Workshop 2B - How to Achieve Best-in-Class Financial Performance
Thu, Sep 24, 2026
10:15 AM
- 11:00 AM
Speaker(s):
Gary Allen
Location:
Webster C
This session uses the fictional—but realistic—story of Dalton & Finch, a 20-lawyer firm on the brink of burnout and attrition, to show how firms escape chaos and achieve best-in-class profitability. Participants follow Dalton & Finch as they uncover hidden financial leaks, confront people and process dysfunction, and apply the Law Firm Profitability Matrix to reverse declining profits and talent risk. The session moves beyond theory to show how people, process, products, tools and rules work together to drive measurable profit gains—without working more hours or relying on heroics.
Learning Objectives
- Understand why most law firm profitability problems are systemic, not individual, and how Dalton & Finch diagnosed the real constraints holding them back.
- Identify the specific financial warning signs (such as utilization, realization, collections, overhead and time to money) that separate average firms from best-in-class firms.
- Learn the Law Firm Profitability Matrix, adopted from extensive implementation in the software and finance industries, including 10 key capabilities and 5 levels of competence, and how it creates a repeatable pathway to better performance.
- Understand the practical sequence Dalton & Finch used to improve profitability, retain talent, and restore leadership confidence—without attempting to fix everything at once.