9781570737930

Introduction

xiii

PART ONE Lawyers and the Profession

Recognition of lawyer value, job satisfaction, and retention of lawyers who are engaged in the practice will increase client base, secure client loyalty, make the practice more profitable and more likely to prosper

Intellectual Capital

(4)

Every night, an organization's most important assets walk out the door and go home. In today's marketplace, more than capital assets or real estate, the most valuable thing a business has is its intellect: good old American know-how. A law firm epitomizes that structure. A law firm or department is only as good as its lawyers. The goal of every individual lawyer is to be ``difficult to replace/high value added.''

Law Is a Vocation

(4)

A lawyer is called to the profession. The lawyer's desire, skill, and dedication are the very essence of who the lawyer is. Yet, that calling, like any other talent, must be nurtured, supported, and respected

Free Agency

(4)

Free agency is a concept that has come to apply to all ``knowledge workers,'' and most especially lawyers. This presents a challenge to law practices that must be addressed and understood because lawyers are not just intellectual capital; they are the practice's only real asset

General Dissatisfaction and Malaise

(4)

After five or more years of practice, legal work often loses its luster and life seems so much more satisfying anywhere else. It's often ``the conflict'' that causes the most dissatisfaction, although conflict resolution is the sine qua non of lawyering. A successful practice is built by a voluntary association of lawyers with a common goal or mission

The Brain Drain

(6)

Experienced lawyers are leaving their practices and, in some cases, the profession. This trend results, in part, from an unproductive view of lawyers, their jobs, and their roles in society

Culture and Personal Style

(6)

Culture may be the most significant issue facing law practices today. Many practices don't know what their culture is, nor how to blend a lawyer's personal style or lateral hires into the existing culture. Resolving style or culture dissonance may make more of a difference in retention and job satisfaction than any other single issue

PART TWO Learning and Change

Solutions are easier to articulate than to implement. Solutions require an ability to change and adapt to the current business environment, a commitment to the concepts, and a willingness to assist and allow lawyers to develop to their full potential

Best Practices: How to Attract, Train, and Retain Best Lawyers

(6)

Fairly concrete steps can be taken to achieve improvement in retaining the best lawyers in various stages of practice, regardless of the size of the organization

Best Lawyers: Career Design and Career Building

(6)

To improve personal job satisfaction, lawyers must be vigilant in taking charge of personal career development at every stage of practice

Lawyer Engagement

(6)

Surveys have found that to increase retention, workers in any type of enterprise must be emotionally ``engaged'' with the business. The major issues here are trust in leadership and a stake in the outcome. Lawyers will stay with a group if they trust its leaders and if they feel there's a common goal

Flow: Optimal Experience for Lawyers

(6)

Take responsibility for personal happiness. Set clear goals, develop skills, become sensitive to feedback, know how to concentrate, and get involved. Have an overall context within which to live. Job satisfaction for lawyers is primarily related to making satisfaction a goal, and successfully addressing the five elements of time, money, personal style, conflict, and professionalism

Quality of Life

(8)

People first, lawyers second. Although lawyers generally believe they are essential to their clients' lives, much of the joy and the sorrow of law practice centers on lack of balance between personal and professional goals. Happy lawyers feel joy in work, and time to enjoy life is an essential factor. Successful practices address the needs of the whole person in the areas of balance, ownership, renewal, lawyering, and time management

Personal Responsibility

(6)

Responsibility for designing a successful legal career is the lawyer's alone. Career design and career building are the lawyer's best strategies for avoiding boredom and burnout. Understanding the five stages of a legal career will assist lawyers in analyzing their needs. Lawyers must communicate their needs and seek their own individual solutions

Flexibility

(8)

There is one sure way to keep lawyers and keep them happy: to paraphrase W.C. Fields, ``Give the people what they want.'' It does no good to insist that systems are ``fair'' or ``reasonable'' if they are not satisfactory to the lawyers who work with them

Innovation

(6)

Lawyers and practices must engage their right-brain thinking, be flexible, and learn to manage their practices in creative ways. Consider that it might be possible to think differently than you do now

Generation X

(4)

Managing Generation X presents its own challenges, but those challenges are equally present in Baby Boomers. The resume building and learning characteristics of Generation Xers supply creative management solutions for all lawyers

Abundance of Graduates

(4)

Graduating significant numbers of lawyers, many of whom have difficulty finding jobs out of school, does not mean that we will have a large number of productive partners in our law firms ten years hence. Indeed, associate attrition statistics and the declining population suggest just the opposite

Finders, Binders, Minders, Grinders

(4)

Practices should recognize that all four types of lawyers are necessary to make the firm productive and profitable. Focusing on finders will ensure the firm has plenty of work. Ignoring the other categories will ensure dissension, dissatisfied clients, and reduced production capacity. Developing plans to value and retain binders, minders, and grinders will enhance the practice. Recognize that the top-of-the-pyramid partners may no longer have the client control the firm assigns to them. A minder, who is often viewed as dispensable, is the true client contact and the lawyer the client views as ``mine.''

