Montreal's Gazette - June 23, 2005

Excerpt from column "Strictly Legal"

Helping Firms Find More Clients

With the number of new lawyers outpacing the amount of new business up for grabs, retaining and growing a client base has become a Herculean task for law firms. Lawyers are turning to outside consultants for advice on navigating a hyper-competitive marketplace. Richard Stock, founding partner of Catalyst Consulting, has seen business grow steadily since he launched the legal consulting firm in 1994. "A large amount of our work for law firms in the past few years has been how to deal with planning and transition in what is essentially a mature market," Stock said. "That means growth and market share."

Catalyst also works with firms on pricing and profitability issues. Stock was a health policy consultant with KPMG before becoming chief operating officer at Heenan Blaikie in Montreal. Catalyst, based in Toronto, employs a team of seven, soon to be eight. The company also advises corporations and governments on how to wisely handle legal services and organize in-house law departments.