In a private email, Jordan Furlong observed that most lawyers begin law school with little to no business experience or business education. Law School adds no relevant business knowledge. Yet when most lawyers begin to practice in whatever area they choose, they find themselves encountering businesses, whether as clients or the adversaries of clients,… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Client Service Is Hard.
Posted in Client ServiceClient service is hard. Thanks to Dan Hull at What About Clients? for the eloquent reminder.
When Partner Distributions Are Cut, Should Clients Worry?
Posted in CommentaryAmLaw Daily contains an interesting post today noting that several UK firms were cutting their profit sharing. From the post: Several big-name U.K. firms have cut or delayed quarterly profit distributions to partners to cushion the blow of the continued recession. Interesting choice of words–"cushion the blow." The translation is that we don’t have enough profits… Continue Reading
Airlines, Disney World and the Customer Experience
Posted in Client ServiceI’ve been spending a lot of time flying around, and one of the places was to Disney World for my nephew’s wedding (which was spectacular, by the way). I was struck by the incredible difference between the air travel experience and the Disney experience from a customer service perspective. Let’s be frank. Airlines don’t give… Continue Reading
If lawyers lack business acumen, here is one part of a solution
Posted in CommentaryIn this space, I’ve discussed the "4-bucket" theory of law (process, content, advocacy and counseling), and I was visiting with a law school colleague of mine about the missing elements of legal education. I indicated that the single biggest missing element is knowledge of business, since that missing knowledge bears not only on understanding the… Continue Reading
“The Survey says ….!” Two surveys confirm what everyone knows
Posted in CommentaryA new Hildebrandt International survey reveals that in-house law departments are cutting their budgets. That revelation is sure to fire up water cooler conversations this morning, The survey is actually reporting 2008 data, ignoring the grim reaper most law departments were forced to confront this year. The survey was sent out in March and is… Continue Reading
What is an alternative fee?
Posted in CommentaryJim Hassett of LegalBizDev was kind enough to send me a preview edition of his AmLaw 100 survey of alternative fees. Very interesting reading, and Jim is to be commended for his work in this area. This most recent report includes the results of surveys and meetings with C-suite executives from 37 of the the… Continue Reading
Newton’s First Law and Client Service
Posted in Client Service"An object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted on by another force." Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion, also know as the Law Of Inertia I have to confess that when you discover gravity, you’re the kind of historical figure who gets my… Continue Reading
When you need to, apologize. With feeling!
Posted in Client CommunicationsAt first, I thought the multitude of thoughts was simply the failure of one’s mind to bring order to the thinking process as a result of too many cocktails. But I didn’t have that many last night, so maybe I just needed to think harder to bring order to chaos. Maybe there was a central… Continue Reading
Watercoolers and clients
Posted in Client CommunicationsThey (and have you ever, like me, wondered who they are?) say that nature abhors a vacuum. I was reminded about the wisdom of this gem during a recent deposition. My witness was testifying about the sale of a company and management’s why management was releasing information to the employees. As she said, " you… Continue Reading
Economics 101: Staff Attorney Lay-offs (actually terminations)
Posted in CommentaryAbove The Law is reporting that Paul Weiss has terminated as many as 45 staff attorneys. ATL previously reported that Skadden and Covington had terminated large numbers of staff attorneys. I suspect many other staff attorneys have been let go, albeit without the press coverage. Here’s my question: who is doing the work formerly done… Continue Reading
We mourn the passing of Craig Johnson of Virtual Law Partners
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsMy colleagues at Valorem and I were deeply saddened to hear of the sudden death of Craig Johnson, one of the founders of Virtual Law Partners. Craig died Saturday after suffering a stroke. His loss will be felt by those who valued his vision and innovative approach to the practice of law.