Tax-Savvy Clients Motivated in Year-End Collections Crunch

Sills Cummis & Gross Managing Partner Max Crane was interviewed and quoted about collecting receivables before year-end.  As seen in the article, “At Newark’s Sills Cummis & Gross, the fiscal year ends Sept. 30—also a long-standing tradition, according to managing partner R. Max Crane.

‘In part it was to avoid the year-end craziness. … Even if we’re here on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, sometimes it’s hard to find the client’—an issue that’s ‘gotten worse over the years,’ as holiday breaks seem to be extending, Crane said.

Crane noted that sometimes multiple levels of approval are needed to get an invoice paid.

‘You’re playing a game, betting that all these people are going to be there at the same time,’ he said. ‘If they’re not around, good luck.’

Even if Sills Cummis avoids its own December scramble, Crane said the firm—and he personally—has gotten calls from tax-conscious clients asking for an expedited invoice.

‘It’s a pleasant call to get,’ he said—not least because it saves firm lawyers from making the call themselves.

Some excel at that, while others don’t: Like rainmaking, it’s a skill unto itself, according to Crane.

‘Lawyers who are brilliant and fantastic at practicing law may not be brilliant and fantastic at picking up the phone and asking to get paid for it,’  he said.

‘It never goes away…I think most lawyers have accepted it,’ he said.”