In this second segment of a two-part article, I focus on succession planning for practice groups and individual lawyers. In Part One (published here in October), I explained why proper succession planning is so important. I also touched on why senior partners might be reluctant to retire, and offered advice on how to overcome this [...]
Lawyers know when something isn’t working; and they can usually find a way to get business back on track. But everyone has weaknesses or blind spots. When things aren’t going the way you feel they should – despite your best efforts at improvement – it might be time to hire a coach. When I ask [...]
Over half of my clients are focused on how to survive the transition from a first to a second-generation law firm. This is a critical and difficult business subject to deal with so I will explain the issue and its solutions over two postings. In this first one, I’ll seek to broaden your perspective of [...]
Client teams may be one of the most powerful business development tools at your disposal, but are an oxymoron to most lawyers. As a profession, lawyers aren’t usually known for being team players. By nature, they are individual thinkers and doers. They like their autonomy, and tend to feel that too many rules restrict their [...]
Lawyers are highly intelligent, capable human beings who can probably reasonably do any task placed in front of them. That doesn’t mean that they should. The wise business person focuses on their core competency, and for lawyers, that’s the practice of law. There’s also the belief by some (well, many) that lawyers are typically not [...]
The purpose of any business is to be profitable, and provide conditions for a satisfying work experience for those who work there. The collective intelligence within a law firm should make these goals a slam dunk; unfortunately, in many ways the culture of the typical law firm works against its financial success. See if any [...]
In 18 years of coaching I've seen clients shift into more productive and happier lawyers. I've also seen a few clients who reverted back to pre-coaching habits over time. I get it. At some point in our lives, we’ve all been committed to changing our behaviours in some way. We might start out strong, but with [...]
Many firms include a marketing section in their plan and budget. But what they really mean is marketing and business development (or sales). They are two different functions, and if you don’t understand the difference, you might not be getting the results you would like from your marketing initiatives. So before you determine your marketing [...]
When asked, most firms would say that their #1 business goal is to get more work. The only way to get more work for the firm is to get it from existing clients, or to develop new client relationships. It’s well-documented that it’s far easier to get more work out of an existing client than [...]
Most law firms are contradictory when it comes to retreat philosophies. They want to ensure that a retreat isn’t a colossal waste of time and money; but they want everyone to have fun. They want to get substantial work done; but they want to focus on team building and the social aspect. They want attendees [...]