April 14, 2006
Preparing the Law Firm for Opportunities
Last weekend and between tornados warnings, I read Profiting from Uncertainty: Strategies for Succeeding No Matter What the Future Brings by Paul J.H. Schoemaker.
Few law firms in the arena of everyday practice will have the concentration needed to apply Schoemaker's approach to scenario planning and dynamic monitoring. Nevertheless, Schoemaker is right. Change (especially uncertain change) is the stuff of opportunities—provided you have developed a way of thinking that prepares the firm to take advantage of whatever the future brings. The French scientist Louis Pasteur said it in one short sentence: "Chance favors only the prepared mind." If Pasteur had been English, the quote would have been, “Luck favors the prepared mind.”
In an earlier post I wrote about strategies for pursuing opportunities and at the top of the list was “Getting there first with the most”. Doing so requires the firm to have a strategy in place to mobilize quickly when opportunities arise. For example, where will your firm be when the next Sarbanes-Oxley law passes Congress? Getting there first means anticipating possible future events and having a basic plan in place to move faster and with more resources than the other guy. I suggest that the partners (or a group of partners) prepare their minds by practicing “thinking out of the box.” Have a weekly lunch or a monthly evening session devoted to nothing but thinking about things that could happen and then thinking about how they could happen differently. The mission would be to identify strategies that would allow the firm to benefit rather than suffer from these events.
Suppose a major local corporation with significant legal needs loses its general counsel unexpectedly…How could the law firm respond to its advantage? Suppose a one payer health system is adopted by the U.S. government. What problems and opportunities occur if Mexico nationalizes American businesses? How would the firm respond to another Enron? What happens if outside investors are allowed to own U.S. law firms? Suppose your major client contemplates moving its headquarters to a state where you firm doesn’t currently practice? Alternatively, how should your firm respond to a news release that a major U.S. corporation is relocating its headquarters to your area? What if events similar to those that destroyed Arthur Anderson occur with respect to a U.S. mega law firm?
Could your firm have anticipated the events involving Big Tobacco, the rise of the overnight letter business, the advent of Amazon.com, or the wave of refinancing sparked by falling interest rates? Could you have been better positioned to take advantage of Sarbanes-Oxley? Are you prepared for the next Katrina? Suppose a member of the firm is arrested for unsavory activities unrelated to the law firm. What steps should the firm take? Does the fact that 3.4 million Americans will turn 60 this year open opportunities for your firm? Can the firm take advantage of a major changing of the guard in corporate America?
Have fun thinking out of the box and strategically thinking about how the firm could capitalize rather than suffer from uncertain future events. That “thinking out of the box” group is likely to become your firm’s vehicle for rapid response to real-life events. Chance, Luck, Opportunities—whatever you call it, it benefits best those who are prepared. Practice prepares the firm to take advantage of events that surprise others.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
Related posts
Filed under Planning by Tom Collins