The First Great Myth of Legal Management is that It Exists
Tough Issues for Law Firm Managing Partners and Administrators
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
The Truth About
Associate Marketing
Every year some firm asks me to
speak to their incoming class of associates on how they should begin their
business development efforts. For years
I have pitched the standard techniques of personal marketing and, even as I was
speaking, I could see that the seeds of the arguments they would spill back at
me throughout their careers were already starting to germinate -- the top five
reasons why associates can’t develop business:
“I didn’t go to law school to
become a salesman.”
“The firm values billable hours
and I can’t bill hours and develop business.”
“I have a (insert one) new
spouse/young child/sick mother and my time outside the office is taken.”
“I’m an introvert by nature.”
“I don’t plan to become a partner.”
So this year I decided to take a
different approach. I would present them
with the keys to the kingdom, the veritable Rosetta Stone
of the practice--in short, I would tell them the truth. I now repeat for you what I will tell this
year’s class of bright eyed and extraordinarily well paid associates.
There are three different
strategies attorneys in a large law firm can employ to generate business. The
first is The Active Sales Mode. This
includes all the normal law firm marketing advice: constantly be on the look
out for business development opportunities, become active in civic
organizations and trade groups, write articles, give speeches, join country
clubs, and hob-nob with people who can give you
business. I confess that I don’t personally
know any associate for whom this has actually worked but, with perseverance,
who knows what might happen.
Strategy two is to Hitch Your
Wagon to a Star. Find a partner who has
a big book of business and ingratiate yourself.
A partner who is a couple of years from retirement or smokes heavily
would be ideal. Then go about impressing
that partner’s clients with your legal mind and service ethic (most clients
don’t know torts from toothpaste, so you’re better off with service). Wow them at every turn: deliver documents to
their house at
The third possible strategy is to
Build Your Brand. This involves deciding
early on “what you want to be famous for.”
Pick an area of law or an industry and become an expert in it. Unfortunately, it takes years of study and
experience to become an expert in an area of law. But with a little time on the internet and a
quick Nexis search you can pretty well bring yourself
up to speed (i.e., know more about it than just about any of the partners) on
most industries. It obviously helps if
you select an industry that (a) is not ridiculously technical, (b) is somehow
associated with your undergraduate major, (c) is related to work that you are
doing and/or (d) you have a smattering of interest in. Then use every opportunity to broadcast your
expertise within your firm by dropping industry jargon in conversations,
submitting requests to attend industry conferences and sending unsolicited
firm-wide e-mails alerting everyone to some seemingly important piece of
breaking industry news. Pretty soon
you’re the firm expert on that industry.
They may even build a practice group around you.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
If there was a handbook for
members of law firm management, it would be The
First Great Myth of Law Firm Management is that it Exists. Dealing with the tough topics that
managing partners worry about but many consultants are afraid to tackle, The First Great Myth-- collects some of
Firing Unprofitable Clients Many
firms get so busy pushing hours and rates that they overlook a critical review
of their clients as an opportunity to “pick some low hanging fruit.”.
Ten Terrible Truths About Law
Firm Strategic Planning
Law firms have trouble implementing strategic plans because it is a flawed
process from the beginning.
Valuing Management Law firms aren’t really mismanaged – most
aren’t managed at all. That’s what you
get when you have volunteers running your business.
Taking the Easy Way Out:
Non-equity Partnerships
Many firms think that by making non-equity
partners they have solved their problems with unproductive partners and
associate leverage. Wrong!
Ten Terrible Truths About Law
Firm Compensation Some law firms equate compensation with management as if lawyers were
commission based aluminum siding salesmen.
It’s time to take a new look at the way we pay people.
Hitting the Wall: Six Rules to
Managing the Mega Practice
Most major business developers top out at about
$3 million in annual billings. It’s time
to help the elite billers manage their practices.
Knowledge Management: The Emperor Has No Clothes For most law firms, all of the money and effort
spent on knowledge management is a waste
of time. For anyone to benefit from KM,
law firms have to change the way they do business.
Pricing to the Market Some clients are more
price sensitive than others. It is
possible to identify the clients who are willing to accept higher rates before
you send the bill.
A Common Sense Approach to Cross Selling Why lawyers keep
screwing this up.
The Truth About Associate Marketing How to change associates’ lives with a simple message.
The Seven Basic Laws of
Successful Networking You don’t need to meet any more people.
What you need to do is manage the relationships with those you already
have. These are the secrets that no one
else has ever told you.
When Good Law Firms Go Bad What has
the recent demise of three high profile law firms taught us.
Mergers as Marketing Tools The magic is what'
happens whenever you meet your clients face to face.
The author, H. Edward Wesemann,
is one of the most respected management consultants serving law firms in the
world. Ed has worked with law firms on
five continents and is considered to be the leading expert on law firms’
culture.
About the Author
H.
Edward Wesemann is a consultant to some of the largest professional service
firms in the world. A partner in Edge
International, Ed's consulting practice specializes in assisting professional
service firms with strategic issues involving market dominance, office
location, merger and acquisition and the activities necessary for strategy
implementation. With over 20 years of experience in working with law firm
strategy, Ed has worked with firms ranging from 25 attorneys to several
thousand.
He
holds a Master Degree from Roosevelt University School of Business and a
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Valparaiso University. Recognized
internationally as the foremost expert in law firm culture, Ed developed the
use of the Edge International Cultural Inventory as a means for law firms to
understand and manage the way members of their firm relate to each other,
clients, and the business environment. In 2001 he wrote the definitive article
on law firm culture in Legal Management magazine. The article has since been
republished in