joel A. Rose & Associates, Inc. provides information about current issues affecting the management and economics of law firms.

You may obtain, without charge or obligation, copies of current articles on the following subjects: