May 21, 2013

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Coach’s Corner: Be a Lawyer and a Teacher

August 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Rebecca Mieliwocki of Burbank, Calif., was recently named 2012 Teacher of the Year and honored by President Obama at a White House ceremony.

Among other impressive achievements in her career, she went to law school. This transition is not peculiar. Lawyers are, after all, teachers. They tell stories to instruct jurors and judges for the benefit of their clients.

But lawyers may not realize that they can use teaching techniques in many other ways to make the business of law more successful.

Consider just a few examples and ask yourself how good a teacher you are.

Justify your fees

Value is ultimately determined by the client, not the attorney. But it’s the attorney who must educate the client about the value of his services.

Most clients recognize the importance of and are willing to pay a fair fee for value. What they do not want is to pay for inefficiencies, duplications or unnecessary services.

To avoid fee disputes, lawyers must regularly demonstrate that their skills and the way in which services are delivered to the client coincide with what the client wants and needs.

Blog to inform

Lawyers often know a great deal about industry and economic issues that are important to clients, and can educate their clients about trends and developments using blog posts.

A blog combines the lawyer’s observations on breaking legal or regulatory issues with specialized content and research and can offer the option to comment and ask specific questions. This defines a teaching relationship — and also often serves as the beginning of a client relationship.

Educate your staff

In the current law firm world, lawyers and staff are affected by the ongoing transformation of client expectations and legal service delivery. Lawyers must take the lead in helping all staff members understand this change.

More than the continuing sluggish economy alone, firms are contending with upheaval in the way law is practiced. Secretarial assistants, technology specialists, project managers, any staff — they all need a better understanding of the forces reshaping law firms, and the lawyers who employ them should provide that understanding.

Emphasize the value of beyond-the-case effort

Young lawyers too often view themselves as being at the mercy of the firm’s partners when undergoing annual reviews. They can enhance their situations by educating the partners on what the lawyer has actually done in a key area, such as business development.

Attending lunch or bar association functions, posting blogs and client updates, writing articles in trade or legal publications are all valid marketing activities. The young lawyer who engages in them can make a convincing argument at review time: “This is what I’ve done to promote myself and promote the firm.”

Don’t assume these efforts are well-known tactics. Teach those who matter about the value of the effort.

Education is all about communication. It is essential that those with whom a lawyer interacts knows what the lawyer is doing and understands why it is being done. As lawyers, our job is to help others. Constantly conveying how and why you are doing this is an excellent way to derive greater personal satisfaction from your practice.

Ed Poll is a nationally recognized coach, law firm management consultant, and author who has coached and consulted with lawyers and law firms in strategic planning, profitability analysis, and practice development for over twenty years. Ed has practiced law on all sides of the table and he now helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability and peace of mind. He writes a syndicated legal column, Coach’s Corner, where this post originally appeared on June 20, 2012.
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Is Solo Practice a Good Fit for You?

August 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Today’s economy can lead seasoned attorneys, mid-career laterals and even freshly minted law grads into solo practice. But is solo practice a good fit for you? No matter the stage of your career, there are questions to ask yourself and options to examine to determine whether this is your best choice before you launch a solo practice.

How Many Hats Can I Wear?

Opening a solo practice means wearing many hats to handle all the functions in the firm—in addition to practicing law. A lawyer stepping out of a larger firm may find herself a bit ill-equipped to manage all the details required in running a law office, even a solo one. That realization—sometimes a difficult one—may lead to the need for extra support, either outsourced or in-house, to cover everything from bookkeeping and billing to marketing and technology support, plus other administrative duties. Acknowledge your strengths and interests, and then plan ways to cover the rest so you can balance both the administrative and the legal side of running the practice.

What Is My Vision of Solo Practice?

Do you view solo practice as a temporary or long-range option? Will you focus on one practice niche or several areas? Do you anticipate a need for support through a paralegal, legal assistant or other? Will you need the involvement of other lawyers? Many solo lawyers network and solidify of counsel relationships with their peers to plug into particular client matters as the need arises. Being prepared in advance is key to ensuring solid legal services and handling client expectations.

Who Would Be My Best Client?

Think about the areas of practice you want to concentrate in. Consider your background and experience—what types of client matters do you enjoy? Describe your best client and explore why that’s the case. Developing key areas of practice where you have both experience and interest to grow and develop will lead you on a path to a satisfying and successful practice.

What Is My Ideal Practice Setting?

The location of your office depends on the type of clients you want to serve. Are your clients businesses or consumers? How will the physical office affect attracting clients? Will clients need to visit you often or only occasionally? Endless technology options can support your law practice wherever it is, but you still need to decide what setting works best for you. Do you enjoy tossing around a legal issue or argument among a group of other legal minds? If so, consider renting within a suite of other lawyers. Or if you desire a strong presence, explore leasing or owning your own space. While working from home may seem like paradise, it is not always wise to bring clients to your home. You might consider a virtual office with a professional business address and renting a conference room for meeting with clients on confidential matters.

How Will I Find Clients?

To build your business, you must have a strong strategic plan that makes marketing and business development a high priority. Concentrate on marketing a few key areas of your practice. Reach out and network—you can learn and gain valuable insights by getting active in your local bar or other specialty law groups. Develop your writing and speaking skills so you can share your knowledge with potential clients. Weave your interests and experience into your online presence through your website and social media as you develop your place in a niche.

Remember, too, that in a solo setting, you may no longer be perceived as competition by your peers. This is a good thing. Communicate how you can be of value to them by helping when conflicts arise in their own firms. Their good feelings about you can result in a stream of solid referrals.

Ellyn Caruso is principal of CarusoPR, a group that combines strategy, creativity and technology. Ellyn is passionate about delivering persuasive marketing and public relations programs to help attorneys, businesses and organizations. She brings more than 25 years of public relations experience serving national and international clients. She also contributes to the Attorney at Work blog, where this post originally appeared on August 14, 2012.

CLE Program: Hanging Your Shingle

This CLE presentation will take place from Thursday, August 16 through Saturday, August 18. Participants may attend live in our classroom or watch the live webcast.

If you can’t make the live program or webcast, the program will also be available as a homestudy in three formats: video on-demand, mp3 download, and audio CD. The course materials will also be available.
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Coach’s Corner: A No-Charge Client Visit Can Pay Big Dividends

June 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The most cost-effective business development strategy for any firm is to expand current services with existing clients. Current clients are already in hand and don’t have to be identified and wooed. They offer great potential for leverage, as new services can be provided without significant startup costs.

But it’s not a cost-free exercise. Existing client relationships require work and planning if they are to produce additional marketing benefits.

A natural and oft-overlooked starting point is to schedule a friendly, no-stress visit to a client just to talk.

Far too often, lawyers are apprehensive about making such visits, but they should be reminded that clients will not by default be hostile or confrontational; otherwise, they would not have remained as clients. What they want is to feel comfortable with their lawyer, and the best way to make them comfortable is to get them to talk about their business. A client visit should focus on listening to what clients have to say.

Such a visit takes planning if it is going to be successful. Here are steps to consider:

  • Schedule the visit at the time most convenient for the client and for any people the client wants to involve (which broadens your own circle of relationships).
  • When the day for the visit comes, remember that you are there to learn about the client, not to pitch for new business.
  • Never put clients on the defensive with a style of questioning you would use in a deposition or when structuring a contract. Try to avoid “why” questions, which are likely to carry a judgmental tone. You want to convey empathy and rapport.
  • Make all your questions open-ended. Phrase them to give clients the opportunity to provide as much information as possible.
  • Do not feel you need to respond to everything clients tell you. Show interest and demonstrate that you’ve heard, but resist the urge to push new services or ways to help.
  • Make sure you’ve done your research. Clients want to tell you about themselves, but they appreciate the respect you show them by taking the trouble to learn more about them.

The emphasis here is on learning more about the client. Clients want to share information about themselves because they want to trust their lawyer. Clients whose lawyers ask about their plans and objectives begin to think of that lawyer as an advisor and friend, not just someone who sends out a monthly bill.

That raises another important point: A client visit and the time needed for it should appear on the next bill, but with a “no charge” notation. That’s a vivid way of showing that although an attorney’s time is valuable, the client relationship is valued even more.

Finally, don’t make the bill the last mention of the visit. As a follow-up, send a handwritten note expressing thanks for the client’s time, stating why the client relationship is valuable to you, and expressing the wish for lawyer and client to extend the relationship.

That’s the real payoff, because it paves the way for asking: “How else can I help you?” The answer stands a very good chance of equating to new business — with a freshly appreciative client.

Ed Poll is a nationally recognized coach, law firm management consultant, and author who has coached and consulted with lawyers and law firms in strategic planning, profitability analysis, and practice development for over twenty years. Ed has practiced law on all sides of the table and he now helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability and peace of mind. He writes a syndicated legal column, Coach’s Corner, where this post originally appeared on April 17, 2012.
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Coach’s Corner: Client Expectations Can Be Managed

April 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Client Needs vs Wants
Successful lawyers must find out not only what clients need, but also what they want. Only when needs and wants are understood can you shape your assessment of the services to provide. If needs and wants are in harmony and you inform the client of what to expect, there is little likelihood of disagreement or a problem in the engagement. The lawyer who does this is proactively managing client expectations.

The obligation to promote quality communication between attorney and client and to assure that the client has a good understanding of what to expect lies squarely with the attorney, as part of his or her professional responsibility.

Essentials of Good Communication

  • Always have a signed engagement letter for a new client, stating as much information as possible about the parties, issues, anticipated strategies, desired outcomes and how much the client wants to pay.

  • Beware of clients who cannot or will not agree to what they want their lawyer to accomplish. Such clients will often be future sources of last minute complaints or emergencies that at best are irritating and at worst can result in errors under pressure.

  • Help clients understand that the fee they are charged meets the requirement of being “reasonable” under Rule 1.5, reflecting the lawyer’s skill and experience.

  • Establish a budget for the engagement that provides common sense estimates of both the time and the expense that the engagement is likely to involve, making it clear that these are estimates and not guarantees. Be sure to communicate constantly about progress in comparison to budget.

  • Consider offering a “performance guarantee” of items within the lawyer’s control, such as the level of service or an offer to adjust the fee if the client is not satisfied. This can reduce clients’ feelings of risk, so that they feel comfortable moving ahead with an engagement.

  • Find out what clients think by visiting them periodically and getting them to talk about their business and to listen to what they are saying. Managing client expectations is possible only by giving clients the chance to clearly and regularly express them.

A Collaborative Relationship
Lawyers and clients should be mutually committed to a collaborative relationship that is founded on communication and understanding. Such collaboration doesn’t just manage expectations – it builds the trust and loyalty that are essential to an enduring relationship.

Ed Poll is a nationally recognized coach, law firm management consultant, and author who has coached and consulted with lawyers and law firms in strategic planning, profitability analysis, and practice development for over twenty years. Ed has practiced law on all sides of the table and he now helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability and peace of mind. He writes the LawBiz® Tips E-zine, where this post originally appeared on April 26, 2011.
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Regulation Counsel Says Law Students Need More Exposure to Professionalism

April 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This post originally appeared on the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers blog. Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers is an initiative of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) that leverages the Carnegie Model and the work of law schools and professors committed to legal education reform to align legal education with the needs of an evolving profession by providing a supported platform for shared learning, experimentation, ongoing measurement and collective implementation.

We recently sat down to talk with John Gleason. As Regulation Counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court, he directs the office of the Court responsible for lawyer admissions, registration, regulation, and client protection. In 2010, Gleason was appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court to investigate and prosecute Andrew Thomas, the former Maricopa County Attorney—a prosecution that last week ended in the disbarment of Thomas and one of his lieutenants, and the suspension of another attorney in Thomas’ office.

Gleason often meets lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable—under investigation for misconduct—and he believes new lawyers need more guidance on professional issues. Recent graduates, he says, are often referred to his office for minor misconduct issues. “There are an enormous number of issues that are not covered in law school. In fact, probably most issues related to professionalism are not covered in law school.”

Hear more from John Gleason below or click here to view the rest of his interview.

Alli Gerkman is Online Content Manager for IAALS, where she manages, edits, and creates content for IAALS and Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers.
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Tom Matte: A Twitter Chat Can Bring New Exposure to Your Law Firm

April 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

By scheduling regular tweet chats on topics of interest to your followers, your firm will be viewed as a go-to resource for the latest information

So, you’ve been on Twitter for a while now. You are building a nice number of followers and are conversing with them on a regular basis. Your posts are informative and interesting, and you are even retweeted on a fairly regular basis.

