Articles

Your Price is Too High

Many folks are complaining about the high price demanded by lawyers. It was reflected in an article in the Wall Street Journal a few months ago and, more recently, by a few corporate counsel in suggesting that they will “fire” their outside counsel because of their hourly rates.

In its December 6th edition, the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal highlighted California’s “Top Neutrals.”  I read the supplement with great interest … and was struck by the very high prices demanded/commanded by these triers of fact. From a low of $400 per hour to the upper reaches of $12,000 per day, I don’t hear the complaints against these rates!

Years ago, our system of independent neutrals developed because of changes in the judiciary’s retirement system causing economic pain to judges who remained on the bench, I lamented the separation of the rich and poor … The poor folks had their matters heard by the judiciary, paid by taxpayers. The rich had their matters heard more quickly by independent neutrals, paid by the parties. Independent neutrals who work full-time earn far more than judges.

Our system of justice suffers when economics plays such a dominant role in the determination of disputes, when the poor receive different treatment than the rich. It’s bad enough when the rich can afford to gather a “dream team” for the assertion of their claims; but, it’s outrageous when economics can determine who will be the trier of the facts.


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You must supervise your staff

As a follow up to our last posting, see item #2 therein, about the need to supervise both your staff and all attorneys in your firm.  This is a requirement that is being studied with greater intensity by the Bar throughout the country.

In furtherance of this issue, you may want to see Carolyn Elefant’s commentary about a contract attorney who is being prosecuted by the Illinois Bar for overcharging.

My question takes a slightly different perspective:  Why wasn’t the large law firm charged with breach of rules of professional conduct that require adequate supervision?  Why only the contract attorney who overbilled?  If the contract lawyer overbilled, the “supervising” attorney in the larger law firm is equally responsible as though the contract lawyer were in the same law firm, on the same payroll. After all, it is this latter principle that allows the larger law firm to bill at their normal hourly rate rather than at its cost for engaging the contract lawyer.


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The death of a satirist – and more

Bill Strauss, the creator of Capitol Steps died at the young age of 60 years. Not only was he and his troop fabulous satirists, Bill was also an author who focused on generational differences.  I first was introduced to the Capitol Steps at an ABA gathering in Washington, D.C. I couldn’t remember when I had laughed so hard.

Without knowing his connection to the Capitol Steps, I invited him to be a keynote speaker at my Managing Partners Roundtable’s Diversity Conference in 2006. During his presentation, he talked about his theory of “5 generations.” Paraphrasing him, he said that every 4 (5?) generations repeats itself. The first generation creates a new world, the 2nd generation sustains this new world, the 3rd generation enhances or expands or grows the world, the 4th generation destroys the world and the 5th generation starts with a new world again.  While my paraphrase clearly does not do Bill Strauss’ comments justice, the concept of “history repeating itself” is important. Bill said that one can trace and support this theory merely by looking at the history of the world.

With his theory, he drew certain conclusions about the differences among today’s generations, what we call the generation gap. His comments resonated well with the managing partners, the partners and the younger associates in our audience of more than 200 lawyers.

With increasing longevity, and therefore more generations co-existing than ever before, it’s essential that we understand these issues if we’re to cooperate and continue to grow as a society. With his death, we have lost an important contributor to this conversation.


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Getting Paid to Complete the Cycle

The business cycle of practicing law includes getting the client, doing the work and, finally, getting paid.

David Leffler, in GPSolo Magazine (Oct/Nov 2007) suggests that there are five stages to paying a lawyer’s bill:

1.    Denial – Client says this couldn’t be my bill, the charges are too high.
2.    Anger –  Client says lawyers are way too expensive for what they achieve.
3.    Bargaining – Client seeks to negotiate a reduced fee with the lawyer.
4.    Depression – Client doesn’t contact you and is unavailble for your calls.
5.    Acceptance – When Client sends you a check that clears the bank.

David talks about the importance of the beginning of the lawyer-client relationship. I agree. The intake process is what essentially sets the tone of the relationship. In my opinion, your success in the intake process at the beginning will determine your success in collecting your fee at the end.

For more about suggestions about lawyers’ collections efforts, see my book.


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Succession planning is essential to success

What do we mean by success?

In my mind, whether your law firm can survive the departure of the firm’s leader is a critical element of success. The “leader” may be the primary rainmaker, the managing partner or the sole practitioner who has built significant goodwill over his/her years of practice.

One study shows that “…only about one-half of public and private corporate boards have CEO-succession plans…” Even fewer law firms have succession plans.

Stephen Miles, managing partner of a leadership consulting practice, said “‘Succession planning is often done looking at the rear-view mirror … when it should be done looking out the front windshield.’” (WSJ, page B1, November 26, 2007)

When writing Disaster Preparedness & Recovery Planning for Law Firms, the executive directors in our group realized that our focus was on business continuity, not just recovery. And continuity requires succession planning … In one event, the succession will come naturally by aging; and in another event, the succession will come suddenly, without warning! Will you be prepared in either event to continue your law firm into the next generation of leadership?


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How to Stay Away From The State Bar

In a recent interview, Scott Drexel, Chief Trial Counsel for The State Bar of California, made the following suggestions to stay away from trouble with The State Bar:

1.    Know the rules of professional conduct of your State. For example, in California, whenever there is a complaint against an attorney, he/she has a duty to cooperate with the investigating body. To me, this sounds like a violation of one’s Fifth Amendment rights; but, failure to cooperate is analogous “obstruction of justice” and is a separate violation of the rules.  Also, settling a malpractice action cannot contain a provision for withdrawal of a State Bar complaint without becoming a separate complaint by itself.  I think many attorneys would fail the quiz if these questions were on it.

2.    Supervise your staff. Failure to supervise your staff properly has become a major issue in California. Too often, staff is deemed to have “practiced law” by their actions – a clear violation of the rules.

3.    Create a law practice management plan. More than 50% of all complaints against attorneys have a connection to the management of the office. Failure to pay attention to The Business of Law® will cause much grief for the lawyer.

4.    Communicate!  Failure to respond to clients is still the number one complaint against lawyers. A 1994 Oregon Bar study showed that confidence in one’s lawyer as evidenced by their responsiveness is more important than the results achieved. Sounds like a good bed-side manner covers many ills.

5.    Don’t delegate. Contrary to the rule of delegating authority to perform tasks, one cannot delegate responsibility for your office, including trust accounts. Embezzlement occurs all too often because the lawyer failed to retain control. Despite the criminal action of a staff person, it is the lawyer who will be disciplined by the Bar, it is the lawyer who must make restitution, and it is the lawyer whose reputation will be sullied. From my perspective, this is a very sad way to end one’s career; it can be an economically disastrous way to end one’s career as well.

These are 5 lessons that should be learned well by every lawyer, irrespective of one’s State.


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Retirement: Is this the new four letter word?

According to a recent study by Altman Weil, Inc., the closer to retirement a lawyer gets, the more likely he/she is to oppose mandatory retirement ages. Interviews with a number of aging lawyers suggests that they don’t want to retire, but they do want to work only part-time and they no longer (if they ever did) want to be responsible for rainmaking.
(more…)


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Ed Interviews Andy Birol, business growth consultant and author of The Five Catalysts of Seven Figure Growth

Andy Birol is a business growth consultant and author of The Five Catalysts of Seven Figure Growth (CareerPress, 2006); he has advised over 350 business owners and is an expert contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Week, among others. He discusses how attorneys can best impact the business clients they advise and how the attorney can best work together with the client’s team of consultants and other experts.

16 minutes, 57 seconds
4.0MB


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