More than 60% of large firms say outside counsel guideline reviews, billing process improvement and collections process improvement are “high” priorities in 2025, topping a list of about 16 initiatives, according to survey results released this month from Harbor, a provider of consulting and technology services to the legal industry.
Even with an increasing emphasis, firms still have “a long way to go," said Christine Indiano, director in the strategy and transformation practice for Harbor, in an interview.
She noted that the survey found the average amount of money a firm loses through write-offs per year, for instance, is still about 2.25% of revenue. “I would say that firms are nowhere near perfect,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of revenue leakage that is obtainable, bottom-line improvement they could make.”
The survey collected responses from about 45 law firms throughout the Global 200 that average about $1.7 billion in annual revenue and more than 1,300 lawyers. Specifically, 78% of those firms said outside counsel guideline reviews are a high priority; 73% said billing process improvement was a high priority; and 60% said collections improvement was a high priority.
Additionally, the survey found that 62% of firms now assign billing staff by client and 44% do it by practice area. That rejects a broader shift toward specialized revenue roles, the authors of the Harbor survey report stated.
“Both of those have increased. They’re both becoming more common," said Christine Indiano, director in the strategy and transformation practice for Harbor, in an interview.
This is an excerpt of an article available through Law.com.
- Time & billing
- Revenue Cycle Survey
- Revenue
- Show all 5
