BR 2025 Parters Retreat Planning Data

2025
PARTNERS RETREAT
PLANNING DATA
SECTION 1:
SECTION 2:
SECTION 3:
SECTION 4:
SECTION 5:
SECTION 6:
2023 Post-Retreat Priorities
Firm Strategic Plan – Status
Practice Group Strategic Plan – Status
2019 Survey Results
2020 Survey Results
2025 Survey to Be Distributed
1

SECTION 1:
2023 Post-Retreat Priorities
2

SECTION 1: 2023 Post-Retreat Priorities (in no particular order)
1) Participate in an annual high-visibility community event (Rays of Hope Walk 2023; YMCA Camp Clean-up Day 2024)
2) Hiring
a. Real Estate attorneys (Santucci and Loin)
b. Trusts & Estates attorneys (Laughner and Goodridge)
c. Seasoned trial lawyers (DA’s office)
d. Three corporate attorneys (Pilman and Knauerhause)
3) Hiring associates and retention
a. Identify candidates who may be a fit early (in progress)
b. Expand summer associate program >4?
c. Revise recruiting materials (in progress)
d. Conduct periodic review of each associate at partner meetings
e. Increase associate pay scale
f. Encourage 1:1 mentorship/assigned mentors (in progress)
4) Business development
a. Make it more focused (in progress)
b. Expand client base beyond Pioneer Valley (in progress)
5) Improve communication
a. Use the Attorney Roundtable for better knowledge sharing (in progress)
i. Include presentations by practice groups
ii. Communication about client needs/client satisfaction
iii. Board involvement
iv. Cross-selling opportunities
v. Business development opportunities
vi. Pro bono work
b. Onboarding – outline clear expectations, including hours – and enforce
c. Better communication with women – a place to hear issues, mentoring, learn the business of a law firm, social
(women’s quarterly lunches held)
6) Training
a. Create a more structured training program
b. Send an associate to litigation training (Ostberg 2023; Harty 2024)
c. More CLE – mandate it?
7) Pro bono
a. Define pro bono
b. Track work we are doing
8) Recognize mentoring and pro bono in compensation
3

SECTION 2:
Firm Strategic Plan - Status
4

SECTION 2: Firm Strategic Plan – Status
• Business Development
• Identify and retain clients with annual legal spend of $100K+
• Identify additional target clients and develop strategies to obtain them
• Develop new business through client teams
• Cross-sell – get work from existing clients
• Cross-market – get referrals from existing clients and other professionals
• Serve on prominent local and statewide boards and committees
STATUS
• A top management team priority for 2025
• Most Capital Partners have identified 3-10 targets; strategies and progress are discussed
• Client teams for high priority clients, including Baystate; others are forming
• Business development tracking software being researched
• Internal cross-selling partners meeting has been discussed but not yet scheduled
• Conducted board audit: who currently serves on boards, who serves on those same boards (clients, prospects, etc.)
and key boards where we are lacking participation
• Board matching event encouraged associate involvement
• Marketing
• Broaden visibility and brand awareness
• Maintain attorney and practice group presence online and increase digital footprint
STATUS
• Increased visibility through community engagement, client initiatives and tailored efforts
• Increased visibility of the firm’s 100th anniversary
• Website audit conducted
• Rolling out website “facelift”
• Reviewing practice group descriptions
• Continue to encourage LinkedIn participation; spring meeting on best practices for drafting a profile with deadline
of 4/1 to update profiles
• Social media plan to be implemented in 2025
• Social media policy to be added to personnel binder
5

• Leadership
• Position the firm to attract first-rate talent and clients
• Perform better than competition to fend off local firms and those entering the market
• Improve self-sufficiency and maximize efficiency
• Stay on top of new trends and areas of the law
STATUS
• Positioning the firm through rankings and accolades; promote via public relations, social media and website
• Technology
• Embrace innovation
• Maintain the most sophisticated cyber hygiene
STATUS
• Access Control & Surveillance Systems – on hold
• Hadley Switches & Firewall Upgrade – completed
• Internal Pen test – completed
• External Pen Test – completed
• Cloud Based Profiled – completed
• On Prem Services to Azure Cloud – on hold
• Mentorship
• Set business expectations from the start and equip new hires with tools for success
• Develop and execute programs to train and mentor junior lawyers and incentivize partners to contribute to
these programs
• On-board associates with clear expectations (including hours) and enforce
• Financial/business literacy for all
• Retain attorneys/monitor stress levels (detect burn-out or lack of engagement earlier)
• Empower attorneys and staff by recognizing and utilizing individual human capital
STATUS
• Attorney Roundtable improved knowledge sharing
• All new associates and counsel assigned a non-practice group mentor
• Practice group mentors should be considered
• LMS provides additional tools for financial literacy
• Succession Planning
• Implement a succession plan to transition key clients, as well as maintain services and quality that clients expect
STATUS
• Identify critical relationships of attorneys nearing retirement to ensure an effective transition of clients
– NOT YET DONE
6

• Growth
• Increase profits per partner
• Hire attorneys to maintain existing practice areas and build new ones
• Real Estate and Trusts & Estates attorneys
• Seasoned trial lawyers (DA’s office)
• Corporate attorneys
• Expand the geographic area in which we practice while maintaining our current physical footprint
• Continue to hire and retain top caliber attorneys, management, and support staff
• Increase associate pay scale
• Professional HR Manager needed
STATUS
• Real Estate
• Dan Rothschild retired; Jennifer Santucci and Andrew Loin hired
• Trusts & Estates
• Liz Sillin retired; Luke Goodridge hired
• Expanded geographic footprint to Greenfield
• Considering opportunities for Connecticut expansion
• Community
• Maintain a strong connection and active involvement with the local community
• Plan and execute one high visibility community service event
• Maintain efforts towards diversity and maintain an equitable and inclusive work environment
• Improve communication with women (place to hear issues, periodic mentoring meetings, socializing)
• Adopt more sustainable practices within the firm, as well as other priorities that clients consider when making
business decisions
STATUS
• Expanding community engagement through more hands-on initiatives
• Rays of Hope Cancer Walk (2023) and YMCA Camp Clean-up Day (2024)
• Created monthly Women’s Lunch for attorneys
• Sustainability plan drafted (on hold)
7

SECTION 3:
Practice Group Strategic Plan - Status
8

SECTION 3: Practice Groups Strategic Plan – Status
BUSINESS/FINANCE ACTION ITEMS
• Growth
• Identify & retain more clients w/annual legal spend of $100k+
• Develop a “deep bench” of talent, well-trained lawyers w/varied years of experience
• Hire at least one new associate from law school each year
STATUS
• Plan to draft list of existing clients who spent $75k+ over the last three years, identify relationship managers and
strategize how to get over the threshold
• Hired Gene Pilman; planned to train Shriti Shah and Christa Calabretta
• Increased engagement with Summer Associates
• Management
• Increase “contribution to profit” across all members of department
• Implement a candid post-mortem of transactions/goal of continuous improvement
• Ensure that quality is reflective of increased rates
• Refine the client intake process so that we only take on smaller clients strategically
• Celebrate individual and team excellence and successes
• Implement quarterly survey of qualitative measures (responsiveness, delegation, throughput and pace,
mentorship, etc.)
• Business Development
• Increase professional recognition through submissions
• Request and prioritize referrals
• Host and attend “meet & greets” with potential referral sources
• Publish articles that demonstrate thought leadership
• Establish ourselves as M&A leader w/rate structure to handle deals that may be too small for larger firms to handle
STATUS
• Increased submissions and number of attorneys considered for accolades
• M&A meet & greets continue; two being scheduled for the spring
• Published article on Cannabis Control Commission; received positive responses
• Conducted M&A exercise to capture recent deal data/identify target client
9

• Training/Mentoring
• Ensure all members are receiving training & mentoring appropriate to their position
STATUS
• M&A forms project ongoing
• Mentors assigned within practice
LITIGATION ACTION ITEMS
• Business Development
• Develop repeat business/consistent referral sources through former clients
• Increase new business through referrals from local attorneys with conflicts or referrals outside of their areas
of practice
• Develop a network of contacts through board participation
• Increase participation of attorneys in legal organizations/prioritize organizations
• Consider opportunities for non-local counsel work
• Understand how cases come in/where work comes from to increase business
STATUS
• Increased board placement and participation
• Litigation Services
• Expand the Employment Litigation practice
• Expand the Probate Litigation practice
• Expand the White Collar Crimes practice
• Evaluate the ADR practice
• Re-ignite the Family Law practice
STATUS
• ADR: keep description on website but no additional marketing efforts
• Employment Litigation: Brianna Dawkins and Mike McAndrew
• Probate Litigation: drafting practice group description with Mike Roundy
• Family Law: successfully launched in 2023 with the joining of Julie Palmer
• Staffing/Leadership
• Hire/ensure people power to staff larger cases
STATUS
• Impact to Litigation Dept.: Kevin Maynard and Jeff Poindexter no longer with the firm; Jim Duda reduced hours
• Ongoing efforts to hire
10

• Professional Development
• Professional development of associates, including courtroom and trial experience
• Review and revamp training program/opportunities to argue motions in court and participate in trials
• Make CLE and trial training programs available/encourage or require participation
STATUS
• Professional development ongoing
• Other
• Publish articles in business and bar publications to increase thought leadership
• Subscribe to monitoring service of case filings in western MA and federal court
• Monitor litigation trends and adapt the practice to secure new business
• Examine how pro bono work is defined and treated/encourage involvement to increase community exposure and
gain courtroom experience
REAL ESTATE ACTION ITEMS
• Hiring
• Hire a lateral attorney
STATUS
• Jennifer Santucci and Andrew Loin hired
• Growth
• Deal with Doug Brunner would enhance our visibility, capabilities and income
• Grow services to include title abstract/title insurance capabilities
• Service parts of Connecticut
STATUS
• Doug Brunner talks ongoing
• Kathy Bernardo to apply to waive into the CT bar
• Title abstract/title insurance capabilities to be added to bio and Real Estate website page
• Marketing
• Market real estate experience and capabilities
• Position the department chair as a leader in Real Estate Law
STATUS
• Business West ad with spotlight on Kathy (budget)
• Kathy named a “Best Lawyer” and Real Estate practice ranked
• Consider other accolades
• Considering sponsorship of title insurance or RE Bar event
11

