Legal Business People

The challenges of change in managing lawyer careers

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:30:00 -0400

Our firm is currently advising several law firms about improvements to their career management policies and procedures. In some legal markets this has become a very important strategic issue - not just one of internal human resources management. In order to make the improvements that are necessary to remain competitive in the market for legal talent, some law firms are discovering that a modern approach to lawyer career management might require some significant changes.

My partner, Lisa Walker Johnson, points out five important - and sometimes very difficult - questions that law firm partners should ask when considering changes to their career management

Women stunt their careers - unintentionally.

mcmurray@contentpilot.net (Deborah McMurray) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:04:00 -0400

(Comments on a post from HBR Blog Network)

Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath and Mary Davis Holt start their HBR Blog post like this:

"Having combed through more than a thousand 360-degree performance assessments conducted in recent years, we've found, by a wide margin that the primary criticism men have about their female colleagues is that the women they work with seem to exhibit low self-confidence."

(The emphasis is mine.)

They

Steve Jobs tribute - "The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

mcmurray@contentpilot.net (Deborah McMurray) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:53:00 -0400

I can't imagine any world leader today who will have at his or her death more news coverage or outpouring of grief by the masses in the world as Steve Jobs. The ubiquitous, yet iconic nature of Apple products has infiltrated the world of more men, women and children than anyone in my generation. The portable devices that we carry, the iPods, iPhones and iPads are universal, yet they have never become common. They have never lost their cool.

Take 15 minutes with your morning cup of coffee and listen to Steve Jobs' commencement speech to the 2005 Stanford University graduating class. To give you a taste of what you'll hear, here are three of my favorite quotes:

He said, "Do what you love. . . The only way to do great work is to love what you do."
"Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there."
And, in reverently

What’s the end game?

mark.s.smith@lexisnexis.co.uk (Mark Smith) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:50:00 -0400

I was with a group of law firm partners from different City firms this week, listening to them discuss a case study about super-profitable US law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Aside from their phenomenally successful business model and profitability (with the Amlaw100 reporting profit per partner of over $4m), one of the points that provoked most discussion was the idea that many of the partners would retire from the firm in their early forties.

One response from the group was "that's just coming into your lawyering prime", which really got me thinking about careers in the legal

The Joy Of Secs (secondments)

mark.s.smith@lexisnexis.co.uk (Mark Smith) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:18:00 -0400

I've been hanging out with a lot of in-house counsel recently, and one thing's clear.

They love their secondees.

Really love them.

Whether it's a GC who is relying on a specialist skill set that he or she can't quite find the budget to recruit, a mid-level corporate counsel who is working with a junior lawyer from private practice who helps with the "heavy lifting" on a big deal, or a small in-house team that find having a secondee gives them much broader access to their external law firm's resources than their usual interaction - the sentiment is unanimous.

For law firms, secondments offer some incredible benefits too. Time and time again, clients

Lawyer with a video game addiction

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:46:00 -0400

I just received the monthly newsletter of the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board.

Not Fun and Games: Lawyer with Video Game Addiction Suspended

This month's most interesting disciplinary decision is the case of Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Matthew J. Eshelman. By order dated August 17, 2011, Eshelman was suspended for three years by the Supreme Court, after the Disciplinary Board found that he had committed misconduct, much of it in the nature of neglect and failure to discharge various ethical duties, in seventeen cases.

The Respondent testified that he had for more

Law Firm Management Ideas | The Benevolent Dictator

jln@lawgravity.com (Jayne Navarre) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:12:00 -0400

Listening to a law firm administrator explain how he handles internally sensitive issues at his law firm over a business dinner one evening, I remarked, "You're a benevolent dictator! Sounds like it's working for you! Management by consensus may be an easier path, but it is a sure path to confusion, or worse, inaction, right?" He agreed, but added that it wasn't for the weak of heart because it did not come easy. A few days later I was contacted by book publicist Kevin Small, requesting a review of an advance copy of a new book, The Benevolent Dictator, by Michael Feuer, co-founder of OfficeMax and founder of Max-Wellness. What a coincidence! I eagerly agreed and dove into the book with relish, hoping to glean some nuggets to be passed along to my clients and colleagues in the legal profession. I was not disappointed. I hope you'll

Life after managing partner

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:48:00 -0400

The Lawyer reported this morning that Mark Walker, until recently the managing partner of Cleary Gottlieb in New York, has moved to Paris and into the world of finance as a senior advisor to the global sovereign advisory group at Lazard.

One of the subtle flaws in many law firm governance schemes is the absence of policies and management structures that facilitate a managing partner's return to full-time practice or a transition to a new career.

Sometimes the end of a managing partner's term of office can create a crisis with financial, governance, and leadership implications for the continued success of the firm. Midsize law firms appear to be the most vulnerable, although the transition can be difficult for small and large firms, as well.

This is one of the principal reasons, although not

After the honeymoon

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:45:00 -0400

What happens when things don't work out after a merger as well as the partners had hoped?

There are almost always some rough spots after any merger of two businesses. However, these can be become life-threatening for recently merged law firms, which, like most law firms, typically have lower tolerance for unexpectedly poor financial performance.

