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

I have the chance to work with outstanding lawyers. They seem to be always focused on learning. Some time ago I read a book by Josh Waitzkin titled: "The Art of Learning." Most of you probably do not recognize his name. He was portrayed in the movie: Searching for Bobby Fisher.

Have you played chess? I actually was a serious player during law school, playing almost every weekend. Like many others, I bought books and memorized every possible opening. Unlike me, when he was first learning chess, Waitzkin's coach focused on endings not openings. Waitzkin says:

Children who begin their chess education by memorizing openings tend to internalize an entity theory of intelligence. Their dialogues with teachers, parents and other children are all about results, not effort. They consider themselves winners because so far they have won. In school they focus on what comes easy to them and ignore the subjects that are harder. On the playground, they use the famous: 'I wasn't trying' after missing a shot or striking out.

These children grow up and go to law school. In law school they learn what is necessary to do well on the exams. Then they learn what is necessary to pass the bar. They are great at left brain thinking, but have not exercised the right side of their brain. As young associates in law firms they do not think beyond the assignment.

In his book "A Whole New Mind" Daniel Pink includes a chapter titled: "Symphony." He describes symphony as "the ability to put together the pieces. It is the capacity to synthesize rather than analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answers; and to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair." This is the skill I find most young lawyers need to develop.

Daniel Pink suggests that one of the best ways to develop this skill is to learn how to draw. Pink went to a class based on Betty Edwards book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." It turns out that drawing classes are not about learning to draw but rather about learning to see relationships.

So, what do you want to learn in 2010? What will you do to exercise the right side of your brain? Write down a list and have fun learning new things.
 

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I am continuing to post ideas lawyers I coach are using to prepare their 2010 plan. 

Jodi McDougall, a partner with Cozen O'Connor in their Seattle, office recently shared her approach with me:

I'm planning for next year by first reviewing this past year. I'm going through my goals from last year and seeing what I've achieved as well as what I didn't. For those goals I achieved, I give myself a pat on the back, or better yet a few hours at the spa. I also look around me and see those who helped me to achieve my goals. For example, my parents who are always there to step in and love my kids when my husband and I accidentally schedule a deposition the same day. I express my thanks through a note, a kind gesture or a gift. I let them know that I recognize their contributions to my success.

I also look to last year's achievements and determine what I want to do again and how to improve on those goals. For example, with two small children I had stopped taking time for exercise, thinking I didn't have time for such luxuries. Cordell reminded me that successful people take good care of themselves. Last year, I ran a half marathon in June. This year my goal is to run at least two half marathons. I'm already signed up for one!

For those goals I didn't reach, I try to figure out why I fell short and either set the goal again or adjust it to make it more reasonable and achievable. I remind myself of how good it feels to achieve the goals I set and give myself a fresh start and let go of my past shortcoming.

Finally, I will take some time at the end of the year to relax and enjoy my family. I recharge my batteries so that I will be ready to go when January 1, 2010 rolls around.

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In my last two blog posts, I have discussed why you should have a plan for 2010 and my thoughts on how to get started. I have asked lawyers I coach to share with you how they are preparing their 2010 business plan.

James J. O'Keeffe, a new partner with Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore, recently shared with me how he is preparing his 2010 business plan. 

I’m preparing my 2010 business plan by looking forward and working backward. Based on our coaching sessions and some of the books that you’ve recommended, I’ve got a list long-term goals defining where I’d like to be in five and ten years in each of my roles—father, husband, productive lawyer, client developer, etc. With those in mind, I’ve decided where I’d like to be at the end of 2010 with respect to each role. I used those targets to identify goals that I’d like to accomplish next year. I tried to make sure that those goals are objectively quantifiable, challenging, and more or less within my control.

I know that some people find it very useful to break their yearly plans down by hours, quarters, weeks, and so on. That doesn’t do very much for me. With two small kids, a wife who works, an old house, and a busy job, yearly planning beyond the “big rocks” is just too ambitious right now. If something is important, I will get it done. If not, there’s no sense in planning for it, anyway. As the year progresses, I do plan my activities on a weekly basis and review my goals quarterly. That probably mitigates the lack of precision in my up-front planning. But trying to sit down right now and figure that I have x hours of investment time, to be divided across y activities over z weeks would likely only set me up for failure. It would also drive me nuts.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that I am lucky enough to work at a firm that gives me significant freedom when it comes to annual planning and goals.

