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Legal Commentary

In Search of Perfect Client Service

Why Lawyers Seem To Stumble. Blawg from attorney Patrick Lamb

Post Frequency: 1.8/day

Last Entry: March 17, 2011 at 16:14:07

Note to BigLaw: Please Explain

Posted on June 25, 2009
Two things captured my attention today. They fit so nicely together because I can't understand either of them. First, I read an Above The Law post about DLA Piper abandoning lockstep compensation for its associates. But it was this quote from co-CEO Lee Miller that struck me so hard: "I don't think the model is broken, but people want to rethink what they're doing and why they're doing it...

"Dedicated to providing thoughtful answers."

Posted on June 24, 2009
Marketing, to be effective, needs to (1) have a point and (2) not insult the listener or viewer. These things seem to be Marketing 101. So here I am this morning, driving along listening to NPR. The announcer reads the piece that programming is brought to you by "[insert name of large national accounting firm] where we are dedicated to providing our clients with thoughtful answers...

Lawyers Victimizing Clients: Two Models

Posted on June 24, 2009
I was visiting with a friend of mine recently. He regaled me with a story of a lawsuit he had brought against some entity that had screwed up a service it was providing. He lamented how he had been unable to get the case settled. He told me that the lawyer defending the case had convinced his client the case was win-able and the adversary was now fighting to the death, when settling would have cost only marginally more than the legal fees the adversary was now paying...

Social Networking And The Law

Posted on June 23, 2009
One of the points that Mike Dillon, GC of Sun Microsystems, made in his recent post, Change, is that the new generation of lawyers has a different perspective on the practice, which is helping drive change. The career perspective of the newest generation of attorneys is an additional factor in driving these changes...

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The Mastodon . . . whistles past the graveyard?

Posted on June 21, 2009
Two years ago, Mike Dillon, GC of Sun Microsystems, observed in his post, The Way Of The Mastodon: My point is that the epoch of the current law firm model - which derives its profitability from growing scale and raising hourly rates - will soon be over...

Skin In The Game: It Causes Behavior To Change

Posted on June 18, 2009
The President's proposed solution to the economic problems created by the easy loans made during the housing bubble requires banks and other lenders to keep 5% of the loans they package and sell. The belief is that if lenders have "skin in the game," they will refrain from making bad loans since doing so will cost them money...

A Thought For Law Students

Posted on June 17, 2009
I don't normally write with a law student audience in mind. The recent spate of terminations (I hate the word 'layoff'), my encounters with great law students here at Valorem and at FutureFirm 1.0 and a recent post on Legal On Ramp by Ed Reeser asking whether being a BigLaw associate was worth it anymore all got me thinking about how hard it must be to be a law student these days...

Thanks To Adrian Dayton For Podcast Interview

Posted on June 17, 2009
My great thanks to Adrian Dayton, the person behind Marketing Strategy And The Law--Social Media Edition. I was honored to be Adrian's guest on Weekly Voir Dire, a weekly podcast. The interview in available here. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion with Adrian...

Designing The Nuclear Supercarrier Of The Future and The Practice Of Law

Posted on June 17, 2009
"Designing a nuclear powered aircraft carrier is a mindbendingly complex process." I love that sentence--if only because of its understatement (and the use of "mindbendingly"). It is from a fascinating article at FastCompany...

Short Time Offer: Creating A Marketing Habit in 21 Days

Posted on June 16, 2009
I generally try to avoid pushing books here, even though I read a lot of books. But I was asked to read Paula Black's The Little Black Book: A Lawyer's Guide To Creating A Marketing Habit in 21 Days. I read the other books in Paula's "Little Black Book" series, and they have been very helpful to me, so I agreed to read the book...

Can BigLaw Afford To Look Askance At Contract Lawyers

Posted on June 16, 2009
Here's a sentence that should scare the bejesus out of every inside lawyer: "Other firms, however, are taking work they would typically farm out to contract lawyers and instead are giving it to associates who might not have much on their plates...

BigLaw and Alternative Fees: With Friends Like This, I Can File Chapter 11!

Posted on June 15, 2009
In February, I posted about The Problem With Most Fixed Fee Proposals. Here was my point: Let's start with the "what it would cost on an hourly basis" part of the calculus. Hours times hourly rate. See any problem? To start with, hourly rates include a very hefty profit margin...

"Contract Year Phenomenon" And Lawyer-Client Relationships

Posted on June 12, 2009
There is something known as "contract year phenomenon." Wikipedia describes it: Contract year phenomenon is a term used in North American sports to describe the occurrence when athletes perform at a very high level in the season prior to their free agency eligibility...

Worst Law Firm Decision Imaginable?

Posted on June 10, 2009
The title is Fred Bartlit's take on the recent decision by Pillsbury Winthrop to cut associate salaries between 10-20% based on utilization rates. Fred's take is 'this guarantees that more associates will "make their quotas" and that clients will pay much more for no reason...

Excellent Book: Personality not included--why companies lose their authenticity and how great brands get it back

Posted on June 10, 2009
I am a big fan of Rohit Bhargava's recent book, *Personality not included--Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity and how great brands get it back. Rohit provides great examples of the points he is making. The essential point is that companies with personality have a chance of succeeding, faceless companies that try to be all things to all people are destined to be ignored and forgotten...

