Gaming is real life
In response to my last post, the following comment was forwarded to me:
Q: Isn't gaming what they teach in law school, essentially? Probing for weaknesses and exploiting them ruthlessly when found? It seems that with the adversarial legal system, gaming is built right into the DNA of the experience. I agree they are being poor ethical exemplars by gaming the rankings but I'm not sure it's entirely inconsistent with the legal system.
Gaming the system
The WSJ, August 26th, front page, discusses law school rankings ... and the ability of school deans to "game" the system used by U.S. News & World Report to rank law schools. This reminds me of the accounting adage, "Figures don't lie, but liars figure."
Continue Reading...Katrina statistics
Many lawyers (some of whom were my clients) were directly impacted by Katrina; the practices of some were wiped out. Almost all suffered revenue declines.
Many other lawyers helped in the reconstruction efforts. Now, 3 years later, much yet needs to be done. Bill Quigley gives us the following startling (at least to me) statistics, and much more:
0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home Community Development Block Grant — compared to 116,708 homeowners.
0. Number of apartments currently being built to replace the 963 public housing apartments formerly occupied and now demolished at the St. Bernard Housing Development.
0. Amount of data available to evaluate performance of publicly financed privately run charter schools in New Orleans in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years.
.008. Percentage of the rental homes that were supposed to be repaired and occupied by August 2008 which were actually completed and occupied — a total of 82 finished out of 10,000 projected.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in percentage of housing vacant or ruined.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in murders per capita for 2006 and 2007.
Why is it that we have to repeat history? In 1927, much of the Mississippi Valley was destroyed by similar flooding. More than 1/3 of the country was directly impacted by this flood! The impact, economic and otherwise, from this was devastating, not only to this 1/3 of the country, but to the entire country!
We can't control the weather, the storms that befall us. Just last night, in the news, there was a commentary about another major storm off the Gulf of Mexico. It could leave another devastating mark on the U.S., having already killed one person in Haiti. But, we seem to ignore these vagaries of nature. If we can improve our land area and structures in earthquake country, why can't we do the same in other parts of the U.S.? Where is the political will to do something? We certainly have the skill, knowledge and technolgoy! What is missing?
Outsourcing legal and legal support services
A new, ABA Formal Opinion 8-451 (August 5th), states the obvious: A lawyer may, but is responsible for, outsource work to lawyers and non-lawyers support appropriate to represent the interests of his/her client.
Continue Reading...Your response time sucks!
My frustration level has been exceeded! How about yours? Have you had dealings with vendors who fail to respond to your reasonable inquiries and requests? Have you had appointments (doctors and lawyers are the stereotypical examples) that have kept you waiting beyond the stated appointment time?
If you're a lawyer or other professional reading this, think about how your clients feel in conducting their business with you. Read on for nuances of this issue.
Continue Reading...Competitive intelligence
Does more information become competitive intelligence ... or just more information? Read Ann Lee Gibson at her new blog only if you want to learn more, i.e., become more intelligent! Congratulations to Ann for a great start.
Virtual world is real
Is the Virtual World real? It apparently has more “life” than I knew. Even the IRS is involved, recently ruling that independent, virtual contractors were, in reality, part-time employees for whom taxes needed to be withheld. What impact will this have on other “virtual businesses?” What impact will this ruling have on “virtual assistants?” Are they independent contractors, our assumption in the past, or employees, though at a distance?
It's the economy, stupid!
Famous words. And the legal community is beginning to feel them.
Continue Reading...Marketing department layoffs - same as lawyer layoffs?
Is there a connection between marketing department layoffs and associate layoffs?
Continue Reading...Surveys of law firm clients
In our Managing Partners Roundtable discussion this morning, we talked about the effect and value of surveys. Not enough law firms ask their clients "how am I doing?" Too often, marketing gurus suggest that written surveys be sent in the mail after a matter or litigation is concluded. I suggest that this is the wrong time ... no matter what you learn from the responses (and in my experience, you won't get many responses, probably not even a statistically valid amount), it's after the fact. That means that you will not be able to salvage that client relationship if there is real dissatisfaction!
One of my clients taught me an important lesson: Send a short survey with the first billing. If there is anything wrong, it's best to know at the beginning when you have time to correct any deficiency.
Most lawyers are reluctant to ask the question. They're afraid of the answer. But, what better result could you get than to be told there is something that you can correct ... and thereby strenghthen the relationship when you do. The client feels appreciated and heard ... and recognizes that you care enough to ask and to make a change.
In larger firms, we concluded that it is very beneficial for the managing partner to periodically visit the top 10 clients of the firm. Even when I was in industry, the fact that I as CEO cared enough to visit a customer had a dramatic impact on our relationship and the buyer's/customer's goodwill toward us.
Bottom line, we don't exist in a vacuum. We must understand and know the needs and wants of our clients ... and what better way to find than to ask, directly. In addition, this process confirms that the relationship is between the client and the firm, not an individual lawyer in the firm.
Obviously, there was much more said this morning, but this concept caused the managing partners to vow to make changes in their firms. What are you prepared to do in your relationships?
Collaboration and Conflict Resolution
Stewart Levine, author of Getting to Resolution and his latest work, Collaboration 2.0, talks about the benefits of collaboration, the higher heights that can be reached through collaboration, and the use of technology to aid this process. Among other comments, Stewart talks about 7 requirements for effective collaboration, it is important for lawyers to learn collaboration and to use this skill appropriately.
