Lawyers cannot put their thumb on the scale when weighing meat
The rules of professional conduct, when billing by the hour, prevent a lawyer from billing two clients for the same minute. Thus, you cannot bill one client for travel time and another client for reviewing documents, etc., while en route on the plane. Or, you cannot bill one client for the time waiting in court until his/her case is called and bill another client for other work during that same time.
How about billing clients for time not spent at all doing their work? As a young lawyer, when advised by my mentor, to be liberal with my time sheets, I took this to mean "put my thumb on the scale" when weighing meat in the butcher store. The ABA Journal tells us about a lawyer who did something similar.
Client Relations in a Changing World
I'm proud to announce that I will be one of two speakers at the prestigious Bernard E. Witkin 10th Annual Memorial Symposium on May 20th in Oakland, CA. See the announcement ...
Lawyers can't sell
The telephone is still the best, least expensive marketing and communication tool available to us.
This week, in consecutive phone calls, I was hired for two separate, large engagements. I’m excited about both of them. And in the process, the teachings of my father many years ago came to mind. Stay by the phone. When the phone rings, and you respond, you will be hired. But, if you don’t respond, you won’t be hired. This is similar to the adage that if you don’t swing the bat, you can’t hit the ball. Marketing efforts are designed to make people aware of us and to encourage them to call.
A corollary for me was that I can’t “sell” anything to anyone. I can only hope to make people aware of my skills and availability. If they have a need, and they know who I am, they will contact me to discuss whether my skills match their needs. It is always the buyer who makes the decision, not the seller. With this mind set, then, the “seller’s” obligation is to educate the buyer about the value of the services provided and the benefits to be received ... not the “features” being offered by the seller.
These are lessons learned early in my career that I believe still resonate today.
Strategic planning is key to success
Adam Smith echoes my philosophy -- and discusses the importance of the intake procedure. Collecting Your Fee from Intake to Invoice further echoes the importance of the intake process. I maintain that you can tell at the beginning, from the intake interview, whether you will get paid at the end!
Lawyers should go where the business is
It's time to stop focusing on real estate, construction, banks, mortgage companies and airlines, according to Larry Bodine. Go where the money is: energy, steel, industrial metals, coal companies and railroads. See the 10 Best Performing Industries on MarketWatch.com.
This reminds me of the book written by Harvey MacKay, Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty or the phrase "... fish where the bass are..."In other words, provide services that your clients need ... If your skills are no longer in hot demand, modify your practice area to adapt your skills to the needs of the clients. If you're in the larger firms, and are practicing real estate law currently, you might be better advised to learn bankruptcy or workouts to adapt your current skills to the needs of the clients. If you're in a small firm or sole practice, this might be more difficult to accomplish with less personal economic impact, but still possible.
The key is to either provide services the market needs ... or to have the capital to sustain the wait until the market comes back to your skills.
Law Firm Fees & Compensation
Michael Brychel, Senior Legal Auditor at Stuart Maue, headquartered in
He says, "For those who accept the premise that “law firms ARE businesses – get over it” this book will be an effective jump start to incorporating that perspective into useful practice."
Legal fees - Value is in the eyes of the beholder
Price and value are clearly not the same when it comes to legal fees. While both are time sensitive (as of any given moment in time), the former generally is set by the seller/lawyer and the latter is generally perceived by the buyer/client. Price can be value, in my opinion, when the client is involved in the setting of the legal fee and price is determined by the value perceived by the client. Some folks call this "value billing."
Legal Fees: Could you afford you?
Last week-end, I was attending a Vintage Airstream rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as mentioned in a previous post.
Because our “new” vintage Airstream is still being built and our “old” vintage Airstream was totaled from our December accident, we could not stay at the rally, but had sleeping quarters about 10 miles away, a short car ride. To get there, we had a short stint on Highway 550, a heavily trafficked thoroughfare in the area, so I’m told. As we got close to our destination, I noticed the highway was streaming with police. It looked like a major car accident; as I got closer, it looked like a disaster. I could tell the roadway had been narrowed by cones and police cars into one lane. And as I approached the head of the line, a policeman approached me. Suddenly, I realized that I was in the middle of a road block!
Ohio Lawyers Go to Financial Boot Camp
CLEVELAND. April 28, 2008— National law practice management expert, Ed Poll J.D. M.B.A. CMC, starts a three-city tour through Ohio to deliver presentations on law firm profitability strategies sponsored by the Ohio Bar Association. Poll, the founder of LawBiz® Management Co., will present his program “Sound Strategies & Best Practices for Law Firms: Boot Camp for the Small Firm” to lawyers and firms from Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. The program is accredited for the state’s Continuing Legal Education program.
“We are very pleased to have Ed present to our members throughout the state,” says Fran Wellington, Director of the CLE Institute for the Ohio State Bar Association. “The presentation has been approved for CLE credit and will be very beneficial for attorneys in managerial roles and professional legal administrators.”
Poll will emphasize the importance of running a financially sound firm. His underlying themes for the groups will include creating a streamlined process to bill clients from billable hours with regular invoices, incorporating business management and marketing strategies in firm administration, and building a comprehensive recovery plan. He will also explain the value of cash flow management, calculating fiscal earnings, how and when to increase fees, as well as providing tips on forecasting for the future.
Poll’s presentation addresses the operations and practice development issues that lawyers are not formally trained to perform. As a former practicing attorney and CEO in the manufacturing industry, Poll understands that the business strategies that make companies profitable are fundamentally the same for law firms. He believes that for some lawyers there is a disconnect between focusing on the output of a firm, in terms of handling case loads and briefs, and crafting a business plan that includes a formal billing process and marketing strategy.
“It’s a great opportunity to be invited to present this program to a wide selection of lawyers throughout the state,” says Poll, who just released his newest book Law Firm Fees & Compensation: Value & Growth Dynamics (LawBiz® Management, Co., 2008). “I develop my presentations with lawyers in mind, so that they can bridge the gap between law and business and implement policies that will have a lasting effect.”
For more information on Ed and LawBiz® Management Co., please visit www.LawBiz.com or for his blog www.LawBizBlog.com. To contact Ed, call or email
About Ed Poll
Ed Poll, J.D., M.B.A., CMC, is a nationally-recognized expert in law practice management. He helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability, consulting with them on issues of internal operations, business development, and financial matters. Ed brings his clients a solid background in both law and business. He has 25 years experience as a practicing attorney and has also served as CEO and COO for several manufacturing businesses. In 1990 he founded LawBiz® Management Company and is now focused on coaching, speaking, and training law firms.
Ed is the author of numerous publications that have become the definitive works in the field and has just released his newest book Law Firm Fees & Compensation: Value & Growth Dynamics (LawBiz® Management, Co., 2008). He is also a columnist for the Association of Legal Administrators and contributes the “LawBiz® Coach’s Corner” to Lawyers Weekly.
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A Note Beats a Link - Hands Down
Professor Alan Childress of
