Co-Chair's Welcome & Opening Remarks

Crystal Room

Tom Jones, Managing Director, Iridium Products,
BigHand

Rob Stote, Managing Director - Profitability Products,
BigHand

Keynote Address: The Real Cost of the War for Talent

Crystal Room

The war for talent is in full force as law firm vie for lawyers and professionals amidst record highs in workload and demand. Many firms are taking decisive action – yet at what cost? And to what end? Hikes in associate salaries place a heavy burden on firms’ ongoing expenses and while Band-Aid solutions may help slow the bleeding, what lies ahead as the battle drags on? Join us as we take a dive into the trenches and explore the underlying root causes of the war for talent. Learn why culture, leadership and performance management are the trifecta in creating stable long-term performance, why short-term fixes will fail, how to recognize the signs of a failing foundation and how and why a growth culture will outperform a performance culture every time.

Marcie Borgal Shunk, President and Founder,
The Tilt Institute

Profit Analytics in 2022: Deploying Profit Models to Accelerate Growth and Drive Profitability

Crystal Room

Over the past two years, economic performance for many law firms has been strong due to pandemic-driven efficiencies, extraordinary demand for key legal services, and the overall economic cycle. This rosy economic scenario has not come without issues, however. Law firm profit models have also been hit by talent shortages, retention challenges, salary wars, and demands for greater information transparency and heightened performance standards. Modern business intelligence tools, mobile connectivity, and pervasive data enable reporting and analytics that were not conceivable a decade ago. Join a panel of 3 law firm leaders to discuss profit analytic applications in the face of a robust legal economy and the issues brought to the forefront. This panel will explore:

• Profit relationships, drivers, and your financial "architecture"
• Key profit management focus areas in 2022, including talent, compensation, and pricing
• The use of analytics and modern tools to provide visibility to issues
• Using your profit analytics to create a culture for productive change

Tom Van Der Moere, Chief Financial Officer,
Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP

Laura E. Long, COO/CFO,
Hanson Bridgett LLP

Mark Medice, Principal,
LawVision

Your Favorite Profitability Customizations: Hit or Miss?

Crystal Room

Together, BigHand and Iridium have more than 150 clients running our profitability products. We ran a poll of our implementation teams to determine the ten most common customizations that clients have requested. Some of these are great ideas and will make it into our core product offering. Others, not so much… In this interactive segment, we will cover the top ten requests and provide our opinion on whether you should embrace, or steer clear of each customization scenario. And don’t worry: your voice will be heard since we will be asking the audience for your opinions on each one!

​Tom Jones, Managing Director, Iridium Products,
BigHand 

Rob Stote, Managing Director - Profitability Products,
BigHand

Going Upstream: How Intake Data Can Fuel Your Value Proposition

Crystal Room

There is a new saying in the business realm, “data is the new oil”—the reference being that you can drill into your data to produce untold riches. There are several dimensions to turning this concept into a reality, though. To mine data you first have to capture it, and for law firms and legal departments, one of the most fruitful hunting grounds for data is at the point of intake. New matters by default require a host of data points to be collected, but this can be done a variety of ways. Once you have this new “oil” there are a host of ways you can use it to your advantage. Spotting trends, seeing around corners, identifying anomalies, aggregating for macro-level insights, to name a few. How you crunch the data is evolving as well given all the tools and AI technologies available to convert it from raw resource into clear deliverables and insights. In this session, we will explore some of the ways in which valuable data can be collected at intake, what data is often most valuable, and how it can be used to deliver exponential value to your law firm or legal department.

Keith Maziarek, Director of Pricing and Legal Project Management,
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Andrew Sprogis, Chief Innovation Officer,
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Instilling Business Accountability Using Law Firm Compensation Metrics

Crystal Room

• How leveraging a direct margin metric into year-end compensation calculations forces attorneys to think in pure business terms throughout the entire year
•  A closer look at margin and its many ripple effects across firm profitability
• How compensation can be leveraged as a forcing function to drive positive change and adaptations in partner behavior – aligning incentives with strategic priorities, client needs and financial goals.

Paige Keith, Director-Pricing,
Lathrop GPM LLP

Courtney M. Landon, Chief Operating Officer,
Lathrop GPM LLP

Profitability Modeling in Small and Mid-Sized Law Firms

Crystal Room

• Comparing and contrasting the unique challenges of small and mid-sized law firms with their larger counterparts in the realm of firm profitability, value, efficiency and client expectations
• How can profitability modeling be used to drive meaningful change in how practice groups operate (staffing and matter management)?
• How can results be hitched to compensation?
• Can profitability modeling help small and mid-sized firms to pull the right levers to improve margin while linking compensation to firm (or practice) performance?

Wayne Hassay, Managing Partner,
Maguire Schneider Hassay, LLP

Co-Chair’s Closing Remarks

Crystal Room​

Tom Jones, Managing Director, Iridium Products,
BigHand 

Rob Stote, Managing Director - Profitability Products,
BigHand

Networking Cocktail Reception

Regent Room

All attendees are invited to join us for drinks, hors d'oeuvres, and face-to-face networking. We will have a color-coded system in place to allow attendees to self-select and display their comfort level for interacting with peers.