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In my last post, I discussed why you should create a 2010 plan. In this post I will share with you ideas on how to do your planning.

I suggest giving thoughts to next year between now and end of year. I especially like this weekend and the time between Christmas and New Years because I can relax and focus.

Here are my ideas on where you might focus:

1. Look back on what you accomplished in 2009: What did you learn? What did you do? What results did get? What could you have done better?
2. What do you want to accomplish next year? What are your goals? Why is achieving them important to you? What do you want to learn? What do you want to do better? What would be a home run for you?
3. What actions do you need to take to achieve your goals? Try to list as many as 25 actions and identify when you will take each action.

I recommend that you write all of the answers to these questions and your list of 25 actions. Why is that an important step? Studies have shown that we are far more likely to do things we have committed to writing. We are also far more likely to do them when we set a date certain.

Give this approach a try. It will make you more focused and will help keep you working toward your goals.

If you want additional ideas on planning download my latest column from The Practical Lawyer. 
 

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As we are approaching 2010, have you begun preparing your 2010 business plan? If not, you are not alone. You may be wondering: Why should I prepare one? The answer is quite simple: Time and energy are your most important assets, and you must use your time and energy wisely. I like a quote attributed to Jim Cathcart and others: “Most people aim at nothing in life and hit it with amazing accuracy.”

Preparing a business plan will help you identify what is most important to you, prioritize how you spend your time, focus your attention on the important things and execute. You will have a far greater sense that you control your destiny. With no plan you can easily waste time and energy doing things that are unimportant.

I am conducting a free 2010 business plan webinar on December 30 at Noon Central Standard Time. I will share with participants why I prepared a plan each year, how I put it together and the ways I held myself accountable to execute my plan. These ideas worked for me and I am confident they will work for you. There are a few telephone lines still available. If you want to participate contact jflo@cordellparvin.com to reserve your spot.

In my next post, I will give you some tips on how to prepare your plan.
 

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I hope you are beginning to think about what you want to accomplish in 2010 and how you want to do it. If part of your planning includes client development and serving your clients, these questions may help you focus:

1. Is it easier for you to get clients to hire you who have a legal matter right now or clients who do not have a legal matter right now?
2. Seth Godin talks frequently about the importance of being remarkable in the eyes of your clients. What are examples of remarkable ideas that will bring clients to you or your firm?
3. What problems, opportunities or changes will your potential clients face in 2010 and what unique solution does your firm offer clients? What unique solution can you offer? Why should a new client hire your firm? Why should they hire you?
4. I have often said that selling legal services is counterintuitive. The harder you try to sell clients, the less successful you will be. What can you do to get clients to hire you without selling them? Here are a couple of hints. First, think counterintuitively. Second, consider some of the questions above.
5. Suppose you have an opportunity to make a presentation to an industry group or group of potential referral sources and your goal is to get your audience to hire you or recommend you. What can you do before, during, and after your presentation that will increase your chances of being considered and hired?

Based on your answers to the above questions, what is the one thing you can do in 2010 that you are not doing now that will generate the most business in the long term?
 

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Have you begun thinking about holiday cards? I have been thinking about them and how I can make them memorable.

I remember several years ago personally signing over 1000 holiday cards. Some members of our firm did not even sign the cards. I did, but as I was signing the cards I realized that many were being sent to people who sent me cards and with whom I had little other contact. I didn’t remember their cards and I am confident they did not remember my cards.

If you send 1000 cards and receive 1000 cards, haven’t holiday cards become the equivalent of spam? How can you make your holiday cards less spam like? I suggest sending fewer and more meaningful cards. In addition to signing those cards write a short personal note.

Your law firm can make the firm’s card more memorable by focusing on the community. A Wall Street Journal blog post included a story about a Miami law firm’s holiday card. It featured a picture of a truck it had donated to the local food-bank. The text of the card let clients know that the gift of the truck would not have been possible without them. I am confident the firm’s clients will long remember that card.

If you really want to make sending holiday cards worthwhile, do and write something unique that will be remembered.
 

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I often am asked what my favorite blogs and podcasts are, so I thought I would share them with you.

