Leadership for Lawyers

Advice on Weathering the Storm

 Every day I read about law firm layoffs and the effect of the recession on our profession.  Rarer are insightful articles about what to do about it.  Here are a few that I found helpful:

Surviving the Slide:  What Firms Should (and Shouldn't) do to Ride Out the Economic Storm.  Panelists Ed Flitton (former managing partner of Holland & Hart), Merrilyn Astin Tarlton, Karen MacKay and Gerry Riskin participate in a prescient panel moderated by Dan Pinnington for LawPro Magazine.  The panel offers insightful and sometimes counter-intuitive advice on matters of leadership, human capital, employee engagement, client relationships, marketing and finance.  Read the abbreviated article here and the full discussion (worth the read) here. 

Weathering the Storm.  Gerry Riskin and fellow Edge Group Consultant Robert Millard offer these seven admonitions to law firm leaders in this article.       

1. Display Strong Leadership
2. Ramp up frequency of financial data reporting
3. Make the hard decisions quickly and humanely
4. Focus client and practice team leaders on short term action plans
5. Involve your clients
6. Manage internal expectations
7. This too shall pass:  Keep a balance with your long term strategy

On law.com, we find ACC's Susan Hackett's advice to GC's on getting through the storm.  Her advice focuses on how to set matter and project budgets for outside law firms.  Her comments are from ACC's new songbook, the ACC Value Challenge.

Lee Altenberg discusses business development in a National Law Journal article from last May in this article.  Gail Cutter offers some personal professional development advice for lawyers in a recession, in this New York Law Journal article, Think Like an Olympian. 

Peter Zeughauser discusses four pillars of a strong law firm culture in hard economic times in the American Lawyer Article,Four Essential Elements of a Strong Law Firm Culture.  They are:

1. Hard Work
2. Rewards for Rainmakers
3. Knowing who you are (and aren't)
4. Transparency, with discretion.

Zeughauser is always a must-read.

Finally, I opine on a new e-zine, Originate, focusing on relationships with key clients.  Read the article here.

LawDragon Names Top 100 Legal Consultants

  Late last year LawDragon.com named "100 Legal Consultants You Need to Know".  You will find names like Brad Hildebrandt, David Maister, Jay Jaffe and Ann Lee Gibson - all experts in our profession.  I'm pleased (and very surprised) that the Dragon also listed me among these luminaries.  You can read the entire list here.  Thanks Law Dragon! 

New Year, New Gig

Since starting this blog in 2005, I've worn several hats, including my day job as Director of Marketing/CMO of Holland & Hart, a 450 attorney law firm based in Denver, Colorado.  Earlier this month I left Holland & Hart to consult full-time.  My website, www.leadershipforlawyers.com and this blog have been a venue to communicate ideas about marketing, business development and leadership. 

Now I am helping a wide variety of firms, from AmLaw 100 firms to firms of 50 attorneys with marketing, business development, client feedback,  client service and leadership development projects.   I am particularly interested in helping law firms develop closer and more profitable relationships with existing clients.

I was with Holland & Hart for nearly eight years, and am glad to continue my relationship with the firm as a consultant.   If you know of a firm looking for business development or marketing help, I would appreciate the referral.   For more information, visit www.leadershipforlawyers.com.