MPF Webinars 2020 - The Managing Partner Forum

Media Center

MPF Webinars — 2020

On-demand recordings and handout materials from The MPF Webinar Series — “The Law Firm of the Future” — presented in 2020.

It helped to know that I am not alone and that there are other like-minded women leaders out there.

Cristina Gonzalez, Esq.

Capital Partner | Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson
New York, NY

The Managing Partner Forum is a go-to resource for not only what’s currently important to law firm leaders, but how law firm leaders are dealing with the issue of the moment and preparing for those of the future.

John E. Harrity, Esq.

Co-Managing Partner | Harrity LLP
Fairfax, VA

We have enjoyed working with John Remsen and his talented team. The Managing Partner Forum provides excellent content that truly assists in operating a successful business in today’s challenging environment.

Heather L. Rosing, Esq.

Founding Partner | Rosing Pott & Strohbehn
San Diego, CA

The MPF programs always provide relevant, timely educational content. They are high energy and interactive which makes them fun to attend, too.

Lisa Ramsay Cole, Esq.

President & Managing Shareholder | Lewis Thomason
Nashville, TN

Great conference, thank you for the invitation.

Mark A.B. Carlson, Esq.

Chief Growth Officer | Baker Donelson
Atlanta, GA

The information sharing at the MPIEs is especially valuable.

Kellie L. Howard, Esq.

Chief Executive Officer | Collins Einhorn Farrell PC
Southfield, MI

My partner and I really enjoyed the conference and we look forward to attending again next year.

Eileen R. Fullerton, Esq.

Managing Partner | Fullerton Beck LLP
White Plains, NY

Connecting with other firm leaders, as it felt more like a ‘retreat’ than a ‘conference.’ Fantastic format allowed for great information and advice sharing.

Ms. Natasa Karambatsos

Managing Partner | KRB Lawyers
Montreal, QC

I go to a lot of conferences, and your event is the one I look forward to and gain the most from each year. The power of this group is incredible. So privileged to be a part of it. Thank you for what you do for our industry.

Charles B. Jimerson, Esq.

Chief Executive Officer | Jimerson Birr, PA
Jacksonville, FL

Connecting with other firm leaders, as it felt more like a ‘retreat’ than a ‘conference.’ Fantastic format allowed for great information and advice sharing.

Linda Perez Clark, Esq.

Managing Partner | Kean Miller
Baton Rouge, LA

ATL was a great time, and I really enjoyed the conference, as always.

Evan D. Schein, Esq.

Partner | Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein, LLP
New York, NY

That was my first experience at the conference, and it was tremendously valuable.

Parker J. Lavin, Esq.

Founding Member | Lavin Rindner Duffield LLC
St. Simons Island, GA

Great job! Keep it going. Thank you for the excellent work you do for the profession.

Whitney Cunningham, Esq.

Managing Partner | Aspey, Watkins & Diesel PLLC
Flagstaff, AZ

The collegiality and brainstorming opportunities can’t be beat.

Russ Brown, Esq.

Managing Partner | Brown Fox PLLC
Dallas, TX

The MPF Conference is always a great event. The MPIEs and Workshops were really good this year.

Talon J. Powers, Esq.

Partner | Hecht Solberg Robinson Goldberg & Bagsley
San Diego, CA

I love this conference!

William O. London, Esq.

Partner | Kimura London & White LLP
Irvine, CA

The program topics are timely and well presented. Every time I attend, I learn something new.

Eileen M. Letts, Esq.

Partner | Zuber Lawler
Chicago, IL

MPF is on top of the issues facing firm leaders, often before we even see them coming in our own firms, and provides timely advice from industry experts to see us through them.

Ms. Lisa Armstrong

Managing Partner | SBA Lawyers LLP
Kitchener, ON

I highly recommend the MPF Leadership Conference. I’ve participated many times, as have several of my partners. We leave with new ideas and fresh perspectives every time.

Thomas C. Grella, Esq.

Past Managing Partner | McGuire Wood & Bissette
Asheville, NC

Hands down the best leadership conference for managing partners I’ve ever attended.

Robert A. Young, Esq.

Managing Partner | English Lucas Priest Owsley
Bowling Green, KY

This is my 12th or 13th time attending, and it’s always the best conference I attend every year.

Marc D. Chapman, Esq.

President | Dean Mead
Orlando, FL

The MPIEs are interesting, informative and very useful!