There is an interesting piece by James Swift in the current on-line edition of The Lawyer about the financial ups and downs in the first year after the combination of Denton Wilde Sapte and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal into SNR Denton.

In my opinion, the combination (the two firms joined as a Swiss Verein, rather than as a unitary entity) made reasonably good strategic sense for these

Law Firm Staff: Overlooked Marketers

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:38:00 -0400

Most employees of law firms are in a great position to help in the firm's business development efforts - or help damage them. A lot of that depends on how they are treated, how much that love or hate their job, and are otherwise engaged in the business of the law firm.

This is particularly true if a staff member has ANY contact with clients or prospective clients. And how many don't? It's pretty simple: if they are unhappy, they will NOT be nice to clients in the long haul. Linda Klein, a shareholder at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz writes in the current issue of Law Practice Today:

"It takes only one bad experience to jeopardize a client relationship or to ruin a firm's reputation. And it doesn't matter if that bad experience comes from an interaction with a lawyer or a staff member-your business is bound to feel the result."<

Business plans for gigantic canoes

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:05:00 -0400

For several months now, I and some of my colleagues in the Public and Professional Interest Division of the International Bar Association have been reviewing the business plans of the PPID committees and other entities. These groups range from very small task forces and working groups of fewer than 20 people up to the Law Firm Management Committee, with a membership in the thousands.

Like large law firms, the PPID offers an array of services to the profession and to the clients whom the legal profession ultimately serves. These include such diverse areas as corporate social responsibility, human

Aloof and clueless

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:56:00 -0400

The Economist's "Johnson" blog had an entertaining, and all too true, post several days ago: "Airlinese." It pokes fun at the awkward butchering of the English language on commercial airlines.

To some extent, I think that the blog's author is too kind. Airline jargon has become pretentious, pseudo-authoritative, and generally bewildering to the millions of passengers whose first language is not English and who were not raised in a police station.

Don't Fire Your Receptionist...

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:26:00 -0400

Fire the person who hired him or her. Over the years, I've told a few horror stories involving receptionists. Two that immediately come to mind, include: the cigarette dangling, shoeless one, and the one that told the caller to get lost.

It has always amazed me that businesses, including law firms, would be so careless when it comes to placing a major part

Just Being Social | by Jay Strother for Legal Management

jln@lawgravity.com (Jayne Navarre) — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:49:00 -0400

If you're looking for the latest "buzz" about social media ethics and professional responsibility for lawyers (and their employees), I highly recommend Jay Strother's article, Just Being Social, published in the March/April edition of Legal Management, a publication of the Association of Legal Administrators. In addition to offering an excellent primer on the issues, the article highlights the responses of legal marketing leaders and attorneys who share some terrific practical tips. This article would be of interest to anyone in law firm management, marketing, and human resources, as

Starting Young Pays Big Dividends: Increasing Business Development for Female Associates

hkeshet@keshetconsulting.com (Harry Keshet) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:31:00 -0400

This article was co-written by Janet Brichard, Transformation Management

Women associates who learn business development skills can become significant business generators as they hone their legal skills. Based on a study of 426 women attorneys, we find that 53% of survey participants report that one of the biggest obstacles for generating new business is their lack business development knowledge and skills. Their law firms failed to provide business development training.

The LSSO "women attorney business development study" directed by Harry Keshet as 426 women lawyer participants. This sample includes mostly (85%) full time attorneys working in firms ranging in size from very small to large global/national. Most (74%) are employed in global and/or national/regional firms. Slightly more respondents

Managing Partners -- who is your successor?

mcmurray@contentpilot.net (Deborah McMurray) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:41:00 -0400

KPMG's Audit Committee Insights for July 14, 2010 featured a Corporate Board Member article about CEO succession planning. A new research study of 140 public and private CEOs and boards in North America released by Heidrick & Struggles and Stanford's Rock Center revealed serious planning gaps when it comes to CEO succession. Here is a link to the Corporate Board Member article.

Career management plans: a good step forward, but…

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:34:00 -0400

Focus groups of more than 900 law firm associates, conducted by Walker Clark members worldwide, have consistently identified the availability of career planning as one of the most important factors that cause good associates to stay at their firm. Associates typically express this in terms such as:

I want to know what I need to do in order to become a partner in this firm someday.

I want to understand clearly what the firm expects of me in terms of performance.

On a parallel intellectual track, many law firm partners have never considered in depth the professional knowledge and business skills that every partner in the firm should display, nor how those requirements translate into observable and, in some cases, measurable behaviors. This is why, for some law firms, election of a new partner is more an act of faith, supported by hope and guesswork, rather than a well-informed business decision.

Many law firms have purchased "off-the-shelf" or

Lessons of Recession Could be Forgotten after Turn-around

refirmation@gmail.com (Building a Better Legal Profession) — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:53:00 -0400

Taking into account all of the trends and statistics of the new economy, there will be several imminent changes that will appreciably affect new legal careers. Most likely, firms will keep the billable hour, will move to merit-based compensation, and will likely continue to have minimal minority representation. Eventually the economy will improve and demand for legal services will increase as well. Firms will have more power to determine market prices for their service and will likely be able to resist efforts to move towards the fixed fee regime.