So what’s next? Why not hold a Twitter Chat? For the uninitiated, a Twitter Chat is when a group of people participates in a real time, online conversation around a particular topic, identified by a hashtag. Think about it as a conference call with people all over the world, where each participant can share their thoughts by typing 140-character tweets rather than talking over each other. It’s an easy way to get people who are interested in your topic to discuss concerns and share new ideas.

Sounds fun, right? While it is easy, there are some things to consider first. When setting one up, make sure you:

  • Choose a topic, time and a hashtag that makes sense
  • Choose a format and share that with your followers. It may be on a single topic (typically best), a forum for followers to ask you questions, or any number of other formats, but define it up front and stick to it.
  • Promote it in advance. Otherwise, you’ll be chatting by yourself.

So those are the basics. Scheduling and conducting a Twitter Chat is one thing, but doing it in such a way that followers will participate and want to come back for future ones is another. Here are some suggestions for doing it well.

  • Choose a topic people are interested in. What are your clients consistently asking you about? What do you see trending on Twitter lately? Put a bit of thought into your topic to ensure it’s one that will draw participants.
  • Be real. One of the beauties of social media is that it tends to break down barriers between people and allows them to show a bit of personality along with their expertise. So be authentic in your approach and don’t be afraid to show a bit of your fun side too.
  • Be consistent. If you plan to hold regular Twitter Chats, find a time that works for most of your followers and stick to it. That way people will add it to their schedule and be more likely to attend future ones.
  • Invite others to host. Just like in-person events, it’s good to mix it up a bit. Bring in other thought leaders and have them “guest host” by leading the conversation or answering questions. It will keep it more interesting and bring in entirely new participants since the guest host will promote it for you as well.

For example, Colorado Supreme Court initiated the new Civil Access Pilot Project this year, which makes significant changes to the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure for certain types of business cases in specified judicial districts. The new procedures dramatically affect the way certain civil cases are litigated, and attorneys are beginning to wade through the new restrictions right now. Here’s a great opportunity for a Colorado firm to hold a Twitter Chat to hear what others are thinking, share their own views, and even discuss what their experiences have been with the rule changes so far. Who’s first?

Hosting a Tweet Chat can be a great way for you to add followers and increase exposure for your firm and practice area. Attend a few first to see how it’s done and take notes on what works well and what doesn’t. You can find them directly in Twitter, or TweetChat is designed to help with the process.

To read more, check out Mashable articles, 7 Tips for Better Twitter Chats and How to Start and Run a Successful Twitter Chat.

Tom Matte is CEO of Max Advertising, and focuses his endless enthusiasm on crafting creative and lasting marketing and advertising for law firms, helping them to ultimately grow their practices. Whether a 10-person firm or one of the Am Law 100, he works with firms of all sizes. Tom blogs at the The Matte Pad, where this post originally appeared on June 30, 2011.
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Top 10 Reasons Your Firm Should Play Lawyers’ League Softball

March 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

10. Have fun. Let’s face it: slow-pitch, co-ed softball in a relaxed league (there are no umpires, and balls and strikes are not called) is simply fun. It’s way less frustrating than golf and there are more cardio benefits. And you might get a cool trophy at season’s end.

9. Have fun with others at your office. You don’t have to be a lawyer to play in the Lawyers’ League, so it is a great way to bond with the rest of your office.

8. Get out of the office on the weekend. Not that you should need an excuse to get out of the office on the weekend, but it is nice to have a built-in one if you do. Games are finished on Saturday by about lunch time, so you have the rest of the weekend to work if you really have to.

7. Be a part of history. I’ve been league commissioner for nearly 20 years, and I have contacted the last two commissioners before me. Nobody can even remember when the league began, thus if you join you can be part of something where “the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.”

Join Lawyers League Softball
DBA Lawyers’ League Coed Softball starts June 9 and runs through Aug. 11. Games are played Saturdays at Cranmer Park (at 1st Avenue and Bellaire Street). This is a relaxed league more concerned with having fun than, well, pretty much anything else. Cost varies depending on the number of teams in the league. For more information or to sign up, contact Jack Tanner at jtanner@fwlaw.com.

6. Have fun with clients. Did you know being up with two on and two out is a marketing moment? Well, it can be (especially if you come through with a hit). I guarantee you that if your client spends 90 minutes playing softball, drinking adult beverages, and generally having a good time on Saturday, that client will call you first when a legal need arises on Tuesday.