• Clients
• Transition work to other attorneys/building trust takes effort and time
• Department
• Paralegal support
• Improve internal communication/include dept chair in discussions from the start
• Track real estate matters correctly, including title insurance premiums
STATUS
• Paralegals Gabby Washburn and Zach Varricchione
TRUST & ESTATES ACTION ITEMS
• Hiring/Staffing
• Strategic hiring – as competitors reduce size, position to attract talented attorneys
• Develop an effective employee retention plan
STATUS
• Paralegals: Jonathan Poirier, MaryAnn Grim, Eileene Farrell and Michelle Zhu
• Melinda Mason
• New hires: Elizabeth Dougal, Jake Kosakowski, Allison Laughner and Luke Goodridge
• Maintaining good practices, keeping attorneys and paralegals engaged, interesting work
• Encouraging collaboration
• Growth Objectives
• Grow our capacity to serve clients in sophisticated estate planning
• Grow our capacity to serve clients in special needs planning
• Business Development
• Leverage existing contacts (on hold)
• Market fiduciary litigation
• Identify key attributes of an ideal client – be more selective
• Expand the Family Business Succession Planning practice through internal collaboration and raising the visibility of
the firm’s services
12

HEALTH CARE ACTION ITEMS
• Business Development/Baystate Health
• Grow the volume and variety of work performed for Baystate Health
• Exceeded last fiscal year
• Add Baystate Health Employment Law matters
• Add Baystate Health regulatory matters
• Increase Med Mal work
• Strengthen the firm’s relationship by cultivating relationships with department heads, key personnel and
board members
• Facilitate Baystate Health relationships with other lawyers at the firm
• Find opportunities to educate Baystate Health on our services and experience
STATUS
• Employment Law: meeting occurred in August 2024 and work is coming in
• Updated Employment Law content on website
• Regulatory matters: Introduced Dan Sacco to legal team
• Targeting data breach work and overpayment issues
• Held legal team dinner in September 2023 and 2024
• Risk management event December 2024
• Re-engaged through events, including Evening of Gratitude, Fall Legacy Circle, nursing center tour, among others
• Sponsored and played in Baystate Children’s Golf and Max Classic Golf
• Introduction to be made to Jake Kosakowski re: gift review for Foundation
• Scheduling intro with new CEO when timing is appropriate
• Business Development/Health New England
• Grow the volume and variety of work performed for Health New England
STATUS
• Work remains steady
• Jodi Miller meeting with Sue O’Connor to get status
• Strategizing ways to remain in front of them
• Business Development Other
• Diversify client base (with particular focus on specialty providers)
• Explore relationships with other health systems and health care organizations
• Expand opportunities outside of Springfield/Pioneer Valley
• Get on insurance panel
• Facilitate cross-selling/all members should be aware of the full range of services and expertise
13

STATUS
• Identifying our health care clients by industry and then expanding work to other practice areas
• Scheduling working meeting of attorneys to cross-sell to health care clients
• Research conducted to identify prospects that are specialty providers, specifically pediatricians, dentists and
behavioral health providers
• Chubb panel for Baystate
• Updating practice group chart to be presented at an Attorney Roundtable this fall
• Brand Reputation
• Position the firm as the recognized leader in health law in western MA
STATUS
• Advertising campaign was proposed to identify the team and expertise (budget)
• Seeking out opportunities for presentations
• Articles published about the 2022 Center for Nursing Excellence and 2023 infusion chairs
• Hiring/Staffing
• Hire and train lawyers to have both the capacity and expertise to provide comprehensive services to largest and most
complex health care clients
• Successful delegation of health care work to one or more associates
STATUS
• Creating an educational curriculum in progress
• Briana Dawkins and Christa Calabretta (scheduled to attend Fundamentals of Health Conf.)
• Added Matt Dziok and Sean Buxton to team
CYBERSECURITY ACTION ITEMS
• Business Development
• Business Development
• Deepen referral network
• Nurture relationships/market expertise to area law firms
• Maintain relationship w/Whittlesey
• Market capabilities in the education sector
STATUS
• Two law enforcement contacts from Dan Sacco
• Scheduling Lunch & Learn w/Whittlesey
• Coordinating with Schools practice group
• Leveraging connections at Bay Path University, including cyber summit
14

