Peer to Peer Magazine

P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | F A L L 2 0 1 8 11 • Staying price competitive with non-legal, lower- overhead competitors – it is likely that your non- legal competitors are not located in the city's finest office buildings with subsidized cafeterias and coffee bars. Can you justify charging a premium to cover your overhead? • Choosing the right operating model – there are different options for sourcing parts of or all of the services you provide – referrals, outsourcing, in-sourcing. Ultimately, the model needs to support your long-term vision, not just short-term expediency. • Attracting and retaining talent – you want your non-legal professionals to be world-class like your lawyers. Top talent will not be attracted to a job with no clear career path and a sense that they will be second-class citizens. • Deploying and motivating your sales force (i.e. the Partners) – client relationships are owned by the Partners, who may not know about your services, or know how to sell them. • Understanding the full scope of planning and decision making - firms underestimate the amount of planning, coordination and communication required to develop and embed a new offering. If it was easy, everyone would do it! The Blueprint While helping firms develop and launch a range of non- legal offerings, and successfully embed them within the firm, I have created a blueprint to organize and define the full array of decisions to be made (see Figure 1, on the following page). Employing the blueprint allows a firm to approach the challenge methodically and comprehensively. Some key questions to be considered for each blueprint element are: • Market Positioning and Strate – what are the vision and mission for your offering and where does the offering fit in the competitive landscape? A vision provides a "true north" with which to align all future decisions. • Organizational Structure – how is the new offering structured relative to the firm? Is it a separate legal entity? Can it fit within a portfolio of offerings, such that it can share resources, staff, and branding? Client relationships are owned by the Partners, who may not know about your services, or know how to sell them. T H E R E ' S M O R E O N L I N E ! Who is better positioned to understand and serve the client than their law firm? Listen along with the author as he discusses new non-legal market offerings and ideas! iltanet.org/ non-legal-offerings

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