This session, along with Redefining Matter Pricing, featuring pricing leaders from Mayer Brown, Arthur Cox, and BigHand’s Brian Taaffe, revealed a clear shift in the legal industry towards profitability as a strategy instead of a result - one driven by visibility, culture, and tools.
Here are the key themes that emerged throughout the day:
The Metrics That Matter
Across both sessions, one message came through strongly: firms are moving beyond top-line revenue to focus on metrics that drive true profitability - realization, lock-up, bill speed, and margin to name just a few.
At Bristows, Gavin described how introducing dashboards helped the firm shrink “average time to close” from 10 days to just three. Lawyers can now see how quickly they’re recording time and how they compare with peers, sparking healthy competition. At Cole, Scott & Kissane, Ed’s team improved billing and collections by automating workflows and leveraging alert systems:
"Previously, some matters were being billed at 90 days and collection would happen after another 90, putting our collection lifecycle for that work at 180 days. Using BigHand Business Intelligence has helped us bring it down to 65 days each, shortening the overall collection lifecycle by 50 days. That's almost two months' worth of revenue in the door faster.” - Ed Aguero, CFO at Cole, Scott & Kissane
In the pricing panel, Amanda Hewitt, Pricing Manager at Arthur Cox, emphasized that clients expect more transparency and financial discipline. Dedicated pricing roles, tools, and structured fee models are critical to winning work and managing it profitably. The takeaway? Visibility leads to confidence - both in internal decisions and in pricing for clients.
Financial Acumen Without Data Overload
Finance leaders know they can’t just drop dashboards on lawyers and expect results. Financial literacy has to be taught - and delivered in a way that suits the legal mindset.
Bristows took a creative approach. They leveraged a board game called Ready for Business, to simulate the financial management of a law firm. The result was a shift in understanding. Associates started questioning write-offs, pushing for faster billing, and taking ownership of financial outcomes.
Ed’s approach at Cole Scott & Kissane focuses on delivering tailored insights at the right time. Associates and partners receive alerts when WIP is aging or realization dips, without being flooded with irrelevant data. This balance of visibility and control ensures lawyers are empowered, not overwhelmed.
In both firms, financial understanding is being built from the ground up. Lawyers learn how to interpret data and, vitally, act on it.
Mindset First, Tools Second
Technology is a powerful enabler, but it’s only effective with the right mindset and rollout approach. Both Ed and Gavin stressed the importance of defining goals early, starting small, and building momentum through quick wins.
Ed’s initial rollout of a paperless pre-bill system saw an 85% adoption within three billing cycles. That paved the way for further automation and business intelligence integration. Similarly, at Bristows, dashboards have replaced static reports with interactive, color-coded insights. Finance teams now spend less time producing reports and more time analyzing trends - reducing write-offs and helping shape performance-based compensation.
With data, these firms are powering internal change to facilitate client-facing pricing conversations, proactive scope management, and the calibre of financial clarity that turns pricing pressure into confidence.
The bottom line is profitability isn’t a mystery. It’s a metric. And with the right systems, the right data, and the right people, any firm can unlock it. In the words of Mr. Aguero, “It’s not whether you can afford to do it. It’s whether you can afford not to.”
Want to dive deeper into how law firms are reimagining profitability through legal technology? Watch the full panel sessions, now on-demand:
