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Never Trust an Expert?

15/9/2013

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Ok, Ok, this is a book recommendation. But bear with me as there's more to it than that.

Since talking about making Smart Decisions in a Confusing World at a recent legal conference, the interesting thing is that more people have clicked on the link on my Recommendations page for this book than for any other. Why would that be?


I think the answer is confirmation on another subject that I blogged about a while back; lawyers like to give advice and they don't like to be seen to be taking it!


The point of the talk was two-fold.  


The first is that as perceived experts, lawyers exist to perform a vital and valuable function in life. Yet this "expert status" is being eroded, and in some cases, blown away by customers who challenge everything they hear from their lawyer; customers who "research" their particular circumstances and in many cases dispense with a lawyer altogether and construct their own contracts simply because their 30 minutes of internet based research suddenly puts them on a par with their 7-year studied and 3+ year practised lawyer...and why spend money when you can do it yourself?  This erodes law firm revenue and profist.  The evidence for that can bee seen by downloading law firm accounts from Companies House.

Secondly, lawyers and law firms who have taken a decision to invest in their future and who do their own research into contracting with helpful collaborators, coaches or mentors need to be able to see through the information overload and spot the snake oil salesmen from the real deal.  They need to make better informed decisions for the sake of their future.  And also to justify their decisions to their partners. (Probably the biggest single reason! )


I won't bore you with the full 40-minute transcript here but the gist of the event is summed up in the above two paragraphs and the final bit of wisdom taken from Hertz's book;


1. You make a better decision with a full stomach and a full bladder (The Wise Old Woman, the Jewish Mother and the sages' of the past were right after all doh!)


2. Always have someone to hand who tells you what you don't want to hear!


I've always been happy to tell lawyers and law firms what they don't particularly want to hear (check out some of the columns from a few years back!)  Some shrug their shoulders, some you never hear from again (the majority) and some decide that they should check it out and do something about it (fewer than I would like) but until I set up the links and directed people to them, I never had any statistical evidence that.


I do now.

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How The Most Successful Firms Motivate Themselves

8/1/2013

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Great heading isn't it?


I'm guessing you've come here looking for some tricks, tips and insider secrets that will take you and your firm out of the doldrums and back to the land of milk and honey (known to most lawyers as as Pre 2008)


Well the good news is that there are some tips.


But like anything worth having, they are elusive.

I could suggest to you that the best way to find out exactly how the most successful firms motivate themselves is to go directly to a website with a big list...then simply follow the list.  That would be too easy.

So I'll start with a story and a very short list.

About three years ago I was approached at a legal seminar by a partner of a medium sized firm.  He had read this blawg after someone recommended it to him and he knew I would be at the seminar, so he had done his homework on me and decided that I might be in a position to help him and his firm. (I know that because he told me).

Anyway, we chatted for about half an hour over pre-dinner drinks and it became clear to me that not only could I help him, but I could instantly save him about £100k in "overheads" ( and that was before even letting one member of staff go).  I didn't tell him this in so many words, but I did see a chance to formulate a great offer and a guarantee.  After all, his traditional law firm were very nervous about letting anyone know their true financial position and wanted to be absolutely sure that any spending on "consultants" would be money well spent.

So the offer was this; I will do a free initial consultation on the firm. That takes a whole day and involves most of the staff.  Following that, I will make my offer.

However.

I will only start work with you IF I can save you at least £100k in year one.  You will pay me a monthly fee.  If I cannot save you AT LEAST £100k then I will return any money you have paid me plus interest at 8%.

He admitted that it was a good offer and he would speak to the partners when he got back.

That was three years ago.

I have spoken to the partner about four times in the last three years and he "...still wants to do something..."

Yeah, good luck with that.  My last conversation with him in November 2012 was to say that my offer was withdrawn.

Why?

Obvious really. But I'll spell it out.

I used the guarantee because when it comes to the best way to get started, there is an easy format that states:

1. Identify something you want
2. Accept that there is something that you can actually do about it
3. It is within your means and
4. Taking action is within your level of acceptable loss (i.e the cost is minimal if the action doesn't work out)

Despite all that fitting in to place, they still have not taken action.

So, when it's put that way, there are only four logical explanations for why they are not:

1. Habit.
2. They don't actually have the means at hand
3. The perceived cost is too high. Or
4. They are lying to themselves about what they want.

The fourth is rarely the case. Most people setting goals who say they want to get a new job, or meet someone or lose weight really do want to find new employment, find that person or get thinner. As for habit, in this case, that’s “simply” a matter of getting used to taking action. 

So this means is if you aren’t taking action toward what you want, you either perceive taking action as either being too costly, or too risky.  Or for a room full of law firm partners...both of these!

What’s the solution? 

