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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We often take for granted that everyone is on the same page when it comes to how clients and prospective clients are to be treated. Unfortunately, life just isn’t that simple. The leadership of the law firm has to communicate service standards—the firm’s expectations about how every member of the firm will treat clients and prospects. Law firms are in a constant state of change. People come and go. For services standards to become institutionalized, to become a integral part of the firm’s culture, the standards must be formalized, communicated frequently, and the leadership must hold people accountable for honoring those standards—they must be job requirements!

 

Janet Ellen Raasch has penned an excellent paper dealing with implementing a formal client service standard in the law firm. Her paper,Set Your Law Firm Apart with a Formal Client Service Standard Policy, appears on CBA PracticeLink, and the site also includes an online or downloadable presentation on the subject. The Canadian Bar Association puts out a wealth of top quality practice management material on their web site. Add it to your favorites list as a source of ideas for continuous improvement.

 

In her paper, Raasch includes the following sample list of client service standards which she complied from a variety of Canadian and U. S. sources:

 

We will put clients first – on our premises

• We will be welcoming – the client will be greeted by name first by a professional receptionist and later by attorneys and staff.
• We will be punctual – so the client will not have to wait.
• We will make an unavoidable wait pleasant – offering a beverage, a comfortable waiting area, entertainment (television or print materials), directions to the restroom or coat closet, and access to the phone and Internet. We will apologize for any delay.
• We will not make negative comments or discuss any client’s business in a public place (hallway, elevator, or snack room) where it might be overheard by a visiting client.
• We will keep the files of other clients out of the view of visiting clients.
• We will give a visiting client our undivided attention – putting other calls and distractions on hold until after the meeting.
• We will introduce the visiting client to other attorneys and staff – especially those on the client team.
• When we see an unfamiliar person in a hallway, we will ask “Can I help you?” and then stay with the visitor until the visitor’s need is met.
• When a client sees our office space or our print and electronic materials, the design will convey the message that we place clients first.

We will put clients first – by being accessible

• We will provide clients with our office, cell, and home phone numbers as well as e-mail addresses.
• When out of the office, we will carry BlackBerries, cell phones, and laptop computers with remote access to firm resources.
• We will provide clients with extranet sites where they can access information about their matter 24/7.
• We will answer our own phones. When this is not possible, the client will have a choice of phone mail or talking to a real person.
• We will train all attorneys and staff (especially switchboard personnel) in professional communication protocols.

We will put clients first – by being responsive

• We will check for phone and e-mail messages regularly and return them within a set period of time – no longer than 24 hours, and preferably much less.
• If we can’t respond to a message personally, we will make sure someone else who is familiar with the client’s case or matter returns the call.
• We will check for and acknowledge the receipt of all faxes.
• We will let clients know when we will be out of reach and give them the contact information of the person who can answer their questions in our absence.
• We will make sure that each client has multiple contacts at the firm, and that the client’s staff has contacts among parallel members of the law firm’s staff.
• We will learn and use the names of a client’s staff; we will be courteous and respectful at all times.
• We will respond to any complaints, fix them, and let the client know how the problem has been fixed.

We will put clients first – by understanding their needs

• We will ask clients about their service preferences before, during, and after each engagement.
• We will create a client service ombudsman – and encourage clients to contact this person if they are less than perfectly satisfied.
• We will listen more than we talk. We will never give the impression that we are too busy to give a client our complete attention.
• We will visit each client on their premises at least once a year – off the clock – to ask about client satisfaction. We will ask for a tour to learn more about their business.
• We will take a hard look at our own interpersonal skills – and ask for professional development assistance if necessary.
• We will keep current with developments in our client’s industry, reading industry publications and participating in industry organizations. We will keep track of and congratulate clients on their industry successes.
• When appropriate, we will co-locate a lawyer on the client’s premises.
• To respect the client’s financial needs, we will staff each matter in a way that provides the best value for the service provided.

We will put clients first – by continuously improving our procedures

• We will manage client expectations through clear client intake procedures.
• We will communicate clearly regarding fees, costs, team members, deadlines, risks and outcomes.
• We will hold a team meeting with the client at the start of any engagement.
• We will avoid surprises.
• We will discuss a proposed action with a client before we incur any fees.
• We will provide clients with copies of documents – in the format they prefer.
• We will review documents carefully for typos, misspelled names, or missing pages.
• We will meet or exceed our deadlines. If we cannot, we will let the client know well in advance.
• We will handle client correspondence promptly upon receipt, using a routing system.
• Our bills will be clear, correct, prompt, and in a format that meets the client’s needs.
• We will review the first bill with the client and resolve any questions promptly.
• We will provide a status update monthly, even if there are no billed hours.
• We will accept responsibility for any mistakes, apologize, and provide a solution.
• At the end of any engagement, we will send a thank you note. We will survey to find out how we could have provided better service. We will make changes to our procedures based on what we learn from our clients.

