HOW LAWYERS AND FIRMS CAN KEEP EXISTING AND BUILD FUTURE REVENUE IN TODAY'S UNCERTAIN ECONOMY ©

What you don't know can hurt you, like cancer. Once cancer is detected, it can often be successfully treated. But failing to find cancer and deal with it is often deadly. So it is with dissatisfied lawyers.

Did you know that as you read this, at least half of the lawyers in your practice are dissatisfied? At least twenty-five percent are thinking about leaving your firm, and some of the ones you'd most like to keep will leave within the next six to twelve months.

"Law firms make terrible mistakes with our lawyers. Sometimes, we just don't know all the facts we need to know to make good decisions on issues like partner compensation. Other times, we don't realize the potential consequences of easily changed decisions until it's too late," a management level partner said.

PeopleWealth can help you identify lawyers who are unhappy and resolve their issues so that they will stay and work productively for the firm.

We have been working with individual lawyers to define their goals and help them build careers that are satisfying to them. Inside law firms, our work involves individual career building coaching subsidized by the firm.

Busy law firm managers often have little time to spend helping lawyers discover and define a practice within the firm that will be both profitable and satisfactory to the lawyer and the firm. Individual lawyers within the firm are often reluctant to reveal their concerns to colleagues for confidentiality reasons or because they fear reprisal.

"I'm thinking about leaving the firm to open my own shop," Albert, a mid-level partner in a prestigious firm, told us during a coaching session a few weeks ago. "I'm leaving a lot of money on the table and I'm tired of all the administrative responsibilities they want me to handle. I can't justify the time away from my family."

We asked Albert whether he had discussed these issues with his firm management. "No. I did that once before and they did the right thing. But it was a very distasteful process and I won't do it again," he said.

If PeopleWealth had been involved with the firm, we could have worked with management to resolve Albert's concerns effectively for both sides. Instead, Albert left the firm and took his million dollar book of business with him.

"Honestly," Jack, a ten-year litigator told us during his first coaching session, "I'm just tired. I've been doing this for fifteen years. I need a break. The world is not going to collapse if I take a break. I'm willing to leave my firm to get one, to work on my terms."

We asked Jack whether, if his firm had a sabbatical program in place, he would take advantage of it and return afterward to the firm refreshed and ready to work hard again. "Absolutely!" he replied. "But my management would never go for it." Of course, management probably would have worked out a way to keep this well-liked, multi-million dollar asset working productively at the firm, but the firm wasn't offered that choice. Jack made the decision on his own.

We see evidence of this lack of communication and understanding in the fallout. A partnership meeting to divide profits among shareholders is civilized, but emotions are seething beneath the surface, causing the firm to lose a few big rainmakers.

Or, an associate review fails to acknowledge significant participation or extenuating circumstances for a failure to perform, and the associate accepts the next head-hunter call. A lawyer wants to address his own life balance issues by making adjustments to both his personal and professional life, but there is no policy in place or manager with authority to resolve the matter, so the lawyer opens up a small practice across the street.

Two years later, all the players are unhappy again. Much has been lost, and little gained. None of which would matter all that much in an economic sense if lawyers were easily replaced, interchangeable commodities.

The individual lawyers could simply leave their pasts behind and create a new life, picking up right where they left off. The firms could simply take another resume off the top of the pile and hire a new lawyer, without missing a smidgen of client service, billings, expertise, collections, or that intangible thing that causes all humans to work together: a desire to work with colleagues we like and respect.

But the reality is that experienced lawyers are very expensive to replace. Some, depending on their level of expertise, book of clients, area of practice, or other special attributes, are irreplaceable.

Every lawyer in every practice should have a career plan that is current in light of the lawyer's present circumstances. Lawyers will change and firms will no longer meet their needs. But when that happens, the two should separate gracefully. Until then, both sides would be well served to follow the PeopleWealth career building model because it works. See the enclosed flyer for more information and call PeopleWealth today.

PeopleWealth works with individual lawyers and law firms increase profitability through job satisfaction and help lawyers design and build successful careers. Contact the PeopleWealth office, e-mail us: info@PeopleWealth.com

©PeopleWealth Winter 2002