In the news: "Turning 50 has triggered some reflection by consultant Frank Michael D'Amore on what he's learned in 25-plus years in the legal profession. He discusses four important lessons that can help lawyers in both their professional and personal lives, including, 'Don't hold happiness hostage.'"
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 26 February 2010. Copyright 2009. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
This post was written by Ray Millard: "The crux of the billable hour debate really seems to lie primarily in one very basic conundrum. That is: how else to accurately and sensibly value the output for a wide diversity of legal services, other than "by the hour," with anything like the same ease of applicability. It seems almost sacrilegious to ask the question .... but this by no means the first time that the dilemma has arisen about sensible metrics to measure performance in the production of diverse products or services....
...I wonder if the current wave of enthusiasm for alternative fee arrangements and value pricing (which I enthusiastically endorse and with which I join) is going to achieve what the Soviets could not, and come out with usable measures of value for all of the wide range of diverse services that law firms deliver to their clients, in ways that make economic sense for both buyer and seller and are easy to apply. Hopefully it will ....
Full text is available by clicking on the author's name.
Source: Adventure of Strategy, 29 January 2010. Copyright 2010, Rob Millard, reproduced with permission of the author.
I am talking about the power of moving quickly and easily. The act of being nimble. A kind of practice dexterity. Quickwittednes. Acuteness. Alertness. Hustle. Readiness. Velocity. Intellectual acuity.
When you think about it, agility is really the greatest aspect of the Third Wave practice of law. It is the thing that both distinguishes the possibility of law today from the past, and it is what offers the greatest reduction in failure of lawyers and law firms today. It is what makes the solo practice of law enjoyable..."
Continue reading this interesting post by clicking on the author's name.
Source: Chuck Newton Rides the Third Wave, 7 February 2010, reproduced with permission of the author.
This post was written by Tom Kane: "Niche practices can be marketed more effectively and cheaper than a general practice in my opinion. Law firms that promote their niche practices will easily standout from the crowd; and can charge more for the practice, if they do.
Two of my posts on niche marketing that come to mind from a few years back include "Narrow Your Niche for More Effective Marketing" and "Do You Have a Niche and What Are You Doing about It?" Take a look, because there is a hot new niche that just came on the market. And there ain't going to be a recall any time soon..."
Continue reading this interesting post and get active links by clicking on the author's name.
Source: Legal Marketing Blog.com, 4 February 2010, reproduced with permission of the author
In the news: "Environmental law, which saw the same slowdown in transactional work other practices did, along with decreased enforcement under the Bush administration, is showing signs of life in both lateral movement and practice niches. Attorney Kevin J. Bruno, who recently moved to Blank Rome, says government enforcement, particularly at the federal level, is going to pick up. And Manko Gold Katcher & Fox managing partner Robert D. Fox expects emerging areas like climate change and sustainability will continue to grow."
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 5 February 2010. Copyright 2009. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
The problems arising by operating outside your niche are:
You will dilute your message...
You do not have that much time on your hands...
You are competing in a broader legal market place...
The bottom line. Do not abandon your niche. Instead, boost the time you spend marketing your niche to overcome the economic drag."
The full text of this interesting post is available at the source site listed below
Source: Chuck Newton Rides the Third Wave, 10 January 2010
This post was written by Allison Shields: "The folks over at JDSupra have done a great job of compiling thoughts, predictions, wishes and tips from a variety of lawyers and legal professionals entitled, "Lawyers and Legal Professionals Looking Ahead to 2010" - I recommend that you take a look at them all, but here are some of my favorites:..."
Posted by JD Hull: "While the work of the Judicial Conference's five Advisory Committees never really stops, big changes to federal court rules, including the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), don't occur that often. The newest amendments are "technical amendments"--but the changes are anything but technical.
Two years in the making, the changes were signed into law (H.R. 1626) by the President on May 7, 2009, and became effective December 1, 2009. There are also significant changes to some of the time triggers in the appellate, criminal and bankruptcy rules. All are part of the Judicial Conference's "Time-Computation Project".
FRCP. Rule 6, FRCP, the general "time counting" provision, and post-trial Rules 50, 52, and 59, are among the rules changed. Gone forever in Rule 6 is the much relied-upon (and, for many, much beloved) "11-day rule" adopted in 1985. It was designed to take the hardship out of 10-day post trial deadlines, i.e., don't count weekends and holidays for deadlines of 10 days or less. But you no longer need it.
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: What About Clients?, 16 December 2009
Press writes that even when demand picks up, the changes so far are 'likely irreversible'. There are 'plenty of disparate events that support the observation that this change business is more than just a sideshow'. He focuses on two: 1. alternative fee arrangements (AFA) and 2. legal process outsourcing (LPO).
According to the editorial, one-half of the 20 'A-List' firms are on record as doing AFA for marquee clients. And a survey AmLaw conducted to quantify the change found that one-quarter of large firms have outsourced work to LPOs.
In my view, the ascension of AFA and LPO mark the beginning of a deeper shift: lawyer as artist or craftsman to lawyer as manager and engineer. As Press says, 'this year it became clear that LPO is really about the "P." It's not whether the work is done in
I agree that that process is key. In my 2003 post When Clients Come Knocking, I wrote "paying attention to the process [of law practice] seems at least as important as evaluating the 'outputs' such as results and costs.... One could even imagine formally analyzing the processes to determine best practices across firms. It seems likely that the firms using better processes will produce better results at a lower cost."
While LPO has the word process in it, AFA has the idea of process in it. In my recent post Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFA) are Not as Hard as You Think, I suggested that process is one of three AFA pillars (with tech and staffing the other two).
A related signal of process importance is a surge in legal project management. PM is just the beginning. In support of process, lawyers will need data, metrics, analysis, and structure. So expect to see far more business and financial analysts working side-by-side with lawyers to collect data, analyze them, and create rational, tested processes."
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Strategic Legal Technology, 6 December 2009
Esther Cho, Reference/Government Documents Librarian, Loyola Law School, recommends this book for "law firm libraries that specialize in litigation as it details common sense for trial lawyers and it would be a good read for a new associate to begin to understand his or her profession." See her AALL Spectrum Blog review. Lets add academic law libraries for the benefit of law students planning on a career as a trial lawyer.
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Law Librarian Blog, 9 December 2009