But Who Insures My Profitability?

Posted on June 09, 2009
The AmLaw Daily contains a fascinating post, GCs, Law Firms And Flat Fee Arrangements: A Matter Of Trust. One outside lawyer is quoted as saying that "the single biggest obstacle to flat fee arrangements is fear." The reporter goes on to say that clients worry about the quality of work they will get and outside counsel worry that they will lose money if something unexpected happens...

Back Door To ??????

Posted on June 08, 2009
Last week the American Lawyer reported the results of its first "Women in Law" survey. Despite the occasional standout firm, women still account for approximately 1 in 5 big firm partners. The Am Law 200 does much better than the Am Law 100, with 60% of the former reporting an average of 19% women partners while only 41% of the Am Law 100 reported the same...

Cost Certainty Should Not Be Confused With Efficiency

Posted on June 02, 2009
I read with interest a law.com story, New Approaches, New Firms on Corporate Clients' Shopping Lists. The story reports on recent findings from a BTI Consulting survey. Here's the key finding: Clients need new approaches to fees, staffing and billing -- including a shift from hourly to flat rates, he said, but when they've reached out to the largest Am Law firms for solutions, they are told "We're not sure we know how to do that...

Sandra Day O'Connor, Nicole Auerbach and Roberta Liebenberg

Posted on June 01, 2009
It's not too often that one of your partners is mentioned in the same breath with a legendary Supreme Court justice. But that's just what happened to my partner, Nicole Auerbach! Here's the story. A former colleague of mine received a blast email from the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession announcing Ms...

Valorem Announces Advisory Board

Posted on May 28, 2009
The need to improve is never satiated. Just as true is the fact that "fresh eyes" frequently see things that those closest to something cannot see themselves. These two facts were the impetus for Valorem Law Group forming an Advisory Board...

What You Wish You Knew When You Were 20 Is Something You Should Know When You Are 40. Or 50.

Posted on May 28, 2009
I just finished reading What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, by Tina Seelig. Dr. Seelig is a neuroscientist and the executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, the entrepreneurship center at Stanford's School of Engineering. I wish I knew this now, at 52...

Thank You.

Posted on May 24, 2009
Over 1,300,000 American soldiers have died in battle. Countless others have served in uniform. Honor them. Thank them.

Does Increasing Turbulence Suggest That Now Is The Time For A Different Means Of Travel?

Posted on May 22, 2009
In the last two days, the legal market has been greeted with more layoffs, a prediction that many more layoffs of associates and partners is inevitable, further deferrals of starting dates for new associates, buy-outs of new associates (also called firing them before they start), rollbacks in associates salaries, further cuts in partner income, let's see, have I forgotten anything? Oh yea, there's that little matter of Skadden deferring the starting date of associates from the class of 2010...

The Process Era--A Follow Up On Jeff Carr's 4 Buckets

Posted on May 21, 2009
Several weeks ago, I posted about Jeff Carr's 4 buckets of law practice--process,content, advocacy and counseling. In the same vein, Jordan Furlong advises lawyers to Get ready for the process era. It is an outstanding piece of work and presents a similar view much more capably...

Is Trust A Casualty of the Recession?

Posted on May 21, 2009
It may be, according to this post in the Harvard Business Review Editor's Blog. This article discusses the relationship between buyers and Chinese manufacturers, but also notes this: Is the buyer likely to trust any vendor again? Not surprisingly, when HBR surveyed readers in January 2009, we found that more than one-fifth of 1,024 respondents admitted that their trust in suppliers had been shaken over the past 12 months...

Defender Of Billable Hour Emerges

Posted on May 21, 2009
This headline caught my attention: "Billable Hour Hullabaloo is 'Overblown, Drinker Partner Says." Courtesy of the ABA Journal, The headline is true to the article. 'The billable hour is an overblown issue,' said Drinker Biddle & Reath managing partner Ed Getz, in an interview with the ABA Journal...

Natural Selection Of Brain Cells (Off Topic)

Posted on May 20, 2009
Sorry. But I received this email from a friend and laughed so hard I had to share it: I don't think I've ever heard the concept explained any better than this . 'Well you see, Norm, it's like this . . . A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo...

Waste Not, Want Not: Law Firms And The Current Economic Crisis

Posted on May 19, 2009
Rahm Emmanuel is famous for saying "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste." But another crisis truism comes to mind as well: "by the time you recognize a real crisis, it may be too late to do anything about it." The question for the day is whether law firms yet today recognize the real magnitude of the crisis they are facing...

Is Your Law Firm A Premium Or A Luxury Firm?

Posted on May 18, 2009
Seth Godin, a leading marketing adviser, has a fantastic discussion of the difference between luxury and premium goods in his blog today. The entry is suitably titled Luxury vs. premium. Here's what he says: Luxury goods are needlessly expensive...

Is It Possible That The Hourly Rate Model Is Just Misunderstood?

Posted on May 18, 2009
Awwww. The billable hour model is not so bad, just misunderstood. Such is the hypothesis of a new law.com article, In Defense Of The Billable Hour: Bad, Or Just Misunderstood?. One expects a vigorous defense of the poor 'ole hourly rate, but that is not to be...

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