Law Consulting Blog : Cordell Parvin's Law Consulting Blog : Coach & Consultant For Lawyers & Law Firms : Business Development, Career Planning

This morning I read an interesting piece in my ABA daily newsletter. The title was: “In-House Counsel Vote ‘No Confidence’ in Firms, Shrug Off Talk of New Legal Model.” The writer referenced an Altman Weil study that found: “About 75 percent of CLOs gave law firms low marks when asked how serious law firms are about changing their legal service model to deliver greater value to clients.”

I am not surprised with the survey results. In this economy, clients want more and want to pay less. At the same time, they perceive their law firms are focused on what’s in it for the law firm rather than focused on what’s in it for the client. Many lawyers and law firms are too focused on what they do and not focused enough on what their clients want and need. I laugh about the vision of a law firm web page with the branding slogan: “We Are No Worse Than Other Law Firms.”

So what can you do about this? Begin by focusing on your clients. Ask them to share with you ways you can deliver greater value. Listen to what they say and ask further questions. When you are finished, gather a group of lawyers in your firm and brainstorm ideas on how to deliver greater value to clients. When you come up with a plan, figure out a way to make sure you are delivering greater value and continually ask for feedback from your clients.

One of the most valuable things I did as a practice group leader was to interview our clients for ideas on how we could improve our service. After collecting their ideas, I created our Client Service Goals. If you would like a copy contact Joyce Flo. When we started a new project, or met with a new potential client we gave them the Client Service Goals and asked for their feedback both during and after the project.
 

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I owe a great deal of the opportunities I had to work with clients to the guides I created when I identified potential client problems. Here are just a few examples of problems I discovered and guides I created and gave away:

1. In 1982 Congress required for the first time that 10% of the federal highway construction funds be spent with “Disadvantaged Business Enterprises.”
2. I found contractors were losing claims for additional compensation because they did not comply with contract requirements.
3. In the early 90s, Alternative Dispute Resolution became popular for handling construction contract disputes.
4. Later in the 90s, design build and innovative contracting techniques became popular.
5. Over the last several years, rising costs for oil and lack of availability of cement and steel increased contractor risks.

If I was still practicing law I would have the guides downloadable from my website bio. I may even make them into ebooks. David Meerman Scott is an author I like. He recently posted a blog with 30 tips on how to create an ebook.

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When you are young it is sometimes challenging to think about your future. Although I know that Nancy and I were married when this photo was taken, I doubt seriously we were giving a lot of thought to our future.

Many years ago, but after the photo was taken, I read Steven Covey’s book: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Habit 2 is to begin with the end in mind. I liked that habit because it encouraged me to quit thinking about just what I was doing today and to start thinking about what I wanted to become.

Using Habit 2, I ask you to think about your future. What do you want your life to look like in five years? How old are your kids? Are you still living in the same house? What does your law practice look like? What kind of work are you doing? Who are your clients? Who is on your team and how are you working together? When you answer those questions, you are able to better envision what you want to do in the last half of 2009 that will help lead you toward the end you have in mind for five years from now.

One of my favorite websites is www.hellomynameisscott.com. Scott is the name tag guy and has many, many articles that are valuable for lawyers. Recently I received an email link to Scott's Blog post which has great questions to ask about your future.

The questions he asks will challenge you to think creatively about your future. Take a look at the list and pick out the ones that you think would be helpful.
 

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I am convinced that our two most important resources as lawyers are our time and our energy. How well are you using your time and what are you doing to have a high level of energy?

Carl Sandburg, a noted author, once said: “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how well it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”

I want you to use your imagination with me. I bet you waste at least 30 minutes a day on things that really do not matter. I know I open and sometimes respond to unimportant emails at least 30 minutes during the day. I also do things I could delegate to others. Finding materials on my desk or in my office causes me to lose time. If you saved 30 minutes a day, that would be 182 ½ hours for a year. Suppose you used that time for client development or your own development, what do you think would happen to your career?

I learned about the importance of energy management by reading The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. I urge you to read the book or listen to the CDs. The authors point out the importance of the energy we bring to any task. Interestingly, we have two problems. First we do not have enough energy to meet the demands we are placing on our energy, and second, we do not renew our energy very well. What can we do to change? First, we need to focus on the four aspects our life: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Next, we need to change our thinking from the idea that we are running a marathon to the idea that we are running a series of sprints. Balancing stress and recovery is critical to managing our energy.

After reading The Power of Full Engagement and other books that mentioned the four aspects of our lives, I put my life goals into those categories. I am working on the oscillation concept of expending energy in each of these categories and then renewing my energy. You should try the same. If you would like a copy of my lifetime goals so you can think about your own, contact me and I will send you a copy.
 

