BEST PRACTICES AND BEST LAWYERS SUCCEED: JUST DO IT!©

American's best law firms provide excellent legal services to an amazing variety of clients on exceedingly complex and complicated legal matters. Such firms hire the best legal talent, train that talent well, and engage in regular activities that demonstrate the firm's commitment to the firm's lawyers. Often, though, those efforts are not recognized or appreciated by the lawyers who work in the firm.

"I find it interesting that you're asking me this question about my job satisfaction and whether I'm happy here at the firm," said Alex, a fifteen-year minority partner at a large mid-west law firm. "No one in management here has ever talked to me about this. I've been waiting for someone to notice how dissatisfied I am for years. They just don't seem to care whether I stay here or not."

Time and time again, we work with lawyers and firms where the complaint is voiced by well-respected and productive lawyers that "THEY," meaning management, haven't done this or that to improve the practice of law within the firm. As a result, they are not trusted or believed. Thus, they can't get lawyers in the firm to improve productivity or assist management with achieving management initiatives. Then, they are blamed for not doing anything to improve the practice, generate appropriate business, advance lawyers through the stages of practice and countless other management initiatives. Sound familiar?

Regular readers of this newsletter know that we often do public speaking at large, national association meetings. This year, we'll also be the featured program for three days at the annual meeting of the State Bar of Michigan on September 12, 13 and 14. We've met many of you at these types of presentations over the past several years.

One of the things we talk about at our presentations that always gets significant attention from firm management is the concept of the personal responsibility of lawyers in a law practice. Members of the management team know that nothing in a law practice gets done unless individual lawyers take personal responsibility for accomplishing the management tasks that are not billable in the short term. Motivating lawyers to take personal responsibility for their own job satisfaction and giving them the tools to do so is our challenge. It is work PeopleWealth is devoted to and uniquely qualified to do.

After such presentations, large groups of attendees energetically approach us about working with their practices. What happens next depends on the quality of the firm and the lawyers within it. In Best Practices, the project gets put on the calendar and the work gets done.

In other firms, the enthusiasm for improving lawyer job satisfaction and the certainty that such a modest goal is attainable, fall victim to the great chasm of inattention. These less effective law practices rarely accomplish management objectives, make decisions, take action, or increase effectiveness. The process has been given a humorous a name, "paralysis by analysis." Clients recognize this behavior and dub such paralyzed lawyers "deal breakers," not "deal makers."

Best practices and best lawyers have a competitive advantage with legal talent and clients because they are the antithesis of the "plain vanilla" American law firm.

A lawyer with one of the large accounting firms told us during the interviews for our book, Keeping Good Lawyers: Best Practices to Create Career Satisfaction, "We have made a marketing decision only to work with the best law practices, those with a short buying cycle and de-centralized decision making. The best law firms are quicker to act. They know they'll make some bad decisions. They accept that, because they know they'll make more good ones. More importantly, they will make progress and get something done."

This faster decision-making model for management initiatives is one of the biggest reasons best practices and best lawyers have excelled while other law practices lag behind in growth, revenue and job satisfaction for lawyers. Being pro-active, rather than reactive, coupled with faster, de-centralized decision-making gives lawyers and firms more opportunities to succeed.

Best practices and best lawyers reject procrastination because consensus management, centralized control, and the "benevolent dictator," no longer serve the Twenty-first Century law firm. Lawyers who feel that management is both responsible for everything and failing in every charge must be shown that there is no they. Department heads who have the freedom to make decisions, and the money to implement them, achieve firm initiatives. Lawyers who take personal responsibility for their own job satisfaction and law firm managers who help them don't wait for they. Instead, such lawyers and practices Just Do It

PeopleWealth can assist your Professional Development staff on a regular or consulting basis to communicate effectively with lawyers and to help lawyers design and build successful careers. For information about PeopleWealth or our services, please contact our office, e-mail us:info@PeopleWealth.com
©PeopleWealth Summer 2001