Law firm consultant Ed Poll, an evangelist for the profitable practice

Law firm management coach Ed Poll, who feeds readers consulting tips through his LawBizBlog, has become the second LexBlog client to be mentioned in The Lawyers Weekly this month.

Though Sara Collins’ article, “Law firm leaders meet in Montreal for management conference,” focuses on the Canadian Bar Association’s annual conference last month, a good chunk of it offers the insights Ed presented at the event.

Part of his advice was on the same issue he discusses in his blog: how to run a profitable practice.

Poll’s basic message is grounded in the equation of “Revenue – Expenses = Profit”.

Although reducing expenses is one way to increase profit, Poll believes increasing revenue has a greater impact on law firm success.

“If you increase your revenue by one per cent, you increase your profit by 10 per cent,” he explained. “And we have more control over our revenue than we do over our expenditures.”

Billing is a major issue in the success of law firms, yet most firms don’t manage clients properly in this area.

There’s also some information on a new approach to billing advocated by Ed, called “value billing.”

Poll offered attendees the example of one firm in the U.S. that bills clients at an hourly rate, but gives them other options. Client can pay less if they are not satisfied with the work. More importantly, clients have the option of paying more, by way of a “bonus”, if they are extremely satisfied with the work. According to Poll, this is an attractive billing alternative because “people will pay more for those services they perceive to be more oriented to solving the problems that you bring to the table.”

Congratulations on the coverage, Ed. Keep spreading the good word.