Thomson Reuters' latest report explores the strong law firm rate performance in 2024, and its continued growth year-over-year and the recent phenomenon of steadily increasing rate growth throughout the year versus just at the beginning. 

In our recent article, The Power of Continuous Accountability: Implementing a Partner Accountability System,we spoke of the increased importance of accountability for partners. Dealing with partner performance issues is complex, and some partners may hold the view that a partner is independent and not subject to any intervention.

Instead of a continuous embrace, it seems many firms focus only periodically on managing cash flow (time entered, time billed, receivables collected), and usually it's when they've found themselves in a hole!

The interest in profitability has increased exponentially. There are many different reasons for this increased focus, and there a number of practical steps that firms can take to address a decrease in profitability, albeit they are all short-term and will not guarantee long-term profitability.