Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices

As Nicole Nehama Auerbach joins Valorem, she says:

“I saw Valorem as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really make a difference in the way litigation is handled... I was captivated by the firm’s commitment to provide real value to business clients, and, in particular, its emphasis on alternative fees. Alternative fees are more important than ever to clients as the economy fluctuates and rates continue their upward march. Traditional law firms have been slow to recognize the need to satisfy their clients’ economic concerns."

Valorem Law Group represents a head on assault on the billable hour.  Here's an excerpt from thier new web site:

The top ten list…

1. We are all refugees of elite BigLaw firms;
2. We are skilled courtroom lawyers, in practice and at heart;
3. We are revolutionaries and risk-takers, entrepreneurs at heart;
4. We bring a single-mindedness to the notion of client service;
5. We believe you are entitled to budget certainty, to a real and realized commitment to help you deal with the cost pressures you face;
6. We believe that the practice of law is an art, not a science;
7. We believe in collaboration and hold the team rather than the individual sacrosanct;
8. We love technology and efficiency -- the more red tape we hack through, the better;
9. We take our work very seriously -- ourselves, not so much;
10. We are real people, with supportive spouses and wonderful kids (who, at least today, appear to really like us).

We provide value or you adjust the bill.

I recommend a thorough tour of their web site.

click on image for larger view

LOGITHISER – a new term for law firms

The Logical Empathiser. The accepted wisdom is that anyone who possesses great reason and logic is quite devoid of humanity and warmth. The Logithiser is living proof that wisdom, in this case, is fallacy. Yes, Logithisers are capable of shutting down their emotional mechanisms to perform feats of objectivity and accurate thought. But equally, they have great powers of empathy.
Faced with a stressed colleague or a concerned client, the Logithiser readily sheds their tough exterior, listens quietly and offers sound, careful advice.

I did not (would not) make this up.  This unique approach is used by the Eversheds firm (based in the UK) to attract recruits.  If you liked Logithiser, perhaps you will like these:

KNOWLIVATOR The Knowledgeable Motivator
INNOVATEER The Innovative Volunteer
PERFORMIBUTOR The Performing Contributor
PROACTILOPER The Proactive Developer
PROFESSIONARY The Professional Visionary
PRIORICATOR The Prioritising Communicator
WINNOMAT The Winning Diplomat

The "Graduate Recruiting" portal at the Eversheds site features videos as well.   The shooting approach is for us to view the video as if we are part of its production – take a look – see what I mean!

PUNCHLINE:  In a profession based on precedent and tradition where few are willing to risk being unique, one firm has.  Like it or hate it, give them credit for the courage to stand out.  BRAVO EVERSHEDS!!

Based upon (and thank you to) Roll On Friday - original post: on this subject. Eversheds recruitment effort

Is the UK's wealthiest man also its wisest?  If you have about 1/2 hour to sit in on a fascinating conversation with Sir Richard, head over to Adventures in Strategy, my Edge colleague and friend, Robert Millard's blog post: Richard Branson on Life, Succeeding in Business and Everything
(Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 30:44.)

I am very biased - Richard Branson is one of my heroes - nevertheless I will risk exclaiming that there is no Managing Partner who could experience this discussion and not be inspired.

Click on Image to enlarge

Indulge a father's proud moment as I celebrate the extraordinary work of my son Daniel Riskin (PhD Cornell - now doing post-doctorate work at Brown) along with the other scientists on this project. The sophistication of the analysis of the flight of bats is unprecedented and its rather poetic that a visualization should bring top prize.

The only link to law is the inspiration of breaking new ground through applied innovation - perhaps in our legal profession, we should simply be inspired to follow suit in our own ways.

For those who wish to read more, see  Flying bat graphics win award for Brown scientists; CT scan, nature tie for top photo prize

“Ford & Harrison, a 190-attorney labor and employment firm, has tossed out billable-hour requirements for first-year associates. The program aims to close the practical-skills gap of law school education and increase value to clients. The firm also hopes it will enable associates to handle meatier matters more quickly.“ according to Leigh Jones of The National Law Journal.

I have the privilege of knowing C. Lash Harrison (pictured) and his remarkable stature within his firm.  When I read about this bold initiative I was in no way surprised that it was Lash who had the gravitas to pull this off.  It may be prophetic that the tag line on the Ford & Harrison firm’s website reads:  “THE RIGHT RESPONSE AT THE RIGHT TIME”

"Everyone sits around and complains about the problems," said C. Lash Harrison, managing partner of the law firm. "I figured, what the heck, maybe we can try something."

