Online benchmarking tool offers law firm financial health check

A new online survey to help solicitors assess their firm’s financial health and how they are performing in the legal market has been launched by the Law Society of Scotland.

The financial benchmarking survey, which takes the place of the former cost of time survey, has been developed by the Society with software and services provider Tribal Group, to provide an effective business tool for law firms across Scotland.

The new system will gather more relevant information and offer interactive, online reporting on the findings to help solicitors assess how their own business is faring year on year, as well as compare how they have performed in the wider market.

Its findings will also help the Society gauge the overall health of the Scottish legal profession.

Society Vice President, Graham Matthews, commented: “There has been enormous change in the legal sector and to the way firms operate since we first introduced the cost of time survey over two decades ago.

“We have worked closely with Tribal and a pilot group of firms, who provided invaluable input, to design the survey. I am sure it will prove to be a hugely valuable management tool and really help to bring firms’ financial data to life, enabling solicitors make the right strategic decisions for their business.”

Nick Pidgeon from Tribal Group added: “We hope this new benchmarking tool, which is completely secure and confidential, will be a valuable asset to solicitors in managing their business, allowing them to analyse their income and costs as well as those areas of work which are most profitable to help them plan more effectively for the future.”

Click here to access the survey. An article on the survey also appears in the March 2017 Journal.