5. Save a life. I grew up on the Gulf Coast and was a lifeguard from seventh grade through law school, but never once actually saved anybody. Playing softball in the Lawyers’ League, however, I once used CPR to help revive a guy who had been struck by lightning.

4. Have fun with your family. Bring your kids (or grandkids, or parents, or distant relatives, or dog) and have a good time as a family. One of my favorite things about this league is that it is one of the few things my teenage son and I do together.

3. Bond with other members of the Bar. Even if you don’t like how a fellow litigator acts during discovery, that same litigator can be a peach on the softball field. If not, it’s always more incentive to play hard for a win.

2. It’s cheap! Because we play days (and therefore on an unlighted field) and have no umpires, the field fees are nominal. The cost is only a few hundred bucks per team for the entire summer.

1. You’ll be doing a service to the Bar. If I get enough teams to play this year, I won’t have to try to drum up more next year, and no one will have to read another article from me next year.

The Docket eFile brings features from your favorite Denver Bar Association publication to you digitally. When you see the logo, you’re reading an article from The Docket. You’ll also still be able to read the full issue online at denbar.org/docket.

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Coach’s Corner: Do Your Due Diligence on New Clients

February 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Under Rule of Professional Conduct 1.16, a lawyer may withdraw from representing a client if “the representation will result in an unreasonable financial burden on the lawyer or has been rendered unreasonably difficult by the client.”

However, withdrawing from a representation already begun is extremely difficult, as much of the rest of Rule 1.16 attests. An attempt to withdraw without adequate communication about and careful records of the difficulty that the client has caused — whether for nonpayment of fees, lack of cooperation or some other failing — may bring a state bar disciplinary action requiring future work without pay to fulfill ethical obligations toward the client.

Withdrawal cannot be done without reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering the client’s papers and property and refunding any advance payment of fees that have not been earned.

The simple fact is that no lawyer needs to contend with such headaches. The antidote to withdrawal is to undertake full due diligence before entering into a formal engagement agreement with the client. At the time of engagement, a lawyer must determine whether the goals of the client are understood and can be met. This also requires determining whether the client will facilitate achieving those goals. And facilitation, as Rule 1.16 suggests, means paying the bill and cooperating with the lawyer.

Due diligence on the client’s willingness and ability to pay should be documented in the initial engagement agreement. This investigation is a step that too many lawyers neglect, though it can be as simple as requesting a credit report from one of the consumer credit agencies or from a business credit reporter such as Dun & Bradstreet.

Once it is clear that prospective clients can pay, a signed engagement stating the terms and responsibilities for payment attests that they will pay. Clients who cannot or will not sign a fee agreement or pay a retainer, or who want to start now and pay later, should be considered suspect.

Cooperation is a similar issue. Avoid a client with unrealistic expectations or demands. Discussing engagement terms will frequently uncover the client who will in the future express irritation with delay, chronically complain about everything, demand constant or instant attention or expect unrealistic or abnormal hand-holding. Telltale signs are when prospective clients:

  • insist that their matter is “life and death”; such clients will often be future sources of last minute emergencies that at best are irritating and at worst can result in errors under pressures;
  • use pressure tactics to urge that their matter be handled immediately.
  • demonstrate a bad attitude toward lawyers and the judicial system, or suggest that they know better than the lawyer what needs to be done; and/or
  • cannot articulate what they want their lawyer to achieve.

Due diligence is a business essential. When you determine that a client will perceive what you do as being worthwhile and valuable, you are more likely to have successful engagements and a financially successful firm. Conversely, rejecting potential problem clients before representation will enhance that success by eliminating fee-collection difficulties and possible malpractice claims.

Ed Poll is a nationally recognized coach, law firm management consultant, and author who has coached and consulted with lawyers and law firms in strategic planning, profitability analysis, and practice development for over twenty years. Ed has practiced law on all sides of the table and he now helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability and peace of mind. He writes a syndicated legal column, Coach’s Corner, where this post originally appeared on January 23, 2012.
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Janet Raasch: Competitive Intelligence – An Essential Component of Better Law Firm Decision-Making (Part 2)

February 9, 2012 by 1 Comment

Editor’s Note: This is the second section of a two-part article. Click here to read Part 1.

