“The days of lawyers getting work because they are good lawyers are over. Lawyers need to embrace a market driven view of the world and focus on meeting the needs of clients. It’s either that or get out of the way and let the market do its thing,” says Toby Brown in his post on the changes in the legal market “Someone Should Introduce Demand to Supply.”
The influence of procurement and legal operations is most certainly a harsh encounter with reality for many lawyers. It’s important to understand the needs of the market and rather than lament about the evil “New Normal,” thinking about new solutions that make good business sense. As long as their are humans, relationships are important, and your product (aka legal advice) needs to be solid, but the market reality demands professional law firm management. This means re-thinking business models, managing for efficiency (project management, knowledge management etc.), and necessitates using metrics and benchmarks.