• Marketing/Visibility
• Position the firm as a leader in cybersecurity through speaking engagements and presentations, as well as written
communication with clients
• Increase CT presence/capture business otherwise going to Hartford firms
STATUS
• Published AI and data privacy article
• Identifying our CT clients; present our capabilities
• Considering CT Data Privacy Act article for Hartford Business Journal or CT Insider
• Management
• Aspire to create a WISP for all corporate clients, with incident response plan (and formation of all entities)
• Determine if non-legal services relating to breach response should be offered in-house (determined on hold)
• Internal training to lawyers re: technical issues of cyber events
STATUS
• Presented “You’ve Been Hacked; Now What” at Attorney Roundtable
• Inviting Whittlesey to present on technical aspects of cyber events w/Dean Gomes covering the internal response
at a fall Attorney Roundtable
CANNABIS ACTION ITEMS
• Visibility
• Position the practice as most depth of any law firm in #413
• Capitalize on being an early entrant
• Increase visibility so known more broadly (e.g., referrals going to less skilled and/or more expensive counsel)
• Increase outward facing content
• Increase accolades and rankings
• Become less risk averse re: marketing
• Business Development
• Expand client base
• Build referral network (banks that will handle money, specialty accountants, etc.)
• Target referral sources
• Word of mouth from dispensaries
• Attend conferences (i.e., ABA, Cannabis, AGC)
• Identify M&A activity in this space
• Expand to surrounding states, including Connecticut
STATUS
• Conducted research on licenses in western MA to determine opportunities
15

• Education
• Improve in-depth regulatory knowledge
• Improve deep knowledge of local rules in each municipality
STATUS
• Planning INSA or 6 Brick’s facility tour
IP & TECHNOLOGY ACTION ITEMS
• Succession Planning
• Develop and implement business strategies to ensure the practice continues after retirement of two key partners
• Hire a lateral attorney with an existing client base
• Consider younger member of the patent bar w/capability of prosecuting and defending patents
• Staffing
• Hire two full-time paralegals
• Assistance obtaining client payments
STATUS
• Hired David Deland
• Business Development
• Cross-selling to existing clients
• Target local colleges and universities
• Better communicate our value relative to quality
STATUS
• Coordinating with Schools practice group
• Participation in WNEU lunch to be scheduled
EMPLOYMENT LAW ACTION ITEMS
• Business Development/New Clients
• Expand our client base, including larger, marquee clients
STATUS
• Revisiting pipeline of prospects and updating
• Where do we know HR people? Utilize LinkedIn searches
• Creating tailored strategies to develop new business
16

• Business Development/Existing Clients
• Develop a growth strategy for increasing work from key existing clients
• Analyze work we are currently doing for Baystate Health/increase work
• Analyze work we are currently doing for Springfield Public Schools/increase work
• Analyze work we are currently doing for other large clients/increase work
STATUS
• Met with Baystate Health re: employment law matters
• EasCorp – sexual harassment training
• Considering other clients that would be interested in trainings
• Identify clients for which we are not currently doing employment work
• Professional Development/Training
• Continue to develop associates in employment law
• Offer training towards handling MCAD/EEOC cases
STATUS
• Attending HCBA employment meetings
• Participation in MCLE trainings
• Communication
• Keep clients informed of federal and state employment laws changes
• Develop a standardized process for creating and distributing client alerts
• Share this information internally
• Other
• Develop a succession plan for key clients
• Develop a clear process for delegating work
17

SECTION 4:
2019 Survey Results
18

SECTION 4: 2019 Partners Retreat Survey Results
• What are your goals/expectations for the retreat?
• Future planning
• What is success and how to we get there
• How to prosper and thrive/survive and grow through transition (4)
• Good clients and revenue
• Succession planning (2)
• How compensation is determined (2)
• How to attract talent (2)
• Growth (8)
• Staffing and hiring (2)
• Addressing gaps/recent changes (2)
• Profitability
• Where do you see the firm in 10 years?
• Same size (3)
• Smaller (4)
• Larger (11)
• Are there any attorneys or firms in Western MA or beyond that you would consider approaching to join
the firm?
• Shatz Schwartz
• Skoler Abbott (2)
• Cain Hibbard
• Kevin Klinne
• Robinson Donovan
• Doug Brunner
• Jeff O’Connor
• Doherty Wallace (2)
• Springfield Law Department
• No (6)
• What is your ten-year plan and/or professional goals over the next ten years?
• Retire (6)
• Grow practice (6)
• Increase billing (2)
• Be productive
19

• What tools/resources do you require to achieve those goals?
• More clients
• More work
• Junior lawyers to delegate work to (5)
• Support staff (2)
• Better technology (2)
• Business development support/training (2)
• Mentorship in developing business
• What do you perceive to be the firm’s biggest obstacles over the next five years?
• Hiring/inability to attract young talent (8)
• Lack of growth (2)
• Lack of quality work (2)
• Lack of focus on profit
• IT systems (2)
• Aging attorneys without transitioning practices/succession planning (8)
• Poor marketing (2)
• More collaboration on biz dev/cross-selling (2)
• No sales lawyers
• Lack of communication/silos (3)
• Missing practice areas (Domestic Relations) (2)
• Lack of unity/vision/depth (3)
• Complacency
• Lack of clear culture
• Inefficiencies
• Reliant on larger clients
• High rates
• Insufficient knowledge of practice of law
• Slow to adapt
• Based in Springfield
• How do you believe the firm can address these obstacles?
• Selective growth
• Invest in hiring new grads and laterals (5)
• Law school recruitment (3)
• Invest training new associates (2)
• Showcase younger attorneys
• Marketing and origination credits
• Grow revenue – lower overhead
• Succession plans
• Transition key practices (2)
• Focus on long term goals/planning (3)
20