Observation:  The issue of newer lawyers recording time on files is a bit of a hornet’s nest in most firms.  If the time is billable, it detracts from the billing partner’s realization rate and perhaps even hours billed.   Carefully measured associates steer away from files where they can’t record billable time.  This creates a tension that is based on economic reality but serves neither the associate’s training objectives nor the client’s desire to optimize value.  Thank goodness for fresh thinking and bold initiatives.  That makes C. Lash Harrison a hero to me.

Thank you to LAW.COM for its post Firm Kills Billable Hour for First-Year Associates

The Wall Street Journal posts: Slater & Gordon: The World’s First Publicly Traded Law Firm

Managing Partners and other members of law firm C suites had better look at Slater & Gordon’s prospectus – it’s a gold mine, (pun intended).

Have a look at how risks are described – the Wall Street Journal post quotes the passage balancing professional responsibility and shareholder profits.

"Lawyers have a primary duty to the courts and a secondary duty to their clients. These duties are paramount given the nature of the Company’s business as an Incorporated Legal Practice. There could be circumstances in which the lawyers of Slater & Gordon are required to act in accordance with these duties and contrary to other corporate responsibilities and against the interests of Shareholders or the short-term profitability of the Company."

I adored the "Key Risks" page (click on it to download pdf of this page):

PUNCHLINE:  If this does not fascinate you, you should resign from your leadership position.  I am not saying you should follow suit – I want you to know what your options are and what your competitors might be up to way sooner than you would like to think.

Science fiction movies adore time travel and ripples in the primordial fabric.  We are witnessing a collision - the future has just exploded into the present.  With Clemente in the UK just over the horizon, please fasten your seatbelts - this is a pivotal moment for the legal profession and for the Managing Partners within it.  Like Dennis Hopper's famous line in the movie Speed, "what are you going to do, Jack"

You may want to reference my earlier post:  The end of the legal profession as you knew it...

Click  and do your own painting!

So, how many stars does your firm have?

Not sure?

You had better pay a visit to my friend and colleague Robert Millard at The Adventure of Strategy, and in particular, his post:  Banks Use Star Rating to Force Law Firms to Compete

My view:  The future does not care whether you like it or not

"Law Seven" and conclusion from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management

7)Turn a spotlight on your initiative and leave it on

Many firms have fabulous meetings, sometimes in retreat venues where everyone participates in the creation of the master plan that will make the firm the "be all and end all". All participants leave the process feeling a sense of pride and excitement that is palpable. It is only after the passage of a few months and the absence of any visible accomplishments that the disillusionment sets in. The cynics and skeptics have a field day — they might as well all buy red tee shirts with yellow words emblazoned across their chests "I told you so". Well, Managing Partner, you must not allow this outcome. It is lethal and you cannot recover from it. Instead you need the lights that were on at the retreat to remain on. This is accomplished by not allowing the insects to crawl back under the rocks — (out of sight, out of mind). Instead you need to design processes that keep your people (not insects at all) in plain view. You can decide for yourself what might work best for you, but here are some of the techniques I have observed or recommended:

a) Monday Morning Memos (as referenced earlier) giving weekly status reports to showing everyone's progress on the distinct steps (actions) that have been agreed upon. This creates healthy peer pressure and allows no-one to hide.

b) MBWA (Managing by Walking Around) coined by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman in their business classic In Search of Excellence — this means frequently dropping in, unannounced, to ask the right questions and to offer help — "How is that list coming… I see you are struggling to get this done in light of your particularly heavy case load at the moment… let's explore some options… to whom could you delegate some aspects of this… I need you to make progress because others know you have an exceptionally heavy work load and if they see you getting your tasks done you will have effectively removed their excuses — I need you to do that… I will do anything to help short of doing your task for you…"

c) Convene follow up meetings that exchange "learnings" that individuals have gleaned from their respective tasks, for example, how they worked with difficult people internally or how they overcame client resistance. This should not be a meeting where everyone reports progress — progress meetings become meaningless exercises in seeing who can offer the most creative excuses for failing to deliver. This is a peer level training meeting where the objective is to become ever more effective at accomplishing quality non-billable tasks.

