Make More Rain : marketing, firm culture

Is the "LendingTree" Mentality Stronger Than Building Relationships?

Admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:00:38 GMT

You may have seen the commercial: The banker bumps into his client who tells him that he is taking his business to LendingTree.com. The banker, surprised, says, "But we've been your bank for 20 years." To which the client replies, "Oh, since your bank is in the network, you get a chance to compete too. And, so you know, I am pulling for you." With a condescending slap on the arm, he finishes: "Good luck, buddy."

The idea, of course, is that the competing banks will give the client the lowest price and thus the best deal. Relationship means nothing. Is that truly representative of the way business works?

I don't think so. Any marketing professional will tell you that client development is nurturing and maintaining relationships. Without relationships, you can't hold on to business. However, there is no denying the rise in competition in gaining legal services based on price. The key, I believe, is to prove that the value of your firm is better than the value of another firm. How you do that will prove to be the difference between increasing your client base and losing opportunities.

Here are some ways that your firm can show value:

Showcase your talent. You have superior talent - make sure others know. Have attorneys write articles, speak at seminars, write blogs - market their talents to the widest audience.
Never Eat Alone. Attorneys should be entertaining clients and prospects whenever they are not doing billable work. Industry conventions, meetings, etc, should always have representatives of your firm in attendance.
Highlight your commitment to quality service. Take a page from value-billing firms: highlight in your bills the fact that calls were returned promptly, how much you saved the client, and how much you appreciate their business. Don't take their faith in you for granted.
Don't wait for your client to fire you. You don't want to be that banker. Don't wait for your client to tell you they are shopping. Conduct surveys and follow up - if a client has an issue, correct it and make sure the client knows you corrected it.
Justify your high fee. Don't devalue your services: JUSTIFY IT. Case studies, testimonials, high value cases, have them all available for clients to read. Don't be afraid to talk about your rates. Explain what goes into them. Many clients lament fees because they don't know what the dollar figure represents. Explain, with confidence, the investment you have in technology that gives your firm a competitive advantage to better represent them and helps contain costs so that you can be more efficient. Show how the investments you make have a direct effect on the quality of services you provide. Make sure they know what the fees represent: the culmination of dedication to the highest quality legal services by someone who cares about them personally and professionally.

What other ways can attorneys build and maintain relationships with clients so that they don't shop around for the lowest price?

Limited Law Firm Budget Produces a Winning Strategy

Admin — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:26:52 GMT

Ross Fishman is a smart marketing guy. I have mentioned him in several prior posts (for example, the posts Marketing 101 and Getting Agreement to Change).

Writing for the FrontLines section of the December issue of the Law Practice, Ross again demonstrates that there is magic in applied Marketing 101. Working with a 20-lawyer law firm in Salinas, California, Fishman turned a marketing problem into a winning business strategy. The problem was a limited marketing budget. Ross’ solution was to narrow the firm's marketing efforts to a single industry. In this case, the farming industry, which just happened to be the dominate industry for the area. All of the local law firms handled some agricultural clients, but no one had ever targeted the industry. With Fishman’s guidance, the Salina law firm did. Fishman turned a limited marketing budget into a winning business strategy—targeting a narrowly defined delimited market with a strategy to dominate it. For more on the benefits of such a strategy, see the prior post Importance of Market Position for Law Firms.

I don’t want to steal all of Fishman’s thunder. You can read the case study starting on page 8 of the December issue of Law Practice.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris®. For information about Juris products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income contact Juris National Sales Center:

877/377-3740, e-mail info@juris.com or go to www.Juris.com.

A Law Firm's Core Values Determines Partner Income

Admin — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:02:00 GMT

BDO Stoy Hayward and International Survey Research (ISR) teamed up to measure the relationship between core values and performance. The study is still ongoing according to an article in Managing Partner by Rupert Merson. Merson (rupert.merson@bdo.co.uk) is a partner in BDO and a Fellow of the London Business School.