• Look for mergers
• Marketing
• Better compensation system
• Better communication (2)
• Keep performing good work
• Draft policies to address diversity
• What do you think are the firm’s biggest opportunities for growth?
• Many opportunities for growth
• Practice areas:
• M&A (2)
• Cyber (2)
• Med Mal
• Cannabis
• Employment
• Domestic Relations (5)
• IP (2)
• Corporate
• Real Estate (2)
• Reclaim lost areas (environmental, labor, etc.)
• Nonprofits
• Laterals with business (4)
• Attract talent
• A merger or acquisition (2)
• Connecticut
• Boston
• MassMutual
• Thought leadership on social issues
• Targeted marketing
• If you could unilaterally change anything at BRG, what would those changes consist of and why?
• Improve communication (7)
• Technology (2)
• Improved attitude
• Revamp the partnership
• Hire associates
• Increase revenue
• Increase expectations to contribute
• Long range plan to avoid lurching from crisis to crisis
• Let rainmakers free
• Timesheets
• Compensation system needs adjustment/transparency (2)
21

• Limit exec comm to three members
• Have departments be together more often
• Diversity in leadership
• Firmwide holiday party
• Newer partners on management committees
22

SECTION 5:
2020 Survey Results
23

SECTION 5: 2020 Partners Retreat Survey Results
• What are the impediments to your productivity?
• No one to delegate work to (5)
• Administrative inefficiencies (2)
• Computer issues (2)
• Outside commitments (board activities, etc.) (2)
• Too many emails/feeling they need to be responded to immediately (2)
• Getting pulled in too many different directions/interruptions (2)
• Always having work that can be billed at standard rates
• My own tendency to be inefficient at times
• Too much work relates to one-offs or infrequent matters
• What are specific things the firm could do to help with your personal productivity?
• Hire associates (2)
• Improved remote access (2)
• Make recording time easier to do/using an app (2)
• More reliable/consistent administrative resources (2)
• Business development strategies/cross-selling (2)
• Increased collaboration regarding client development
• Shutdown email and internet for blocks of time
• With respect to working attorney, I feel that I can take on more work at times
• More opportunities to work litigation matters from or with other partners
• Better IT system
• Improve staff training
• The 1-9 data is very helpful to self-monitor
• Provide better project management software
• How often do you feel you have no or very little billable work?
• Never (11)
• Rarely/occasionally not as busy (7)
• Do you have the capacity to work additional hours?
• No (3)
• Yes (15)
• If worked more efficiently
• But not interested in doing so
• If non-billable time was reduced
24

• How many hours do you typically spend in the office Monday - Friday?
• 7-8 (1)
• 8-11 (8)
• 10 (5)
• 10-11 (2)
• How many hours do you typically spend in the office on weekends?
• Varies (1)
• ½ day each month (1)
• 0 (6)
• 1-5 (6)
• 0-10 (5)
• What changes to technology would improve productivity?
• None (6)
• Timekeeping app/timekeeping from desktop/software that prompts billing (4)
• Laptops (3)
• Better remote access (2)
• Improved conference call line
• Accurate speech recognition technology for word processing
• More reliable system/easier to use
• Helpdesk support more readily available, especially off-hours
• Better communication from IIT
• What kind of assistance would be helpful for your marketing efforts?
• No additional needs (10)
• A personal marketing plan/strategy (3)
• Cross-selling
• Firmwide marketing plan
• Printed materials
• Notification of events of interest to me
• Collaboration/client teams
• Is lawyer training (both internal and external) adequate? How could it be improved?
• Uncertain (2)
• Yes (4)
• In medical malpractice and T&E department
• Haphazard, adequate, varies by department
• No (12)
• Instill the message that training is critical to their career development
• Add legal developments to practice group meetings
• Need CLE expectations/will give associates a broader perspective
25

• New attorneys given access to MCLE online; encouraged to take webinars
• Need management skills training
• Need to be more pro-active in directing and monitoring continuing ed
• Formal process to ensure new lawyers are getting adequate legal training
• Make a plan for each associate/educational seminar in relevant areas
• Writing skills need improvement
• Client development training
• Communicate budget for training and/or travel to conferences
• Some departments put a significant emphasis on training and have a structured plan; other departments leave
training up to the lawyer(s)
• Give new lawyers more guidance on internal processes
• Define productivity to include training time
• For partners, value their time invested in training others
• What do you perceive to be the firm’s strengths regarding productivity?
• Balance of family-friendly culture while producing exceptional work product
• A culture that permits flexibility – important to retention and hiring
• Excellent senior lawyers, some capital partners have shown business-getting capabilities, associates are generally ok
• High level services at a relatively low cost
• Quality clients, quality lawyers, mostly quality staff, improved technology
• Improvement of using individual talents
• Very responsive to requests for added assistance and providing client leads
• Most lawyers are efficient
• Committed to doing excellent work for our clients/put in the necessary time
• A great reputation that attracts clients
• Good clients, good work, and great attorneys and staff
• Smart people with clients willing to pay for top notch services
• Technology is a necessity, creates opportunities/must be able to access remotely
• Good computer support
• Excellent staff/management team
• Quality clients, quality lawyers, good staff, good (and getting better) technology
• Lacking productivity strengths in most of our practice areas
• What do you perceive to be the firm’s opportunities regarding productivity?
• A lot of potential considering what appears to be excess time capacity
• Establish clear expectations re: billable hours with meaningful enforcement
• More emphasis from Executive Committee on importance of billable hours
• Better expectation setting
• Consider clear bonus levels to compensate exceeding billable requirements
• We have more partners drawing from a larger group of clients
• Remote access allows flexibility and better work/life balance
• Focus on excellence is the best long-term strategy
26