Conclusion: Fostering change in a law firm seems impossible because most Managing Partners treat the activities associated with such change as if they were component pieces of a legal transaction. Partners are so reliable when it comes to their substantive legal work that it seems unthinkable that they could not complete mundane simple tasks associated with management initiatives. Well, the real world is that the non-billable activities are not even on the same psychological map as the billable ones. Billable work means everything to a lawyer from income to professional satisfaction to garnering the respect of peers (internally and externally) to being respected in social circles. Non-billable work, no matter how important, and regardless of the value to our futures, will always take second place to billable work unless you, Managing Partner, manage for a different outcome. The score in many firms is billable work "100" and quality non-billable work "0". By following these seven immutable laws of managing change, you will change the latter score from zero and even if you only to "99 to 1", you and your firm will be the beneficiaries of the infinite improvement from "0" to "1". Further, in the legal profession, those who make continuous slight progress win the race, because most competitors are still tied to that pier.

Law #1
Law #2
Law #3
Law #4
Law #5
Law #6

(…thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)

"Law Six" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management

6)Tell the world

Do you know why betrothed people say their vows in front of friends and family — to cement their commitment. It is the same reason a banker friend told me the bank does television commercials: "not just for our customers but for our own staff so that they can see the service promise we make to our customers and as a result they are more likely to live up to that promise".

Tell the world what you are shooting for, whatever that may be - in fact, you can say it before it is so: "striving to be the firm of choice for the wholesale industry". I am not advocating misleading or untrue advertising but I am saying it's OK to declare what you are striving for. Your current and prospective clients will hold you accountable but that's OK because it helps define the standard for your people and gives clarity to their target and therefore their everyday performance.

(Law 7 and conclusion)

Law #1
Law #2
Law #3
Law #4
Law #5

(…thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)

"Law Five" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management

5)Ask for commitment - not agreement

One of my most successful friends (and clients from my law practice days) has a One Sentence Journal and he posted the following wisdom one day:

"Commitment and Doubt": Commitment does not require the absence of doubt; often commitment means acting despite your doubt.
(From Larry Anderson's One Sentence Journal June 17 entry.) (Larry's success is not only financial — it transcends to a long-term happy marriage and philanthropy.)

Think about it. You do not need your entire firm to agree with you and should not even ask for that. What you must demand, and accept nothing less than, is that your people commit to help you achieve your objectives even if they have doubts. At worst, someone who is not pivotal to the initiative may remain neutral and that means not sabotaging the effort in any way. But for that exception, those who offer passive or active interference must be confronted. If you don't have the support to pull that off, step aside. You are allowed to lobby for that support but it must be forthcoming or else your resignation should be tendered. This is not hypothetical - this is how the well-managed firms are run. Choose your initiatives carefully because you must succeed in attempting them. They don't all have to work but you have to be allowed to try them and give them the firm's best efforts. If not, call the election.

(Law 6)

Law #1
Law #2
Law #3
Law #4

(…thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)

"Law Four" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management

4)Create cult-like internal promotional communications

This is where your capable support professionals can shine. They can help you create imaginative ways to keep the initiative in front of your people. The internal trainer in a major firm showed me high gloss promotional announcements that were sent internally to remind audiences about various internal workshops. I asked about the "commercial nature" of the alerts and he responded that "I have to break through the noise" to get their attention. He's right, of course. It's like paying attention to your spouse. If you take your spouse for granted, you may not end up alone but you will not reap the rewards that would have been yours had you been more attentive.

Some firms use Monday Morning Memos to catalogue progress on the action checklist, person by person. Others celebrate to congratulate for achievements (compete with cake and silly hats — perhaps tee shirts adorned by appropriate slogans).

(Law 5)

Law #1
Law #2
Law #3

(…thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)

"Law Three" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management

3)Paint "the first step" in vivid colours

"Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is started, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance." Robert Collier (1885-1950)

As leader, you are going to have to foster the taking of the first step by every individual whose participation is essential to your change initiative. This means that the first step must be crystal clear and painted by you in vivid colours so that no individual hesitates because of lack of clarity. The simplest way to do this is to facilitate a discussion that results in "to do" lists that include actual initial steps and time lines, and if necessary, methodologies. For example, the first step might be compiling a list of prospective clients in a particular industry that would have need of a particular service. The action may involve delegating internally (or even outside the firm) the task of creating the initial list and might include identifying precisely the parameters within the list, like numbers of employees, locations etc.

The punch line is to have a first step that is clear enough that you can ask if a specific thing has been done. For example, "is the initial list ready" is only a sensible question if it is clear that the first step was to create such a list and precisely what that list would be comprised of.

(Law 4)

Law #1
Law #2

(…thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)

"Law Two" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management

2)Create a vivid picture (vision) of where this initiative leads

It is tempting to be vague because then you are not committing to anything. Not committing avoids scrutiny and criticism. But without certainty, your troops cannot get excited about your change initiative.

