Management is achieving objectives through others. It's a continuing process of receiving input, processing input, taking action, receiving feedback, and repeating the process. It requires KASH in a real-time environment. It is a cycle of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling.

Prior to 1828, the path to becoming an attorney required not only to obtain a degree, but to serve several years as an apprentice before being able to practice law. President Andrew Jackson changed these requirements to break up the elitist methods of choosing attorneys (only attorneys could choose who the apprentice would be, much like real estate appraisers of today). By the end of the 1800's, apprenticeship programs for attorneys were well in decline and after the introduction of the American Bar Association in 1878, a more standardized formal process to becoming an attorney was introduced (Source: Bar Examination: Further Readings). An unintended consequence of this action was to lessen the importance of mentorship to young attorneys-in-waiting.

Today, the only qualifications (not to lessen their importance) to becoming a lawyer is a good dose of book smarts, focus and an ability to not crack under stress. Law school does much to help you think like a lawyer, but does nothing to help you act like a lawyer. Mentorship helps associates to learn from seasoned attorneys how to act as well as how to best service clients.

Management ensures that the value of mentoring is set as habit, achieving professional objectives not only for the individual, but for the firm. Unfortunately for some firms, management is treated much like strategic plans: either you spend time developing a plan but don't stick to it or you don't do it at all.

Good management starts by receiving input. Actively solicit feedback from your associates. Karen Asner wrote an article for Law.Com (Law Firm Partners Find Out What Associates Really Think of Them) regarding establishing an "upward review process":

Upward reviews give associates the opportunity to evaluate and provide input on the management and leadership performance of partners with whom they regularly work on deals, cases, committees or pro bono matters.

Law firms aiming to create an outstanding working environment for their associates and attract prospective recruits should seriously consider implementing an upward review process.

It's a good bet that associates, if put in a non-threatening environment to speak frankly, would have some pointed views on their plight. Some may be warranted; some may not, but if you want to consistently increase partner income, knowing what associates are thinking can be invaluable, especially if you are considering them as future partners. You don't want to find out after the attorney leaves how disaffected he/she was towards the shareholders. Plus, in an ideal environment, the associates are bearing the brunt of most of the work - you want to make sure they are well incented to be proper representatives of the firm, inside and outside of the office.

Implementing an upward review process is only the start: next, you have to process the input. The management committee or equivalent must review the results and develop a plan of action that will address concerns and further the firm's objectives. Accountability must be delegated to every member of the firm. Clear and concise roles and goals need to be communicated.

Then you must take action. Talking about management and goals is a waste of time otherwise. Taking action means mentoring associates - not only as to how to practice law, but how to act. Mentoring is a way to reclaim the lost art of apprenticeship. Not only will it allow the partners to dictate how the associate acts, but it also creates a bond of acceptance within the firm that the associate is part of the team. That can only help in fostering trust, a central component in management.

Measurement improves results. Always measure the effectiveness of your plan by again receiving feedback. Keep the upward review process going - quarterly, semi-annually, annually, whatever time frame will maximize the effectiveness of the campaign (understanding the resource drain on the review process - you don't want to lose productivity as a result of processes established to improve productivity). My suggestion is semi-annual.

Measure and adjust, then repeat the process. Nothing is gained by doing something only once. Consistency is the name of the game if you want to affect the habits of others. Don't let up, don't get down, never give up. Over the long run, your efforts will be rewarded with a smooth running operation that will scale with your profits.

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The previous host for morepartnerincome, Tom Collins, has strong feelings about the importance of recognizing the monetary value of law firm ownership. He believes that incoming partners should purchase their share of ownership and that retiring partners or their estate should be fairly compensated for the value of the partner’s shares. I asked him for a post on the subject and here it is:

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BDO Stoy Hayward and International Survey Research (ISR) teamed up to measure the relationship between core values and performance. The study is still ongoing according to an article in Managing Partner by Rupert Merson. Merson (rupert.merson@bdo.co.uk) is a partner in BDO and a Fellow of the London Business School.

While the project is still ongoing, Merson reports that the evidence indicates that firms who emphasize organization values, any values, outperform others. The stronger the emphasis, the better the firm performs and the more income partners take home.

