Associates Must Be Profitable
Most associates don’t understand the concept of profitability. This week, Ed outlines what it means to be a profitable associate, and why that is important for not just your firm, but your career as a lawyer.
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Tag Archive: Management
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Resolve to get “there”
How do we get from here to there? Jim Collins, in his Good to Great, describes CEOs with many different styles, but all successfully leading their companies to the pinnacles of success. How do we do that for ourselves? Is wanting something enough? Is the intention to be great, to be successful, to be rich enough? Is imagining or visualizing the "there" enough?
I suspect not. First, we must identify where we are. Then we must honestly address what our current state or condition is. And finally, we must develop new approaches to deal with the troubling challenges we face. As Dr. Phil might say, in the popular vernacular, "How’s this working for you?" And if what you’re doing now isn’t working for you, you’ve got to change your pattern, your actions … and not merely wanting the change. You’ve first got to think it through and, then as my coach, Alan Weiss, might say, develop the "Resolve" to change.
Are you in a good employment situation, do you have a good law firm partnership, do you have the kind and number of clients you want? If not, what are you going to do to make the change you want? One approach might be to engage a coach to provide you with meaningful feedback.
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What is the lawyer’s responsibility for metadata?
Corey Stephenson of Lawyers Weekly USA wrote an article about the Oregon Bar’s position about metadata:
"If a lawyer receives a document and knows or reasonably should know that metadata was inadvertently included, the Oregon Rules of Professional Responsibility only require notice to the sender. The receiving lawyer is not required to return the document unread or to comply with a request by the sender to return the document, according to the opinion.
The Bar went on to say that the 2nd lawyer’s client should be consulted about whether the lawyer should read the document. "…. (G)iven that the decision affects a client’s objectives, lawyers should consult with the client about the risks and rewards of returning the document versus retaining and reading the document prior to making such a decision."
It was my understanding that a misguided "hard copy" needed to be returned, unopened, if the lawyer knew the document was mistakenly sent. It seems we are modifying the rules a bit with technology.
But, there was a more fascinating pronouncement. The opinion went on to say that lawyers may not utilize special software to reveal the metadata in a document. “Searching for metadata using special software when it is apparent that the sender has made reasonable efforts to remove the metadata may … constitute ‘conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.’" The comparison was made to surreptitiously entering the other lawyer’s office to obtain client information.
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Holiday cards – To do or not to do, that is the question
Jane’s comments about holiday cards vs email cards is are worth noting. It is a tough time of year for many with cards and gifts decisions to make … But, as my mother used to say, "… if you don’t remember me364 days of the year, forget me on my birthday!" In other words, the one day a year remembrance doesn’t do much, especially for busy people.
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Lawyers fees are capped
Wisconsin is in the news again. A lawyer, who promoted himself as the "king of lemon law," won a judgment for $12,500 against an auto dealership for unauthorized repairs and an award of attorney’s fees of $150,000. The Republican-controlled legislature was so incensed that they adopted a law (and signed by the governor) limiting attorney’s fees at three times the judgment. With such limitations, lawyers will be less likely to tackle consumer abuses, the obvious intent of the legislature.
Wisconsin, the historical bastion of progressive legislation and politicians, has certainly served up a strange mixture of bedfellows in the last couple of years. It makes for interesting reading … unless it’s your ax that is being gored. The real question is whether this is limited to the state of Wisconsin or a harbinger of things to come on the national level.
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Alternative law firm business model
From Lawyers USA, we learn that the American Bar’s Ethics Commission has recommended that states rules be changed to allow non-lawyers to own up to 25% of law firms.
Rules against lawyers sharing fees with non-lawyers might need to be loosened to allow U.S. firms to compete globally. The proposal says that any firm with non-lawyer owners must have “as its sole purpose providing legal services to clients.”
This is the foot in the door.The next thing you’ll see is Latham & Watkins, or other billion dollar law firm opening offices in Wal-Mart or Target stores for curbside service. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It will certainly bring the law to the people … And it will certainly change the perception of the law.