Be specific: "If we dominate the provision of X legal services to the Y industry, we will not only increase our revenues in both the A and B practice groups by at least 25% in the next two years, but we can also expect increases in the C and D practice groups of at least 10% attributable to cross selling initiatives from the A and B practice groups". Obviously the particulars are customized to the situation but the point here is to be specific. While quantifiable measures are essential to your firm's success, qualitative ones may be equally motivating to your people. For example, many of your people will work hard for the prize of having more work of a preferred nature or to do more work for preferred clients.

You will rarely be exactly right when it comes to strategy and tactics — and that is OK. You will almost always do better or worse you're your forecast. Get comfortable with being wrong because that is what management is all about. If you meet your objectives all the time, you are way too conservative. You will learn from your performance and continually correct and fine-tune. This is not the practice of law — it is the management of the business. In a real estate transaction, we expect to get good title for the purchaser on closing. This is not a guess or a hope or speculation. It is precise and we had better get it right — it's what we're being paid for. But a percentage increase in revenues from a particular kind of work is a crap shoot. No matter how smart you are, there are some variables beyond your control and many that are beyond your capacity to predict accurately. Worse, even if serendipitously your strategy is perfect, your tactics may be quite imperfect, at least initially. Business winners constantly monitor outcomes and frequently change or at least fine-tune tactics in an effort to continuously improve results.

The punch line here is to create a vivid quantitative and qualitative description of a desirable outcome that everyone in your organization can relate to, knowing and accepting that it is not perfect.

(Law 3 - Link to Law #1 if you missed it)

(…thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)

"Law One" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (with thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)

Managing Partners: Why is it that your intelligent (no, make that "super intelligent") lawyers seem to react to your change initiatives like you were asking them to drink a tankard of poison, even when they know full well that the brilliant changes you are proposing would be beneficial to them individually and collectively? When we get Managing Partners from various firms together, many of them want to commiserate with each other about the impossible task they have in managing the unmanageable - I suppose my Edge International co-founder Patrick McKenna, and I did not cure that perception when we named one of our books Herding Cats. Some Managing Partners with whom I have had the pleasure of working are exceptions to that rule and what follows is what I think I have learned from them over these many years.

Here are the seven immutable laws of creating change in your firm. I guarantee that if you respect these rules, you will get the cooperation you need to effect the changes that will catapult your firm forward.

1)As Managing Partner, propose imperfect change initiatives

YES, I said IMPERFECT and when you saw that word a feeling of anxiety overcame you and you were tempted to react as a lawyer and not as a change-agent for your firm. Let me be clear. As a lawyer, your job is to do "the right things, perfectly". That calls for unflawed effectiveness and efficiency. You probably hope your surgeon, if you ever need one, practices to the same standard. But face reality — as the manager of your firm, you do not have the luxury of doing only "the right things" because nobody, including you, knows what the "the right things" are except in hindsight — and hindsight is too late.

As a result, most good firms are paralyzed by the tedious, never-ending and totally ineffectual process of divining the perfect strategy accompanied by the perfect tactics. These firms are ships tied so firmly to the pier that no matter how well steered, they go absolutely nowhere. In fact, their biggest claim to fame is that they hit no icebergs — few ships do from the pier. Such firms may do "industry-average" well, but they are not going to consistently break out of the pack. Temporary successes come from individual initiatives that the firm is likely unaware of and therefore does not impede with excessive policies and standardization.

In strategy, you must make the best decisions you can with what you know and what you can speculate about. I am not against a little market research - in fact I advocate it but I am against the notion that you can know enough to comfortably make strategic decisions with the confidence that you are most certainly right.

Most good collegial firms make the mistake of trying to convince the whole firm (at least the partners) that a decision is "right" before proceeding. There is no collection of competent lawyers exceeding one in number that can or will agree to any single course of action mainly because their training is not to find the wisdom and potential in an idea but rather to reveal the concealed risks within it. No idea will ever be good enough so looking for unanimous approval is antithetical to creating change.

You as Managing Partner and your close team (executive committee, board if necessary) must make a decision. You must choose what you think your best option is from among the available alternatives.

The punch line here is "abandon perfection in favour of action". Force the decision-making process within a reasonable time frame and then get moving. Release your ship from the peer. This will give you immediate competitive advantage. It will also contribute to the esprit de corps of your firm and that will literally add fuel to your change initiative. If you are going in the wrong direction, you can alter your course.

