Are You Reading These Posts?
Life’s short. You’re busy. I sort through countless law marketing and business development blogs every day to find the post that will help you market your practice, plan for the future, stay ahead of trends, increase your value to clients, and more. So you don’t have to. Are you reading these posts?
You want me to pay for what?!?
Robert Mattern's "Cost Recovery Breeds Client Frustration in New Survey" on Law.com. According to the law firms Mattern polled as part of his biennial survey on cost recovery practices, "client pushback [on costs] is increasing." This observation isn't particularly...
read moreTalking to strangers just got a little easier.
Mary Ellen Sullivan's "Big Ideas for Small Talk" on the Attorney at Work blog. Let's face it: networking is tough. You have to identify the right events, the ones where potential clients and influencers hang out. You have to identify the right people, the ones who...
read moreStorytelling. It’s not just for campfires and kids.
Nick Morgan's "Win by Telling Great Stories with Peter Guber" on his blog Public Words. Unless you're new here, you know that I like posts about telling stories. Stories articulate your value as a lawyer. They communicate your passion, your knowledge, your experience....
read moreToo big to succeed? A client’s take on hiring law firms.
Mark Herrmann's "Inside Straight: Hiring Law Firms or Lawyers?" at Above The Law. Yes, it would be nice to put this question to rest, as Herrmann longingly suggests. But that's probably not going to happen, at least not until law firms realize that their brand isn't...
read moreI get help with a list of resources from my friends.
Debra Bruce's "Do Bar Associations Really Benefit Solos?" on the Solo Practice University blog. Don't let the title of this post fool you: Bruce isn't interested in a philosophical discussion of the role Bar Associations should play in helping solos establish and...
read moreFinding your zen. In front of a crowd.
Garr Reynolds' "Dealing with public speaking nerves" on his blog, Presentation Zen. I just discovered this blog (when I read this post) and added it to my RSS feed. You should too. It's clever, funny, and full of practical advice. Like the content of this post. Public...
read moreStrategy as it should be.
Bruce MacEwen's "Third in Our Series on Strategy: Bad Strategy" on his blog Adam Smith, Esq. Think you've got strategy? Then you need to read this post, which is easily one of the best pieces on law firm strategy I have read (and I read a lot of 'em). Law firms are...
read moreYou can’t always give what they want. Not without asking questions, anyway.
Allison Shields' "Do You Know What Your Clients Really Want?" at her Legal Ease Blog. No, it's not the start of a bad lawyer joke. Giving your clients what they want and what they need -- even when the two are in conflict -- is part of the adding value equation. But...
read moreWorking the crowd. And doing it right.
Whitney Johnson's "Building a Network That Works Takes Work" on her blog at the Harvard Business Review. We've written about networking before, but this post reminds us that there's always more to learn. Networking done right, the way that builds meaningful...
read moreIt’s a brand new day. Don’t you need a brand new strategy?
Joe Altonji's "Thinking about Strategy in a Post-Crisis World" at the Hildebrandt Baker-Robbins blog. Sure, the economy's getting better. But it's not where it was and, says Altonji, probably won't ever get back there again. That means the way you did things in the...
read moreThe future of law firms: irrelevant?
Jordan Furlong's "Not wanted on the voyage" at Law21.ca. What if we staged a revolution, and none of the law firms came? According to Furlong, that is a real possibility. Nobody disputes the fact that change, true change, the kind that requires you to step off the...
read moreThis is creative? Innovative? Can’t you do better than that?
Julie Kay's "Companies Get Creative to Cut Legal Costs" at Law.com. Unless you've been living under a rock, you're well aware of the ever-increasing pressure on in-house counsel to reduce legal costs. So the fact that Microsoft and H-P are outsourcing their work to...
read moreSolving your client’s problems. The right way.
Dan Hull's "Cross-Selling: You Folks Really Partners? Or Just Sharing Space?" at What About Paris? Cross-selling isn't up-selling, convincing the client to buy additional services merely because you offer them. It's knowing your client, her legal needs, her business...
read moreI’m a legal marketer and I endorse this post.
George Wallace's "Blather. Wince. Repeat. [Mutterings on Marketing]" at his blog Declarations and Exclusions. Although this post starts out a little like The Killers (albeit with less mystery), Wallace only admits to the sins of his past to provide context for his...
read moreOne secret of success? A rock-solid foundation.
Joe Evans' "What Every Business Executive Should Know About Creating a Comprehensive and Executable Strategic Plan – Part 1" at the Vistage Buzz Blog. Strategic planning is one of the pillars of starting and maintaining a successful practice. Yet many lawyers give it...
read moreCome together. Right now. Over fees.
"Two Veteran Lawyers Say Now Is the Time for Fixed Fees" by Ben W. Heineman Jr. and William F. Lee in Law.com's Corporate Counsel. When a former General Electric GC and the head of WilmerHale get together to tell the world why the time is right for fixed fees, I...
read moreSorry Santayana: it’s the ones who don’t heed the lessons of the past that are doomed.
John Hellerman's "5 Marketing Lessons From Howrey’s Graveside" at Law 360. RIP, Howrey. And Brobeck, Thelen, Coudert Brothers, Heller Ehrman. What can we learn from the demise of these almost too successful, too well known, too traditional, too well established to...
read moreTrying to price value? Talk to your clients.
Meredith Hobbs' "In-House, Firm Lawyer Trade Views on Alternative Billing" in Law.com's Law Technology News. Lawyers should be talking to their clients about many things: service, value, delivery, skills, etc. But alternative fee arrangements ought to be at the top of...
read more“It’s a very Darwinian, survival-of-the-fittest firm.” The future of law?
Steven Harper's "The Goldman Model for Big Law" at The AmLaw Daily. Wondering what BigLaw's future looks like? Look no further than Goldman Sachs, says Harper. What would it mean for a firm's culture if Partners could trade future returns for payoff today? If firms...
read moreBaby steps to a better practice. Baby steps.
Nora Riva Bergman's "50 Ways to Grow Your Practice in 2011 and Beyond" on her JD Supra page. Most of the time, big change comes from little actions. Like we learned in What about Bob?, it's all about baby steps. You don't need to need to make 20 new contacts a week,...
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