Law firms are seeking something different in practice management candidates lately. 

I am seeing a shift towards a more specialized type of practice management professional. And the candidates who firms are seeking more often share several characteristics:

Experience as a current or former practicing lawyer:  In particular, someone who understands the practice of law from personal experience and can speak credibly with partners about getting the work done while identifying and developing future opportunities.

Practice-area experience:  Firms are increasingly looking for someone who understands the business, clients, economics, and workflow of a particular practice area.

Strong business instincts:  Firms have valued strong business professionals in these roles for some time. What appears to be changing is the breadth of those expectations. They want someone who can look beyond tasks and help drive a practice through profitability, leverage, realization, pricing, talent, client development and growth.

Cross-functional fluency:  Practice management professionals must understand how business development, finance, technology, talent, and operations intersect, and be able to bring those functions together around the needs of the practice.

The combination creates a sophisticated profile for an increasingly demanding role. 

The criteria suggest firms are viewing practice management less as an administrative function and more as a critical business leadership role embedded within the practice.

Could this be the beginning of a broader shift in how law firms define practice management, or are these firms responding to a particular set of business challenges in the current market?

Join in on the conversation with Jason Caramanico.