(i) BMO reducing its roster of firms from about 800 to 200
with further reductions planned; (ii) the clients of seven sister firms hiring me to help them get control over their legal spend and forge stronger and more value based relationships
with their firms; (iii) the many small and mid-sized businesses who hire accountants to do all of their tax and structuring work because it is cheaper than dealing
with lawyers; (iv) firms hiring me to help them figure out how to budget, set and
meet client expectations without losing money; (v) «clients» who never become clients at all as they do their own legal work based on precedents that friends share
with them; (vi) the various forms of outsourcing that are now prevalent (from offices in India to Tory's office in Halifax); (vii) clients hiring me to figure out how to increase internal capacity without increasing headcount in order to reduce external spend; (viii) the
success of firms like Conduit, SkyLaw and Cognition (to name a few) who are taking new approaches to «big» and «medium law» work; (ix) the introduction of full time project managers in many firms; and (x) the number of
lawyers throughout the profession who regularly don't docket chunks of their time in order to avoid unpleasant fee conversations
with their clients.
Lawyers in these groups work together on client assignments all over the world — see
Success Stories - to exchange best practice and develop a shared response to emerging trends to share
with the clients, the groups also regularly
meet in person and online.