While the project is still ongoing, Merson reports that the evidence indicates that firms who emphasize organization values, any values, outperform others. The stronger the emphasis, the better the firm performs and the more income partners take home.

The lesson to learn here is that it pays to invest time and effort in understanding the organization’s values that have developed over time. When making that determination, some leaders may not like what they find. Having determined the values that are currently influencing behavior within the organization, they are then in a position to support those in synch with the leadership and to change those that are not desirable. The objective should then be aligning the entire team behind a single set of core beliefs or values. That alignment is accomplished by continuous frequent communication and thorough training.

Morepartnerincome previously put it this way: “Firm partners need to get together and agree on what they are in agreement about." See the prior post What Law Firm Partners Need to Agree About or check out other posts in the folder Culture & Core Beliefs.

How significant is it for an organization to place emphasis on its core values? It’s big:

62 percent higher growth in fee income

Margin percentage is double

Partner income is 54 percent higher

Merson says, “All this naturally requires an investment in time and energy. Unsurprisingly, research also shows that the firms investing the most in core values also have training and development expense per employee, some 81 percent higher than firms less concerned with core values.”….”The results of this investment might also be startling—making it very difficult for another firm to copy and reinforce the competitive advantage.”

The study will go on to determine which values are more important than others. But from my view, the most important finding is that it is those law firms who have defined themselves internally and externally in terms of their collective values (core beliefs) that succeed best. It is the belief system that keeps an organization together in the best times and during disappointing times.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income contact Juris National Sales Center at 877/377-3740, e-mail info@juris.com or go to www.Juris.com.

Law Firm Clients Prefer Smiles

Admin — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:24:00 GMT

Finally we have an answer. Customers really do prefer to see some teeth! So says a study by Penn State and Ohio's Bowling Green State University.

Smiles not only increase client satisfaction, smiles make the person doing the smiling feel better. Or, to put it another way, people that feel good about themselves and what they are doing smile more. Smiling is contagious. The more you smile, the more the people around you smile. The more smiles there are, the better everyone feels.

This isn't just an interesting bit of trivia. It can make a business difference. When Juris, Inc. first opened its doors, we started with a team-wide planning session. One of the things we decided during that first planning session was that we wanted a team that liked its customers (law firms) and that was liked by those customers. We wanted to be those nice people from Juris. A twenty year tradition was born. During my tenure as President each new member of the Juris team received a piece of art upon joining the organization--a desk mirror handcrafted by a Seattle artisan. The mirror went next to their phone because people can hear you smiling over the phone. The mirrors reinforced our goal as an organization.

How people perceive you is important. What you project through your mannerisms is often what you get back from the person you are dealing with. People want to deal with people they like. They want to deal with people who improve their day. No one wants to share your cloud. No one wants to deal with people who are always raining on the parade.

Your firm's personality comes from its people. The firm's image should not be an accident. How you want the world to see your firm is a strategic issue. It is one that deserves to be communicated frequently by firm leaders as a business goal. That goal should also be reflected in your hiring and recruiting practices. To be a happy firm, start by hiring happy people.

It really does start at the top. Smiling really can give you and your firm a competitive edge.

Courage, Law Firms, Life, and the World

Admin — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:27:11 GMT

Courage is defined as the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear. It would be far more appropriate to say “the act of facing difficulty, danger, pain, etc, in the face of fear.” And there isn’t enough of it around. But it is an essential quality of leadership.

When advising a young lady who had just been promoted to an important management position several years ago, I told her that she needed to pick three to five principles to which she should unwaveringly adhere. The second piece of advice was more important. I told her, the minute those principles were understood by others, some people would began an all-out effort to get her to compromise those principles. For some, it is merely their way of testing you. Are your principles really entrenched, or are they like the Pirate’s code, more guidelines than actual code? There will be others with lesser minds who nevertheless consider themselves intellectually superior. For those, the concept of absolutes, standards, and right and wrong are an anathema. Against such an onslaught, it takes courage to stick to what is right—your beliefs.