Competitive intelligence profiles

When preparing to meet with a potential client, lawyers often ask marketers or librarians to prepare a profile of the client.  “All too often,” said McDavid, “this is done just a few hours before the scheduled meeting – and we need to scramble.

“Even with very little lead time, you would be surprised at how much information you can turn up by simply visiting and mining the potential client’s website,” said McDavid.  “You should also search company or firm pages on social media sites.”

When you have a little more lead time to prepare – like for a proposal or the resulting beauty contest – then you can delve more deeply into client background.  Good sources for public companies include SEC filings.  Good sources for private companies include Dun and Bradstreet reports.

A good profile addresses some or all (depending on your time and research skills) of these categories:

  • Quick facts
  • Company overview
  • Business segments
  • Products/services
  • Business partners
  • Board of Directors
  • Key executives
  • Key developments
  • Representative clients
  • Legal issues and litigation
  • Locations
  • Case studies
  • Patent information
  • Marketing strategy
  • Competitors
  • Sources
  • News articles

Armed with this type of information, your lawyers and law firm are well-prepared to make good decisions about how to approach a potential client (or anyone else), and how to make a good impression once the contact takes place.

Competitive intelligence on people

Sometimes you need information about an individual rather than a company.  This person could be a client, a prospective client, a competitor, opposing counsel, a potential hire or a potential merger partner.  When you know something about the person you are meeting with, you can plan appropriately.

Sometimes, you need other kinds of information about people.  For example, you might need to track down a former employee or a potential witness.  “When such a person has gone ‘off the grid’ electronically, you might not have much to go on,” said Goater.  “This is where creativity comes into play.

“In one such case, a former executive had been gone from a company for five years,” said Goater.  “He had a common name, which made the search even more difficult.  Someone recalled him saying that he wanted to take over his family’s farm.  By using the farm subsidy database and narrowing the search by general geographic area and the man’s age, we were able to locate him for our client.”

Another reason to search for people is to acquire their contact information for use in a marketing database.  Good sources of contact information include telephone directories, professional directories and professional licensing agencies (if you know a person’s profession).  Online sources include a search on Yahoo! People.

Many of the commercial and general resources mentioned in the “companies” research section in this article work just as well for people.

“We often use a site called Jigsaw, owned by Salesforce” said Goater.  “It is a business-to-business contract database populated by marketers and salespeople around the country.  By contributing their contacts, users gain access to the database.  It includes 30 million contacts.  It is an especially good source for the contact information of individuals below the usual c-level executives that show up in most directories.”

If you know a person’s location, you can search local and regional media for mentions of their names and activities.  Social media – like Martindale Hubbell, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and YouTube — are also good resources.  So are blog searches.  Social media include contact information, but they also broaden your research with less formal “chat” about people, their activities and the companies they work for.

“In gathering information about people,” said Goater, “you want to use a wide variety of sources – and you want to be very careful to validate any information you find before you act on it.  There is a lot of faulty information out there.  There are also privacy concerns.”

Today, information about companies and individuals is widely available. In fact, you could easily drown in all the data.  The trick is to focus your search in light of your business goals.  With this information in hand, you are well-positioned to make good decisions about the future of your law firm – and its work.

Janet Ellen Raasch is a writer, ghostwriter, and blogger (www.constantcontentblog.com) who works closely with professional services providers – especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal organizations – to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of keyword-rich content for the web and social media sites as well as articles and books for print. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.com.
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Janet Raasch: Competitive Intelligence – An Essential Component of Better Law Firm Decision-Making (Part 1)

February 1, 2012 by 1 Comment

Editor’s Note: This is the first section of a two-part article. Click here to read Part 2.

Important law firm decisions should never be made in a vacuum.  Instead, they should be made with an abundance of the right information in hand.  For many law firm decisions, “the right information” means competitive intelligence.

Competitive intelligence is defined as a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing and managing information about the external business environment – information that can affect all of a law firm’s plans, decisions and operations.

Competitive intelligence can be information about organizations – like your clients, potential clients and adversaries.  It can be information about other law firms – like collaborators, opposing counsel or even potential merger partners.  It can be information about the legal needs in particular industries or markets.

Competitive intelligence can also be information about people – like the people you will meet in a pitch, in the boardroom, in the courtroom (like opposing counsel or an expert witness) or in a hiring interview.

