Layoffs in the legal profession have been in the news lately, but downsizing from the top? More experienced attorneys, even senior partners in some larger law firms are not as secure in their jobs as they once were in what may be more signs of practicing law as a business. Law.com bloggers and co-hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams welcome Ed Poll, a recognized expert and author in law practice management and Stephen E. Seckler, president of Seckler Legal Consulting, to discuss the new benchmarks the legal profession is seeing in job performance and what The Business of Law may look like in the future.
NEW ONLINE FORUM LAUNCHES FOR LEGAL PROFESSIONALS
Ed Poll Unveils LawBiz® Forum as New Online Community
VENICE, CA MAY 5, 2009 – Nationally recognized law firm management expert Ed Poll, JD, MBA, CMC, announced today the launch of www.LawBizForum.com, an online destination for lawyers, sole practitioners, partners, managing partners, of-counsel and in-house counsel, and others who are members of the legal community providing services to the American people.
LawBiz® Forum will promote discussion about issues that enable lawyers to more effectively and efficiently deliver their services to their clients, such as management, marketing, technology and finance, and others. LawBiz® Forum is a place where the legal community can exchange ideas and techniques in order to improve the personal and professional lives of its members.
“Law is an honorable profession. Only lawyers are given the unique responsibility in the United States Constitution to help those accused of a crime, a fundamental right guaranteed to all citizens,” remarks Poll. “This helping, caring nature of the legal community sometimes is forgotten by the psychological, social, and economic pressures facing lawyers, and I created this forum so that we can care for each other.”
LawBiz® Forum will have several levels of membership. All visitors to the site can review the discussions at no cost. However, members will be able to contribute to the discussions, participate in exclusive webinars, and have online access to Poll’s books and audio products.
In addition to LawBiz® Forum, Ed has a popular YouTube Channel and has also started to use Twitter as a way to reach out to the cyber sphere.
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About Ed Poll
Ed Poll, J.D., M.B.A., CMC, is a nationally recognized expert in law practice management. He helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability consulting with them on issues of internal operations, business development, and financial matters. Poll brings his clients a solid background in both law and business. He has 25 years experience as a practicing attorney and has also served as CEO and COO for several manufacturing businesses. In 1990, he founded LawBiz® Management Company and is now focused on coaching lawyers, speaking, and writing.
In today’s economic world, marketing is more important than ever. The people who are bringing in business are the ones who are out there courting it. That’s why I am happy to share with you a special opportunity. For the next 48 hours only, my colleague Paula Black is offering a collection of FREE bonus gifts to anyone who purchases her latest book: “The Little Black Book: A Lawyer’s Guide To Creating A Marketing Habit in 21 Days.”
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Take a look at today’s WSJ in the Personal Journal section … talks about our personal critic … our worst enemy … and suggests that challenges to our self-esteem are so devastating to our well-being. This may be one of the most important lessons I’ve learned and re-learned … and continue to deal with … in recent years! I always knew it, but never put it in the right context before listening to my coach. Self-esteem goes beyond the bravado attributed to lawyers and that has been dubbed "arrogance" by those outside the legal community.
Just one of many benefits I’ve received over the last few years from being in my own business coaching program with someone I trust and have a high regard for.
Self-worth may be more important than any other attribute. It allows one to hold one’s head high, a very important angle for the human anatomy.
I competed in two events at the Senior Olympics held this week in Los Angeles. I previously reported my results. I’ve been thinking further about the process of the competition and came up with ideas about how the competition relates to my life, and the lives of many people in our profession. Below is how I see the Senior Olympics on the one hand and how they are a metaphor in real life. If you have other events in your life that you care to share, please write me.
I’ve just returned from a presentation by accountants on valuing a law practice. They talked about "excess earnings," "discounted cash flow," and "market value." They essentially discussed the valuation of a law practice from the perspective of the divorce court which fails to recognize market value as an appropriate standard of valuation, ostensibly because they can’t find enough data points to make the information reliable.
However, with all due respect to the courts (and the accountants who parroted the courts’ standards, the reality is that the courts will use any logic (or lack thereof) to "do equity" as between the two spouses before the court. That does not reflect market reality.
In my experience, every law practice has value … what it may be is a subject of further discussion, but it has value! And to use formulae that are created to perpetuate a fiction does an injustice to the lawyers who have spent a full career building their goodwill and now want to retire and realize benefits from that goodwill … We are not in the divorce court!
In an interview for Lawyer2Lawyer I discussed the current trend in law firms to review their business model and their entire operation. They’re taking the opportunity to cut back where appropriate because their revenues are declining … and they are reducing their highest expense — senior lawyers.
Don’t waste a good crisis is the new mantra.
Wilmer Hale, a major law firm, recently announced that they have told a number of lawyers to look for other employment come the Fall. But, they have also done something that I have not heard anyone else do. At the same time they revised the standards to remain with the firm, they also are offering those impacted the opportunity to learn new skills that will give them the chance to meet the new standards.
While some may think their action is age discrimination, I believe it is o.k. to change the law firm modelprovided you also offer education and training programs to those involved so they can meet the new standards.
For me, a comparative situation might involve a secretary who has been employed by the firm for a long time. The secretary is proficient in dictation. Now, the firm believes that dictation is not the most efficient method to convert a lawyer’s thoughts to paper. So, the firm converts to a new technology, making the secretary’s skills obsolete. Rather than fire the secretary, though, the firm offers the secretary education programs to enable her/him to learn the new technology. If the secretary fails or refuses to learn and utilize the new technology, I believe there is no requirement to retain the secretary on staff.
Thus, with lawyers. Many were made partners because they had large billable hours, because they were good "minders" of clients despite the fact that they were not "finders" or rainmakers. Today, rainmaking has become a significant attribute that is important for partners to have. Those who don’t become expendable.
While painful for many, I do believe it is not inappropriate for the firm to ask this of its lawyers.
With the technology available today, many people prefer to have their accounts paid automatically from their bank account. Charges such as telephone bills are processed directly to one’s bank account and then paid by the bank, oftentimes without the knowledge of the customer unless he/she reviews the account on line.
Today I read about a real nightmare in the L.A. Times. Verizon charged one customer for his cell phone bill, a charge just under $10,000. The bank said it normally doesn’t pay bills where there would be an overdraft; but when the vendor bills the account three times, the online bill pay system honors the third attempt and the customer is charged for the overdraft.
In this case, the bill was in error. The customer did not incur the charge. It was an error. And neither Verison nor Bank of America would reverse the entries without great effort and much consternation by the customer.
That is a perfect template for disaster! And the reason that this technology is one that I choose to avoid. I choose to retain control over my banking relations and vendor payments. This part of technology still frightens me.
Have you had any experience with such technology miscues?
Just returned from the 10K … can’t believe I did it … yesterday’s 5K was 10:03 minutes; today’s 10K was 19:57 minutes… Today equalled two 5Ks, back to back. And my time for the first half of today’s ride was 6 seconds faster than the time from yesterday … With my average speed for twice the distance today being the same 18.4/18.5 mph. Verry good for me…
So, I did better than I’ve ever done. I wasn’t first, but I wasn’t last. I was 8th out of 9 in yesterday’s competition … a bummer … but then I was ahead of thousands who didn’t even show up …
I competed in two events at the Senior Olympics held this week in Los Angeles. I previously reported my results. I’ve been thinking further about the process of the competition and came up with ideas about how the competition relates to my life, and the lives of many people in our profession. Below is how I see the Senior Olympics on the one hand and how they are a metaphor in real life. If you have other events in your life that you care to share, please write me.