Please note that this is your initiative as Managing Partner — not your approval of the initiative of a support professional (like the marketing director in your firm). You can work together with such support professional side by side, you can even give them most of the credit if the initiative is successful but it must be your initiative, at least in part, or you have no hope of succeeding.

(Law 2)

Thank you to Brand Autopsy for this awesome quote.

Now imagine using this quote in connection with your law firm's legal work or business development efforts. It would take about a nano-second for the resistance to begin.

If you are the Managing Partner, or a Department Head, Practice Group Leader or Industry Group Leader, what are you doing to change all that?

Seth Godin provokes our thoughts with a very quick intellectual journey through service to expectations. In his post, What customer surveys measure, he teaches us not that serving and satisfying is impossible but that it is possible to do the former extremely well without doing the latter.

TRANSLATION FOR LAWYERS: Excellent legal work is not enough. Excellent work plus managing expectations plus exceeding those expectations is indeed enough. Is your firm doing enough? Are your individual lawyers and client teams doing enough?

(Click on photo for bio.)

Bruce adds this terrific article to The Marcus Letter:

ALL TOGETHER NOW - IT'S OUR CLIENT
The Client Service Team As A Growing Phenomenon

The article features Iris Jones who breathed life into this concept at Akin Gump. Bruce speaks very highly of her and her achievements - click on photo for bio. Bruce does a nice job of describing the elements that had to be in place at Akin Gump to support their client team initiative.

Visit Bruce's newsletter regularly. Just click on The Marcus Letter logo below.

RollOnFriday is making fun of London based law firm CMS Cameron McKenna but do they deserve it - you be the judge.

CMS Cameron McKenna is no slouch. According to their web site, they:

* are the primary counsel to 20 of the FTSE 350
* acted for 107 of the FTSE 350 in 2004-5
* have over 55 offices and associated offices worldwide
* have over 130 partners and more than 700 other fee-earners
* employ 59% female staff
* are a founding member of CMS - the alliance of independent European law firms

So what does RollOnFriday find so amusing?

It seems that the CMS Cameron McKenna recruiting web site has a prominent flash animation banner that focuses on relationships. What kind of relationships? Ummm you decide. Just click the green banner at the top of this page and watch the animated version for a few minutes - then you tell me exactly how you interpret the information they are presenting to thier recruits.

PUNCHLINE: Those who conceived this idea (no pun intended) likely had the best of intentions hoping to demonstrate that if you join CMS Cameron McKenna you will not be operating in isolation. Somehow, I think the execution may have distorted the orginal vision. What do you think?

Follow me on a journey of logic — skip a decade to 2015 when air travel may dramatically increase in speed to 30,000 km per hour or 18,000 miles per hour — imagine a trip from Moscow to New York in 50 minutes or Moscow to Sydney in one hour and six minutes. (See reference to news story at end of post)

I contend that as the world continues to shrink, we will see a breed of global super lawyers who will go almost anywhere where there is a lucrative opportunity to bring unique skill and knowledge to bear on a legal problem.

What will this mean for competition — especially for the global firms. One might argue that they will be best positioned to exploit the opportunity because they can move their specialists around the globe more easily. However, it may also represent a threat to the global firms because agile competitors will be able to send top guns in without having to establish expensive local offices. A third possibility (my favorite) is that we will see even greater industry specialization such that any member of that industry will hire a known dream-team law firm the bricks and mortar location of which will be irrelevant.

I propose this as a serious planning issue, if not immediately, at least in the not too distant future. Competitive advantage comes from thinking ahead of the curve — not behind it.

Fasten your seatbelts!

(Story: Spaceflight from Moscow to New York to take less than an hour)

Robert Millard

My Edge International colleague in Johannesburg, Robert Millard, passed this along internally - I immediately sought his permission to share it with you.

You are driving down the road in your car on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three people waiting for the bus:

1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could
only be one passenger in your car?

Think carefully before you continue reading........................

You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first.

Or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back.

However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.

The "out of the box" answer? Give the car keys to your old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital. Then stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of your dreams.

Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations.

FASTFORWARD: What options are we not seeing that would accelerate our firms toward our vision of an ideal future?

Edward De Bono

FOOTNOTE: Edward De Bono is #20 on this year's list of the top 50 business thinkers. His books can be found at Amazon - if you are not already familiar with him, treat yourself to his book, Lateral Thinking - but warning, if you get addicted, you'll be consuming all his treasures (and perhaps choosing better strategies at the bus stops of your professional life).

