Authored by Liz Lamar, This piece originally appeared in the APRIL issue of ALM's LJN Legal Tech Newsletter

Measuring profitability means measuring lawyer and staff performance. Regardless of whether law firms bill on contingency, flat fee or by the hour, they must measure productivity in order to understand their profitability.

How do law firms measure productivity, and more importantly, how do they turn that productivity into revenue for the firm? In large part, turning time into money begins with which metrics the firm has in place and whether the right key performance indicators are being measured and tracked.

Increasing revenue is about much more than cost-cutting be it by slashing headcount, reducing technology budgets or curbing professional development and staff training. Partners and firm administrators must also focus on measuring those activities within the firm that increase firm income. Although there are many ways to measure firm performance and derive metrics that will reveal a firm's financial and operational health, this article explores four distinct metrics that should be included in every law firm's performance dashboard.

This free utility from Asus that seems to work with any Windows PC could let mobile lawyers leave their iPad charger at home.

Promoting from within can be one of the most powerful management tools leveraged by a default law firm. Conversely, it can be disastrous - one of the greatest pitfalls if not done with certain care. As studies suggest, promoting from within improves staff productivity and morale. After all, employees are motivated when their firm looks for future talent among the company's current pool of employees. It also serves as a recruitment tool for attorneys and support staff who wish to pursue a long-term career path within an organization. So, why has promoting from within proved to be so challenging for law firms in the default industry? This article explores the pros and cons of promoting from within and examines the two most common challenges faced by default firms, as well as provides tips for avoiding the pitfalls.

When the iPad was first launched in April, 2010, many wondered if this really cool device would be a true productivity tool for professionals. Partner, Paul J. Unger, has dedicated a significant amount of time to digging into the iPad and application universe to distill the most productive ways to utilize an iPad as a legal professional. What he's found is the iPad is ideal for the legal professional because it's portable enough to suit the demands of your day but powerful enough to support legal research, document management, courtroom presentation and more.

Our team at Affinity are proud to share some news with you.

Dan Berlin, the President of Software Technology, Inc. just called to let us know that we have been selected as a member of the 2013 President's Circle for Tabs3 and PracticeMaster resellers and consultants. The details are in the press release, located here. We take pride in the work we have done to earn this recognition and are delighted to be among the top Tabs3 and PracticeMaster resellers in the country.

From all of us at Affinity Consulting, thank you for your business. We look forward to working with you more in the future.