Let’s Get Together
Person-to-person is still the best way to communicate with colleagues and clients. This article explores the communication challenges of the information age and offers practical and useful tips for keeping client relations and inter-firm relations on the right track… Since we can communicate instantly, why not run global practices virtually? As a former managing partner […]
The Power of Perceptions
Relationships with senior colleagues directly affect the career of new partners (and perhaps not-so-new). How do you gain credibility with those extremely bright but highly critical and analytical seniors who will watch your every step–noticing the negative more than the positive? This article explores how to measure up… If you are a young lawyer working […]
Knowledge Plus Skill Does Not Equal Will
Professionals who are used to assimilating huge amounts of information very rapidly sometimes do not distinguish between acquiring knowledge and acquiring a skill… One of the great joys I have experienced in practicing law and consulting to professional service firms is the opportunity to work with people who are extremely bright and capable. Studies have […]
A Cautionary Tale: Broken Glass
Once upon a time there was a practice group that thought it was special. It thought it could accomplish much more than many of its counterparts within, and outside, the firm. And it came to pass that the practice group did accomplish a number of measurable results. And the firm said it was good… In […]
Peak Performance
It’s not only about the money… In working with hundreds of professional services firms over the last fifteen years all over the world, we have had the privilege of making a few observations that may be of value to you, especially if compensation issues are chronic in your firm. If your firm is experiencing chronic […]
Avoiding Pitfalls in the Practice Group Structure
The popularity of the practice group — an entity within the firm dedicated to practicing a specific kind of law, or serving a specific industry — seems well grounded, in that it offers a number of advantages to managing a practice and its services. But with all its advantages, there exists an easy propensity to […]
Mastering New Skills
Congratulations! You have been admitted to partnership. This is an exciting transition in the life of a dedicated lawyer, with expectations of additional income and greater prestige within and outside the profession. But as soon as you’ve finished celebrating, you need to turn to the new burdens that have been placed upon your shoulders: the […]
The Black Hole of Branding
Fast-forwarding through fads from Steven Brill’s adaptation of Tom Peter’s In Search of Excellence for the legal profession, to TQM (Total Quality Management), to enormous marketing departments now we arrive at the Branding phenomenon – a license to burn money. When I began practicing law it was a profession. Those who argued that it might […]
The Professional’s Mindset and the Slight Edge Theory
Many good professionals think that the extraordinary achievers–the professionals we all look up to, the exemplary practices–many people think that those people are twice as good or three times as good as the rest will ever be or can ever be. That is wrong. That is nonsense. The very best in the profession are only […]
Legendary Service for Your Clients
How can you become an indispensable source of value to your clients? Here’s a simple and implementable blueprint for success… As far as I’m aware, it’s no crime to offer such extraordinary legal service that clients become addicted to it. While it may be beneficial for some other industries, adding nicotine to the fee accounts […]