In any of these settings, knowledge of companies and people is power.

“When gathering competitive intelligence, there is a wrong way and a right way to go about it,” said Wanda McDavid.  “The wrong way is typified by computer hackers like Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  As much as we enjoy the book and the movie, and want Lisbeth to succeed, we cannot condone her tactics.  This kind of corporate espionage makes for good entertainment, but bad – and unethical – business.”

“The ethical gathering of competitive intelligence complies with all applicable laws – domestic as well as international,” said McDavid.  “It is obtained from legitimate online and print sources, in both public and subscription databases.  When obtained by interviews (either with targeted competitor staff and customers or as general field research), the ethical interviewer discloses up front both her identity and the purpose of the interview.”

McDavid and her colleague Judy Goater discussed the ethical gathering and use of competitive intelligence by law firms at the monthly educational program of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association.  The program was held January 10, 2012 at Maggiano’s Little Italy in downtown Denver.

McDavid is president and Goater is director of services development at Access Information, a Denver-based firm that specializes in the discovery and compilation of competitive intelligence for use by law firms.  Both have master’s degrees in librarianship and vast experience in the legal industry.  The PowerPoint slides from this presentation have been made available on the company website, in the “training” section.

“Before starting any competitive research project,” said McDavid, “it is essential that you have a plan.  Thanks to the Internet, there are an almost unlimited number of resources out there.  You can waste a lot of time and money searching them all.  If we know your goals for a particular research project, we can help you concentrate your resources on the most likely, valid and reliable sources for your purpose.”

Competitive intelligence on companies, competitors and adversaries

Some sources of competitive intelligence about companies, competitors and adversaries are paid and some are free to the public.  Because of the nature of their work, many law firms and law librarians already have access to many of the paid resources.  These include products offered by industry giants LexisNexis and Thomson West.

“For industry research, I also like to use a product called Profound, offered by MarketResearch.com,” said McDavid.  “They offer a wide range of reports for purchase.  An entire report can be costly but, if you know exactly what you are looking for, you can order just part of a report for a lesser fee.

“And don’t forget,” said McDavid.  “Many of these paid resources are available for you to use free of charge at the Denver Public Library.”

Free resources for company research include www.llrx.com and Zimmerman’s Research Guide.  In its database, Zimmerman’s offers links to both company information and company personnel.  “Both of these sites are great places to start if you are trying to get an overview of the kind of research that is out there,” said McDavid.

The Virtual Chase product by Justia.com offers business research as well as county and municipal law resources.  Information on companies can be found at Hoovers, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance, Nexis company information and ValuationResources.com.

“A lot of good research is available from Google,” said McDavid.  “We all know how to do a Google search, but much more refined searches and results are available via the Google Advanced General Search Page.  Google Scholar and Google Advanced Scholar Search offer useful results that have been ‘purged’ of casual hits.”

Court and government sites – especially the Secretary of State’s office — include public records and a wealth of useful information.  “If you want to know where a company is headed,” said McDavid, “check the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Database.”

Janet Ellen Raasch is a writer, ghostwriter, and blogger (www.constantcontentblog.com) who works closely with professional services providers – especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal organizations – to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of keyword-rich content for the web and social media sites as well as articles and books for print. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.com.
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Justin Ross: “I think it’s going to be okay” – The Value of Continually Encouraging Your Client

January 25, 2012 by 1 Comment

We are all familiar with the proverbial “bed-side manner,” or lack thereof, associated with physicians. However, rarely do we hear of the same for attorneys. Most times, our clients are relying on us to guide them through the most difficult time in their lives, and most clients have no idea what to make of the situation. Simply acquiring a good result may not be the most important task with which we are assigned.

Although it seems elementary, I think we, as legal professionals, forget that we are obligated, as counselors at law, to reassure our clients. In the words of Ted Borrillo, my mentor’s mentor, it is very important to tell your client, up front and often, “It’s going to be okay.”

