Running a business is not practicing law.  It’s okay to make mistakes – in fact, it’s encouraged.  So if you’re a lawyer trying to run a business, you almost need to bifurcate your risk-averse and risk-taking sides between the roles of lawyer and business owner. 

But the best part about subscriptions and flat fees is that, generally speaking, law firms make more money doing work in that way than they do on traditional billing – as much as 20-30% more, in fact.

In the current job market, it’s actually harder to get good attorneys than it is to get good clients.  Believe it or not, good clients are far more plentiful right now.  Now, this may turn around at some point, but there are no signs (at least currently) that this will again become an employer’s market as it did during the start of the pandemic.

Most law firms rely on ad hoc bonuses for their employees, but that’s a bad idea.  One reason that’s the case is because those sorts of bonuses come at random times for random reasons.  That creates an expectation that they’ll come along again but without grounding for how or when.

Contingency firms scratch a bunch of lottery tickets and sometimes get a (big) hit.  I mean, it’s a little better than the lottery because there is some skill involved. But, it is a lottery.