1-Hour Program
See Credit Details Below
Overview
Full scholarships and discounts to attend PLI programs are widely available to attorneys working in nonprofit/legal services organizations, pro bono attorneys, government attorneys, judges and judicial law clerks, law professors and law students, senior attorneys (age 65 and over), law librarians and paralegals who work for nonprofit/legal services organizations, unemployed attorneys; and others with financial hardships. We encourage all eligible attendees to complete and submit a PLI Scholarship Application.
Law firm leaders need to make every decision with a sharp focus on the financial view of the firm. To maintain this focus, you need a strong foundation in what makes - and keeps - your firm profitable. In other words, you need to learn to speak the language your firm's decision makers understand. This 70-minute, interactive online course will help you develop a basic knowledge of the key financial drivers in a law firm to understand the role that finance plays in strategic decision-making. Whether you're an associate wanting to understand the business, a marketing team member who is responsible for budgets, or just someone wanting to understand what drives your firm's profits, this course will provide you with the tools you need.
What you will learn
After going through the course, participants will be able to:
- Identify the primary factors that drive law firm financial performance
- Evaluate financial data over successive years to identify trends
- Understand the factors that affect revenue and the impact that revenue has on profitability
- Compare financial results on an “apples to apples” basis as per-partner, per-lawyer, or per-timekeeper rather than as gross figures
- Determine the break-even point for any timekeeper using indirect and direct costs and billable hours
- Understand the impact that expenses have on profitability
- Explain the difference between direct and indirect expenses
- Understand how the profitability of a law firm is calculated
Law firm associates of all levels, junior partners, law firm marketing staff and anyone tasked with law firm budgeting decisions will benefit from this course.
Schedule
Module 1 – Introduction
3:00 minutes
Module 2 – Identifying Opportunities
5:00 minutes
Module 3 – Performance Levers
2:30 minutes
Module 4 – Evaluating Expenses
6:15 minutes
Module 5 – Evaluating Revenue
10:15 minutes
Module 6 – Did it Work?
13:00 minutes
Faculty
Carla Landry – LawVision Group, LLC
An Interactive Learning Center program