In response to these trends, associate hiring will improve, but not to the levels enjoyed in the 2000s. The great recession has made firms aware that the over leveraging of the past was unsustainable. Also, since some firms have adopted merit-based pay, this will become a popular method to reduce costs and to improve profits per partner. Due to the shift to merit-based pay, minorities will be winnowed out of firms

When It’s Too Late for Succession Planning

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:16:00 -0400

Business succession and generational transition are no longer just theoretical issues or problems to be deferred until sometime in the future. By our estimates, a majority of the law firms in the world - perhaps as many as 75% of them - are now or within the next ten years will be, confronting the need to pass leadership, management, and fee-producing responsibilities from the older generation of partners to the younger generation.

Moreover, they will be doing this for the first time.

These firms are past the point for succession planning. They need succession management.

As many of these firms are already discovering, succession in a law firm involves much more than redistributing the departing partner's files and filling an empty office. There are some subtle and very difficult issues that my colleagues and I have observed as otherwise well-managed firms deal with succession.

Should we have a mandatory retirement age?

Building Cross-Competency in Law Firms

nkclark@walkerclark.com (Norman Clark) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:00:00 -0400

Many law firms invest considerable time, effort, and resources in cross-training younger lawyers to work in more than one practice area. Cross-training is a worthwhile investment, but often a very costly one. This Green Paper outlines a new approach to cross training, which achieves well-defined, measurable results without the negative business impact that most law firms experience.

Overview of cross-competency development

"We know that we should cross-train our younger lawyers to work in a variety of practice specialties, but it's bad for our business." As we help law firms to improve lawyer performance, we frequently hear this observation.

Traditional cross-training is time-consuming and costly. It requires an investment of time and attention, on the part of trainer and trainee alike, to acquire specialized knowledge that may be used only infrequently during the lawyer's career with the firm. The firm also often loses current revenue

Law Firm Succession Planning

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:14:00 -0400

A recent article in the Journal of Accountancy offers timely succession planning insights for certified public accountants, which are equally relevant for attorneys who own their own practices. In "A 2009 Tuneup for Your Firm's Succession Planning", Dominic Cingoranelli writes: "The pending retirement of the baby boomer generation and the unrelenting challenge of finding and keeping talented staff can have grave consequences for firms that fail to develop a succession strategy." According to this article, the "American Institute of Certified Public Accountant's 2008 PCPA (Private Companies Practice Solution) Succession Survey" showed that only 35% of multi-owner firms had a written succession plan. In law firms, as well as in accounting firms, waiting until the senior owner leaves to decide on a succession strategy, on firm control, and on governance is a bad idea. As a best practice, your law firm should be proactive about the retirement

Moneyball Indeed!

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:08:00 -0400

Research by Kerma Partners and the Redwood Think Tank shows that incorporating "success factors" into law firm recruiting can have a big impact on firm profits.

Read full article authored by James Bergin and Ron Paquette.

Integration, Training & Professional Development

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:36:00 -0400

Employers have an enormous stake in the transition from law school to law practice. If personnel costs are the firm's largest expense, and people are its most important assets, it is good business to make every effort to protect such valuable assets. Too often new associates are brought into a firm only to be shuffled through a quick administrative "sign in," then left high and dry at their desks to fend for themselves as work assignments begin to arrive. Instead of orientation, the associates begin a disorientation process.

New associates begin learning about and forming attitudes toward the firm starting with the first interviews. From the first day of employment, orientation, for better or for worse, begins. It makes good sense for the firm to realize this and to proceed to direct the process deliberately and competently from the beginning.

[2] Pre-Arrival

Whether the offer has been extended by phone or face to face

Managing Partner Performance

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:16:00 -0400

Now that 2009 has come to an end, law firms are breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward with hopes of a better year to come. As with any year-end, it is also time to dole out partner compensation, and many firms are hoping they were able to stem the lack of demand for legal services with cost-cutting measures to keep their profits per partner above an acceptable threshold. One interesting observation is that although many firms evaluated their employees and their performance relative to saving the bottom line, an in-depth view of partner performance was by and large ignored.

Read full article.

Double Check that e-mail Message Before You Hit Send!

PatakMay@placeholder.com (Terri Imbarlina Patak and Thomas H. May) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:32:00 -0400

Since the era of electronic mail began, computer users have been inadvertently hitting the wrong buttons (i.e., "Reply to All") when sending e-mail messages, often resulting in embarrassing - or even worse - consequences.

Recently a company in Idaho paid the price for such a mistake. In 2007, Kenneth Wold applied for a job with El Centro Financial Inc. through the company's online application process. The company's CEO received the application and wrote the following response which he intended to send via inter-office e-mail, "I don't know what I think. He must be old - and just looking for something to do." Unfortunately, the CEO failed to check the address box before he hit the send button and, instead of sending this to someone else in the company, he sent it to Mr. Wold by accident. When Wold was not hired, he concluded, based upon the e-mail message from the CEO, that his age was the reason. He then filed a claim of age discrimination against