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 [...]
In most businesses, the senior-most individuals would be considered the most stable in terms of productivity. Their years of experience coupled with their management and marketing skills and reputation would normally add up to sustainable revenue. But this is not necessarily the case in a law practice. Most Partners do not intuitively have marketing skills, [...]
Law firm marketers have been fundamental to the establishment and management of many law firm practice groups and client teams in North American law firms. Critical to the success of these efforts has been the ability to help train team members in their respective roles. Toward the end of my time in-house, I conducted research [...]
My 22-year-old son tells me that the days of sexism and racism are gone, and for all I know that may well be the case for his generation, but it’s not for mine. I’m amazed at the constant examples of sexism and racism and other isms that I see regularly in my professional and personal [...]