Sample Client Service Standards

Janet Ellen Raasch is a writer and ghostwriter who works closely with lawyers, law firms and other professional services providers – helping establish these clients as thought leaders within a targeted market through publication of articles and books for print and rich content for the Internet. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.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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The Harvard Business Review’s February 2007 issue included a scholarly article dealing with protecting a business’ reputation. The authors noted that firms with a strong positive reputation attract better people, can charge a premium for their services and products, and enjoy greater client loyalty. 

 

The Catch 22 is that the more important your reputation is, the more vulnerable it is to anything that damages that reputation.  So what proactive measures can you take to protect this extraordinarily valuable firm asset?  After-the-fact crisis management is not the answer.  Actions taken at that point are attempts to minimize the damage already underway. 

 

Start by assigning someone the responsibility for managing the risk. It starts by monitoring and intellectually questioning three important aspects of the risk and then mobilizing coordinated efforts through the firm leadership to head off threats that appear on the horizon.

 

We are always judged by others—clients, vendors, employees, peers, competitors, etc.  What we are is determined through their eyes and not our own. The responsible individual should take steps to track through various means the three aspects of reputation risk listed below.  Report to the leadership and recommend prophylactic measures where appropriate.  The three areas are:

 

Reputation Gap: How are we perceived by those who judge us versus our reality?  The greater this gap, the greater the risk.  Action is needed to change the perception or the reality to close the gap. A failure to live up to inappropriate reputation can be as costly to the firm as a failure to live up to the reputation you previously earned. Likewise, the failure of the public to give the firm due credit and market position means it will not get the business it should have and is likely to attract the wrong prospective clients.

 

Changing Expectations: How are the standards of those who judge you (and enterprises like you) changing?  Are tastes, ethics or values changing?  Are clients changing what they look for in terms of how they relate to their providers?  What about the things they value most? Is it loyalty, responsiveness, friendliness, or other things?  Do they want to socialize or get right to business? Do they value gray hair or youth?  Do they want to do business by phone, email, or in person?  Do they expect a center city premium location?  Is convenience or prestige more important? Failure to see changing preferences in our fast-paced times can erode your reputation in a few short years.  How quickly did your law firm embrace e-mail or the growing expectations for law firm web sites?  Do your attorneys understand the expectations of the Generation X and Generation Y clients that will replace your baby boomer clients as they leave the scene?

 

Organization-Wide Coordination: Once we understand the reputation we have and want, the next question has to be, are we acting in accord with that reputation? Is every department and every individual aware of our reputation goal and performing accordingly?   Do our phone handling practices reinforce our image or bring it into question?  How about how we receive visitors to the office?  Are our communications with clients consistent with our image? Do our couriers represent us consistent with our reputation?  Do we have partners, associates, or others who aren’t on board?

 

In most firms, risk to reputation is not currently managed.  Responsibly has not been assigned.  Those who enjoy a stellar reputation should take note: their most valuable asset will always be a risk.  The first step in managing that risk is to put someone in charge.

 

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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I was reading a paper reporting on David Maister’s ideas for improving a law firm’s client services.  The opening salvo read “The first step is to care about your clients”. 

 

You can follow checklist after checklist, but if you do not have a culture of caring about your clients, you can never touch the benefits that fall to those law firms that achieve excellence in the eyes of their clients. 

 

Tom Peters made it clear in A Passion for Excellence.  You don’t determine what excellence is or when or if you achieve it.  Excellence must be earned through the eyes of those who judge you, and the most important judge of all is the customer—the law firm’s clients.  Peters and his co-author Nancy Austin gave us the model for excellence in that 1985 book.

Achieving excellence in the eyes of your clients takes people who care about their clients, and once you achieve it, you can only hold onto it through constant innovation.  All of that takes leadership.  It takes an organization with a common set of beliefs—a culture in pursuit of excellence. 

 

Your customers judge you based on more than your legal skills.  They judge you by how they are treated by every single member of the law firm who touches them directly or indirectly. You are judged by the quality of every act and every output of every member of your law firm that reaches your clients.