Davis Maister talks about Passion, People, and Principles. Passion, people, and principles are the ingredients that make a successful law firm. Numbers and metrics are simply the measuring stick. It takes people with a passion (a common sense of direction) guided by a common set of principles (core beliefs and culture) to make something great.

It takes courage to maintain those principles against the efforts of those who don’t want absolutes. For them, each situation, each event, and each decision can be dealt with intellectually without the constraints of principles or the absolutes of right and wrong. Such relativism can show an absence of courage—a way of subconsciously or consciously rationalizing our actions and inactions to avoid dangers that we fear. In business, those dangers can be the possible loss of clients or the fear of confronting others about their unacceptable behavior or performance. In both our personal and professional lives, peer pressure can lead to compromised principles. Going along with the crowd—doing what is politically correct, intellectually in, what the cool people do, what smart people think, etc.—is motivated by the fear of not being accepted. Without ample courage, we compromise our principles a little here and a little there. With enough compromise, the moral compass is lost altogether.

Even greater courage is required on the world stage. The dangers can be deadly, and thus, fears are far more real. Sometimes courage is all that stands between civilization and madness. It takes courage to say that some things are not acceptable. Consider the recent reaction to the Pope’s remarks about Islam or the similar reaction to cartoons offensive to Muslims. Those reactions are not acceptable, period. There is no gray area here. It doesn’t matter if you are Christian, Jew, or Muslim. It doesn’t matter if you are a young black man or an angry white man. It is not acceptable to riot, destroy property, and murder people because you are offended.It isn’t acceptable. It makes no difference what was said or what was drawn. Why don’t we hear more people saying that? Where is courage?

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.

Attorneys Should Never Underestimate the Power of a Favor

Admin — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 17:27:52 GMT

I was drawn to Robert Cialdini’s book INFLUENCE: The Psychology of Persuasion by an article in the August 2006 Harvard Management Update by Martha Craumer

Look for advice about rainmaking and the experts will let you know it is about relationship building. Ask how to build relationships and they will tell you it is about giving. That is often described as being of value to others. Robert Cialdini puts it in even simpler terms. Doing something for someone gives you power and influence over them. Craumer directs us to “Do a favor—even a small one”.

In her article, Craumer reports that Cialdini’s research shows that the size of the initial favor has little bearing on the size of the favor we feel obliged to perform in return. Further, she notes that “the study shows that in spite of the uneven quid pro quo, we also seem unable to refuse the favors of others.”

A favor is a powerful influencing tool, one easy for the influencer to exploit. The exploitive power of a favor comes from what Cialdini calls the reciprocity rule—the obligation (or propensity) to receive in combination with the obligation (or propensity) to repay.

Martha Craumer’s article is about management and leadership—tactics for getting your point across subtly when traditional direct approaches do not work. The practice of doing favors (doing something for others) is a rewarding habit to develop.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.

Law Firm Rainmaking via Phone

Admin — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:29:00 GMT

Joey Asher, the author of Selling & Communication Skills for Lawyers, writes about the effectiveness of a telephone call to generate business in the March issue of The American Lawyer. In “Cold Calling for Lawyers” Asher notes, “Businesspeople have long known the telephone is the most powerful business development tool ever invented. Nothing more effectively puts you in contact with people who can hire you.”

Asher isn’t suggesting that lawyers become telephone direct marketers. In fact, he doesn’t want you to ask for the prospect’s business. The key is to use the phone to begin a relationship. Asher recommends that you devote two hours each week to prospecting by phone. What are some of the reasons to call?

Extend an invitation to lunch
Invite to serve on a panel
Interview for an article you’re writing
Ask if they would like to receive the firm’s newsletter
Invite to a presentation
Invitation to a social event
Invitation to join an association
Offer to send a memo on an issue that should be of interest

Use your imagination. And use the phone to begin relationships that may untimately lead to new business for the law firm. Asher concludes“Cold-Calling For Lawyers” by saying, “These calls start professional relationships……stay in touch with your prospects, and you’ll get plenty of business.”