Variable Compensation Systems

(8)

Address compensation with flexibility to accommodate all types of individual lawyers and their needs. Elements of fairness, value, and the ``going rate'' (that is, the rate that keeps the lawyer from going) must be addressed and perceived as appropriate by the lawyers themselves

Recruiting and Delivery of Promises

103

(4)

Many lawyers report feeling that they were misled during the recruiting process. Lawyers make an effort to identify their concerns and address them when they take new positions. If the recruiting process is not scrupulously honest, buyer's remorse decreases loyalty and increases attrition, with the commensurate loss of expertise and revenue

Make Good Hiring Decisions

107

(6)

Hire lawyers whose goals and aspirations can be met by the practice and who will enhance the practice by their presence

Profit Centers

113

(4)

Recognition of existing profit centers and creation of additional ones will make the lawyer more valuable to the firm, increase individual value, and encourage engagement. Training in marketing the individual and the firm will benefit all concerned

Mentoring to Increase Satisfaction

117

(4)

Apprenticeship, training, support, and general enhancement of lawyer value are all essential, but only if the lawyer is committed to becoming a productive partner of the practice. Firm partners should publicize the reasons the firm is an excellent place to work, and should encourage retention

Understand Practice Goals

121

(6)

Are partners attempting to build a firm that will be valuable to its clients, the profession, and future generations of lawyers? Or, is the practice a group of lawyers intending to provide jobs for themselves as long as they wish to practice? Identifying the goal of the practice will dictate many of its activities and policies

Honest Appraisal and Evaluation

127

(4)

This process must be value driven to ensure and inspire trust, without which a practice cannot flourish

Recognize and Eliminate Lawyer Dissatisfaction

131

(4)

Every lawyer leaves the practice because of some dissatisfaction with the firm. This is true even in circumstances when the lawyer is accepting a ``better opportunity,'' following a spouse to another city, or moving from private practice into government service. If the lawyer was satisfied with the firm, she would not quit

Perception Is Reality

135

(6)

Recognize that management's perception of events, just because it is based on different and often superior knowledge, is not the same as the perception of other lawyers in the firm. Unless lawyers communicate with management regularly and openly, management has no way of knowing the perception of certain events ``in the trenches.'' Yet that knowledge is essential. The only way to get it is to seek the information

Be Proactive

141

(4)

It's not enough to know what lawyers want; Best Practices also do something about it. Use the information you gather to improve the practice

Apply the Platinum Rule

145

(8)

Treat lawyers not just the way management believes is fair, but the way the lawyers themselves believe is fair. A satisfied lawyer will stay with the firm longer and lend her considerable talents to the firm for their mutual benefit

PART THREE Separate Gracefully

When separation is inevitable, separate gracefully. This is the time to create or solidify a marketing opportunity. Every lawyer has alumni potential. The relationship between the firm and every lawyer should last a lifetime

Best Practices Separate Gracefully

153

(6)

Techniques exist for fostering cooperative, lucrative, and lasting business relationships with lawyers who leave your practice, regardless of the size of your organization

Best Lawyers Separate Gracefully

159

(4)

Techniques exist for maintaining a cooperative, lucrative, and lasting business relationship after you leave an organization with which you've previously practiced

CONCLUSION

163

(2)

165

(4)

APPENDIX B Drafting an Effective Mission Statement

169

(4)

A mission statement must be inspirational, motivational, evolutionary, and revolutionary. It should excite and energize, be concise and clear, and be simple to understand and remember

APPENDIX C Vision Mapping

173

(4)

A vision statement is the end result of what you will have done. It is your ideal. The very moment you realize you are unhappy or frustrated with a situation is your point of power, for now you have a clear picture of how you don't want things to be. Imagine the exact opposite of the frustrating situation and there you have the makings of your vision. Focus on the life you want, and go after what you want directly

APPENDIX D Clearly Defining a Successful Plan

177

(4)

A successful plan requires clearly defined long-term and short-term goals that excite you and engage your interest. Identify broad strategies and narrow tactics to move toward each goal. Prioritized daily work will keep you on track and provide optimal experience every day

APPENDIX E More Strategies

181

(6)

187

(2)

Afterword

189

(2)

About the Authors

191

(2)

Bibliography