I’ve always maintained that the rules of professional conduct are controlled by the large firms, AmLaw 100 and 250. When their economic needs change, the rules get changed and the sole and small firm practitioners have to adapt accordingly. In other words, the rules are not made in a vacuum, not made because of their inherent righteousness or goodness. They change and are made to serve the economic interests of the few … oh, if the public is served, so much the better.
But if you’re a solo, watch out … your interests may not matter. Such has been the case in recent times when solos’ interests were not protected, in fact hurt, by changes in the rules .. But, here, to allow the larger firms to complete on a global scale, we see the rules begin to change and allow allied professions to join in the ownership of law firms, not merely as allied professionals independently serving the same client.
Economics control .. as always … even here in the rules of professional conduct.
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Is your website a “retailer” under ADA?
Target is. How long will it take for a law firm to be considered a "retailer"? Will size matter?
The Court, in the Target case said "… a retailer may be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind, stating that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits discrimination in the "enjoyment of goods, services, facilities or privileges… Until this ruling, commercial websites were not considered a place of accommodation and were assumed to not fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act…"
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Today’s law firms are struggling to pay for their 3 most importance expenses: labor, rent, and insurance. This week, Ed offers tips to help you manage your cash flow so that paying the bills doesn’t break the bank.
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Can an outsider make your firm more efficient & profitable?
Robert Denney, a well -known and very capable marketing consultant, reports in his monthly newsletter that: "… an outsider … joins DLA Piper as co-chair of the entire 4,200-lawyer firm. This is probably an unprecedented move, at least in BigLaw. Corporations frequently hire senior executives from outside the company – or even from outside their industry – but large law firms almost always elect partners to senior management positions. In most cases this means they have little senior management experience and must climb a steep learning curve…"
Perhaps the legal profession is approaching reality in letting lawyers do what they do best, lawyering, and leave the managing to professionals. Or, at the very least, engage a professional coach who has walked in their shoes (i.e., practiced law) and also has business experience. The idea of having a business professional at your side, or at least available by phone, works in industry and is beginning to work in the legal profession for mid-size firms as well as sole and small firm practitioners.
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Does your lateral partner have unfinished business?
Large firms, more than we care to know, have made news in the last couple of years by "going under," i.e., defunct! Firms such as Howrey and Heller Erhman became the targets of personnel raids. Very good lawyers from these, and similar, law firms departed and joined other major, national law firms. Today’s WSJ comments on the current state of affairs for some of AmLaw 100 law firms.
Some folks are asking whether your new lateral partner have any unwanted baggage? In some instances, the new firm accepted partners from the old firm with the understanding that the lawyer would bring over clients from the old firm as well as his "unfinished business." This provides for immediate billing .. and therefore an opportunity to acquire great talent at a very low or zero cost.
These firms, and others, have gone into bankruptcy to collect funds to pay the firms’ creditors. In a law firm, the major assets "walk out the door every evening. Computers, furniture and real estate are of minimum value, if any, in a law firm. Accounts receivable are a major asset, though often difficult to collect from clients when they know there will be little serious effort to collect.
But, when the partners from the old, now defunct, law firm went, they generally took "their" book of business with them … and the "unfinished business" of the clients that went with them. One argument is that clients have a right to seek their own choice of lawyer. And the other argument is that the partner and new law firm benefited, resulting in a profit to the new firm that truly belongs to the old firm.
This battle will be fought for years, I suspect. But, the reality of our world is that anyone can sue anyone else, even if wrong. In the meantime, the largest pool of cash available to the trustee in bankruptcy for the defunct firms is the new firm and, perhaps, the lawyers, individually, from the old firm. Whether legitimate or not, new firms have been economically compelled to settle many of such claims in order to go on with the new firm business.
The new firms thought they were getting a steal! Maybe. But, I’m reminded of the old say that "…if it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true." There is a cost to everything, even a very attractive, new lateral partner with great talent and a great book of business.
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