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.

Law Firm Marketing Pros in Midsized Firms

Admin — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:20:31 GMT

The Institute of Management & Administration, Inc. (IOMA) surveys law firm leaders each year to gain insights on their trials and triumphs. The information gleaned from the most recent survey has been published as IOMA’s Law Firm Practice Management Reference Guide 2005-2006.

A light went off when I read key survey results involving marketing. Marketing professions are on the increase in midsized firms. Nationally, 35% of all firms surveyed employ a full-time marketing professional. What was remarkable and eye opening for me was the role those professionals were playing. It is not the traditional marketing role you find in the corporate world.

As reported in the survey, a large part of the marketing pro’s job involves internal communications within the firm. Chief marketing officers (CMOs) are devoting a significant portion of their efforts toward internal communications and team building within the firm. That is in apparent recognition that legal professionals play the front line sales and customer relation role in a law firm.

According to the IOMA publication: “Internal messaging helps to define a firm’s culture, values, and mission, serving as a critical ‘staging area’ for all outbound client-facing activities.” Communication within the firm via intranets, firm wide publications, seminars, brown-bag lunches and other vehicles creates ties that bind and, in turn, translates into stability, favorable public and client perception, and greater firm momentum.

Time and time again, the experts point to a culture (a core set of beliefs) as one of the key factors that regulates the relative success of a law firm. Until reading the IOMA’s report, I had not considered the CMO as a catalyst for unifying the law firm’s culture and developing a common sense of the firm brand and value proposition. Once the team has this, it becomes contagious, spreading to the client and prospects of the law firm. Once the team is meeting and communicating, cross-selling follows. Once the team understands and values firm wide resources, they are positioned to wave the flag and communicate firm capabilities to prospects.

I would expect the CMO to then kick it up another notch by introducing individualized attorney marketing plans with associated measurement and accountability.

For a law firm’s CMO it is not all about pretty brochures, tombstone ads and direct mail announcements. It’s about educating and mobilizing the troops. It is about planning, setting goals, measuring, rewarding and holding accountable. With this job scope, adding marketing pro makes even more sense. A CMO that increases client retention, cross-selling, and the ability of the team to make new rain, will be a wise and profitable investment.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.

Law Firm Marketing Gone Wrong

Admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 19:26:15 GMT

Guest author: John Remsen, Jr., jremsen@theremsengroup.com.

After ten years of experience marketing legal services, I have developed some strong views on marketing gone wrong in most law firms. I’m not talking about bad marketing. I’m referring to the dollars being wasted on ineffective marketing—dollars that, if used wisely, would increase per-partner income rather than waste it. Here are my big ten money wasters.

#10 - Random Acts of Golf and Lunch

Playing golf with an endless array of acquaintances that don’t have the ability to hire or refer you is hardly an effective use of your marketing time.

#9 - The “Really Big Show”

Grand events lack the well-aimed focus and relationship-building environment that leads to a continuing conversation (follow-up) with new business prospects.

#8 –One-Shot Wonders

Seminars, opens houses, holiday parties and the like buy the firm little or nothing unless they are part of a marketing continuum. All the marketing events should be part of a planned and coordinated market plan integrated with personal follow-up that “continues the conversation” with clients and prospects. Without the personal follow-up, you should keep the money.

#7 – Brochures and Newsletters That Cure Insomnia

Who wants to read mind-numbing tomes about the history of your firm and its 14 practice areas? Not me, and not your prospective clients either. Keep the copy concise and easy-to-read. Use bullet points whenever possible. Hire a talented graphic designer who will produce sharp, attention-grabbing marketing material.