Wilbur E. Johnson, Esq.

Partner | Clement Rivers, LLP
Charleston, SC

I look forward to this Conference every year. It really helps me to be a more effective firm leader.

Jason P. Waguespack, Esq.

Managing Director | Galloway Johnson
New Orleans, LA

MPF provides tremendous value and excellent resources. Great information. Great speakers. Great networking opportunities.

Jason M. Casini, Esq.

Past Managing Partner | Whitfield & Eddy Law
Des Moines, IA

MEDIA CENTER

MPF Webinars

MPF Webinars - 2020

Below (in reverse chronological order) are links to the on-demand recordings and handout materials for The MPF Webinars we presented in 2020. Moderated by John Remsen, Jr. and Uri Gutfreund, these sessions are fast-paced, highly interactive and full of benchmarking data.

December 31, 2020

Lessons Learned in 2020 and Big Bold Predictions for 2021

by Managing Partner Forum with Uri Gutfreund and John Remsen, Jr.

Marc Dedman, Esq. has been instrumental instilling a marketing and sales culture at his law firm and, in this 15-minute interview, offers guidance on how to make it happen at your firm. He also discusses the difference between marketing (spreading the bird seed), and business development (shooting and dressing the bird). Good stuff.

December 9, 2020

Update on PPP Loan Forgiveness

by Managing Partner Forum with Scott Burke, Dan Mayo and Lisa Murray

We thank Scott Burke, Managing Partner of Morrison Mahoney LLP; Dan Mayo, National Lead-Federal Tax Policy of Withum; and Lisa Murray, Head of Professionals Banking of Citizens Bank, for their insights and perspectives on this timely and important year-end topic for many, many law firms.

As always, we collect and present survey data on our topic (183 law firm leaders participating) and learned the following:

Ten percent (10%) of firm leaders report that their law firms have applied for PPP Loan Forgiveness, and have been approved by both their bank and the SBA
On the other hand, fifty-one percent (51%) had not yet applied for Loan Forgiveness
Eighty-three percent (83%) expect to receive 100% forgiveness

As to the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the legal industry, thirty-three percent (33%) of firm leaders say it will “fundamentally change the practice of law as we know it,” a whopping, five-fold increase from when we asked the same question in May.

November 18, 2020

Budgeting Considerations for 2021

by Managing Partner Forum with Fred Esposito and Tom Obermaier

Our MPF Webinar entitled “Budgeting Considerations for 2021” with Frederick J. Esposito, Jr., Chief Operating Officer of Rivkin Radler, LLP and Tom Obermaier, Chief Executive Officer of SurePoint Technologies.119 firm leaders participated during the live session, and here are a few of the things we learned:

Twenty-six percent (26%) of firm leaders project in an increase in Revenue per Lawyer (RPL) for their firms in 2021 compared to 2020.
Sixty percent (60%) of firm leaders report a substantial increase (10% or more) in their firms’ investments in technology in 2021.
Thirty-seven percent (37%) report an increase in their firms’ marketing and business development budgets in 2021.
Seventy-four percent (74%) are planning associate raises in 2021, with forty-three percent (43%) looking at increases of five percent or more. Raises are not as generous for non-lawyer support staff.

November 4, 2020

Which KPIs Are Best for Your Law Firm?

by Managing Partner Forum with Roger Hayse and Steve Mabey

On the latest installment of The MPF Webinar Series we call “The Law Firm of the Future.” we discussed the importance of measuring both financial and firm-building contributions. In addition to plenty of timely benchmarking data on the topic, the handouts include biographical profiles, PowerPoint deck, and the raw data from The MPF 2019 Law Firm Leadership survey

Here are a few highlights:

Eighty-five percent (85%) of firm leaders say they use KPIs to monitor firm and individual performance. “Productivity” was by far the #1 metric they monitor.
Twenty-six percent (26%) of firms have modified their KPIs since the COVID outbreak. Another twenty-four percent (24%) are considering it.
Looking beyond financial KPIs, just twenty-four percent (24%) of firms measure client satisfaction and thirty-five percent (35%) measure employee satisfaction.

October 21, 2020

Building the Virtual Law Firm

by Managing Partner Forum with Michael Moradzadeh and Chris Wilson

We had a very interesting and thought-provoking conversation about the growing trend for law firms to move toward virtual business models as we work through the immediacy of the pandemic and look toward a post-COVID environment. Here are a few program highlights:

In the remote working environment, partner productivity has slightly increased, while associate and staff productivity have significantly decreased.
Twenty-eight percent (28%) of smaller and midsize law firms have decided to move to a more virtual business model. Fifty-one percent (51%) are considering it.
The biggest concerns are the impacts on associate development and training, and maintaining a collaborative firm culture.

September 16, 2020

Finding the Leader in You

by Managing Partner Forum with John Fanburg, Mickey Maher and Leah Nelson

The session was an open conversation about how law firm leaders find resolve and resilience in times of change and uncertainty. Thank you to our guest speakers: John Fanburg, Managing Member of Brach Eichler, LLC; Mickey Maher, Managing Partner of Hecht Solberg; and Leah Nelson, Founder of Nelson Leadership.

July 22, 2020

The Law Firm of the Future: The Managing Partner's Perspective

by Managing Partner Forum with Jon Pinney and Bob Young

Our guest speakers were Jon J. Pinney, Esq., Managing Partner of Kohrman Jackson & Krantz (KJK) in Cleveland, Ohio; and Robert A. Young, Esq., Managing Partner of English Lucas Priest & Owsley (ELPOLaw) in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We had a lively discussion about what leaders of mid-size law firms need to be thinking about during these transitional times, and here are a few program highlights:

The traditional law office is dead.
Smart investment in technology is critical going forward.
Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs) will continue to thrive and disrupt.
Forward-thinking law firms will dominate the market.

This was the tenth program in our series of complimentary MPF Webinars we are calling “Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic.”

July 8, 2020

Leveraging Technology to Improve Your Firm's Performance and Profitability

by Managing Partner Forum with Lee Hovermale and Morris Tabush

Currently the CEO of FlexManage, Lee has been in the legal technology field for more than three decades. Morris is the Founder and President of Tabush Group. Both are recognized thought leaders on technology and the law firm of the future. We survey registrants on several topics and here is what we learned this week:

56% of workers prefer to stay working in a remote environment even after the restrictions are lifted
41% of firm leaders say their firms will invest more heavily in technology in the wake of COVID-19
51% of firms staff their technology needs mostly or entirely in-house. 18% outsource all of it.
Many firms are wasting lots of money on technology. Be strategic. Training is paramount.

We extend our thanks to Lee, Morris and our co-host, Uri Gutfreund of Risk Strategies, for a terrific session with plenty of timely bench-marking data.

June 24, 2020

Marketing Your Law Firm During a Pandemic

By Managing Partner Forum with Guy Alvarez and Lynn Tellefsen

Since mid-March, we have been presenting an MPF Webinar series called “Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic.” This session we called “Marketing Your Law Firm During a Pandemic” with Guy Alvarez, Founder of Good2BSocial, and Lynn Tellefsen, Chief Marketing and Business Development Director of Wilentz. Here are some of the highlights of what we learned:

82% of participating law firm leaders believe that it is “very important” to build and maintain their firm’s marketing efforts during the pandemic. Another 15% say it is “somewhat important.”/li>
46% of firm leaders report that their firms provide business development training for all lawyers who want it.
Among digital marketing tactics, 78% report that their firms distribute e-newsletter/alerts, and 61% say they are presenting webinars.

We had a terrific session and, as always, presented plenty of timely bench-marking data.

As an added bonus for this session, participants were invited to register for “How Lawyers Can Use Social Media to Build their Brand and Grow their Practice,” an on-demand Webinar presented by Guy Alvarez. Click here to register.

June 10, 2020

Your Firm's Culture in a Post-COVID-19 World

By Managing Partner Forum with Terry Isner and Leah Nelson

On June 10th, we presented our seventh MPF Webinar in a series called “Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Our topic was “Your Firm’s Culture in a Post-COVID-19 World”, and our guest speakers were Terry Isner of Jaffe and Leah Nelson of Nelson Leadership. Here is what we learned this week:

85% of firm leaders say their firm responses “better than expected” to the Pandemic.
82% of them believe their firms will emerge from the Pandemic in a “stronger” position. 26% say “much stronger.”
88% say firm culture is “very important” to their firms.
85% believe that “culture” differentiates their law firms from competing firms in their markets.

Those are big numbers! And they support our strong advice to put “firm culture” at the top of your firm’s priority list as we look forward and plan for the future.

