LAW FIRM MANAGEMENT: ECONOMIC AND LEGAL ASPECTS IN THE CONTEXT OF LEGAL MARKET IN UKRAINE

Author
, associate professor, Kharkiv, Pushinska, 77

In heading

 Economic analysis of law;

Signed print

 22.11.2019

Issues number

 2019 - № 4 (39)

Page

 134-149

Type of articles

 Scientific article

Code UDK

 334.06

ISSN print

 2411-5584

Abstract

 Problem setting. Management of law firms is a complex process including at least three interrelated dimensions: microeconomics, law and management. Specific features of law business determine specific legal regulation and internal rules (that could be thought as a part pf legal regulation from economic perspective). Market position, regional location, specialization (broad or narrow) also presuppose several economic and legal peculiarities
of law practice management. In this article I show these peculiarities addressing the example of a small regional law firm, SIT-Konsalt, LLC.
Recent research and publications analysis. Among many scholars and lawyers whose works underpin this article I can mention Garry Becker, Andriy Gritsenko, David Freedman, Gennadiy Maltsev, Olga Marchenko, Elvira Talapina, Liudmyla Shevchenko and some others, who have published on law and economics correlation, economic aspects of management in general and law firm management.
Paper objective. In the article I attempt to consider on several economic and legal aspects of law firm management in the context of the Ukrainian legal market peculiarities. This aim determines argumentation and the structure of the article. First, I provide some relevant to the topic characteristics of the contemporary legal market in Ukraine. Second, I show some economic and legal peculiarities of law practice management determined by
specific features of the Ukrainian legal market. Finally, I analyze how and to what extent, taking into account its market position, these specific features can be found in the structure, policies and activities of SIT-Konsalt, LLC.
Paper main body. In the main part of the article I identify several specific features of legal market in Ukraine including its small scope, high level of distrust to legal institutions and lawyers, which influences economic behavior of potential clients of law firms, low level of legal and community regulation of the market, as well as lack of internal regulation and policies in many law firms. This significantly influences law firm management on its institutional, marketing and personnel dimensions. However, these peculiarities vary from national to regional levels of legal market. Business model of small regional firms includes such characteristics as (1) heavy focus on corporate clients; (2) maximum flexibility and client-oriented approach; (2) weak institutional structure and lack of internal regulation; (4) lack of attention to brand-marketing or, as in case of SIT-Konsalt, no works on promotion of its brand at all; (5) certain pro bono practices, which, however, are not used for PR.
Conclusions of the research. Ukrainian legal market has several economic and legal feature that must be taken into account for the purposes of both academic research of this market and development of business model relevant to the needs of this market. These characteristic vary dependently (a) the size of a law firm and (b) its national or regional practice. Our research of a small regional Kharkiv-based law firm, SIT-Konsalt, LLC has
resulted in several specific features that we have identified. These features do not reject general characteristics of the market, but clarify and specify some of them. This can serve as a methodological ground for furthers researches of small- and middle-level law business in Ukraine.
Short Abstract for the paper
In the article the author addresses some economic and legal issues influencing institutional, marketing and personnel management of law firms. The Ukrainian legal market and its main characteristics are analyzed. The author also analyzes economic and legal aspects of law practice management and how it depends on general state of legal market in Ukraine both on its national and regional levels. Using the example of a small Kharkiv-based law firm, SIT-Konsalt, LLC, the author shows specificities of regional legal market in Ukraine, which, in the author view, contributes to the field, because Ukrainian academic literature mostly focuses on national level of legal market.

Keywords

 economics, law, law firm management, legal practice management, legal business.

Reviewer

External reviewer

Article in PDF

 134-150

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Code DOI

 10.31359/2411-5584-2019-39-4-134

22.11.2019