How Making Assumptions Can be a Huge Mistake

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Cordell Parvin

I was thinking about assumptions this past weekend when I watched the PGA tournament. If you watched, or read the sports section on Monday, you saw David Price, the pro at our golf course here in Dallas asking Dustin Johnson if he had grounded his club in the sand on the 18th hole. Dustin Johnson grounded his club because he assumed the sand was not a bunker, had not read the detailed memo the PGA posted that said any sand on the course was to played as a bunker and did not ask David Price before entering the sand. His assumption may have cost him the PGA tournament victory.

As lawyers we sometimes make assumptions before reading an entire document, not asking a good question or not listening to a client's entire story. In The Trusted Advisor, authors  David H. Maister, Charles H Green and Robert M. Galford  end their discussion of the art of listening with a story.

In a criminal trial, the defense lawyer is cross examining a pathologist. Here is what happened:
Attorney: Before you signed death certificate had you taken pulse?
Coroner: No
Attorney: Did you listen to the heart?
Coroner: No.
Attorney: Did you check for breathing?
Coroner: No.
Attorney: So, when you signed death certificate, you weren’t really sure the man was dead, were you?
Coroner: Well, let me put it this way. The man’s brain was sitting in a jar on my desk. But, I guess it’s possible he could be out there practicing law somewhere.
How many times have you made an assumption without reading an entire document, or before your client finished telling you the story? I know I have done it. Like many of you, I wanted my client to  know how how smart and experienced I was, having handled another matter just like the one he was describing. Next time you are tempted to do it, slow down and think about Dustin Johnson.
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Are You and Your Firm Focusing on the Right Potential Clients

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Cordell Parvin

Over the past year during the down economy, two of the most popular questions I have received are:

  1. What kind of clients should I be going after?
  2. What can I do if my clients and potential clients think our rates are too high?

Other than the obvious answer: "Go after clients who need legal work and can afford to pay for it," how would you answer the first question?

To me the answer is obvious, go after clients in industries that are growing. There are a variety of places to look to see what industries are growing. One place is Fortune's Top Industries, Fast Growers. As you will see, fast growing in revenue are companies focused on energy, food and healthcare. I am not even sure you need Fortune to tell you that. What is your game plan to become visible and credible to clients in those sectors.

If clients are balking at paying your rates, the first thing to analyze is whether the type of work you are doing is routine or commodity work. If it is your clients are going to send it to the least expensive lawyers. Before long that work will be subcontracted out to lawyers in India. You want to do work that is not routine and requires you to see things your competitors do not see. You also want to focus on being more than your clients' lawyer. To use the book title, you want to be their Trusted Advisor.

So, what is you doing and what is your firm doing to attract business from the fastest growing industries. What are you doing to rid yourself of routine commodity work that is driven by low rates and make yourself more valuable to clients?

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