The lesson to learn here is that it pays to invest time and effort in understanding the organization’s values that have developed over time. When making that determination, some leaders may not like what they find. Having determined the values that are currently influencing behavior within the organization, they are then in a position to support those in synch with the leadership and to change those that are not desirable. The objective should then be aligning the entire team behind a single set of core beliefs or values. That alignment is accomplished by continuous frequent communication and thorough training.

Morepartnerincome previously put it this way: “Firm partners need to get together and agree on what they are in agreement about." See the prior post What Law Firm Partners Need to Agree About or check out other posts in the folder Culture & Core Beliefs.

How significant is it for an organization to place emphasis on its core values? It’s big:

62 percent higher growth in fee income

Margin percentage is double

Partner income is 54 percent higher

Merson says, “All this naturally requires an investment in time and energy. Unsurprisingly, research also shows that the firms investing the most in core values also have training and development expense per employee, some 81 percent higher than firms less concerned with core values.”….”The results of this investment might also be startling—making it very difficult for another firm to copy and reinforce the competitive advantage.”

The study will go on to determine which values are more important than others. But from my view, the most important finding is that it is those law firms who have defined themselves internally and externally in terms of their collective values (core beliefs) that succeed best. It is the belief system that keeps an organization together in the best times and during disappointing times.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income contact Juris National Sales Center at 877/377-3740, e-mail info@juris.com or go to www.Juris.com.
 

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Over at Juris when they talk about customers (and prospects), they call them “THE FORCE”.  If you are a Star Wars™ fan, you know that the Force flows throughout the universe influencing all things.  It is an apt description of law firm clients—those the law firm exists to serve.  Law firm clients are the law firm's only source of revenues. They give the law firm an opportunity to produce results for the benefit of law firm partners.  May the Force be with you!

As basic and fundamental as that concept is, law firms lag behind the business world when it comes to CRM, Customer Relationship Management.  Many have confused CRM with software.  It is not.  Naras Eechambadi,  CEO of Quaero (www.quaero.com), a marketing performance management and technology services company, recently wrote, “When CRM efforts ‘fail’, it is often because companies look to technology to provide a silver bullet and are disappointed when it fails to deliver.”  In a separate article, Dick Lee, founder and principal of High-Yield Methods, went further: ”If we've learned anything over the past 15 years, we've learned that successful CRM starts with customer-centric business strategies. Plus we've also learned that technology does not enable strategies directly; rather, technology enables business processes that implement strategies. All we have to do is get these basic facts straight—and "get it" that we don't even talk technology until we fully address strategy and process.”

CRM is a state of mind.  It is a strategy.  It has to be an unshakable mindset at the top of an organization and must be widely accepted throughout the organization as cultural core belief. It can not be compartmentalized or delegated. Francis Buttle, an Australia Professor at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, put it this way: "CRM is, of course, a cross-functional business discipline. It sits nowhere, but it belongs everywhere. It could be claimed by marketing, IT, operations or strategy subject-matter experts, but it is generally owned by no one."

The organization must first believe that its purpose is to serve the interests of its clients.  If it unabashedly does so, then it will achieve success and reap the benefits.  All decisions and all processes have to place the client’s interest first.  You can not do that effectively unless the organization’s systems place the client at its center, and that is what CRM software is designed to help the firm do by keeping track of firm-wide client activity and sharing that information organization-wide.

A key is to understand that CRM software is only a tool in support of the law firm’s customer-focused strategy. The strategy comes first.  Software like ContactEase™ available from Juris Alliance Partner Cole Valley Software, Inc. comes next.

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.

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Authors Mortimer Feinberg and Aaron Levenstein, when noting that talent and ability are not enough, quoted the famed actress Helen Hays: “Nothing is any good without endurance.”  Their article Building Endurance appeared in the Wall Street Journal in the 1980s.   Nothing has changed. Endurance is still the essential element that makes for an effective law firm partner or an effective leader.

With the aging of the baby boomer generation, the retirement issue has become increasingly important, especially as many key rainmakers and law firm leaders brush against retirement age.  Age isn’t the issue.  Endurance is. Unfortunately, endurance declines as we approach that all-too-unwelcome age marker—65.  Granted, some people do not experience a decline in endurance until later. On the other hand, it can come sooner. As we enter our 50s, the chances of disability and energy-robbing illnesses become more likely

There are things that each of us can do to maintain and build endurance.   Feinberg and Levenstein set out four:

1.     Know how you recharge your batteries.  For some, this may be music, golf, or a long leisurely walk.  For others, it may be extreme physical activity—cycling, running, the gym.  Know what yours is and take advantage of it to avoid burnout.

