Might need to put the tin hat on for this one...
To be clear upfront, I'm not saying profit at the expense, or to the detriment, of purpose
But rather you can't fulfil a wider purpose without profit, it's a necessary condition of a sustainable business
In what feels like a lifetime ago now, I audited a range of companies and charities in the aftermath of the 2007-08 recession
This was an environment where income was quickly drying up and cost inflation was lumpy (albeit not rampant, as in more recent years)
And the consequence of falling income, was falling profitability (technically 'surplus' or 'net income' for charities)
Programmes were stripped back or stopped, investment fell
In some cases, the charity was no longer viable at all
You'd be forgiven for thinking that perhaps there aren't many similarities between charities and law firms 🙂
But actually, law firms have a fine tradition of offering pro-bono advice, and more recent aspirations to support broader ESG goals
Less positively, there is also a tendency to pay out the majority of profits in the year they're earned, carry forward limited reserves for future years and have difficulty funding significant multi-year programmes
Just like charities, a profitable law firm, is able to fulfil its broader purpose
An unprofitable firm puts that broader purpose at risk
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