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1. You had a record year last year.
2. You have more work than your lawyers can do.
3. You are attracting new business from potential clients you are seeking.
4. You are expanding relationships with your existing clients and cross-selling additional services.
5. Your lawyers are happy with their book of business.
6. Each lawyer in your firm has a business plan and is using his/her time wisely.
7. Your firm is more focused on reducing overhead costs than increasing revenue.
8. Each lawyer in your firm has an updated website bio that provides valuable information for potential clients.
9. Your lawyers anticipate client needs and offer solutions before your competitors and even before your clients know about the need.
10. Your firm and its lawyers are at the top of the list when a potential client does a Google search for a type of legal work.
11. Your firm and your lawyers are using the Social Media tools effectively and it is attracting high quality new clients.
12. Your lawyers are visible and credible to the potential clients the firm is seeking.
13. Your lawyers are focused on their contacts and know how to make friends firm clients.
14. Your senior lawyers regularly spend time passing down ideas on client development to more junior lawyers.
15. Your firm is one of the few whose clients are ecstatic about the level of client service and are telling other potential clients and referral sources.
     

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I find that some lawyers I coach really put a lot into the coaching program and they get a lot out of it. Over time, I have developed coachability factors. Take the test and see if you are coachable on client development. 

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Nancy and I played golf yesterday morning. In the afternoon we watched the McDonald’s LPGA Championship. For those of you who are not fans or did not see the final round, Anna Nordqvist, a rookie playing in only her fifth tournament was the unlikely winner. You might enjoy reading The Washington Post report of her victory.

Nordqvist started the final round with a two stroke lead. She built it to as much as a five stroke lead, and then her playing partner Lindsey Wright birdied 8, 9 and 12. Nordqvist bogeyed 13 and the lead was cut to one. The TV announcers said: “Game On.” The remarkable thing was that the young rookie did not wilt under the pressure and she won by four strokes. Wright, who shot a 70, said of Nordqvist: "It was amazing. Under that amount of pressure, not being in that position before and in a major and being a rookie? You can't get any better than that."

If you go on Anna Nordqvist’s website you get a sense of why she is success. Here is the quote on the home page.

"Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard for it"

What does it mean to wake up and work hard for it as a lawyer? It means waking up and working each and every day to improve your skills. It means waking up and working hard each and every day to figure out what is going on in the world that may impact your clients. It means waking up and working hard each and every day to add value and exceed your client’s expectations.

Thank you Anna Nordqvist for reminding us all that you are never too young, never too inexperienced to wake up and work hard to be successful.
 

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When I was a young lawyer I subscribed to two publications I found very valuable. The first was “Success” magazine and the second was “The Practical Lawyer.” I subscribed to “Success” because I wanted to gain insights from successful people and I subscribed to “The Practical Lawyer” because I wanted practical ideas I could implement to become more successful.

Fast forward to 2009. I am now writing a Practical Success column for “The Practical Lawyer” and I am back subscribing to “Success.” If you want ideas you can actually implement, I urge you to consider subscribing to both publications.

This morning I was reading “Each Success is the Beginning of the Next One,” an article in “Success” by Donald Trump. The subheading of the article is “Confront your fears and achieve more.” I like the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote in the article: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

Donald Trump ends the article with these questions I believe you would find valuable answering:

• What lies behind you? (What is your life experience and legal career experience up to this point?)
• What lies before you? (What are your career and life goals, plans and aspirations?)
• What lies within you? (Do you have the burning desire to achieve what is important to you?)

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We live in a rapidly changing world and businesses, including law firms, must regularly scan the environment (SWOT) to determine how we remain effective in meeting our client's needs. Those that don’t effectively respond to the changing environment find themselves weakened or out of business.

I was thinking about this a while back. My thinking on the subject started when I was reading The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, an article and later a book by Chris Anderson. The “Long Tail” is about the shift from hits to niches. In the book, Anderson discusses an entirely new economic model for media and entertainment industries, and its application to other businesses. Anderson points out that online retailing done by Amazon, iTunes and Netflix have changed forever the economics of selling books, music and rental movies because of the wider selection they can offer and the lower cost structure.

While I was reading the book, I thought about my old law firm. We had around 15,000 clients, which for a firm our size was a long tail. Consultants told us we needed to get rid of many of the less profitable clients and focus our attention on the top 1000 clients that were very profitable. That was before Amazon, iTunes and Netflix became successful. That was also before many of the largest potential clients in the United States failed, were bailed out or went out of business.

So, my thoughts centered on whether the Amazon, iTunes and Netflix model applies to law firms in 2009, and if so, how does it apply? There are still blue chip clients, but I believe the new economic model is already changing how law will be practiced in the future. In the last couple of years, there have been two emerging trends.

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports that outsourcing legal work to India is a booming business because experienced Indian lawyers bill between $75 and $100 an hour. The Washington Post reports that the boom in outsourcing legal work to India started because of the “E” discovery rules. Neither article mentions that another economic advantage is no office space is necessary for those lawyers.

The second trend, which also seems based on the Amazon, ITunes and Netflix economic model, is the virtual law firm. Law.com reported that last year 15 lawyers started a virtual law firm called Virtual Law Partners. In May of this year, Law.com reported that virtual law firms are benefiting from the current economy.

Do you see a trend developing for our profession? In the future, relatively large law firms might have offices in major cities with only a receptionist and conference rooms. The vast majority of its lawyers may either work from their homes or in very inexpensive space elsewhere. The firm will outsource commodity work to India. This economic approach will enable the firm to be competitive and profitable doing more work for smaller clients. Is your firm ready for this change?

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