2.     Keep a sense of humor, including the ability to laugh at yourself. It relieves stress not only for you but for those around you.

3.     Multiply you own resources of stamina by recruiting the strength of others.  In short, delegate and ask others to do for you.

4.     Recognize your failings (weaknesses) as well as your strengths and virtues.  Don’t waste energy on weaknesses; put your energy behind your strengths.

For most partners, declining endurance doesn’t come from burnout.  It comes from an actual decline in physical stamina due to age and age-related illnesses.  The best advice here is two-fold: 

·         It is never too late to adopt a disciplined exercise program to maintain and improve physical strength.

·         With increasing age and experience, shift your emphasis from “doing it yourself” to “doing it through others.”

No matter what measures we may take to maintain our individual endurance, it will eventually lower our ability to contribute on an equal footing with younger members of the firm.  Regardless of when it happens, it will happen.  For the benefit of both firm and its senior members, the transition out of the partner role needs to be planned and carried out in an orderly fashion. 

By the late 50s, there should be an understanding between a partner and the firm as to the path toward retirement.  Usually this involves a change in the partner’s role from working attorney to manager, mentor, statesman, goodwill ambassador, community mover and shaker, etc.  As long as we have the desire and the capacity, there are many ways other than long hours and high-energy lawyering to continue as a valuable contributing member of the firm.  There are successful partners continuing to make important contributions well up into their 70s and 80s.  They may represent the firm’s brand.  They know who is who.  They are respected in the community.  They can give important clients top-level attention to cultivate the firm’s relationship with those key clients and, while at it, cross-sell services.  They can publish, speak on behalf of the firm, and fulfill the firm’s obligations for community and charitable duties.  Along with a changing role, the firm may need to refine compensation for partners in the transitioning process by moving to a compensation plan that places the emphasis on management, rainmaking, and handing off business and origination to the younger partners.

Plans can change quickly.  Even for the mature partner with no plans to retire there should be an annual conversation concerning retirement plans.  That conversation will eventually have to turn to the firm-driven need to prepare for the partner's inability to continue in his or her former capacity.  

 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.

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Recently a managing partner asked me if there had been any economic surveys targeting US midsized law firms using lockstep compensation plans.  The question came up as I was explaining the finding that under the traditional US compensation plan approach, midsized law firm partners are hoarding work—working more hours than associates. Why? For one reason, they make more income by doing the work rather than delegating it.

To my knowledge, there haven’t been any U.S. studies or surveys targeting just lockstep followers.  Lockstep plans are not common in the USA. With regard to the hoarding issue, the buzz is that lockstep compensation plans can have the opposite effect unless ruthlessly administered.  Since individual production is largely removed from the compensation equation, lockstep can give a raise to the partner who suddenly dropped from 2000 billing hours per year to 400. And that missing 1600 hours has not been redirected to management or rainmaking. Thus, performance standards must be ruthlessly enforced so that those abusing the system are outed quickly to prevent the system from becoming corrupted.

The consulting firm John P. Weil & Company has posted a thorough description of the lockstep approach on their page, which contains other articles of interest to those involved in law firm management. 

Even in the UK, where lockstep is a tradition, there are few pure lockstep plans around nowadays.  Modified lockstep plans prevail as firms introduce both objective and subjective measurements to affect results in support of law firm strategies and goals.  Bruce MacEwen of Adam Smith, Esq. posted an interesting article dealing with the trend toward modification of lockstep plans. Patrick McKenna has an insightful post on performance differences among firms depending on their compensation plan type. His post supports the belief that statistically driven plans yield lower results. McKenna also has a great white paper on the various types of plans used by law firms.  

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.

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From experience, I can tell you that anyone who has gone through media-style training with its emphasis on staying on message is likely to tell you that it changed their life.  The skill makes you more effective as a presenter when performing before any size audience and when dealing one-on-one. Professional training will increase a firm’s success at business development. Law firm partners and associations will be more effective lawyers and businesspeople.  And without professional training, you are at the mercy of the media and at risk of bundling a crisis situation.

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to be involved in a project to coach a group on effective communication and presentation skills.  This was aimed at improving sales, rainmaking, and results, but professional training makes all the difference in the world when it comes to dealing with the media or when engaged in crisis communication. Of course, world-class litigators would not be world-class litigators without these same skills.

