Continuing 30 years of Inter-Firm Comparison

Performance Benchmark Survey for Law Firms - 2008 

The Profit and Performance Improvement Guide Inter-firm Comparison survey gives your firm practical solutions for profit improvement – quickly. Last year we identified an average profit improvement of $1.4m per firm.

Survey details
Investment
Advisers
Registration
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SURVEY OUTLINES

1. The Profit and Performance Improvement Guide
Your firm's financial performance is compared to other firms, including high profit firms, by size, type and location.
Your confidential survey report has specific recommendations presented as a transparent profit improvement map. Your report highlights what you need to know to improve the firm.
This annual business survey of the legal profession has allowed FMRC to be the trusted advisers in practice performance, measurement and improvement for 30 years.

2. Salary Survey
This survey report will allow you to make informed salary decisions during your budget cycle.
This is the only Australian survey that connects a person’s production to the salaries of lawyers.

HOW YOUR FIRM WILL BENEFIT:

At a business level, leaders will know:

• How their business is performing
• The next steps for profit and productivity improvement in their firm
• If they are paying too much for practice overheads

At a human resource level, partners will know:

• What fee earners are paid relative to actual performance.
• What fee earners should bill relative to experience, location and compensation.

1. THE PROFIT AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT GUIDE

Your results are presented in a comprehensive report to provide all partners with a quick overview of your results.
Within two weeks of submitting your data, you receive a report showing how your firm is performing plus:

• What is impacting on your firm
• A report on your profitability with commentary on causes and opportunities
• A benchmark comparison with similar firms across 12 key performance indicators

Easy to understand summary allowing partners to gain an overview of the firm’s performance.

Meeting with your partners to review the results and plan actions
You will have access to a live web meeting for one hour for your partners and management team.  Your firm may meet with our management adviser within two weeks of receiving your report.

This meeting will:

• Review and explain our findings
• Agree workable strategies that focus on forces driving change and factors critical to success
• Agree on actions you can implement now

2. SALARY SURVEY

This survey reports relevant average salaries, charge rates, budgets, work done and compensation packages for all staff. It is released in December this year, to coincide with partner planning prior to annual salary reviews.
This is not another self serving salary survey. This is the only guide to provide owners and managers with objective, factual, pragmatic information on critical employment data.

The salary survey provides:

• Timely talent market intelligence.
• Salary, charge rate, budget and actual performance comparisons relative to experience and location.
• A full range of contemporary law firm positions including support positions are assessed.
• Performance review documentation as well as a comprehensive suite of position descriptions.

This survey is presented as an electronic report allowing easy identification of appropriate salaries by position, location and productivity.
This survey can be completed online and our web-based tutorials will assist you in completing the survey and using the data.
Salary Survey issued: December 2008

The live web-based meeting will allow your team to watch the images live on your computer screen while speaking with us on the telephone.

MANAGEMENT ADVISERS

At the live web meeting you spend an hour with one of our advisers.

	Graham Le Roux Graham has held various managerial roles in the legal profession for the past 15 years. He has worked with major, small and medium sized law members across the country. He specialises in productivity and effectiveness practices and in particular seeks to help professional service members identify and refine strategic direction.
	Sam Coupland Sam advises in all areas of practice management working with owners and managers to develop their business.  He heads consulting assignments in firm strategy, practice planning, equity valuations and equity transfers. Sam has worked with a US technology group to bring Business Intelligence solutions to the Australian legal profession. Sam is a frequent presenter on practice management related topics and fronts many FMRC programs. He is a regular guest presenter at many professional conferences and often brings this knowledge to in-house audiences.
	Neil Oakes Neil has been working almost exclusively as a management consultant with the legal profession for 20 years. He undertakes consulting assignments for law firms throughout Australia and New Zealand, specialising in strategic advantage, profit growth strategies, contemporary leadership and change management. Each year he is involved with some 110 law firms of various sizes and specialty areas of practice.
	Telephone support Simon Ostler will assist with queries and guide you through the data collection. Simon has been involved in this survey for the past 12 years.

SURVEY DETAILS

• Timing - Profit improvement in less than a month
• FMRC Inter Firm Comparison report - within two weeks of submitting your data
• Live web meeting - within two weeks of receiving your report
• FMRC Salary Survey - released in December 2008

YOUR INVESTMENT

$2,200 (incl. GST) to participate in the 2008 benchmark surveys you will receive:

• Inter-firm Comparison Report
• Meeting with adviser to review the results and plan action
• Salary Survey Report

GUARANTEE

We believe that these reports will enable your firm to implement profit improvement strategies which will recoup the cost by a factor greater than ten. If we cannot identify improvement opportunities of this magnitude we will return the registration fee to your firm.

ASSISTANCE IN LOADING YOUR SURVEY DATA

Loading your data is now easier:

The majority of the information required comes from your management accountants including:

• Profit and Loss Account
• Balance Sheet
• Payroll
• Practice Management System
• A Personnel Worksheet makes it easy to compile your salary and production data
• Live online seminar plus phone and email support

Online tutorial for completing the questionnaire.
To save you time, a 30 minute webinar, a live online seminar, where those responsible for completing the questionnaire will learn the quickest and easiest ways to supply the data.

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