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by an inability to communicate [or] to share and retrieve useful informa- tion. They are condemned to constantly reinventing the wheel," says Clark. "I know of an associate in a mid-sized firm of 150 to 200 lawyers who was asked to put together the papers for a commercial acquisition in another country. He was given a very detailed parcel by a partner and worked on it for two days. When he was done, he found out that the guy in the next office had done almost the exact same deal a week earlier. Had he known know how, when, and where to properly brief and explain to associates about the work that needs to be done, the resources that are available to them, the people they need to talk to, and the places they can go to get the information they need to com- plete their task. "Many partners assume that associates can and will figure things out on their own, but that old sink-or- swim attitude is both old-fashioned and wrong-headed," says Clark. "Or maybe they figure they are so busy they sim- ply can't afford to devote the necessary time to associate training. But the reality couldn't be further from the truth." According to Clark, partners who "The problem for many law firms is that they don't have a handle on what their production costs are so they have no idea how much it costs them to produce that billable hour. Some firms are getting murdered." FRED ESPOSITO, MEYER SUOZZI ENGLISH & KLEIN PC take the time to properly train and men- tor their associates are rewarded with an increase in both the quantity and the quality of the work that is being done. In addition to raising associate productivity and profitability — changes that can be both measured and monitored through billable hours — the partner can confi- dently increase associate workload, mak- ing time in his or her own busy sched- ule to pursue other potentially profitable activities such as meeting potential clients, attending industry or public events, or getting value-added learning of their own about the latest developments in a client's industry or business. "Law firms are not the best business structures because of the multiple roles partners have to play — representing the brand, supervising, working, and bringing in fees, etc. — and these competing commitments can make things challenging," says Clark. "But if a partner can delegate 10 per cent of his or her time to an associate, the return on investment can be enormous: something like 8:1." He says by failing to properly train the templates and everything were all there, the job would have only taken him a half day." Such situations, he adds, often occur as a result of the ad hoc and informal approach that many law firms take in regards to apprenticeship training. Without structure, Clark says many well- meaning but busy partners are reluctant to devote time to training and/or don't associates, firms miss out on an oppor- tunity to maximize profits from money they've already earned. "It's not a matter of leaving cash on the table — it's more like leaving it out on the street," says Clark. A good example is the huge jump in profits that a mid-size British law firm enjoyed after he helped it standardize both the generation and processing of collections documents that made up the bulk of its work. "We were there only four weeks," recalls Clark. "Without adding a single 30 JUNE 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com machine or employee, the firm was able to increase the number of documents and cases it moved by 29 per cent [and] raise fees about 23 per cent. That's pure profit." The bottom line is that the level of associate profitability in a firm depends mostly on the time and effort partners put into training and proper manage- ment. "Blaming and admonishing associ- ates does not solve the problem. It's up to law firm partners to lead associates to being more productive, more efficient, and more profitable in their work." Fred Esposito agrees. Director of administration with the Long Island, N.Y., firm Meyer Suozzi English & Klein PC and a law management consult- ant, Esposito says the recession forever changed the way American law firms do business. "There is a new paradigm, a new normal," he tells Canadian Lawyer. "Many law firms, especially ones that dealt heav- ily in commercial real estate, suffered near-death experiences. There was a mad dash to stop the bleeding, including mas- sive layoffs. But firms have cut as much as they can. Now their focus is on revenues and profit maximizing." Despite the seemingly cold and inhumane nature of it that makes it a div- isive topic in some circles — even within some firms — Esposito says the notion of associate profitability is crucial for firms. "Associates ideally are profit centres. If they're not, you have a serious prob- lem." One reason for that, he says, is the ongoing crackdown on legal fees that has created what he calls "a whole new arena" of alternative fee arrangements, bonuses, premiums, and flat fees. "Corporate cli- ents now have perceived values of billing rates with services rendered [and] some institutions are hiring third parties to analyze their legal fees. The problem for many law firms is that they don't have a handle on what their production costs are so they have no idea how much it costs them to produce that billable hour. Some firms are getting murdered." In addition to using time codes and other widely available, modern manag- erial and planning tools, Esposito says partners need to be more imaginative and open-minded in their approach to both their files and their work with