• In a position to compete with Boston firms for MA work
• Focus on growing client base with good additional work
• Data to monitor our self-progress
• New associates will be ramping up productivity
• Commitment to growth
• Better billing tracking
• More transparency about profitability
• More engagement with non-partners regarding profitability
• Increase rates
• Training on how to increase hours billed
• What do you perceive to be the firm’s weaknesses and challenges regarding productivity?
• Could push ourselves a bit harder without affecting our culture
• Become complacent with the idea that attorneys do not meet minimal billable hour requirements/likely not practical
to now expect that they meet their hours
• Slippage in culture of hard work, long hours (firm is largely empty at 6pm)
• Difficult to be productive if the people we have working for us are not motivated to do more than the minimum
• Better at properly delegating work to create leverage and increase productivity
• Finding effective ways to keep all attorneys fully utilized
• Lack of work
• Not enough capacity in the corp. dept. to handle the amount of work we have
• Motivation from the bottom up
• Legal secretaries who cover two+ attorneys have a difficult time responding quickly or proficiently to requests
requiring a quick turnaround
• Less administrative support than in the past to assist lawyers in nonbillable tasks
• Paralegal’s ability to address pending matters/unaware of their workload
• A complicated, unreliable IT system that does not meet needs
• Not enough quality work and challenging regional economy
• Too much focus on productivity and not enough on excellence
• Better job distributing work based on workload and individual skill sets
• Supporting ways to keep people here billing
• Hours billed by partners
• Write offs
• Bad decisions regarding intake of clients
• Each attorney is responsible for their own productivity to a large extent
• iManage system is clunky/finding docs can be time consuming or impossible
• Too few licenses for resources relevant to practice areas, e.g. Practical Law
• What should the firm be doing to improve productivity as a whole?
• Check in with people whose productivity may be dipping
• Allocate work according to who has capacity
27

