By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMCQ. As the administrator of our 17 attorney law firm, I am charged with the responsbility of managing and controlling costs. Our management committee is always complaining about our overhead - and then looking to me for solutions - with the focus usually on cost reduction. Do you have any recommendations?A. I am often asked to help law firms design and implement profitability improvement programs. In most of my engagements the real problem is insufficient gross income and lack of sufficient investment (spending and time) on marketing and initiatives designed to stimulate client and revenue growth. For most firms increasing revenues is the most effective way of impacting the bottom line. However, we do find that there is waste and unnecessary overhead that eats away at profits and a cost control program is also recommended and implemented. During recessionary times such as we are currently facing – drastic cost controls are often the only option. Reducing overhead can immediately and effectively improve a firm’s bottom line.The first step in an expense control program is to identify those areas where potential savings exist. Review your profit and loss statement. Resist the temptation to arbitrarily cutting costs which could cut the muscle with the fat and result in revenue loss as well. You have to spend money to make money – so if cost cutting is the appropriate strategy – cut the right costs. Think strategically about cost reduction.After you have identified areas where savings can be made prioritize and develop specific strategies and implement action plans to achieve the savings. Here are a few ideas:

The ISBA Environmental Law Section Council is pleased to invite all Springfield-area attorneys practicing in the area of Environmental Law to a FREE networking lunch for ISBA members and non-members alike.When: October 21, 2011; Noon – 1:00 p.m.Where: Illinois Attorney General Office, Helen Radigan Hall, 500 South Second Street, Springfield, IL 62706John Kim, Chief Legal Counsel for the Illinois EPA, will present on the new Section 31 process, including compliance agreement (“CCA”) administrative enforcement.Kyle Rominger, Deputy Chief Counsel for the Illinois EPA will be speaking on permit streamlining and clean construction demolition debris (“CCDD”).Please join us for these brief informative presentations, a light lunch and the opportunity to visit with fellow practitioners in a relaxed setting.Please RSVP with Jane McBride, jmcbride@atg.state.il.us by Oct. 18.

The Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network recently honored history-maker and workplace rights advocate Lilly Ledbetter as a "Woman of Influence" during a luncheon at the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel. All photos are by Jeffrey C. Johnson.

Attorney Brent Holmes was presented with the Land of Lincoln Joseph R. Bartylak Pro Bono Award.  This Award was created in 2011 in memory of Joseph R. Bartylak who was Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation's Executive Director from 1976 to 2003.  It honors a volunteer attorney who has directly achieved outstanding results for low income clients or who has supported Land of Lincoln staff in their delivery of high quality legal services to the poor and elderly.The Honorable Matt Sullivan presented the award to Mr. Holmes during a meeting of the Coles-Cumberland Bar Association. Mr. Holmes is a long-time volunteer through the Coles-Cumberland Bar Association who has consistently accepted referrals for eligible clients for over fifteen years.  He has devoted over 55 hours for the three cases he has closed in just the past two years, and he has donated more than 215 hours since he joined the pro bono panel after its formation in 1996.  He accepts contested family law cases in Cumberland County and Coles County.  He obtains divorce judgments, child custody orders, child support orders, QDROs, and other appropriate relief for clients who are unable to afford to hire attorneys.“Brent is a model of what the term pro bono lawyer means,” states Clare McCulla, Senior Supervisory Attorney with the Charleston satellite office.  “These are deserving people with meritorious cases who might not have been able to resolve their problems without his help.”