Categories
Law Firm Management

We Are All in This Together (Except When We Are Not)

People with musical instruments in a canoes at sunset

In law firms, partners are represented by two separate yet equally significant groups.  The innovative partners who drive the firms forward, and the old guard who advocate for the status quo to protect their incomes. These are their stories.

Lawyers are not generally known for their accounting expertise.

It is not that accounting concepts are too difficult for lawyers to learn.  In fact, a lawyer can be a very quick study when working with accounting concepts which are relevant to their files.

The problem arises when it comes to matters which affect their own income. In these cases, lawyers tend to apply their creative talents and their persuasive skills to cloud the issues in their favour.

read more about the tendency of lawyers to advocate for the status quo when their income is at risk “We Are All in This Together (Except When We Are Not)”
Categories
Law Firm Management

How I Was ‘WIP’D Into a K Car

An old car on a city street with plants and flowers growing from the trunk and the passenger cmpartment.

Warning:  The article below contains 30 seconds of material about accounting.  Please power through and do not tune out.

read more about how bad accounting resulted in me owning an embarrassing car “How I Was ‘WIP’D Into a K Car”
Categories
The Practice of Law

What’s Law Got To Do With It?

Court House in Ecuador

There is an old saying that a jury consists of twelve people who are selected to determine who has the better lawyer. Whatever the truth of that saying, there is no doubt that the people who prevail in legal disputes are not necessarily the people who are legally “right”.

read more about what really matters in a legal dispute “What’s Law Got To Do With It?”
Categories
Firm Culture

Law Firms: Are You Getting What You Are Paying For?

Single Jet Ski on the ocean under beautiful setting sun

How can you possibly explain why a lawyer at a substantial firm took on a file that was outside of his expertise and made a costly mistake, when that very same lawyer had three partners and two law clerks in his department, all of whom would have easily spotted the error if consulted?  To make matters worse, had the lawyer involved one of the law clerks on the file to keep costs down, as would normally be done, the clerk would have immediately spotted the error.  However, this lawyer chose to do all the work himself at a billing rate higher than the billing rate of the law clerks.

read more about how why firm culture matters to clients “Law Firms: Are You Getting What You Are Paying For?”
Categories
Law Firm Management

Managing the Unmanageable

An iguana standing on a rock next to a sign which says not to stand on the rocks

Law firms can be peculiar work environments.  To start with, lawyers tend to be quite intelligent and very independent, and often have very well-developed egos.  Add to that mixture that lawyers are professionally trained to argue with each other and usually work in a high-stress environment for multiple clients with competing priorities.  Finally, keep in mind that law firms typically operate as partnerships, without the more hierarchical and well-established structure of corporations.

read more about why lawyers should not be running law firms “Managing the Unmanageable”
Categories
Client Development

My Brilliant Marketing Mind

A very poorly worded and confusing advertising sign

Young lawyers often think that there is some magic secret to building a client base, and that marketing is a mysterious and complicated endeavour.  I disagree, and I say that as a lawyer who did not really “get” marketing until I had been practicing for quite a long time.

read more about why marketing is easier than you think “My Brilliant Marketing Mind”
Categories
Client Development

Bad Clients Can Derail Your Practice

Old fashioned train looking precarious on a narrow mountain pass

Early in my career, a senior partner in my firm, who I will call Greg, was arguing with the managing partner of the firm because the managing partner wanted Greg to fire one of Greg’s clients.

read more about when it is necessary to fire your client “Bad Clients Can Derail Your Practice”
Categories
Client Development

Marvin’s Fish Theory of Legal Marketing

underwater view of sharks and fish swimming

I once had a law partner named Marvin who taught me what he called the “fish theory” of marketing.  According to Marvin, marketing was simply a matter of throwing a fish back to every referral source who threw a fish to you.  If you were referred a file from someone, you owed that person a file, and so it went. 

read more about the problems with the fish theory “Marvin’s Fish Theory of Legal Marketing”
Categories
Client Development

How Law Firms Drive Associates Crazy – Part 2

Modern Cowboys and Cowgirls on Horses suggesting they are participating in a show.

(About the Marketing Thing)

New lawyers have a lot to learn about both the law, and how to practice law.  Typically doing that will take up their entire workday, and then some.

read more about the challenge of learning to market while trying to meet the billable hours target “How Law Firms Drive Associates Crazy – Part 2”
Categories
Firm Culture

How Law Firms Drive Associates Crazy

Wild Turkeys headed off in different directions implying lawyers are under too much pressure

(Part 1 of Many)

Law firms like to encourage their lawyers to produce as many billable hours as possible.  In order to keep the lawyers ‘motivated’, law firms usually set a target number of hours that they expect each lawyer to bill.  Some firms like to set the target at a number which is higher than they expect the lawyers to bill. 

rEAD MORE ABOUT BEING DRIVEN CRAZY “How Law Firms Drive Associates Crazy”