OUR SERVICES

Do you have fee earners who consistently under record time worked both while they are in the office and while they are away from the office? Do they seem incapable of writing good narratives that describe in terms of value what they have done? Does your finance director pull his hair out because of the late submission of time sheets? Do you have an up to date time recording policy that describes best practice?

Are you achieving the levels of profit that your skills and endeavour deserve? Do you get frustrated by how intelligent professional people can be so bad at running their own business? Would it be helpful to have an independent expert benchmark the current financial performance to help fee earners, teams and firms to better understand what needs to be done and how incremental profit improvement can be delivered?

Do you continue to struggle with high levels of “lock up” that result in outrageous delays between profit being earned and cash being received? Do partners object to having to provide so much capital to finance the business? How much better would profits look with considerably reduced finance charges?

Do you feel that people are possibly working too hard and could achieve considerably more in a shorter working day? Why do so many fee earners achieve so little during the day and then stay late in the office every night? Is this down to the fee earner and how they work or is it a failure to manage other people? Why do people never seem to find time for important activities such as business development, know how, billing, cash collection and staff development? Do clever people and common sense mix easily together?

If “people management” is getting other people to do what you want them to do with enthusiasm then how are you doing? Would you describe all fee earners and support staff as highly motivated and focused? Do you suffer from higher than optimal staff turnover? Do people feel comfortable giving constructive feedback? When delegating are partners and staff able to provide clear instructions and do they then retain control of the work through proactive supervision? How much time is wasted through inadequate staff management?

Do fee earners take on assignments without giving proper estimates to the client? Is the firm sophisticated at noticing scope creep and going back to the client to agree extra charges promptly? Do partners simply quote to win the work or do they understand how to plan and price work to maximise profitability? Does the firm have templates and checklists that are used throughout matters to improve client service and maximise firm profitability? Do the management information systems provide the right information to the right people at the right time?

Are the remuneration structures which operate fairly rewarding partners and staff for the contributions they make? Is it difficult to review these structures without an independent person since everyone internally has different agendas? Are you putting your head in the sand and failing to address a major issue which if resolved could have a positive effect on staff retention and profitability? Would it be a better place to work if rewards were more tightly linked to performance? Have you worked out how to measure performance for a range of partners and staff?

Do fee earners still remember the rules they learnt on the LPC or might they misuse client money without even realising? Do lawyers understand about secret profits and why they must not earn them? Have people in the accounts department had recent training or do they simply do what the partners ask? Would it be possible for someone in the firm to disappear into the sunset with a suitcase full of client money?

Are your lawyers comfortable reading the financial statements of clients and talking to them about their business? When working on commercial transactions do they have the ability to refer in the documents produced to the accounts associated with the transaction? Do they understand accounting jargon like EBITDA, IFRS, amortisation, cash flow, deferred tax and gearing; and if so, why clients might be interested in talking about these issues with them? Have lawyers been trained to read accounts to identify possible extra opportunities for work from existing clients?

Do corporate lawyers know their way around the accounting clauses of a purchase/ sale agreement? Do your banking lawyers understand the rationale for financial covenants and the reason why it is important to specify in loan documents why certain figures in the accounts need to be calculated in certain ways? Do finance lawyers understand the difference between operating and finance leases and the implication on the accounts? Do corporate lawyers understand group accounts and the effect on these accounts of group acquisitions and disposals?

Are lawyers comfortable talking to clients about strategy and business planning? Do they understand how their clients go about writing a business plan? Would fee earners feel comfortable talking to clients about their budgets for the forthcoming year and whether they had appropriate management information systems in place to control the business? Do fee earners how clients take investment decisions and do they understand terms such as payback, net present values and discounted cash flow? Could fee earners prepare a cash flow forecast and do they understand why clients will be more interested in this than their accounts?

Now that the SRA have moved to a ‘risk based’ approach to both the work done and reporting by the Reporting Accountants are you and your staff confident dealing with; How to assess the risk of each assignment? How to carry out the work? Recognising a “material breach and or significant weakness” for reporting to the SRA? The implications if you don’t report and the SRA subsequently deem the issue reportable?

Have your fee earners had any training on the SRA accounts rules since their LPC? Are they up to date with the latest rules and guidance or could they inadvertently commit breaches of the rules, causing problems for the firm? Have the accounts team had up to date formal training, or do they just ‘operate the system’ without appreciating the full compliance obligations? Is the COFA confident their knowledge and the firm’s procedures and systems mean that they, the partners, fee earners and the accounts staff are all meeting their obligations under these detailed rules? Is the firm exposed to misuse of client funds?

We have presented this compulsory SRA regulated to many law firms over a long period of time. We understand the different nature of work done by firms and are able to tailor the course to best meet the needs of individual firms. Even though this course is no longer mandatory, the content of the course remains very relevant.

This compulsory 3 day course leading to the last exam that a solicitor may ever take has been delivered to a wide range of firms over many years. The course covers investment business and financial statements and requires the trainer to have knowledge of FSMA, Money Laundering Regulations, the SRA’s Code of Conduct, the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules and UK GAAP which means there are not that many people who would want to teach this programme!! In addition we can also provide electives in support of the core PSC module.

Alongside the Finance and Business Skills we can also provide electives covering a range of subjects. A common request is for training in Understanding and Interpreting Accounts for trainee lawyers nearing the end of their training contract.