The project gave me the opportunity to work with Aileen Pincus, President of The Pincus Group, Inc.. The Pincus team members are specialists in media training, crisis communications, and presentation skills.  The coaching project covered two days.  The first was devoted to developing your winning message and honing it down to the core value propositions that would win the day with your particular audience. The second day belonged entirely to The Pincus Group and was focused on developing one’s skill to stay on message but included an ample dose of presentation skills. 

Throughout the day, participants were videoed, coached, and re-videoed by Pincus. As the day progressed, the efforts of the coach to get the participants off message increased.   The improvement in the participants’ skills for remaining on message and for communicating in a powerful and effective way progressed remarkably throughout the day.

While it is the combination of the coaching and the video process that makes for an effective skill development environment, Aileen Pincus also drilled participants in basic presentation skills. For example:

• Use power words.  Don’t equivocate, soften, or waiver.  

• Offer opinions, clearly and interestingly stated. No fence sitting.

• Winning speech is positive and empowering

• Engage listeners with examples and explanations.

• Reward audiences with what’s in it for them.

Accomplishing your purpose through effective communication requires preparation, practiced presentation skills, and staying on message.   You must start by knowing your audience, knowing your purpose, and knowing the message that will accomplish your purpose. Then you must stay on message. 

If you are looking for ways to increase the effectiveness of your firm’s professional team, take a look at The Pincus Group. Dollar for dollar, it is one of the best investments you can make and it will generate more partner income.  For more information, visit the Pincus Web site or call Aileen Pincus at 301/938-690 or reach her by e-mail to apincus@thepincusgroup.com. 

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.

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While mega firms have sufficient access to the talent pool to pursue their “move up or out” model for associates, midsized firms have a greater need to retain and develop their younger attorneys.   This means there is need for constructive rather than destructive performance evaluations to guide the associate’s development as a well-rounded attorney.

Unfortunately, doing performance evaluations doesn’t come easy for most midsized law firm partners.   It is one thing to express your opinion to other partners about a given associate’s performance.  It is another thing to give helpful counseling to the individual with an objective of enhancing their career prospects.

One helpful tool is the man/woman job overlay.  Take a standard letter-size sheet of paper to represent the job—the traits and skills required for a fully competent incumbent individual such as:   

Professional Competencies

Writing skills

Work Ethic

Interpersonal Skills

Client Relations

Client Management

Business Development

Compliance with firm policies and procedures

Overlay a second sheet of paper representing the associate’s performance. Explain that the associate‘s current performance fulfills that portion of the job obligations covered by the second sheet of paper.  It is only the uncovered portion that represents the improvement needed to completely fulfill the expectations of their current position, or the position to which they hope to move.

The overlay will cover most of the original sheet of paper, emphasizing that only small changes are needed to round out performance.  The discussion can focus on the positive steps that need to be taken by the individual being evaluated.

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

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David Maister was prompted to write Guns for Hire when he started to think about the actions of a leading PR firm that transgressed many people’s sense of ethics – creating a blog consistently favorable to Wal-Mart® without disclosing Wal-Mart’s (or the PR firm’s) involvement. This led him to question why people in an organization take on work (or make decisions) that they would have rejected if they had been on their own. He hit the nail on the head when he wrote the following:

“If I knew that all my colleagues, bosses, partners, owners, etc., shared a common set of standards, then I would have the courage to make selective decisions based on those standards.”

I have written quite a bit on the importance of law firms having a core set of beliefs. Partners need to know what they agree about and they need to communicate those beliefs firm-wide. By doing so, the “If I knew” portion of Maister’s remarks would be satisfied and individual partners and others on the law firm team would be in a position to deal with many issues as if the organization was their business (law firm). Without a core set of beliefs, enterprises are left without a moral and sound business compass.

It isn’t difficult—the partners need to talk, agree, and communicate to the organization the common set of beliefs that guide the firm. It is empowering for the partners to do it. It is inspirational to the entire team to know that their organization believes in a guiding set of principles and sound business beliefs. An organization’s culture develops around those common beliefs. They become the glue that tends to hold a firm together through bad times as well as the good times. Without that culture, firms take on a strict “eat-what-you-kill” mentality where everyone is out for No. 1. When what you can eat takes a downward turn due to temporary economic or competitive reasons, loyalty goes out the window.

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.

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