The CBA has published HOW TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR YOUR FIRM
Ann Macaulay states: “A strong strategic plan identifies your firm’s goals and objectives and sets out a clear vision for its future. It assesses the external and internal factors that have an impact on the business of the firm. It offers members of the firm an opportunity to sit back and take a good hard look at the state of their current practices and work together on where they should be headed. Lawyers tend to look at their own practices and specific clients, but they don’t look at the law firm as a whole enterprise – this gives them a good opportunity to do just that.”
ALM Legal Intelligence has published Thinking Like Your Client: Strategic Planning in Law Firms
They state: “Lawyers and legal professionals are being forced to become more active business managers and to go beyond simply servicing clients. There is a need to not only understand the clients’ legal needs but to also understand their businesses and industries at a deeper level. Firms are drawing upon marketing, business development, market insights that come from business intelligence and metrics, and customer relationship management tools to retain and grow business with existing clients more effectively, while also attracting new ones. They’re paying more attention to practice group and individual performances. In short, they are beginning to run the firm like a business – not as a collection of billable legal experts.”
The ARC Group has published the book: Strategic Planning for Law Firms: A Practical Roadmap
Written by John Sterling, this book provides a comprehensive roadmap, guidance, checklists, tools and steps on all phases of a strategic planning process. They state that this book features real-life case studies from a range of firms varying from mid-sized practices to large boutique and global firms, including Clarke Hill, Bryan Cave and Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox. By following this guide all firms will be able to craft and implement strategic plans to gain competitive advantage, improve firm sustainability and foster greater growth.
One of the most comprehensive and free resources on the web is the Free Management Library
This website is stuffed with an unbelievable amount of resources to assist any business in going to the next level, including business planning.
For those seeking a more interactive experience, there is LivePlan
This website will help you build your plan and incorporate funding, cash flow projections, analytics as well as a financial dashboard to help you measure your results. It has more than 500 sample plans to review for inspiration as well.
© 2016 David J. Bilinsky