• A tool that allows you to determine where you are in relation to productivity goals and what to do over the remainder
of the year in order to meet goals
• Learn to cut our losses/we take on matters that are fraught with wasted time and invest a great deal of time and
resources into matters that we shouldn’t
• Commit to training paralegals/counsel/associates and assist them in their growth
• Consider offering more incentives to increase revenue
• Generate more work
• Invest in IT
• Ongoing staff development in step with supporting attorneys
• More good work from more good clients
• More transparency regarding the strengths of individual attorneys
• Minimize email activity and form completion
• Work together and cross-sell to develop work
• Make a conscious effort to get work to the appropriate levels to make sure the clients are best served, and lawyers
can maximize productivity
• Set goals, meet goals/set stretch goals
• Don’t let people tell us what they will do - tell them what they are expected to contribute/less passive management
• Peer pressure and continued financial incentives
• Encourage attorneys to establish strong personal productivity goals
• Provide sandwiches at a reduced price so people don’t have to leave to buy lunch
• Referral fees: we can’t handle a matter, make certain we get a referral fee
• Make remote login easy and functional
• Bring in a consultant who knows what is available and the cost (including disruption and training time) of the options
• What do you think are the message should be to associates/council regarding productivity
expectations?
• Billable hours minimums are requirements, not targets
• They should be taken seriously/assist in how to manage workflow and how to get more work when needed
• The firm expects a certain level of productivity, but not the only factor used to evaluate them
• No one in this office should have time on their hands/look for work
• Associates should ask attorneys how much time they should be spending on a task/partners get in the habit of giving
them a time frame/too much time that can’t be captured
• Explain how we define & measure productivity/set clear expectations specific to each individual
• Teach the essentials of the business of law so they understand how their productivity translates to revenue
• Not only do good work for others but make effort to build your own practice
• Develop relationships with clients
• Develop a reputation for honesty and courtesy
• Work hard
• Productivity is important
• Work more/1850 minimum/miss it and you may be let go
• Feeling exists among associates regarding the importance of meeting hours
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• Associates/counsel can develop a practice and be productive in different ways/ responsibility of each attorney to take
the initiative to develop his/her own plan
• Need to be within 20 hours of goal
• We communicate expectations fairly well
• More insight into the overhead costs might help
• Initially, the focus should be on development of good billing habits and education regarding how productivity is
tracked and used in compensation/advancement decisions
• After a year, set clear expectation of meeting minimal billable hour requirements with incentives in place for
attorneys who exceed productivity requirements
• Time worked is important but not the best measure of productivity
• Productivity is as much a function of experience, tools appropriate work as it is of raw time spent/associates don’t
have any control over those factors
• Count time spent in training during the first few years as productive time, or we will disincentivize the kind of
development that we should want
• What are we doing well and what can we do differently to incentivize attorneys to increase revenue?
Do you think the firm is too focused or nor focused enough on billable hours?
• The current focus on billable hours for non-partners is correct
• Pay us. Billable hours are important but we all know it doesn’t matter what those billable hours are if the bottom line
isn’t where it should be. Revenue has been the focus for this firm. Working hard doesn’t always translate to good
revenue numbers. Thankfully our compensation system has some subjective factors to hopefully address that issue.
• The firm has a solid management system and good coordination of practice areas
• Would like to see more marketing strategies being offered and implemented
• The firm is too focused or not focused enough on billable hours
• Firm should be more focused on billable hours, as long as we have the work
• Depends on the practice area
• The billable hour is only one model for increasing revenue
• Base compensation more on efforts and results so that there is more of a direct tie between such efforts and results
and compensation (or lack thereof)
• Building reputations and relationships comes before growing revenue
• Most people are willing to work and capable of doing high quality work
• Sometimes billable hours can be a poor measure of the quality of work, particularly when it comes to associates
• Emphasize productivity much more in determining compensation
• Attorneys whose production leads to increased revenue are rewarded with bonuses, increased compensation and
increased opportunities for advancement in the firm. I think everyone understands that fact.
• All lawyers should be concerned with billable hours, but billable hours are more important to some practices than
others.
• The lawyers with the top billable hours are not always the most productive or profitable lawyers in the firm.
• Not all revenue is generated by billable hours. That said, increased billable hours does generally result in increased
revenue.
• If a lawyer is not managing a significant practice, or developing new work, billable hours become more important.
• Not focused enough
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• While a lawyer needs to have billable hours to generate revenue, the main focus should not be just increasing billable
hours/otherwise effective rates will just become lower
• Thresholds are ok, but we do not emphasize meeting them--at any level
• The firm places the right amount of focus on billable hours
• Not too focused on billable hours
• Billable hours have generally declined over the past few years
• Depends on practice area
• A good compensation system that generally rewards partners appropriately
• Partners need to work harder
• I am focused more on revenue than hours
• The billable hour is how we function and survive as a business, but we should avoid staking out too extreme an
approach, as the culture and family-friendly perspective is what attracts many to practicing in our area and firm
• Revenue flows from the kinds matters that warrant quality services, and working on those matters for clients who
need and are willing to pay for quality. The more of those matters we have, the more profitable the firm. When we
are busy, all capable associates are occupied to the extent of their availability and level of preparation. Our
compensation system does not appropriately incentivize partners to delegate tasks to other partners who have the
time and experience to work on them, because there is very little profitability for the delegating partner. There is
almost no incentive to bring in business and hand it off to another partner. What is the value to the firm of the
hypothetical partner who brings in $1 million of revenue on matters as to which most responsibility has been handed
off to another partner? Under our system, not much value would be attributed to that partner. There should be
substantial reward to the “salesman”, when it is clear who the salesman is, or partners will pay lip service to selling
services other than their own, but won’t feel a strong need to do so (interestingly, this is a fairly recent problem in the
profession, because of how compensation has changed from “lockstep” to performance-measured over time). Once
the firm agrees to accept a matter, a simple way to handle that would be a flat percentage of receipts from the
matter right off the top.
• From your perspective, how many hours should:
a. Associates and Counsel be billing on an annual basis?
1700 (3)
