The Commercial Hat.
Understanding how the firm makes, loses, and leaks money.
“We are busy” substitutes for commercial analysis.
Busyness and turnover are mistaken for financial health.
- A one-page monthly view
- Profitability, lock-up, and WIP
- Debtors and write-offs
- The behavioural causes behind the numbers
How to reduce billing leakage
The four places firms quietly lose fees — and what to do about each, in order.
How to reduce billing leakage→
The four places firms quietly lose fees — and what to do about each, in order.
Billing leakage trackerSign up to read →
Drop in your WIP, unbilled and write-off data — get a monthly leakage view.
Realisation and collection benchmarksSign up to read →
Three places fees disappear — recorded → billed → collected. Realistic ranges by matter type.
Fixing realisation without fighting clientsSign up to read →
Where realisation really drops and the practical moves that lift it five points.
Raising utilisation in 90 days→
Measure what's real, fix the worst leaks, protect billable time — without asking people to work more.
Utilisation trackerSign up to read →
Week-by-week utilisation by fee earner, with target vs actual and WIP added.
Utilisation benchmarksSign up to read →
Annualised billable hours per FE by role, plus the three definitions of utilisation %.
Monthly matter profitability reviewSign up to read →
The 45-minute meeting that kills loss-making matter types before they scale.
Matter profitability sheetSign up to read →
Per-matter view of fees, costs, write-offs, effective hourly rate, margin. Surfaces under-priced types.
Matter margin by typeSign up to read →
Realistic profit margins by matter type, sector, and fee structure.
Utilisation Calculator
What utilisation are your fee earners actually running, and what's it costing you in uncaptured revenue?
Matter Profitability Calculator
Is this matter — or this matter type — making or losing money once you factor in time, costs, and write-offs?
Billing Leakage Calculator
Recorded → billed → collected. Where are fees leaking, and how much?
Fixed-Fee Calculator
Turn an hours estimate into a defensible fixed fee with built-in buffer, overrun headroom, and stress test.
Strategy
Direction, deliberate choices, priorities, and what the firm will decline.
People
Performance, behaviour, wellbeing, development, supervision, and exits.
Culture
The behaviours the firm repeatedly permits and therefore teaches others to copy.
Operations
Workflows, handoffs, waiting points, process consistency, and operating design.
Technology
The behavioural and process change surrounding technology, not merely procurement.
Client Experience
The consistency, clarity, responsiveness, and confidence experienced by clients.
Compliance & Risk
The living connection between formal policy and actual behaviour under pressure.
New Business
Where the next client comes from — marketing, referrals, enquiries, and proposals.
We also run Techsperience (legal-tech support) and Clearmatter (matter management). Mostly we write. Learn more →