This article appeared in Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms, an ALM/Law Journal Newsletters publication covering all financial aspects of managing law firms, including: building a law firm budget; rates and rate arrangements with clients; coordinating benefits for law firm partners; and the newest strategies to grow your firm and your career.

I learned a lot from my grandfather’s Farmer’s Almanac (my grandfather was a farmer in the Ohio River valley in the 1930s): wisdom, colorful language, and the proper way to prepare corn meal mush (an acquired taste but worth the effort!). One thing he taught me was a basic rule of farming: “You never eat your seed corn.”