Dealing with an Employee Shortage

Aside form the obvious challenges facing firms in a global pandemic, the next biggest concern for my clients is their inability to find and keep good staff.  Here are my suggestions for addressing this concern. Hire better: The first step toward repairing a high attrition rate is to improve your hiring process.  Can’t find qualified [...]

By |2021-01-15T12:28:54-05:00January 15th, 2021|Business Management, Firm Management|0 Comments

A US/BC Comparison of the Law Firm Zeitgeist

I have a lot of time for Law Firm Marketing Researcher Michael Rynowecer. So, when his blog “The Mad Clientist” arrives in my inbox, I usually read it. The latest edition highlights recent research his company, BTI Consulting, regarding the current US law firm mood, seven months into the pandemic. For fun, I thought I’d [...]

Rethinking the Trajectory of an Associate

(On October 21st, I’ll be presenting a session on how to use the pandemic as a catalyst for positive change in law firms, through CLEBC. Find information on that session here: https://store.cle.bc.ca/productdetails.aspx?title=Using-COVID-19-and-other-Challenges-to-Progress-Your-Firm&cid=1821 . In this blog post, I’ll highlight one element of that presentation). When he first took office, Obama suggested that the only time [...]

Why Mentoring Programs Fail (and How to Fix Them)

(This article first appeared in SLAW).  Most law firms intuitively understand the value of mentoring.  Unfortunately, that rarely translates into a successful mentoring program.  Here’s what’s wrong with them, and how to fix them. There are so many skills a young lawyer needs to develop in their formational years, and so little time in which [...]

By |2020-04-28T14:26:15-04:00April 28th, 2020|Firm Management, Mentoring|0 Comments

How Law Firms Can Prepare for What’s Ahead

It’s official: we are headed into a recession and possibly a depression. And we’re headed into this abyss while still in quarantine, which may last until there’s a vaccine and the time needed to inoculate everyone. Government assistance – for those who qualify – helps, but can’t last forever. How do we get out of [...]

Overcoming Excuses for Not Marketing

(This article is for individual lawyers but especially for Managing Partners and Executive Teams, Marketing Partners and Directors, and leaders of practice groups and client teams). We all know that a law firm is hardly the ideal environment for marketing.  Typically, lawyers are more on the introverted scale: they don’t like socializing with people they [...]

Is Dishonesty Hurting Your Firm?

Having worked in or with law firms for over 30 years now, I can say that in my experience, law firms have a hard time being honest about certain things.  I’m not for a minute suggesting that lawyers do not tell the truth.  The foundation of every firm I’ve worked with is the personal integrity [...]

Buying and Selling a Law Practice

Over the next ten or so years, we will see a marketplace-shifting change in law  firm ownership as baby boomers retire and decide what to do with their practice.  This is a time of high angst for those about to leave the law, and potentially a remarkable opportunity for the more entrepreneurial and thick- stomached [...]

Aligning Your Marketing with your Firm

The most powerful marketing is honest, consistent and meaningful to your firm and your target audience.  Because of this, it makes sense to ensure that how we market ourselves reflects our firm’s values, goals and differentiators.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen.   Some firms spend time in a retreat or hire a consultant to take [...]

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