#6 – Invisible Advertising

Traditional “tombstone” ads and “one-time” ads in a newspaper or magazine are practically worthless. Studies show that it takes 7-11 impressions before somebody will recall seeing your ad. Consistency and frequency are essential.

#5 - Holiday Chochkes

The holidays are far too busy a time for your cards, parties, and gifts to be fully appreciated.

#4 – Directories, Directories and More Directories!

Most have little marketing value. Decision-makers simply don’t use them. The Bottom Line: With the exception of a few directories, such as LawOffice.com, Martindale-Hubbell and Best’s (for insurance defense counsel), hold on to your cash.

#3 – Vanity Letterhead

Most firms have abandoned the practice of listing every lawyer’s name on the masthead, and yours should, too. Consider adding a snappy firm logo and/or a splash of color. Those that continue the practice toss out more letterhead than they use as each expensive printing becomes outdated.

#2 - PPPPs (Powerful Partner’s Pet Projects)

Those tables purchased at the partner’s favorite charity or social event are rarely budgeted and are hardly ever consistent with firm-wide marketing objectives. They tend to consume vast quantities of money and staff time.

#1 – Consultants Who Don’t Know—About Law Firms

It takes someone who’s been there to make it happen. If you decide to hire a consultant, hire somebody who has a successful track record working with law firms like yours. When it comes to using your marketing dollars wisely, my best advice: develop a proactive, firm-wide marketing plan.

###

About the author: John Remsen, Jr. and I both serve on the editorial board of the Managing Partner Advocate. He is the principal of The Remsen Group, a marketing consulting firm that works exclusively with law firms. John is the Past President of the Southeastern Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association and has served on its national Board of Directors. I have leaned on John to periodically share his market knowledge and experience with morepartnerincome readers.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.

Law Firm National Reach Is Overrated

Admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 19:37:02 GMT

Scott Gawlicki, reporting on Martindale-Hubbell’s 16th annual survey of general counsels in Corporate Legal Times, noted that only 29% of surveyed GCs considered it important for a law firm to have a national reach.

I recall talking to the founding partner of a prominent southern law firm who remarked, “We have the highest rates in the city. Most of our business is for New York clients and they consider us to be the best bargain around.”

Granted, if you are pursuing the top 10% of the Fortune 1000, size and location (including international) are important but the other 900 corporations in the Fortune 1000 have discovered the value of using mid-sized law firms. In our own survey of managing partners, we found a significant concern over competition from larger firms. When we asked more detailed questions about lost business, it appeared that mega-firms did not have a material impact on fee revenue, client retention or the availability of talent.

Ninety percent of general counsels say they still rely on referrals (not size) when choosing a law firm. National reach or law firm growth is just not highly valued by the majority of general counsels. Jim Taronji, Jr., a 25-year veteran in-house lawyer and a former General Counsel, put it this way in a letter to the editor of Corporate Legal Times—that “message falls on deaf ears. A law firm becomes suspect to its clients if it only grows for the sake of growth.”

25 Unwritten Rules of Management

Admin — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 17:53:20 GMT

Tyrone Taborn’s writing for ccgmedia.com explains that William H. Swanson, CEO and President of Raytheon Company, does management right, by the numbers. For more information about Swanson, go to http://www.ccgmedia.com/article_william_swanson.php.

Swanson used 25 rules of management to save Raytheon and make it a success again. Here are those “25 Unwritten Rules”:

Learn to say, “I don’t know". If used when appropriate, it will be often.
It is easier to get into something than it is to get out of it.
If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.
Look for what is missing. Many know how to improve what’s there, but few can see what isn’t there.
Viewgraph rule: When something appears on a viewgraph (an overhead transparency), assume the world knows about it, and deal with it accordingly.
Work for a boss with whom you are comfortable telling it like it is. Remember that you can’t pick your relatives, but you can pick your boss.
Constantly review developments to make sure that the actual benefits are what they are supposed to be. Avoid Newton’s Law.
However menial or trivial your early assignments may appear, give them your best efforts.
Persistence or tenacity is the disposition to persevere in spite of difficulties, discouragement, or indifference. Don’t be known as a good starter but a poor finisher.
In completing a project, don’t wait for others; go after them, and make sure it gets done.
Confirm your instructions and the commitments of others in writing. Don’t assume it will get done!
Don’t be timid; speak up. Express yourself, and promote your ideas.
Practice shows that those who speak the most knowingly and confidently often end up with the assignment to get it done.
Strive for brevity and clarity in oral and written reports.
Be extremely careful of the accuracy of your statements.
Don’t overlook the fact that you are working for a boss.
* Keep him or her informed. Avoid surprises!
* Whatever the boss wants takes top priority.
Promises, schedules and estimates are important instruments in a well-ordered business.
* You must make promises. Don’t lean on the often-used phrase, “I can’t estimate it because it depends upon many uncertain factors.”
Never direct a complaint to the top. A serious offense is to “cc” a person’s boss.
When dealing with outsiders, remember that you represent the company. Be careful of your commitments.
Cultivate the habit of “boiling matters down” to the simplest terms. An elevator speech is the best way.
Don’t get excited in engineering emergencies. Keep your feet on the ground.
Cultivate the habit of making quick, clean-cut decisions.
When making decisions, the pros are much easier to deal with than the cons. Your boss wants to see the cons, also.
Don’t ever lose your sense of humor.
Have fun at what you do. It will reflect in your work. No one likes a grump except another grump.

Growth Trends for Corporate America

Admin — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 18:36:28 GMT

Growth trends in corporate America have changed. To maintain their own growth, Law firms must also change.

There are plenty of lawyer jokes that emphasize the advantage of being a lawyer when things are good and when things are bad. Lawyers make money when you are a start-up, when you go public, when you get sued and, then, when you go bankrupt. True enough. But we know growth prospects in the 90’s were realized with little effort other than riding the growth wave in corporate America. Even though we’re coming out of a mild recession and experiencing solid growth, it’s not the sort of 90’s speculative activity that characterized an economy in which the law firm had only to “answer the phone to get more business". Growth is being achieved through disciplined management of assets and selectively pursuing business opportunities while, at the same time, paying fine attention to the bottom line with efforts to enhance productivity and reduce operating costs. So, even if your firm is finding plenty of growth opportunities, you should be taking a cue from corporate America and engage in disciplined strategic planning and management practices to ensure your growth is sustainable and profitable. At a minimum, you will be leaving significant money on the table if you fail to plan for profitable growth. Operational discipline, strong leadership, systematic measurement of results and a commitment to strategic planning are prerequisites for achieving profitable growth or growth at all. This is especially true in today’s environment.

Is Your Firm a Clan or Just a Group of Hunters?

Admin — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 17:58:12 GMT

Beth Keno, Beth@jurismidwest.com, the Juris person in Chicago, covers the Midwest area including Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. I often point out that the Juris team works with more law firms than any specialized consulting firm. Beth is one of the Juris-best when it comes to helping a firm work smarter rather than harder to increase owner income, i.e., per-partner income. She is often disappointed by the lack of a team culture in many law firms. To illustrate the impact, she sent me the following:

"As I spend time meeting with attorneys from various law firms in the Midwest, I continue to run across the primitive belief that the best way to build a law firm is to 'eat what you kill'. In other words, you bring in only what you can work. In many ways, this plays to the posting regarding relative deprivation (see June 15, 2005). These attorneys feel this is the fairest and best way to run and build a firm. But is it? Let’s look at how successfully this thought process would have worked for the caveman.

John Caveman from the X Clan had really scored. He killed the biggest antelope on the plain. Now, John is a talented hunter, and very successful. Obviously, this is exactly what any clan needs, someone who can bring in the meat. But, John doesn’t believe in sharing. So, although he had plenty of meat from the previous three days' kill, he hoards his latest conquest. John faces a major problem. There are no freezers or storage systems to help him keep his meat fresh until he has time to eat it. And he just can’t eat it all. The meat is going to spoil. In the meantime, Clan X, who takes care of keeping the clan together, protected and functioning, is going hungry.

