Obligations are dated and immovable. Each client carries a set of them, they cluster in the same weeks, and a practice that cannot see them together discovers the problem when there is no time left to solve it.
Capacity is the constraint nobody plans. The work is not spread evenly, so the question is not how many clients a firm can serve but how many it can serve in the fortnight when they all need something.
Fees drift. A business that has doubled in size is still paying what it agreed three years ago, and only recorded time against each client turns that from a suspicion into a conversation.
Onboarding has steps that are not optional. Identity checks, engagement terms and authorisation to act have to happen in order, and a checklist is what stops a client being worked on before they should be.