1750 (5)
1800 (4)
1850 (2)
More than target (1)
b. Income Partners be billing on an annual basis?
1600 (2)
1700 (4)
1750 (4)
1800 (3)
1850 (1)
More than target (1)
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c. Capital Partners be billing on an annual basis?
1200 to 1500 depending on role (1)
1500 (2)
1600 (5)
1700 (1)
1750 (2)
1800 (1)
Depends on role (2)
• Would you prefer to work on matters that you originate, or on matters that others have originated?
• It doesn’t matter to me (14)
• Matters that I originate (6)
• Whichever has the highest billable rate
• Do you feel you understand the firm’s methods of calculating productivity and profit?
• Yes (15)
• No (3)
• Only on a high level (3)
• Yes, although I have never been convinced that “charging” the same amount of overhead to two attorneys--one who
uses considerably more of the firm’s resources than the other-- but not sure of the sense of alternatives either.
• Would like to get a better understanding of the specific formulas and some of the specific numbers that are used
which are not included in the Bulkley 1-9.
• I don’t understand the relationship of working attorney hours and billing attorney hours
• Have you ever requested or reviewed the calculation of your personal productivity and contribution to
the firm’s profit?
• Yes (12)
• No (9)
• Is there anything that is not currently considered in the compensation system that you think should
be?
• Not sure (3)
• No (10)
• Yes – weigh client development, training time, firm management time and other non-billable time more heavily
• Yes – sales and providing a necessary practice area that is less lucrative
• Yes – leverage/how many people are you keeping occupied
• Yes – attendance and contributions to CTC events/always same attorneys who contribute, amounting to hundreds,
and in some cases, thousands of dollars
• Yes – time and effort devoted to marketing an existing firm client that ultimately results in new work should be
considered when determining the split between that attorney and the firm attorney that facilitated the initial meeting
between that attorney and the existing firm client
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• How should we determine compensation differently to increase revenue and sustain our culture?
• Uncertain (3)
• We have a good system (7)
• Credit for legacy clients -- i.e., Baystate -- needs to be reconsidered
• Consider new matters opened
• Encourage leverage at all levels
• Improve approach to compensation of the more senior non-capital partners
• Emphasizing short-term goals is a detriment of bigger, longer picture
• Increase the number of factors that determine productivity
• There are times when attorneys might be keeping work that could better done by other attorneys
• Start with an assessment of what we need to do for long-term success and be sure to compensate for activities that
promote long-term success. If we do the right things, revenue will increase and our culture will thrive. Some attorneys
will not be with the firm to enjoy the fruits of such investment: we need to incentivize them now to contribute to the
long-term success of the firm.
• With respect to capital partners, should the firm value their working attorney contributions more, less
or the same as their billing attorney contributions?
• Not sure (2)
• Both (3)
• Same (3)
• Less (1)
• More (1)
• Depends (4)
• Not every capital partner is similarly situated--there should be a focus on every partner developing their billing
attorney numbers, but there is also a value in having productive working attorneys as capital partners
• Depends upon how much each contributes to firm profit
• Depends on who
• Depends on their role. If a “finder” then it should be based on sales. If a “minder” then on the basis of billing
attorney or responsible attorney, and if a “grinder” then on the basis of working attorney productivity.
• Assuming, as it appears, that working attorney contributions are valued more, if this factor discourages training,
delegating, marketing or other productive activities at the expense of the firm’s long-term success, then the
current emphasis on working attorney contributions is unbalanced.
• I think there should be a balance but also incentives for attorneys to collaborate and staff matters more
efficiently
• The firm should value their performance as a whole
• Difficult balancing act, which the comp system and persons involved seem to handle well
• Is the firm the right size?
• No/need to grow (7) – as long as we hire good people
• Yes (8)
• But I would be fine with growing
• Not enough work to support much more growth unless lack of productivity is addressed
• More younger attorneys/ associates
• Grow certain practice areas
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• Should the firm’s “headquarters” be located in downtown Springfield?
• Yes (20)
• Not necessarily (1)
• Should the firm look to own rather than to rent its offices?
• No (6)
• Yes (7) – could
• Whatever makes financial sense (8)
• Should we consider additional offices in other locations? If so, where?
• Maybe (1)
• No (5) – but a broader presence throughout Western Mass
• Yes
• Connecticut/Hartford (7)
• Berkshires/Pittsfield (4)
• Franklin County Greenfield (2)
• Boston (2)
• Worcester (1)
• NYC (1)
• A larger city where we can more easily get our rates (1)
• What new practice areas, if any, should we try to develop?
• Domestic relations (12)
• Tax (2)
• Immigration
• METOO issues
• Appellate work
• None – better to expand them than try new things
• What practice areas, if any, should be expanded?
• Employment (4)
• Real Estate (4)
• Any profitable practice (2)
• Health law (2)
• Corporate (2)
• Cyber security
• Internal investigations
• White collar crime
• M&A
• Elder Law
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• Should the firm have transition plans for major clients?
• Yes (22)
• The firm should have transition plans for ALL clients.
• Failure to establish such a plan should be taken into consideration of compensation for senior attorneys
• What should the criteria for capital partnership be?
• Book of business/ability to generate or expand business (14)
• $400K billing practice/profitable for 4 of last 5 years
• A book of business not less than $300,000-$400,000 or be on the cusp of achieving that
• Personal productivity with a practice large enough to support 2-3 other timekeepers
• Expertise/unique skill sets (8)
• Contribution to the firm’s overall success (4)
• Capability to manage major matters without supervision (2)
• Reputation/representation in the community (2)
• Quality of work (2)
• Good person/integrity (3)
• Understanding of the business of law (2)
• Length of time at the firm
• Capital partners should have all of the qualities that the Compensation Committee looks at in its review of subjective
factors
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SECTION 6:
2025 Survey Results to be Distributed
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SECTION 6: 2025 Survey to be Distributed
1. Are there topics you would like to have addressed at the retreat?
2. What is your 5-year plan and/or short-term professional goals?
3. What is your 10-year plan and/or long-term professional goals?
4. What do you need to help achieve those plans and goals?
5. Generally, how is your workload throughout the year?
6. Do you have the capacity to work additional hours?
7. What can you do to improve your productivity?
8. What do you believe are the firm’s biggest obstacles and/or threats over the next five to ten years?
9. How do you believe those obstacles or threats should be addressed?
10. What are your biggest opportunities for growth?
11. Are there any attorneys or small firms in Western MA/regionally that you would consider approaching to join Bulkley?
12. What is your suggestion to help incentivize all attorneys to increase their fee revenue receipts?
13. Do you think there are any new practice areas that Bulkley should develop?
14. Do you think there should be any expansion within practice areas, and if so, how?
15. What changes would you like to see implemented at Bulkley in the next five years?
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