Make More Rain : policies/ procedures, firm culture

Law Firm Management ABC's: Manage Your Associates

Admin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:00:20 GMT

Management is achieving objectives through others. It's a continuing process of receiving input, processing input, taking action, receiving feedback, and repeating the process. It requires KASH in a real-time environment. It is a cycle of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling.

Prior to 1828, the path to becoming an attorney required not only to obtain a degree, but to serve several years as an apprentice before being able to practice law. President Andrew Jackson changed these requirements to break up the elitist methods of choosing attorneys (only attorneys could choose who the apprentice would be, much like real estate appraisers of today). By the end of the 1800's, apprenticeship programs for attorneys were well in decline and after the introduction of the American Bar Association in 1878, a more standardized formal process to becoming an attorney was introduced (Source: Bar Examination: Further Readings). An unintended consequence of this action was to lessen the importance of mentorship to young attorneys-in-waiting.

Today, the only qualifications (not to lessen their importance) to becoming a lawyer is a good dose of book smarts, focus and an ability to not crack under stress. Law school does much to help you think like a lawyer, but does nothing to help you act like a lawyer. Mentorship helps associates to learn from seasoned attorneys how to act as well as how to best service clients.

Management ensures that the value of mentoring is set as habit, achieving professional objectives not only for the individual, but for the firm. Unfortunately for some firms, management is treated much like strategic plans: either you spend time developing a plan but don't stick to it or you don't do it at all.

Good management starts by receiving input. Actively solicit feedback from your associates. Karen Asner wrote an article for Law.Com (Law Firm Partners Find Out What Associates Really Think of Them) regarding establishing an "upward review process":

Upward reviews give associates the opportunity to evaluate and provide input on the management and leadership performance of partners with whom they regularly work on deals, cases, committees or pro bono matters.

Law firms aiming to create an outstanding working environment for their associates and attract prospective recruits should seriously consider implementing an upward review process.

It's a good bet that associates, if put in a non-threatening environment to speak frankly, would have some pointed views on their plight. Some may be warranted; some may not, but if you want to consistently increase partner income, knowing what associates are thinking can be invaluable, especially if you are considering them as future partners. You don't want to find out after the attorney leaves how disaffected he/she was towards the shareholders. Plus, in an ideal environment, the associates are bearing the brunt of most of the work - you want to make sure they are well incented to be proper representatives of the firm, inside and outside of the office.

Implementing an upward review process is only the start: next, you have to process the input. The management committee or equivalent must review the results and develop a plan of action that will address concerns and further the firm's objectives. Accountability must be delegated to every member of the firm. Clear and concise roles and goals need to be communicated.

Then you must take action. Talking about management and goals is a waste of time otherwise. Taking action means mentoring associates - not only as to how to practice law, but how to act. Mentoring is a way to reclaim the lost art of apprenticeship. Not only will it allow the partners to dictate how the associate acts, but it also creates a bond of acceptance within the firm that the associate is part of the team. That can only help in fostering trust, a central component in management.

Measurement improves results. Always measure the effectiveness of your plan by again receiving feedback. Keep the upward review process going - quarterly, semi-annually, annually, whatever time frame will maximize the effectiveness of the campaign (understanding the resource drain on the review process - you don't want to lose productivity as a result of processes established to improve productivity). My suggestion is semi-annual.

Measure and adjust, then repeat the process. Nothing is gained by doing something only once. Consistency is the name of the game if you want to affect the habits of others. Don't let up, don't get down, never give up. Over the long run, your efforts will be rewarded with a smooth running operation that will scale with your profits.

Checklist for Increasing Law Firm Productivity

Admin — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:52:37 GMT

The list below is a reminder of steps that you can take, among others, to increase fee earners’ productivity for improved per-partner income:

Employ professional administrative staff to reduce opportunity costs (lost billable hours) of partners involved in management
Stop the hoarding of work by partners with a compensation plan that emphasizes rainmaking, handing off work and delegation
Implement centralized scheduling of associates
Provide fee earners with better tools for tracking and reporting billable time as worked, including use of Blackberrys and other PDAs
Set individual fee earner targets, then track actual billable hours against those targets
Negotiate fee agreements, providing for billing in minimal time increments
Intensify training of young lawyers to shorten learning curves and improve productivity earlier in their careers
Substitute lateral hiring for law school recruiting
Add laterals with an established book of business

September 11: Never Forget

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.

Law Firm Training--"Mostly Useless"

Admin — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:20:00 GMT

David Maister’s article Why (Most) Training is Useless deserves your attention. The article is a culmination to date of his thoughts on the subject. His observations have been evolving through a series of blog posts and prior writings which he references in the post introducing the above article.

Maister is particularly addressing the role of training in achieving “change,” especially cultural or strategic changes. As usual, his insight stings but hits its mark. Training is not the right tool to implement change. Done right for the right reason, it can alleviate the negative consequences associated with even positive changes. Training accomplishes little or nothing on its own, however!

As Maister points out:

“Bringing about change is immensely difficult. It requires that managers address questions in four key areas:

Systems: Does the company actually monitor, encourage, and reward this (new) behavior?
Attitude: Do people want to do this? Do they buy in to its importance?
Knowledge: Do they know how to do it?
Skills: Are they any good at implementing and executing what they know?”

This is Maister’s “Right Approach”:

“The correct process in thinking about training would be to sit top management down and ask: “What are people not doing that we want them to be doing? And do we really know why they aren’t doing them?”

Then it will be necessary to figure out a complete sequence of actions to address each of these questions:

What behaviors by top management need to change to convince people that the new behaviors are really required, not just encouraged? If the behavior is going to be optional, then so should the training be.
What measurements need to change?
What has to happen before the training sessions occur in order to bring about the change?
What has to be in place the very day they finish?