Seth Godin is the marketing guru and a lot of what he writes about applies to lawyers.

Creating Customer Evangelists has a great book on client service.

Scott Ginsberg is an excellent writer on becoming more valuable to clients. If you go to his regular website there are dozens of good articles on networking etc.

Justin R. Levy has social media materials I like.

More great stuff on social media by Steffan Antonas.

Copyblogger is the number one site on blogging and writing.

Chris Brogan is co-author of Trust Agents a great book every lawyer should read.

Personal Branding Blog has excellent ideas on personal branding.

I like Growth Nation's 51 free marketing tips. Take a look and see which ones apply to what you are trying to do.

You can get all of these by RSS feeds that will come to your iGoogle account or your Google Reader account. This makes it easy to decide which posts to read.

My favorite Podcast that I subscribe to in iTunes is Duct Tape Marketing. John Jantsch interviews all the people above and more. Go back over the last year and you will find some valuable interviews. Take note that earlier this year he moved the podcast to a different location.

I learn something valuable from each of the blogs and podcasts above. You will also.
 

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Tuesday, I asked if you had answered "why" client development is important to you. It is the first step to make time for client development. In this post, I will share with you three noted experts' approach to time management.

Noted author Carl Sandburg 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.” He wrote that long before the Internet, email and other current potential distractions.

In a couple of weeks I will be doing a program called “Time Management: Making Time for Client Development.” I plan to include a discussion on time and energy management and share ideas I learned from books by Stephen Covey, David Allen and Jim Loehr. Each author approaches the subject in a slightly different way. I have read their books and listened to their presentations. I have found each approach valuable. Recently I found a report on the effectiveness of coaching programs using each approach. I plan my week around my roles as Stephen Covey suggests. I use David Allen's approach to next actions. i set physical/economic, mental/learning, emotional/relationship, and spiritual/values goals based on Jim Loehr's four sources of energy. Take a look and decide which approach will work best for you.

One final thought: One way to make time for client development is to eliminate wasted time. How much time do you waste each day on things that really do not matter? You might be opening and responding to unimportant emails, doing things that could be delegated, searching for things in your office. If you saved just 30 minutes a day, that would be 182½ 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?
 

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Time management is the most frequent agenda item for lawyers I coach. More specifically, I am asked how to find time for client development when the lawyer is busy with billable work and wants quality family time. Do you also wonder how you can find the time?

You might think this is a time management issue. Way more often than not, it is really a self-motivation issue. Donald Latumahina wrote an interesting post on self-motivation last year. His first suggestion for building self-motivation is to “Have a Cause.” He says: “While other causes could inspire you temporarily, a cause that matters to you can inspire you indefinitely.”

His third suggestion is to “Be Hungry.” He says: “To be truly motivated, you need to have hunger and not just desire. Having mere desire won’t take you through difficult times since you don’t want things badly enough.”

If you are struggling to make time for client development ask yourself the “why” question. Write down why developing a client base and book of business is important to you. It will help get you have a cause. Let me share my answers with you. Developing a client base and book of business would:

• Provide security for my family
• Enable me to help clients achieve their goals
• Make my work more interesting

If you find it challenging to make time for client development, you might want to read Rising Star, which I co-authored with Kristi Sebalj. Here is some of what I said in the introduction:

This is the second book I have written about Tony and Gina Caruso. In "Say Ciao to Chow Mein: Conquering Career Burnout" Christina Bost Seaton and I focused on Tony, who after finishing his first year as an associate in a large Texas law firm is burned out and struggling to find meaning in his career. Rising Star: The Making of a Rainmaker is about Gina, who is now a partner in a mid-sized firm. She is the talk of the firm, having brought in $1 Million of business. Yet, she feels like a one-hit wonder because her success was a result of one big case from one big client…

I have known Tony's and Gina's throughout my 35 years practicing law. Their characters are a composite of lawyers who have worked for me and lawyers I have been blessed to coach and mentor. Many of those lawyers have caused me to study and examine differences between lawyers who are successful and happy and lawyers who are not…

As you read Rising Star, think about what you really want in your career and how you can most effectively and efficiently achieve it. That will be a good starting point to motivate you to achieve your goals.

Order Rising Star now at a reduced rate or purchase a book set for as much as 70% off regular price – or you may find it on Amazon.com.
 

