Strategic planning graduated from mandatory monotony to mission-critical.

Law firms have more money at risk than ever — and the future is made up of bets and choices. These bets include markets, talents, changing demands of law firms by attorneys and clients — and the free-for-all developing as law firms poach each other’s partners.

Strategic plans were once a discussion among a few partners. Now, meticulous processes with a combination of facts, trends, experience, ideas, vision, and intuition drive the most successful plans. Some firms are there — others are getting there. And a few don’t care.

Patrick McKenna and I surveyed more than 200 law firm leaders to delineate the state of the art — and how to make it better. It’s a cornucopia of approaches, processes, and results.

Use it to pick from the best. Use it to position yourself to help. And use it to help drive outsized results.

You can find the link to download the full complimentary report at the end of the post. Here are the highlights:

15% of law firm leaders characterize their strategic planning as excellent — with another 11% describing it as good. This leaves 74% of law firms with sub-optimal strategic planning — and likely plans.

69% of law firm leaders indicate strategic planning is more important than ever or nearly so. They see the risks — and the rewards.

6.5% of leaders eschew plans and are opportunistic. They consider themselves agile and have keen instincts. This too is a strategic plan — to be opportunistic.

79% of law firm leaders indicate they have written strategic plans. But most don’t see them as excellent — leaving work to do and decisions to be made.

Only 34% of firms interviewed or surveyed a majority of their partners as part of the process. This dilutes engagement at all levels as they feel excluded. It also reduces interest in understanding the plan — never mind implementing it.

45% include client surveys and feedback in their strategic plan. More than half exclude a vital guidepost in spotting opportunities from the constituency with enormous influence on your results. Clients offer a broad view of needs and see strengths in law firms they rarely see in themselves.

68.2% of leaders use a consultant to help facilitate the planning process. Of these — only one-third reported successfully implementing all of their plans. A good consultant will help — a mediocre consultant or less will hurt.

Leaders with internally focused plans are 20% less satisfied with their plans. These leaders intuitively sense how an external focus brings new insights. They also add energy and enthusiasm as it delineates more opportunities for attorneys.

35% of firms formed a dedicated committee to develop the strategic plan. These committees hold each accountable for bringing in the right facts at the right time. They add structure and accountability to the process.

Larger firms have more targeted goals and plans. 44.2% of firms described their plans as brief and targeted — this drops to 12.5% for firms with less than 500 attorneys. Brief and targeted beats broad and all-inclusive.

18.6% of leaders indicate they implement almost all of their plans. So many firms see their plans lying on a shelf or server somewhere. Implementation demands more resources than planning — with specific accountability for implementations — most often a key missing link.

Law firms can improve their strategic planning process — and develop more compelling plans — by embracing the following processes:

Avoid negotiated strategic plans

Law firms report the strategic plan is effectively a result of the ability of certain practice leaders to negotiate for their interest or goal — adding facts from clients and partners will help ground truth the plan — and eliminate negotiated strategies.

Add client input — 3 advantages

Clients have a broad view of their needs and how they will change — in addition, 70% of law firms don’t match client perception — alignment is one key to success. And — they help eliminate negotiated strategic plans.

Add attorney input

It’s worth it for the one insightful new idea — and it will come from a place you least likely expect. You will also boost overall attorney engagement.

Lay out the process for all

Let everyone in the firm know what is happening and when. This knowledge boosts engagement and creates energy around strategic thinking. It also establishes a form of accountability to the firm for completion and implementation.

Short beats long

Take the time to make it brief and targeted. It takes more work and may demand more decision making — but it drives success.

Embrace alternative and nontraditional views

New market opportunities are arising that only associates know about. New regulations are creating counterintuitive opportunities. Talent retention demands new strategies not typically used in law firms. The pivotal insights and facts may lie outside the current field of vision. Multiple and alternative viewpoints — harnessed with positive energy — are one of the most powerful tools to make all this change work for you.

Attorneys love an intellectual challenge. It lies before you in the form of strategic planning. The firms upping their strategic planning process are the most likely to emerge as the next market leaders — and they will enjoy better retention as few things attract high-performing attorneys more than success — ditto for clients.

You can download a complimentary copy of the full report Dissecting the Processes of Law Firm Strategic Planning here.

BTI’s 3-year deep dive exploration into Law Firm LinkedIn pages and performance has unearthed a fascinating landscape of achievements and opportunities across law firms of varying sizes. The implications are profound, offering high-performing firms a gateway to inbound business and providing others with a chance to catch up — or leap ahead in the latest source of new business.

Our research reveals that strategically minded and disciplined firms consistently deliver performance levels 3x times better than their larger peers. The extent of this performance spectrum underscores the crucial role of investment, commitment, and strategy in shaping each firm’s destiny.

At the epicenter of LinkedIn success lies engagement — comments, likes, celebrations, and posts that captivate your followers. The ripple effect extends to their networks, courtesy of LinkedIn’s algorithm, making every engagement a building block for stronger bonds and meaningful relationships. This leads to inbound business.

Our latest report, The BTI Benchmarking Law Firm LinkedIn Performance 2023, Unleashing the Power of LinkedIn, is the culmination of our in-depth research. It’s your ticket to decoding the secrets behind top-tier LinkedIn performance. But that’s not all — it’s a blueprint for harnessing LinkedIn’s full potential to drive inbound business for your law firm.

Please join me in congratulating the following law firms for their exceptional leadership position in LinkedIn Active Engagement by Touchpoints across all 3 Am Law cohorts plus large international firms:

Only one source provides law firms with unique insights into exactly where they stand along key LinkedIn performance metrics including:

• LinkedIn Followers
• LinkedIn Followers per Partner
• Active Engagement Percentage Rates
• Engagement Touchpoints and Activities
• Engagement Touchpoints and Activities per Partner
• Monthly Posting Cadence
• Where you stand compared to law firms in your size cohort

The BTI Benchmarking Law Firm LinkedIn Performance 2023: Unleashing the Power of LinkedIn is your gateway to this invaluable data, the most successful strategies, and the secret sauce to securing attorney support and engagement with your firm’s online presence. Don’t just keep up — jump ahead of the curve!

Ready to transform your law firm’s LinkedIn game? Click here to grab your copy of the report and embark on a journey to LinkedIn success.

Stay ahead, stay engaged, and stay successful on LinkedIn!

1. 20% follower growth for law firms for the 2nd year in a row

One of the last cohorts to adopt LinkedIn, corporate counsel are now joining in droves.

2. Am Law 2nd 100 firms out engaging all others

This group shows more precision in producing compelling content to generate engagement, including legal issues and firm news.

3. Followings show little relationship to active engagement

Gaining followers is a form of engagement — but followers aren’t the final frontier —engagement reigns supreme. It’s about sparking discussions, igniting likes, shares, and reposts for creating enduring digital and analog relationships.

4. The Holy Grail for learning about law firms for corporate counsel (and laterals)

All the insights in one place – outside the stiff formality of a website — and much easier to digest. Readers gain a more insightful understanding of law firms through LinkedIn pages compared to traditional websites. This trend will lead to LinkedIn’s potential to outperform law firm websites in creating perception and creating inbound leads.

5. Partners rarely outwardly supportive

Few partners actively support firm posts and activities — missing a major source of substantial outreach.

6. Posting drives engagement

The more you post — even repurposed content — the more likely your firm will generate active engagement.