A full change program would include, at least, an examination of the following:

1. Scorecards (new, permanent measures of performance being trained)

2. Coaching (continuous monitoring and follow-up on the new metrics)

3. Tools (to help implement the training, in place before the training)

4. Training

5. Rewards and/or recognition for achievement

Why (Most) Training is Useless is much more than a recital of best practices for training. It deals with the things one has to have in place to be successful…period. Maister is particularly addressing issues involved in “big” strategic and cultural changes. But change is a constant in business, and the fundamentals for managing change are the same—only the scale of management efforts differs with the magnitude of the change.

One of the cornerstones for morepartnerincome.com is the belief that business, like life, involves constant change. It is a journey, and the role of the law firm’s leadership is to get its entire organization moving in the same direction—something I call I-65 North. To successfully navigate change and achieve its benefits, one must first understand it. The chart below shows what change tends to look like:

Change results in a downward spike in performance. It takes time and “KASH” before the change curve turns upward and the new targeted level of performance is achieved. KASH stands for new Knowledge which, when combined with the right Attitude, results in new Skills, which, through use, become Habit. It is at the point when use becomes habit that the change curve finally reflects the achievement of the targeted higher performance level.

Management’s job is to take action to reduce the size of the downward spike and to provide the conditions for the curve to turn upward sooner rather than later. Start with the right way to implement change - incrementally. The smaller the change, the shallower the downward spike.

Second, use the following tools:

1. Form a Change Group. People resist change that they don’t understand or change that is “done to them.” By forming change groups to help prepare and plan for the change, you give people the opportunity to buy into it. That makes the change, and the plan for making it successful, their own. This also helps supply the key ingredient of successful change—attitude.

2. Make sure all those affected have the needed new knowledge. Don’t skimp on training. Let the change group participate in determining the training plan and in disseminating the needed new information throughout the firm as needed.

3. Measure and recognize (ceremonialism) early achievements and people accomplishments.

4. Give the areas affected by the change extra management attention until the desired improvement has been achieved. Increased attention alone has a positive (though short term) impact on performance, thus flattening the downward spike of the change curve.

5. Give change a chance. Remember, it takes time for new skills to become habit.

If there is an essential element, it is the “A” in KASH. Without the right attitude, the objective of change cannot be achieved. As Jim Collins has written and David Maister would surely agree, “First get the right people on the bus.”

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 Client Service Quality Standard

Admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 17:36:00 GMT

On Wednesday of this week I traveled to East Tennessee to speak to the Knoxville chapter of the ALA. I shared with the group the concerns of their managing partners. See the October 10, 2005, post, Law Firm Managing Partner Concerns.

One of those concerns is client service quality. We know from surveys that when clients consider service, it isn't the quality of the lawyer's work they talk about. They talk about poor billing practices, unreturned phone calls and their experience when visiting or calling the firm.

The firm administrator can have a big impact in these areas of client contact. If they do, it will put more income in the pockets of the owner/partners. It will improve client retention and development. Referrals will increase. The emphasis on quality will give the firm a competitive edge with prospective clients. Improved billing procedures will mean attorneys have to spend less time resolving billing issues and that means fewer adjustments and less rework. In short, quality service pays!

An increasing number of firms have a published Client Bill of Rights or an internal Client Service Quality Standard. Preparing either and communicating it to everyone in the firm will make a difference. But for the best immediate impact, have the team prepare it. Depending on the size of your firm, bring together the entire staff or a quality committee. Their mission is to spell out standards for delivering quality service to the firm's clients and that includes addressing the little things that make a big difference. However, don't get lost in the details. The standard itself should communicate the firm's philosophy. Individual areas of the firm can develop tactics or detail protocols for implementing the philosophy where doing so is necessary in order to accomplish the quality goal. The standard, for example, should address the philosophy for such areas as:

o Handling of incoming calls

o How visitors to the office should be addressed and treated

o How quickly phone calls or e-mails should be returned

o Billing-appearance, content, accuracy, etc.

o Office appearance standards

o Periodic client communications-how are we doing and what else do you need

o Etc.

If your firm has a quality standard and you are willing to share it, you can send me a copy at morepartnerincome@juris.com. I did a quick Google search and the Missouri Bar Web site has an article by Linda Oligschlaeger that includes a "getting started" sample Quality Standard. For Ms. Oligschlaeger's article, go to http://mobar.org/lpmonline/standard.htm.

Law Firm Surcharges Increase in Popularity

Admin — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 16:43:24 GMT

Not long ago, we did a series of focus groups around the country dealing with expense recovery. We were trying to determine the additional technology needs of law firms when it comes to managing the collection and recovery of client-related cost and expenses.

We discovered that law firms appear to be moving away from specific recovery of soft cost transactions such as internal copying, faxing and even phone service. Some simply consider those costs to be covered by the law firm’s service fees. Others, however, have implemented a surcharge on professional services fees.

Juris® client service professionals report that they have worked with numerous firms that have implemented such charges—generally between 3 and 5% of fees. This typically covers all soft costs (fax, copies, postage, etc.). The firms with surcharges higher in the range (for example those charging 5%) included express and courier delivery such as FedEx ® as items covered by the surcharge. Firms usually labeled the new fee item as an "administrative charge." Implementation starts by including the charge in their engagement letter along with a clear explanation.

It appears that those taking the surcharge approach have been very successful with it experiencing little client resistance. It is a win/win for law firms since they no longer have the burden or cost of tracking of soft costs' details, and yet the law firm doesn’t have to forego an important source of revenue.

The approach is worth considering.