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Use your imagination for a moment. Imagine you and I are sitting at a small conference room table and we are about to begin our third or fourth coaching session. Here are some questions I might ask you:

1. Since we last talked what have you done to become more valuable to your current clients?
2. What have you been doing to become more visible and credible to potential clients and referral sources?
3. What have you done to help your colleagues’ clients?
4. What have you been reading or studying to learn more about your clients?
5. On a scale of 1-10 how are you doing on accomplishing the goals we set in our first session?
6. What would it take for you to get to a 10 rating for yourself?
7. What challenges have you encountered?
8. How have you been able to overcome those challenges?
9. What would you like to get out of this coaching session?
10. What can I do to help you?

Even though we may never have a coaching session, you can get many of the benefits of coaching by answering the questions above.
 

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Are you looking for service ideas for your local or state bar association? If you are, I want to share one that will help teach the next generation the Rule of Law.

Mike Pace is a friend of mine from Roanoke, Virginia. When I practiced law in Roanoke I interviewed Mike when he as a student at Washington and Lee Law School. He went with another firm and now is the managing partner of that firm. In 2008 Mike served as The Virginia Bar Association (VBA) President. While serving he created the vision and spearheaded the effort to create the VBA Rule of Law Project.

When I visited Mike a few months ago we spent an hour talking about this innovative educational program. He explained that the purpose of the VBA Rule of Law Project is to give 7th and 8th graders a better understanding of the rule of law as the basis for the freedom we enjoy as American citizens, and the need to protect it for future generations. He told me that the project has created a buzz in both the VBA and the teaching community and has brought those professionals together.

After months of hard work and preparation in February, 2009, 60 lawyers and judges working with 60 teachers conducted classroom activities and discussions for over 2000 7th and 8th grade students in three Virginia school divisions. Since then, the VBA Rule of Law Project has been introduced in 37 additional school divisions all across Virginia.

Mike shared with me why the project has been so successful. At the heart is the collaborative working relationship among local bar associations, school superintendents and directors of instruction. See the website for how The VBA Rule of Law Project innovatively uses a web-based curriculum that features a video of prominent judges, public officials and citizen lawyers discussing what the rule of law means. VBA has also created resource materials for lawyers, judges and educators including a training video, instructional materials for lawyers, class activities, lesson plans, reading lists and other resources for teachers and students.

The VBA Rule of Law Project curriculum is adaptable to any age group and any organization. Because it is web-based, anyone may use it in their schools, communities, bar associations, civic groups or other educational program designed to enlighten the public about the rule of law.

Finally Mike shared with me that if any readers of this blog are interested, he would be happy to share with you how your Local or State Bar might implement the project.
 

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Are you blogging for business? Plenty of lawyers are doing it. But, how many are doing it well? Here are the top 10 mistakes I see:

1. Failure to identify the targeted reader. It is pretty basic. You need a plan which identifies the type of client/referral source you want to read your blog.
2. Picking topics no one cares about. Potential clients only care about their problems, opportunities and changes. They want to read about solutions to those.
3. Not posting regularly or frequently. If you do not have time to post at least once a week, you should not be blogging.
4. Picking a poor title. Some of the titles I see remind me of headings from legal briefs. Your potential clients and referral sources will decide whether to read your blog based on the title.
5. Writing posts that are too long. Your potential clients and referral sources do not care about the history of Swiss watch making. They simply want to know the time.
6. Writing long paragraphs. You may not realize it, but your readers will look at your blog post visually. If the paragraphs are long, they will be less likely to read it.
7. Writing about you and your law firm. Your potential clients and referral sources do not care about you or your law firm. They care about themselves and their business.
8. Writing that attracts the wrong potential clients. If you are a management side employment lawyer, your blog should be aimed at businesses so you do not receive lots of calls from disgruntled employees.
9. Writing for lawyers and not for potential clients and referral sources. Unless your target audience is lawyers, use words that businessmen use.
10. Talking down to your readers. Potential clients and referral sources like lawyers who are confident. They hate lawyers that are arrogant.

If you are blogging you should be reading Copyblogger. It is the top blog for learning blogging skills. I wrote a regular monthly column for Roads and Bridges Magazine for 24 years. I can assure you that my writing improved over time. Your blogging will improve over time also.

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