Blog · Board and management reporting · Law firms
The ten questions a managing partner of a law or accounting firm puts to the partners about the book, which clients use one practice, whose book depends on one client, which clients drifted in price, which have not started this season, where is the cash locked up, which partners send work across the firm, which proposals cost more than they win, what triggers sit in the compliance data, which matters were staffed above their price, and what changed, each with the table from the practice management system, the identity behind it, and the answer a managing partner should send back.
A managing partner asks the partners about their clients and hears about their clients. The practice management system holds the book as a set of tables, and each question has one. This guide is the ten questions, the tables, and the answer to send back.
| # | The managing partner asks | The table | Identity | Send back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whose book depends on one client? | Client concentration per partner; sole-relationship share | Fees sum to the ledger | A partner's reassurance |
| 2 | Which clients use one practice? | Practices used per client against the sector norm; referral share | Matters sum to fees | A cross-selling target with no norm |
| 3 | Which clients drifted in price? | Realisation per client against agreed discount; write-down and write-off split | Billed sums to ledger | Firm-level realisation |
| 4 | Which clients have not started this season? | Season watch against each client's own start date | Engagements listed | The office average start date |
| 5 | Where is the cash locked up? | Lock-up per client, WIP days and debtor days split, cash | WIP and debtors reconcile | Firm lock-up days |
| 6 | Which partners send work across the firm? | Referral share and client gap per partner | Same as 2 | A share with no gap beside it |
| 7 | Which proposals cost more than they win? | Win rate and cost per win by practice, source and fee band | Proposals in one state | Overall win rate |
| 8 | What triggers sit in the compliance data? | Advisory triggers per client, service not held | Triggers map to services | A partner's list from memory |
| 9 | Which matters were staffed above their price? | Leverage delivered against priced at cost rates | Costs sum to practice cost base | Profitability at charge-out rates |
| 10 | What changed? | The movements page | Every line cites | Narrative |
Managing partner: Whose book depends on one client? Response: Partner P-031: 43 percent of the office's fees, 71 percent of it sole-relationship. $2.1m of fees with no second contact. Table 1, row 3. Managing partner: And drift? Response: Client 2207 at P-031: agreed 8 percent, effective 26, widening three years. $290,000 of leakage against the agreement. Table 3, row 1. Managing partner: Lock-up? Response: P-031's book ties up $2.1m, mostly billing cadence: median 160 days, twice-yearly bills. Table 5.
One partner, three tables, one conversation.
Partners asked about their own books. Opinions, confidently.
Firm-level figures. Realisation at 84; one client at 60.
Time entries unused. The most valuable export in the building, reported only as utilisation.
Ten answered at the partners' meeting. Once a year, from memory.
Covirage produces the ten tables from the practice management exports, with the identities checked. The law firms page and the tax and accounting page describe the setup, and the partner book concentration guide covers the first table.
Concentration per partner with the sole-relationship share, because it is the one that walks out of the door. A partner at forty percent of the office's fees with two thirds of it in clients who know nobody else at the firm is a succession question the fee report cannot show.
Most do: realisation, lock-up, leverage and proposal cost are time entries against bills and budgets. The client master with sector and size, and the matter or engagement list with originating partner and practice, carry the rest. All exports from the practice management system.
Any figure a partner gives about their own book from memory. The book is in the system; the table is the answer; the partner's judgement goes on top of it, in a dated box, and never instead of it.