Hints & Tips from Expense Reduction Analysts for UK law firms seeking to reduce costs and improve processes.

1. Legal Services Bulletin
January-February 2014
COMMENT
As another year begins it
would be wise to revisit
plans
for
business
improvement and cost
reduction.
PwC in its annual Top 100
Law Firms survey found
that only a third of the
Top 11-100 practices had
undertaken
such
an
exercise in 2013.
More worryingly, and consistent with the theme
of previous years surveys, the majority of firms
implementing cost reduction programmes saved
less than 5% of pre-programme costs.
Such results seem at odds with our own
experience working with clients; late last year
we delivered the latest projects to crystallise
over £250,000 worth of annual savings for a
firm on the cusp of the Top 100 – and this
month we’ll report more substantial six-figure
savings for a firm further up the turnover table.
Perhaps the poor results for cost reduction
programmes identified by PwC are related to the
perceived strengths and weaknesses of teams in
back office functions.
Whereas 52% of respondents believe their firm
has a ‘strong’ Finance function, only 7% believe
their firm has a ‘strong’ Procurement function –
which is understandable if, as PwC report, the
majority of firms only use procurement
professionals to support 20% of annual spend.
Essentially ERA’s raison d'être is to fill the
perception / reality gap between the level of
savings firms may expect and benefits firms
actually accrue – and to sustain those savings.
Our
work
with
Eversheds
(outlined
overleaf)
provides
more
compelling
evidence. We’d love to explore the
opportunities for savings with your firm.
FEATURES:
see overleaf
PRINTING MONEY
Eversheds Look Forward To
€900,000 Savings On Print
LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY
How Could Your Firm Harness
Technology To Achieve
Competitive Advantage?
networkpartner with
PRACTICE TIPS
MERGER MANIA?
According to PwC most of the top 25 firms believe a
merger is likely or very likely by 2016 and this is
increasingly likely to be with an international firm.
DISGUISED SALARY
George Osborne’s decision to end the NIC benefits
enjoyed by LLPs may lead to a sudden rash of new
equity partners and cash calls. But will the banks be
forthcoming with the necessary funding?
SHREDDING SAVINGS
Although competition is intensifying in the document
storage and office supplies markets we’re increasingly
finding suppliers maintaining margins by putting
ridiculous rates in place for shredding. We’re happy to
do a quick check for you ~ free of charge, of course.
The Editor
Jason Adderley is a consultant Partner with ERA
specialising in managing programmes of work for
legal and professional services firms.
He has 19 years experience of working with
solicitors and other professional consultants as a
client and as a service provider.
Jason Adderley
T: 0121 602 1445
M: 07824 449 577
E: j.adderley@erauk.net
: @ERA_Legal

2. ERA recently implemented a Managed Print and
outsourced Print Room solution for the Irish office
of international law firm Eversheds.
As ERA Print Expert Michael Hully explains “Eversheds
produces over 1,500 Case Bibles and prints in excess
of 5 million pages each year – naturally, the firm was
keen to ensure it was getting a high quality service in
the most cost-effective manner.”
Mike Smith, Finance Director at Eversheds explained
why he engaged ERA “We felt that ERA offered us not
just the technical, project, change management and
procurement expertise we required but also that an
independent external view would be essential if we
were to achieve the best possible outcome for the
business”
“ERA’s guidance and expertise was critical to the
successful overhaul of our printing, scanning and
document production facilities.
With their help we now have a Managed Print
infrastructure and outsourced on-site Print Room
service that delivers exactly what our business
needs and that is exceptional value for money.”
Mike Smith,
Finance Director for Eversheds Ireland
The project has delivered much improved facilities and
Print Room services, savings of 38% on the Managed
Print estate and substantial administrative and
secretarial labour efficiencies.
In total, savings could exceed €900,000 over the fiveyear contract term. A full Case Study is available on
request.
BIG
Eversheds
IDEA
Law firm leaders today face
notable challenges; downward
pressure on fees, the pressure
to do more with less, new
ERAentrants to the marketwith the
is Network Partner and, of
Legal LSN. the ever present need
course,
for compliance.
LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY
CASE
STUDY
Consequently firms are seeking to
harness technology to achieve
competitive advantage.
Many firms have embraced Speech
Recognition as a cost-effective
alternative to dictation. This has
allowed firms to increase fee-earner
headcount without the need for a
proportional increase in support
staff. Even, and perhaps especially,
smaller firms are drawing benefits
by being able to divert support staff
to higher value-added PA-style
roles.
Software is also coming to the aid
of fee earners swamped by the
sheer proliferation of information
and documentation. Document
Review
comprises
a
huge
proportion of the total cost of
matters, so technical solutions have
evolved to reduce the number of
documents to be reviewed.
In ERA’s core area of procurement
firms
may
use
Business
software
drawing
Intelligence
data from disparate sources across
the organisation to increase the
speed to savings and micromanage compliance.
And of course, with the continuing
trend of merger and acquisition a
Virtual Data Room provides an
invaluable
platform
for
due
diligence allowing easy access to all
relevant stakeholders.
LSN Law Firm Forum February 2014
LSN Law Firm Forums provide a unique opportunity for you to
gather under one roof with others working in law firm
management, operational and support roles.
The next Forum is in Bristol on February 18.
Helpfully, ERA’s IT Team can advise
on
all
aspects
of
IT
from
governance to hardware to SASS to
support. We’re on hand when you
need
us
for
a
free
initial
consultation.
For more information visit: www.legalsupportnetwork.co.uk
Jason Adderley
T: 0121 602 1445
M: 07824 449 577
E: j.adderley@erauk.net
: @ERA_Legal