24 minutes, 14 seconds
5.6MB
JDSupra - another networking opportunity
I have now joined JDSupra. See my profile.
The organization is designed to gather documents used by one lawyer that the first lawyer is willing to share with another lawyer ... this is a great way to find a starting point in a practice area in which you are not well versed. It may even be a great way to find a good format and content to use in your matter/case that someone else has used in another, similar matter.
Years ago, when practicing law and as chair of the Beverly Hills Bar Association's Family Law Committee, I organized and chaired a stellar group of family law lawyers to create and edit a Bar/Bench book with forms that the trial judges were using in the Los Angeles Superior Court. It was called The Billy G. Mills Bench Book. Judge Mills, at the time, was the presiding judge of the Family Law Court. The joint effort produced an outstanding work that helped many lawyers address the concerns of the Bench for the benefit of clients.
Today, JDSupra is using technology to produce an even greater result for attorneys seeking the right form at the right time to be more efficient and avoid rifling through files to find that elusive document that they remember seeing, but just can't find right now, the moment of need!
JDSupra will also introduce content that I will produce for law firm management. We hope to provide an ever broader platform to help lawyers become more effective with their clients, more efficient in the delivery of their legal services and more profitable for themselves, the objective of LawBiz Management.
Notice of Unavailability
Someone asked what I think of an attorney charging a client for work done while he/she is on vacation?
The comment, specifically, was: "Attorneys do need a vacation... what do you think about attorneys that (sic) file Notice of Unavailability and charge clients for work performed while on there (sic) vacation."
Wherever and whenever an attorney performs legal services, he/she should be able to charge for the work done so long as it is in compliance with the engagement agreement. There is normally no exception for work done for clients while on vacation or after "normal" business hours. So I don't see any problem here, unless there is a subsidiary inference that the attorney is not truly working or working at a slower pace than would have been the case if he/she were elsewhere.
As an additional point, I believe (as I've said quite some time ago) that the attorney has the right to charge the client for preparing and filing (and even appearing in court thereon) the Notice of Unavailability. But for the notice, the attorney might have to spend much more time defending against notices/motions if the adversary takes advantage of the attorney's absence on vacation ...
Social networking for lawyers
Nick Abrahams, chair of the Sydney, Australia office of Deacons, which has branches throughout Asia, discussed his firm's survey on technology.
The survey, among other things, that "If you’re over 35, you're the loneliest person on Facebook because only 1 percent of workers in that age group are using it." But a quarter of the survey respondents between 25 and 34 are on Facebook, he said, and for workers under 25, the rate of Facebook users increases to a third of those surveyed.
It is still early to discern how the new social networking sites will impact a law firm's marketing efforts; but, it is clear that these sites will not disappear in the new future ... and lawyers will need to pay attention to whether these sites can benefit them in the market places in which they operate.
I don't think we've yet got to the "tipping point" in this phenomenon, though we seem to be getting closer and closer with ever greater speed.
The Power of Nice
Unlike Leo Durocher's famous statement that "nice guys finish last," she believes that "nice girls finish first." After all, she asserts, people like to buy from people they like ... And we generally don't like people who are not nice to us. Kaplan says it's easier to be mean and gruff. It takes a special effort to be nice. Paraphrasing a saying my mother used so often, "You get more with honey than with vinegar."
This seems so obvious to me, but obviously is something that our profession finds so difficult to understand. Many Bars have adopted "Lawyer Civility Codes." Why should this even be needed? Quoting an infamous source, "Why can't we all just get along?" Why is it that we need be rude and obnoxious to our adversaries? Do we truly believe that such conduct will win us points or cause our client's position to be moved forward? On the contrary, such behavior often merely entrenches the opposition further. Being nice, courteous and kind requires neither that we be a doormat nor that we cave in to our adversary's position ... we can stand forthright to advocate our client's interest and position, yet still be civil and nice.
Again paraphrasing, "Try it, you might like it." Certainly, there will be reduced stress all around.
P.S. This works with colleagues and staff as well.
Learn from the greats
Marshall Goldsmith, who coaches more than 50 of the top 100 CEOs of corporate America, commented on several psychological observations that I found interesting:
- What we do at home, we do at the office, and vice versa. In other words, if we are unkind to our colleagues, our staff and our adversaries, we're probably exhibiting to same behavior to our spouses and our children.
- Among the annoying habits that can hold successful people back is winning too much. Generally, we're successful because we're competitive. Being competitive, we win. But, we don't know when to stop. We even compete on who is to select the restaurant to go to for dinner.
- Successful people often add too much value. In other words, we add something to another person's idea. Instead of saying "thank you" and being quiet, we say that is a great idea, but it would be better if you add x, y, or z. He says that the quality of the idea may go up by 5%, but the participation will go way down ... because it now is no longer the other person's idea. We have stolen the other person's investment in the process.
- Destructive comments prevents forward progress. Avoid the use of the words, "no," "but" and "however." These words discount the value of the other person and their ideas. By merely saying "thank you," we can create, maintain and retain our team with significantly greater results for all involved.
- Leadership is a contact sport! Studies show that where the leader followed-up, there was greatest improvement.
- What got you here, won't get you there. Those competitive attributes that got you to the leader's position are different than the attributes of a successful leader. You must alter your skill set in order to succeed in your new position.
