Are we all doomed? Probably but where there is coffee there is hope.

In a week where DBA's have been under the spotlight, yet another funder has gone under and we have seen budgets under the spotlight , costs being massively reduced the question has to be asked - are we all doomed?

The answer is probably.

The amount of easy money washing around the legal sector is scary. The checks and balances are often not seen and if independent auditor's raise issues the usual push back is applied.

But law firms eat cash - credit to Simon McCrum - and in many ways they are like hobbits with breakfast, 2nd's breakfast, lunch tea supper etc. They inhale fuel in the same manner that a Bentley W12 engine sips fuel.

With interest rates rising, and regardless what the Head Boy suggests about things calming down, the view from the Fed is that rates will go up and where America goes the 51st state will follow.

The controls with cash though aren't often effective, but often as is seen in decisions made in the courts, the basics of budgets of either doing the budget in time or allocating money correctly is something that isn't for the cut and thrust of the legal battlefield when you have bought 5000 cases that are already open with a law firm three streets down and you have promised the customers their compensation.

I have had discussions where lawyers have said I didn't study law to do excel, or all the work is recorded so its recoverable.

So what does this have to do with being doomed?

Everything. Unless budgets are controlled, costs managed invoices collected and paid - remember it is a two way street you do need to pay those outside experts whose skills you rely on for the work you instruct them to do - and ensure that when you are asked to prepare a budget for example it is prepared and filed in good time. Because if you don't you are doomed because I cannot think of a customer anywhere who would say yes to paying the fees if the court has said no.

Similarly don't believe all the hype as to the latest class of claims to be the next big thing. Ask friends, ask colleagues, hell ask a humble costs draftsman their opinion and ask for some assistance in planning a case plan and budget. Be prepared to change it, be prepared to accept it may not be the type of work for you but don't just sign the dotted line for the sake of it.

Excessive costs claims or hourly rates for fee earners who are barely out of university will mean your firm is doomed one way or another as the data that the paying parties is vast. Listen when experts tell you what you don't want to hear.

Fixed Costs are on the horizon and while there may well be opt outs escape routes without a plan the court will not allow you to escape out of a track. I can see numerous attempts to say we deserve to be allocated to Multi Track without a plan in sight.

There is hope though. Grab a coffee and create a plan. Don't jump up and down in the office and blame everyone other than yourself and work with good people, people you trust and people who can do the things you cannot - like excel for example.

So as we move into August, and many have headed off to their Tuscan retreats I am working away at the new website, a new retainer based approach to legal project management and work out new ways of ensuring that the law firms can manage the way that they work.

Finally I have to say well done Dr Susanna Whawell who attended her award ceremony at Alliance Manchester Business School last week. It has been years of hard work and while she past her viva a few months back now it has been a wait for the actual ceremony. It was 7 years of hard but ultimately rewarding work and she has now set her sights on an Msc in Cyber Security. There is nothing that will stop her.