Reduce the cost and risk to acceptable levels, so that you could get under way.

That was done, but still no decision.  The firm were too busy (or in this case they all convinced each other that they were all too busy) to make any real decisions on their future.  This is commonly known as "...arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic..."

The simple fact is that they were too busy hoping that everything would return to normal and if they could just sit out the storm long enough they would be ok.

Real life is not like that and the sooner decisions are made the better.

And that's how successful businesses motivate themselves.


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Scots Law Firms suffer fall in fee income

9/12/2010

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Scots law firms have had a difficult year, with 73 per cent reporting decreases in fee income of up to 10 per cent, and 37 per cent detailing a decline in profits in excess of 10 per cent, a new study has revealed.

Most UK law firms have also seen a decline in fee income in the last year, driven by downward pressure on pricing, coupled with a general contraction in the international legal market, according to PwC’s 2010 law firms’ survey.

As in 2009, the top Scottish firms have been under continued pressure on profitability. Despite a continued reduction in both partner and fee earner numbers, average profit per equity partner (PEP) still fell in 53 per cent of all firms surveyed with 37 per cent of firms reporting a fall in PEP of over 10 per cent compared to 2009.

Mike McCusker, partner at PwC in Scotland, said: “While our survey shows the leading top 10 London-based firms are maintaining their breakaway position, it’s worth noting that their average profit per partner is still some 17 per cent lower than PEP in 2008.

“Scottish firms have fallen even further behind, reporting an average decline in profit per partner of 18 per cent to £239,000, despite three-quarters of firms either reducing or holding partner numbers consistent with last year.”

At the time of last year’s survey, a number of Scottish firms were either actively considering, or embarking on consultation or redundancy programmes at partner, fee earner and support staff levels.

This year’s survey indicates that in the end, support staff levels were reduced in greater proportion than fee earners, supported in part by greater use of outsourcing – over 50 per cent of firms in Scotland have reduced support staff numbers during the year.

The reduction in fee earner numbers has ensured that chargeable hours in Scotland have increased at all grades except salaried and fixed share equity partner, with some grades seeing increases of up to 20 per cent.

This suggests that while law firms are now much leaner and efficient than previously, there is still significant pricing and margin pressure in the Scottish legal marketplace with excess capacity still resulting in reduced profitability.

Mr McCusker said: “Despite the sustained market and financial pressure, 75 per cent of firms in Scotland thought it unlikely that they would merge in the next two to three years.

“In contrast, the survey revealed that 83 per cent of the top 11 – 25 firms (based mainly in London) predicted mergers as ‘fairly likely’ in the next two to three years – a sharp rise from previous years.”

The survey notes how partnership financing has received much focus during the year. Concerns last year over the availability and cost of bank funding to law firms appear to have been overstated as, in aggregate, the level of bank funding to law firms has increased.

Mr McCusker added: “Looking ahead, it appears the legal sector is approaching a tipping point. Many of the larger London-based firms have used the recent economic difficulties to focus on making their businesses more efficient and have taken innovative approaches to both back-office support and how they provide legal services.

“There is ongoing pressure on regional firms in the mid-tier, including those in Scotland, and it is inevitable that a number will need to consider their response to ongoing, difficult market conditions, client pricing pressures and new entrants to the market.”
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Oh Dear...I'm not Conforming enough...

18/2/2010

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Much of our lives are spent in groups with other people: we form groups to socialise, earn money, practice the law, play sport, make music, even to change the world. But although groups are diverse, many of the psychological processes involved are remarkably similar.

Here are 10 insightful studies that give a flavour of what has been discovered about the dynamics of group psychology.



1. Groups can arise from almost nothing The desire to form and join social groups is extremely powerful and built into our nature. Amongst other things groups give us a most valuable gift, our social identity, which contribute to our sense of who we are.



2. Initiation rites improve group evaluations Existing groups don't let others join for free: the cost is sometimes monetary, sometimes intellectual, sometimes physical—but usually there is an initiation rite, even if it's well disguised.



3. Groups breed conformity After joining a group and being initiated, we have to get a feel for the group norms, the rules of behaviour in that group. Group norms can be extremely powerful, bending our behaviours in ways we would never expect.

For the remaining 7 traits (including a statistic on how accurate the "Grapevine" is...)  Go here for the full article:
http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/07/10-rules-that-govern-groups.php


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    Author

    After many years paying lawyers,I became one in 2005 Just in time for the largest upheaval in the law since records began. Brilliant. Exiting times ahead.

    Disclaimer.  The thoughts, ideas and comments on this Blawg ("Blawg - a legal Blog) are my own and not to be confused (unless otherwise stated) with anyone else and certainly not of anyone in the Firm where I used to work and they are not the views of the firm where I used to work.

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