May 27, 2020

The Law Office of the Future

by Managing Partner Forum with Sherry Cushman and Morris Tabush

On May 27th, we presented a webinar called “The Law Office of the Future” with Sherry Cushman, Vice Chairman of Cushman & Wakefield; and Morris Tabush, President of Tabush Group. 222 managing partners and firm leaders participated, and we discussed the long-term impacts that COVID-19 will have on the legal profession, especially in the areas of office space and technology. Here is what we learned this week:

72% of law firm leaders project they will need less office space in the long-term.
86% project an increase in technology investment. 24% project an annual increase of 25% or more.
74% project the need for fewer support staff.

Clearly, COVID-19 is accelerating many long-imbedded trends in the legal profession, and firms that want to “get back to the way things used to be” are moving in the wrong direction.

May 13, 2020

Finding Forgiveness in Your Law Firm's PPP Loan

by Managing Partner Forum with Scott Burke, Dan Mayo, and Lisa Murray

On May 13th, we presented our fifth MPF Webinar in a series we’re calling “Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Our most popular session to date – “Finding Forgiveness in Your Law Firm’s PPP Loan” – with more than 250 law firm leaders in attendance for the live session. During the 60-minute program, we learned that 99% of law firms have applied for a PPP loan with most having received funding. But details of the program remain murky. Our panel did a great job bringing us up to speed on the latest developments. The handouts include our PP deck, online survey results, a few timely articles and the most recent (May 13, 2020) FAQ update. Be sure to check out the response to Question #46.

April 29, 2020

Maintaining Productivity When People Work at Home

by Managing Partner Forum with Sharon Meit Abrahams

On April 29th, we presented our fourth MPF Webinar called “Maintaining Productivity When People Work at Home.” Dr. Sharon Meit Abrahams joined us to discuss strategies to maintain and improve productivity when lawyers and support staff work from home. Here is some of what they told us:

53% of firm leaders believe that “productivity” declines of 10% or more when people work from home. 11% see declines of more than 25%.
Too many distractions, lack of structure and little accountability are the primary reasons.
73% think the pandemic has accelerated long term trends in the profession in areas like flex-time, work-at-home and the use of technology.

Interestingly, not one person who completed the survey anticipates a return to “business as usual” when the pandemic is behind us. The handouts include our PP deck, online survey results, Sharon’s article called “How to Make Working from Home Work for You,” and Cushman Wakefield’s “How-to Guide for Reopening Your Workplace.”

April 15, 2020

Managing Expenses During an Economic Downturn

by Managing Partner Forum and HBR Consulting

Since many firms are looking at ways to reduce expenses, we invited Kevin McClean and Lee Garbowitz from HBR Consulting to discuss “Managing Expenses During an Economic Downturn.” In addition, here’s what we learned in this week’s brief online survey in which 75 law firms, mostly mid-size, participated:

57% of law firms project total firm revenue in 2020 to decline between 11-25% due to the coronaviris outbreak. 11% anticipate a hit of more than 25%.
Postponing major investments, eliminating discretionary spending (mostly travel, client events and the like),and reducing partner draws are the top three ways firms are reducing short-term expenses.
As of Wednesday, 99% of firms reported that they had applied for a PPP loan. Nearly half said they had been approved, and 12% reported that they had already received the funds.

April 1, 2020

The Psychology of Leadership in Times of Crisis

by Managing Partner Forum with Larry Richard

On April 1st, we presented our second of a series of MPF Webinars called “Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic.” We invited Dr. Larry Richard, a long-time MPF Faculty member and the world’s leading expert on the lawyer personality and the psychology of leading lawyers, to share his insights and guidance to law firm leaders to help them in the unsettled times before us. He talks about lawyers’ need for predictability, control and connection; and that all of three of these needs have been disrupted in an abrupt and dramatic way. Larry talks about the importance of calm and steady leadership in times of crisis, with plenty of communication, authenticity and gratitude.

March 18, 2020

Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic

by Managing Partner Forum with Uri Gutfreund

On March 18th, we presented a 45-minute MPF Webinar called “Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic.” During the session, Uri Gutfreund and I provided guidance and resources to firm leaders on how to lead their firms through this unfolding crisis. The handouts include our PP deck, links to resources, online survey results, a template called “Pandemic Preparation and Response Plan” and a template for a “Business Continuity Plan.”

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