Leadership for Lawyers

The future of law practice

When consulting with law firms, I frequently get asked about the future of law practice.  What will it look like?  How will firms compete?  How will services be delivered? How will it be priced?

I think I saw a glimpse of the future in what Seyfarth Shaw is doing today.  Several of their leaders made a presentation on how they use six sigma process improvement tools to improve efficiency and client service and lower cost to the client. 

They believe that corporate buyers of legal services want high quality legal work and more predictable and lower legal costs.  Cutting rates (and profit margins) is not a sustainable strategy, so they dug in and started to re-design work flows and processes as a manufacturer might value-engineer a production process.  Using "lean" process improvement tools, they found ways to save clients as much as 50% off their bill while maintaining or improving quality.

Think that will sell?

To clients, yes. But to the partners of the firm who realize that they have to produce twice as much work to get the same revenue, well, that's another kettle of fish.  Profit margins increase and client loyalty improves, but the essence of the law firm revenue and compensation model changes significantly.  I have so much respect for any firm who can make such significant cultural change to not only serve clients but to essentially set the standard for a new way think about delivering legal services. 

Interested in learning more? Read these articles:

Re-Engineering the Practice of Law - New York Times

Six Sigma Makes a Comeback - Business Week

Seyfarth Shaw Says Six Sigma Method Has Cut Client Fees by Up to 50%

New Buzz Phrase in Efficiency Efforts: Process Management

Making It Lean: Lisa Damon, Seyfarth Shaw

Top Innovative Law Firm

and information on Seyfarth Lean Consulting.

If Seyfarth Shaw can make the implementation (and cultural change) stick, they will certainly have a competitive advantage serving cost conscious corporations. 

 

InnovAction Awards Deadline 15 June 2012

The College of Law Practice Management is now accepting entries for its annual InnovAction Awards for innovation and excellence in the legalosphere.  Each year the COLPM reviews many programs against a rigorous set of selection criteria, looking for true, cutting-edge innovation in the practice of law.  Past winners have been law firms, law schools, service providers and non-profit organizations.  All of the winners and some of the finalists are featured on their blog and receive international attention.  Winners will present their projects at the COLPM Futures Conference later in the year.  More information can be found at collegeoflpm.org/innovaction-awards. 

Web 2.0 meets Legal KM at JD Supra

Larry Bodine informed me that JD Supra is now online and firms from the AmLaw 200 to GP Solos are posting content.  What is JD Supra?  According to Bodine's website:

"In order to get listed, the attorney must contribute a brief, motion, article, or some other legal document. These are then indexed by area of law, jurisdiction, type of document, subject area, and contributor. Posting documents is free. A basic listing that includes a logo or photo, name, contact information, practice area description and list, honors and awards, professional associations, and education is also free. Cuyler explains that she expects to produce income by selling enhancements to the basic listing, as well as advertisements on the site. A listing with direct links to an attorney’s email, websites, and blogs, will cost $20 per month or $240/year. No doubt other enhancements, and charges, will come.

Once the site is fully operational (it is scheduled to be online by the time you read this review), it will allow searches for briefs, decisions, papers, and other documents. The search engine is designed for use both by both lawyers and the lay person. You can limit the search by jurisdiction, subject matter area, document type, and search terms. This will enable a lawyer searching for a brief on a subject to find what another lawyer has done in the past, learn from it and, hopefully, improve upon it.

The site is designed to allow potential clients to read actual documents written by the lawyer before contacting or retaining the lawyer. Cuyler indicates that the site as originally contemplated would let lawyers benefit from their colleagues’ work and connect with real people. Potential clients could search, determine which lawyer was doing work on questions similar to their case, and then contact the lawyer."

Still confused?  Browse the JD Supra library, or read their blog.

Raindancing Expert Audio Series

This week I met Cole Silver, the brains behind the Raindancing Expert Audio Series.  Cole has interviewed dozens of brilliant authors, consultants and experts in law practice management and marketing.  The 30 minute conversations are available on a subscription basis, for download or streaming audio from his website, findcareersuccess.com.   Interviews include conversations with Harry Beckwith, Gerry Riskin, Larry Bodine, Sally Schmidt, Stephanie West Allen, and many others. 