 

I was always struck by Peter Drucker’s explanation that the only sound strategy is the pursuit of excellence; anything else is merely competent, and that leads to marginal.

 

 

PS: David Maister's web site and his separate blog are important information sources for managing partners.

 

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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Friedrich Blase with Edge International penned an article appearing in the September issue of Law Practice Today titled “Beyond Today's Income – What Constitutes a Firm's Future Earnings Potential?” It is a great question but a difficult read. It is a question that is always on the mind of every partner and every partner candidate in the firm.

Answering that question in an ongoing fashion is a central function of firm leadership. Fail to answer it, and the firm loses the glue that binds the law firm together. Blase puts it this way:

“Eventually, all the potent partners realize that their firm has no positive answers ……..” “Their firm, they have decided, does not have enough future earnings' potential. As one administrator of a demised law firm's estate put it brutally, "Left behind are the old, the fragile and the idealists."

The word vision is often used when discussing the role of law firm leadership. While that vision is not exclusively financial, financial aspects must be a part of it. The leader’s role must include not only the steps to assure sound future financial performance but the steps to build internal confidence in that future.

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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Talk about a favor! Patrick McKenna of Edge International has delivered a good size one for any managing partner taking up the mantle of leadership.

 

McKenna has published a free online booklet (23 pages) titled First 100 Days: Transitioning A New Managing Partner.  While the title speaks for itself, McKenna expanded on its contents in his e-mail to me: "This text provides prescriptive counsel to new firm leaders on what actions they might consider as they begin undertaking their initial responsibilities. Included is the experienced wisdom and real-world commentary of some twenty leaders from firms as diverse as Baker & McKenzie, Morgan Lewis, Pillsbury Winthrop, Ropes & Gray and Sonnenschein.

 

You also get a bonus: the chance to experience the latest in online e-book and magazine technology from NXTBook.

 

You can read the book online or download it, print it, and place it in your briefcase for later reading.  

 

 

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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I was drawn to Robert Cialdini’s book INFLUENCE: The Psychology of Persuasion by an article in the August 2006 Harvard Management Update by Martha Craumer

Look for advice about rainmaking and the experts will let you know it is about relationship building. Ask how to build relationships and they will tell you it is about giving. That is often described as being of value to others. Robert Cialdini puts it in even simpler terms. Doing something for someone gives you power and influence over them. Craumer directs us to “Do a favor—even a small one”.

In her article, Craumer reports that Cialdini’s research shows that the size of the initial favor has little bearing on the size of the favor we feel obliged to perform in return. Further, she notes that “the study shows that in spite of the uneven quid pro quo, we also seem unable to refuse the favors of others.”

A favor is a powerful influencing tool, one easy for the influencer to exploit. The exploitive power of a favor comes from what Cialdini calls the reciprocity rule—the obligation (or propensity) to receive in combination with the obligation (or propensity) to repay.

Martha Craumer’s article is about management and leadership—tactics for getting your point across subtly when traditional direct approaches do not work. The practice of doing favors (doing something for others) is a rewarding habit to develop.

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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Most managing partners in midsized law firms have a difficult time exercising authority. They lead, but not everyone follows. Then what? To be an effective manager/leader, you must hold a seven-card suit. The seven cards (sources of the ability to lead) are: experience, authority, ability to reward, ability to punish, charisma, systems and goals.

There is the problem. Most managing partners do not hold all seven cards. They can influence. They can mediate. They do contribute in spite of the limits on their authority. But, unless the partners have dealt the managing partner a full hand that includes all seven cards, they will not hold the mantel of leadership.

The good news is that managing partners, even with limited authority, make the law firm better as a business. The bad news is that the law firm partners could do better if they would deal the full seven-card hand to their managing partner.

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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If you find www.morepartnerincome.com valuable, be sure you take advantage of the complimentary subscription to the companion publication Managing Partner Advocate.  The hard copy Advocate is published four to six times annually and includes information tailored exclusively for Managing Partners.

 

The most recent issue includes a check list of best practices for increasing per partner income, a sample marketing plan for the individual attorney as well as articles dealing with leadership, law firm continuity and other law firm management topics.  

 

 

To make sure that you receive every issue of this informative publication for managing partners, e-mail morepartnerincome@juris.com and include the following: 

 

Firm Name:

 

Your Name and Title:

 

Mailing address:

 

 

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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I just finished reading Ed Wesemann’s book The First Great Myth of Legal Management is that it Exists. Anyone who quotes Douglas Adams in his book is okay by me.

 

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