Now, over the past few months, John’s hunting skills have deteriorated; he has been too busy eating his kill. He has become out of shape and, more significantly, has not spent any time looking for his next big kill. The seasons are changing and John’s food source is becoming scarce. Soon, John will be hungry.

In the meantime, John’s clan has been successful in planting and bringing in new food. The clan realizes that for them to be strong and successful, they need a healthy clan. They all need to eat.

There are good reasons why every attorney is not a solo practitioner. They need the clan. Firms don’t achieve long lasting success and growth with the 'eat what you kill' growth mentality. For survivability, they need successful hunters who share with the clan. By sharing, hunters can be back on the plain, looking for the next kill sooner, bringing more food back to the clan.

The challenge for law firms is not only to find those hunters, but to reward the hunters for sharing. Firms can’t achieve growth by the eat-what-you-kill mentality. There is a limit to how much one can eat. For partners to increase their income, they need to bring work in for the clan—and be rewarded for it."

2005 Survey of Law Firm Managing Partners

Admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 17:30:52 GMT

2005 Survey of Law Firm Managing Partners

Conducted by Juris, Inc. and The Managing Partner Forum

SURVEY OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

Juris, Inc. and The Managing Partner Forum conducted a survey of Juris, Inc. clients’ managing partners to obtain opinions about their firms' growth prospects over the next few years. In addition, we developed questions that would highlight the operating, structural and strategic choices firms have made to drive results. Our intention was to identify issues that might impede their ability to achieve growth objectives, and then use the information to develop products and services to help our clients achieve success.

In analyzing the responses, including comments beyond the survey questions, we compared their stated growth objectives against their emphasis on strategic planning, management focus and governance structure. The survey was targeted at mid-sized law firms. As of May, 2005, 176 firms had responded, of which 50% had fewer than 15 attorneys. Based on our client data, we estimate a large majority of those respondents had between 11 and 15 attorneys. As such, our sample of 176 firms represents approximately 3.5% of all mid-sized US firms and is a representative sample.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

· Surveyed law firms are very optimistic on growth prospects over the next three years

· Increasing competition for clients and talent will squeeze margins and put downward pressure on profits per equity partner

· To achieve planned growth while maintaining or increasing profits per equity partner, law firms need to focus on a traditional weakness with more attention on strategic planning and management disciplines

In the coming weeks we will report survey results together with our analyses of those results—including the challenges law firms will face to maintain and increase per-partner income in the years ahead.

Five Basics for Client Services

Admin — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 17:35:26 GMT

Time Flies. Believe it or not, Barbara Curran’s study of The Legal Needs of the Public was completed almost 30 years ago and, for many firms, time has not changed things. However, if you are one of those who haven’t changed, there is still time to catch up. There are still a lot of unsatisfied public legal needs.

We are talking about the public’s expectation when working with attorneys. Curran found that these were the areas where law firms were falling short:

Keeping clients informed
Interest and concern about the client's problems
Promptness
Charging fair and reasonable fees
Failing to report
Slowness
Working habits

The point is that you are entitled to judge the quality of your legal work. You are the expert. But never forget there are two certainties in life and business. One of those is that you are always judged by others. Your clients are not experts, but they are well-qualified to judge:

How welcome you make them feel
How quickly you get back with them
If you talk down to them
If you really listen
If you make them feel important
The orderliness of your office and habits
Etc.

Richard Reed reminds us in his publication, Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour that there are five criteria for client services:

Timeliness
Reliability
Empathy
Assurance
Tangibility

We will talk more about each of these in the future, but to give you a heads up, if you are wondering about tangibility, it is simple. “People use appearances to make judgments about relativities.”