When I was a kid playing football, the coach told me to play line. I was big for my age, so it made sense. During the season, our starting running back was hurt and coach told me to play running back. I objected, because I had never done so before. He looked at me and… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Teaching Clients
Posted in CommentaryJeff Carr, the General Counsel of FMC Technologies, loves to quote a comment made to him a while back by Ralph Palumbo of Summit Law Group in Seattle. Over dinner one night, after more than a glass of wine, Ralph said to Jeff, "you are my most important, least significant client." Jeff admits that his first… Continue Reading
Blackholes and e-discovery
Posted in CommentaryOne of my partners was telling a story to some people we were visiting with at the Inside Counsel SuperConference. As he said, it was a "classic Pat Lamb meeting" with an e-discovery vendor. The meeting starts without me and the vendor’s sales people are talking about how great their product is and how much… Continue Reading
Inside Counsel Superconference starts today–Follow on Twitter
Posted in GeneralI will be joining Jeff Carr of FMC Technologies, Mary Clark of LexisNexis, and Terry Gavulic of Competitive Advantage on a panel discussing Value Fees and how to make them work. Follow the entire conference on twitter by searching #ICSC10 (which translates into # Inside Counsel Super Conference 2010). This is an example of how… Continue Reading
Bank Of America Still Doesn’t Get It
Posted in Client Service, CommentaryLast week inExample Of Really Bad Client Service, I told the story of my colleague’s really bad experience with Bank of America. Per my custom, I tweeted about my post. A number of people retweeted my tweet, and eventually one of them included @BofA_Help on the retweet. @BofA_Help is described as "official Bank of America… Continue Reading
Example of Really Bad Client Service
Posted in Client Service, CommentaryMy colleague got married on January 2nd and changed her name from Lisa Castle to Lisa Carter (huge monogram savings). Now as unique as Lisa is, you can imagine that there are a few Lisa Carters in the world. Some of them have chosen to bank at Bank of America. Unlike Lisa Carter of Valorem,… Continue Reading
BigLaw: Advocates of the wolf in sheep’s clothing approach to Value Fees
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesI was talking about Value Fees to two senior partners from two of the largest and best law firms in the country. Their take was that clients were not interested. This conclusion was based on the fact that they had offered clients “alternative fee proposals” and the clients had not accepted them. I asked their take on… Continue Reading
“So why is most business (and legal) writing so numbingly banal?”
Posted in CommentaryThat is the question posed by Jason Fried in What’s Your Point?, an article in the May 2010 edition of Inc. Fried highlights some great banalities: One of my favorite phrases in the business world is full service solutions provider (“full service law firm” anyone?). A quick search on Google finds at least 47,000 companies using that… Continue Reading
Most Important Leadership Quality? Creativity
Posted in Leadership and ManagementThis Fast Company article discusses an IBM study of CEOs that concludes that creativity is the most important leadership quality. The results come from one-on-one interviews of more than 1,500 CEOs from around the world. A most interesting read, especially since this trait is not seen in abundance in law firm "leaders."
Legal Issues, Business Solutions
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsIn January, my colleague Hank Turner started a blog, Legal Issues, Business Solutions. Lots of people start blogs and then lose interest, so I held my tongue (really, my fingers) and didn’t post about it. I waited to see if Hank would bring the discipline and sharp mind to his blog that he brings to… Continue Reading
Words of Wisdom: Project Management II
Posted in CommentaryIn the same project management mode, I was fortunate to receive a copy of Jim Hassett’s Legal Project Management Quick Reference Guide to review. Most of you know Jim, or at least know that he is the founder of LegalBizDev. Jim saw, earlier than most anyone, that project management skills were going to be critical… Continue Reading
Words of Wisdom: Project Management
Posted in CommentaryFrom ACC Board Chair Patricia Hatler in her March message in ACC Docket: Expense management is still a critical focus for general counsel. Successful leaders need to think differently, using a process-minded, value assessment and risk assessment approach. The key is to focus on how services are delivered, which provide the most value and how to… Continue Reading
I’m Back
Posted in GeneralI have been unable to post much lately due to a book commitment, but I finished the last chapter yesterday and I’m back and rarin’ to go. The book, if anyone is interested, will be a thriller on Value Fees (the new name for fees formerly known as alternative). So plan to save on your Ambien… Continue Reading