Worth $27 a month?  I think so.

Focus Tree Launches New Site

Focus Tree Photography (www.1focustree.com) has become a favorite source for art and stock photography among our team at work.  Photographer Bernard Wooten is a talented artist who has a wonderful sense of place and people.  His photos (or gift certificates) make wonderful gifts.

GoCakeGo.com

A while back we got a phone call, "Help!  I need to send a birthday cake to someone in Miami TOMORROW.  And it's got to be a great cake, too."

We went to GoCakeGo.com to order the cake.  They will ship a cake and a mini party anywhere in the United States (stay tuned for global delivery).  In the trademark green box you will get a cleverly wrapped cake, confetti, matching plates and napkins, and even a knife to serve the cake. 

The cakes are delicious, big enough for ten people or so, and rich enough so that even small slices are satisfying.  The website also has a unique feature. In an e-vite sort of way, you can invite other people by email to send a birthday (or congratulation, etc...) greeting to your special person.  The birthday recipient will get an email with a link to a custom web page full of well wishing and congrats.  Mix the two - a great cake and an on line party - and you get a unique way to make someone's day. See this example.

I think this would be a great way to say 'thank you' to a client, referral source, fellow attorney, managing partner, or, say, a marketing person who just helped you with that big RFP.

"It's not a party until the green box shows" claims the web site.

Great Company

Congratulations to Ann Lee Gibson, Diane Hamlin,  Phyllis Weiss Haserot,  Linda Hazelton, Nikki A. Rovito,  Sally J. Schmidt,  Bob Weiss, and  Milton W. Zwicker for winning the Annual Edge Award.   I have the honor of being part of this amazing group that jointly penned an article titled, “Is Your Marketing Stuck Inside the Box?” that appeared in the March 2006 issue of Law Practice Magazine.   

Each year, The Edge Group sponsors the Edge Awards for  "outstanding written works most likely to have a practical influence in shaping the actions lawyers take to manage their practices" that appear in the ABA Law Practice Management Magazine. 

Ross Fishman won second prize for his history of legal marketing, “‘First, Let’s Sell All the Lawyers’: A Personal View of Legal Marketing’s Long, Strange Journey”  and Sally Schmidt won a second time for her column, “The New Generation of Lawyers: Planting the Marketing Seed”.

You can read our article here (ABA registration required).  Click (continue) below for my section of the article on 'marketing vs. sales':

Lexthink

This sounds fun.  A bunch of creative legal thinkers have started a new form of education by bring smart people together in a cool place and have them discuss topics in small groups.  Here's a clip from their home page:

"There is no 'agenda' for a LexThink! conference.  No panel presentations.  No keynote speakers either.  Instead, we bring together really cool, smart and "big thinking" folks to talk about stuff.  Really. 

We're convinced that smart people can be smart about anything.  For many of our alumni, ideas gathered from (and connections made with) people from outside their industries were the most valuable part of their LexThink! experience.  Our facilitators take these interesting people, mix them together, and use collaborative brainstorming techniques to stimulate small group discussions loosely tethered to a central theme."

No surprise that Dennis Kennedy (DennisKennedy.com/blog) and Matt Homann (the non-billable hour) are behind this. 

Mind Mapping

Simon Chester, an attorney at Heenan Blaikie and a long time leader of the ABA Law Practice Management section, put me on to mindmapping software.  Mind mapping is a thinking technique using visual representations to connect ideas.  Mindjet just came out with their latest version, which is easier to learn and use.   You can download a free trial to check it out before you buy. 

How does this apply to lawyers?  Mindjet posts a case study about a law professor who uses mind mapping to teach legal concepts.

I learned to take notes in outline form, nesting ideas in a linear fashion.  Ideas and thoughts, however, are not often linear.  They are organic, interconnected and unbalaned.  Mind mapping is a great technique for brainstorming a strategy, sketching out an article or book or planning anything.

For those who have been mindmapping for awhile, check out mindjet's blog.