“A carriage builder in an automobile world.”
That’s how one staff person described his boss, an attorney not willing to become an effective marketer, but yet believes he’s entitled to receive the same level of business that he has for years. He doesn’t understand that the world is changing, that practice areas once popular are no more and that he has to adapt or be swept out of the practice.
Association of Corporate Counsel is workingon a "Value Challenge Index." Susan Hacktt, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for ACC, talked about the Index before the Los Angeles chapter of Legal Marketing Association today.
Susan made several significant points. One concerned the traditional allocation of revenue: 1/3 for overhead, 1/3 for associate compensation and 1/3 for partner income. The net result is that 2/3 of the revenue received by law firms is funneled toward attorney compensation.
Susan suggested that General Counsel, as lawyers, understand this formula and are therefore more resistant to outside counsel increasing billing rates. Lawyers wanting to earn more to move up in the AmLaw PPP (profit per partner) ranking isn’t sufficient reason for the corporate client to pay more. And the rationale that expenses have increased is also not well received … 1/3 of the firm’s expenses may have increased somewhat, but the more sophisticated clients believe that the primary factor for increased expenses is increased associates’ compensation. Since associates’ contribution to the law firms’ delivered value is suspect, clients are reluctant to pay increased rates. In fact, some clients refuse to pay for any first year associates’ work on their matters.
Here’s a story sent to me by a friend. The moral is that we need to be more careful in how we use our "toys."
A car was broken into while the family was at a football match. The car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. A garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard were among the items stolen from the car.
When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.
The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.
Darryl Cross is the Vice President of Client Profitability for LexisNexis. In this position, he reviews the marketing efforts of many lawyers and law firms. After all, it’s marketing… and selling… that creates the revenue from which profitability will result. Darryl discusses with Ed the differences between marketing and selling… and why lawyers either fear or hate to sell their professional services. Darryl and Ed also discuss several easy ways in which reluctant lawyers can be more effective and thus thrive in this downturned economy.
22 minutes, 24 seconds
5.3MB
West LegalEdcenter will host a one hour teleseminar on Selected Aspects of the Economics of Law Practice in today’s chaotic environment. Ed Poll will be your host. I hope to "see" you there.
I came from an immigrant family as many people in my generation did, and still do. Growing up, my parents were involved in the labor movement and unemployment insurance was a big deal. In today’s context, unemployment insurance s hardly significant. But, don’t tell that to the many who are seeking this benefit and can’t crash through the long lines and busy telephone lines.
NPR did a piece today on what unemployment insurance is today and what it means.
Here are some statistics that I find fascinating, and which I did not previously appreciate. There are about 10 million unemployed workers, about half of them being in only eight states including California, Florida, Michigan and New York. There are millions more who don’t even qualify because they were self-employed or have been out of work too long … they sort of get lost in the system.
When technology companies need to hire a business development person, they’re really off the chart in success or they are scrambling to survive. Twitter says it’s doing very well and has many partnering offers to evaluate … and they need some to do that. They’ve hired a "business development" wiz … someone who has been using their service for almost a year.
Go Twitter. I have yet to follow, but hope to be there soon.
For those who don’t yet subscribe by RSS feed or direct e-mail, our current edition of LawBiz® Tips for this week is now posted.
Some time ago, I wrote that lawyers have seasons in their practices. Today, I received a note from Lawyers Weekly USA in which they confirm that family law lawyers are saying that January is proving to be a boon month. While spouses didn’t file for divorce in December because of the children and holidays, January is a different story … and the stresses caused by the holidays are just too much to handle any longer. So, they file for divorce.
Bankruptcy lawyers may be facing a bonanza that goes beyond a month, or even a year, if our current crises are not resolved soon.
And on down the list. Each practice area has its own time of year. You’ve got to be sensitive to it and plan accordingly, both for your financial stability as well as your marketing efforts.
Stephanie L. Kimbro is an attorney in Wilmington, NC. She talks about the virtual law office and her role as a “virtual” attorney. This is different than a virtual assistant. Listen and learn how you can adopt some of the aspects of the virtual law office in your practice during these tough economic times.
22 minutes, 32 seconds
5.3MB