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Every legal firm wants to expand their business over a period of time. Growth is essential to the survival of any firm. With increasing competition, legal firms are expanding their portfolio. Also, with growth, the firm can expand their network to other cities and states. Legal employers wish to see their business at the top. Strategies include a merger with other firms, horizontal expansion through customized measures, selling out their ventures to the public or even starting branch offices across cities and states. Almost all the law firms have opened their branches in different parts of the country over the years. The reason behind this is that opening a branch is one of the safest and best ways to expand the business of the firm. But there is every possibility of failure along with success says A. Harrison Barnes. There are various examples of the branch offices of many well known companies which have been very successful whereas many branch offices have seen failure. Thus, a thorough and systematic plan has to be drawn up keeping into account all the factors that affect a business. A. Harrison Barnes says that opening a branch office is a very challenging task. You need to understand all the aspects of opening a branch office. There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration before taking the final decision of opening a branch office. Analyze all the factors, conduct a survey, ensure you know your competition and only then open a branch office. Incorrect decision at this phase can lead to failure, causing loss of profits and can invite the ire of the partners. The branch offices are definitely an administrative overhead on any organization but this should not discourage you from opening a branch office says A. Harrison Barnes. In fact you should be prepared for the numerous costs that are generated by a new branch office. This will also add to the work of the administrative team and eventually will add on to your expenses. Apart from these accounting and budgeting will get more complex as open branches so will the tracking and reporting the revenues and expenses made by the offices. You also need to anticipate the complexities with billing that are made not only by the attorneys but by the office too. Simply put, this covers the personal expenses which attorneys incur during the case and also the administrative expenses involved in running a branch. So you need to be absolutely sure with the location of the branch and the reason for opening the branch There are many reasons why law firms open branch offices believes A. Harrison Barnes. They wish to expand their market and tap uncharted markets or servicing for a single client requires branch location giving them a broader reach or it can also help restrict competitors to hunt existing clients in a certain area. Growth by opening branch location is an extremely effective way to grow your business. It helps you reach out on a larger scale and this increases the business for any organization. This adds revenue and creates a presence in the market. In fact many a times law firms consider this as the best way for expanding their business says A. Harrison Barnes. But you cannot open a branch without setting in place a proper and an effective strategy. This is the key to success. Understand the dynamics of the location and study them carefully before you open a branch. You also need to understand that a branch opening means an increased work load. You need to carefully study the demographics of the location to ascertain the clientele which you will be targeting. Also location analysis can also help you decide the kind of service which you intend to provide. But apart from these responsibilities the branch office also brings in more revenue. This translates into more profit for the law firm. The new branch office will add more associates to the parent organization, increasing the partner income and will usher in new opportunities for partnerships and strategic decision making. A successful branch opening has many benefits says A. Harrison Barnes. A well placed strategy executed perfectly will ensure that the decision which you took in selecting and creating a branch office was a correct one. Every decision is crucial and mistakes can lead to loss of revenue and much more. It is extremely important to ensure that your strategy pays off well. A new branch location however poses a unique problem which many law firms have faced. When a branch office is started, the pool of legal workers is a mix of the local recruits and people from the parent office. Getting people with different work styles and habits into one productive team is a challenge. They need to work in tandem to ensure that the branch office operations move smoothly. Also, the decision makers need to sensitize the team towards a new market. Opening a branch office is an excellent way to see that top line grow. However, always remember that the myriad decisions which one needs to take to ensure that the strategy formation and the execution form the basis for the success or failure for the branch.
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