Having pondered this concept, I would suggest the following should occur with every single client:

  1. Re-assure your client. Most clients have never gone through a divorce, custody battle, criminal charges, personal injury, etc. They need to be re-assured that the process is (or should be) designed to provide justice and fairness, and that, except for those very unusual cases, a breakdown of the system will not mean that their life is over. Clients need to be told this from the beginning of your representation. Do not patronize your client. Be honest about the risks and repercussions. However, do not forget to tell your client that there is “a light at the end of tunnel.”
  2. Share a professional, or personal, experience. Think of a case that you have handled, or a personal situation that you have gone through, that could be of benefit to your client. Without divulging confidence, share that story with your client. This is a moment when your experience as an attorney uniquely equips you to counsel your client.
  3. Repeat step 1 and, if necessary, step 2. Most every case is a marathon. Clients will experience emotional ups and downs throughout. Merely encouraging your client at the beginning of the case likely will not suffice for the entirety of the case. Make a mental note to be encouraging to your client every single time you have contact with them. If you do not have frequent contact, consider placing a call or e-mail to your client solely for the purpose of encouraging your client.
Justin Ross is an attorney at Pickard & Associates PC and focuses his practice on domestic relations, dependency & neglect, criminal defense, and personal injury. Justin is also chair of the First Judicial District Bar Membership Committee. He contributes to the First Judicial District’s monthly Proclamation, where this article originally appeared.
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Understanding Your Avvo Rating: How It’s Calculated and Why You Should Care

January 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Avvo is a free online directory of lawyers that the public can use to search by state and practice area. You may be asking yourself, isn’t that basically the business White Pages, or the bar association’s Find-A-Lawyer directory, or Martindale-Hubbell revisited? Pretty much. A lawyer’s Avvo profile is essentially an online résumé or portfolio that lists achievements, publications, biographical information, and, if the lawyer is so inclined, photographs and videos of his or her choosing.

Unlike those more, ahem, venerable (or stodgy, depending on your perspective), ways to find a lawyer, lawyers seem to absolutely hate Avvo. It raises the ire of lawyers, in part, because Avvo represents a visible credibility check. A lawyer’s Avvo profile frequently will show up in the top 10 Google results, and Avvo crawls state ethical records and posts any run-ins with the Office of Attorney Regulation. This has resulted in several lawsuits from lawyers with a rap sheet.

That’s not the greatest criticism though—most of our fellow professionals keep their noses clean. The greater complaint is that, along with your fluffy profile, Avvo posts a rating out of 10.

According to the site: The rating is calculated using a mathematical model that considers the information shown in a lawyer’s profile, including a lawyer’s years in practice, disciplinary history, professional achievements, and industry recognition.

The term “mathematical model” is something I tend to associate with being what I would be unable to calculate. Avvo also claims their model is proprietary, which leads me to believe that it is a formula for some amazingly strong, light, and beautiful polymer—or something. With those considerations in mind, I set about cracking their formula by adding and subtracting credentials from my profile.

Essentially, every lawyer starts at 5.6. The “formula” is this: for every credential added in a different category, an attorney gets three tenths of a point. Peer reviews are worth the same. Publications in the same periodical are discounted a bit. That’s basically it. Add three publications and a presentation, and, by their formula, you are now a 6.9-rated lawyer.

There is a caveat to the site: The Avvo rating is not intended to be the only thing you use in choosing a lawyer.

Yeah. Right. Just like how Ebert’s thumb or Pitchfork’s numerical rating is only a small consideration in figuring out what movies to watch or music to buy. It’s absurd to think that legal services can and should be rated this way, but the Avvo profile is there, whether or not you claim it.

The best solution is just to spend a few minutes filling out the profile. We already have LinkedIn, Facebook, Justia—what’s one more? It really is nothing more than a summary résumé. In the event that a lawyer doesn’t choose to claim and fill out the profile, his or her information still appears on the website, along with any ethical concerns. However, an ethically clean but otherwise unknown (at least, to Avvo) attorney is not assigned a rating and is tagged as “no concern.”

Although building your Avvo profile is the practical solution—and it is a bit silly to get worked up about some website—something still rankles about the idea that the quality of a lawyer’s services can be determined by adding and subtracting résumé lines. To the extent that consumers are buying what Avvo is selling, complaining about it isn’t going to help. It’s up to us to manage the public perception of our profession relationships and public service.

Chris Mommsen is a criminal defense attorney in Denver.

The Docket eFile brings features from your favorite Denver Bar Association publication to you digitally. When you see the logo, you’re reading an article from The Docket. You’ll also still be able to read the full issue online at denbar.org/docket.

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