To all those lucky people who can attend: "Break a Leg!"

BlawgThink 2005!

Do you remember the "suggestion box" from the bricks and mortar days? Well, let me introduce you to the virtual suggestion box.

One of the coolest attributes of the virtual suggestion box that the wooden ones could not achieve is their accessibility to clients as well as members of staff.

(I have permission to share this idea that comes from a very high quality wholesale insurance brokerage firm, and client) — THANK YOU California-based Brown & Riding!)

Ed Poll posted: "Motorola's Razr is a great model for lawyers" with some great insights.

Two reasons I know he is right:

1) The Harvard article he references

2) Both my wife and daughter love their black Razrs.

Client service reaches new heights at Clifford Chance, which has obtained a 24-hour alcohol licence.

According to its spokes-woman, clients can get a refreshment (code for an "alcoholic beverage"?) at any time of the day or night.

Now in fairness, there are big deals that close in the wee hours and you would not want CC to be precluded from serving a little libation, would you?

See the full story in today's The Independent Online Edition: Lawyers drink in the last-Chance saloon

Just when the legal news starts looking a bit dull, some firm somewhere does something to capture our imagination — be grateful.

Credit to Transblawg (Margaret Marks) whose blawg alerted me to the story.

*"Going the Extra Mile" is a stated value of Clifford Chance

Bravo to Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice and Molden Holley Fergusson Thompson & Heard for their ingenious alliance to create and market diversity.

Molden Holley is a small and new African-American firm comprised of partners who came from major firms. In what appears to be a brilliant win-win alliance, this new firm will continue to be independent but will bolt on all of the resources of AmLaw powerhouse Womble Carlyle when and as required; meanwhile, Womble Carlyle gets to demonstrate to clients like Wal-Mart and Sara Lee that it is listening to their General Counsel who have been requiring all of their legal providers to make rapid diversity progress.

(For further particulars on those diversity requirements, see my post titled: Law Firms as "Exclusive Clubs for White Men")

PUNCHLINE: While other firms may not yet have diversity on their radar screens and while those who do are likely progressing slowly and in a linear fashion, these two firms are hitting warp speed.

The most fascinating part of this story is yet to unfold. It's the marketing initiative (contained in this quote from the complete story in Small Firm Business — referenced below):

"Regina S. Molden, the managing partner for Molden Holley, said members of the two firms will meet monthly to develop a marketing strategy targeted towards existing and potential Womble Carlyle clients seeking more diversity."

WOW! Imagine the potential here. This is not smoke and mirrors but rather a very real capacity to provide diversity to clients IF those diversity-demanding clients are prepared to accept that the alliance is genuine and truly fulfills the spirit of their diversity requirements.

Whichever firm initiated the idea, it is an illustration of strategic genius — especially if it works. If it does, it will be a pattern worth emulating.

For a more particulars, see the full story filed by Meredith Hobbs in the Fulton County Daily Report on July 29th as published in Small Firm Business: Big Firm Partners With Minority-Owned Boutique to Increase Diversity

Richard Susskind is not short on credentials. Richard has a first class honours degree in law from the University of Glasgow and a doctorate in law and computers from Balliol College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the British Computer Society, and was awarded an OBE in the Millennium New Year's Honours List for services to IT in the Law and to the Administration of Justice.

In his article: "Why going online is better for everyone" in the TimesOnLine, Richard explores, as an example, use by Eversheds of an online service:

that automates the process of drafting employment documents. The web-based system is designed for human resource professionals in large organisations

There is a link in the article that allows you to see a demo - incredible (see for yourself).

PUNCHLINE: For those who still think it's cool not to understand technology or tease that "that's something my kids do" maybe it's time to remove the cranium from the sand and stand erect as we move further into this new century. There will be two classes of firms soon… which one do you think will be thriving over the next ten years?

Thank you to Monica Bay of The Common Scold for writing about this article by one of my Edge International partners, Robert Millard, from our latest issue of the Edge International Review. I am posting this article (in a single page format) at Monica's request so that you can view it in your browser or download it as you see fit.

Because every human makes this mistake and I argue that lawyers are human, therefore…

OK, thank you ROCKETBOOM, July 6th edition, for this story and thank you MIT for being so brilliant (as usual) and humbling the rest of us by exposing our limited perceptions with this cool illustration.

The A square and the B square are the same shade of grey. Don't take my word for it, I'm a lawyer, too. Check it out!

Then, let's all stop jumping to conclusions.

P.S. A mistake I will never make again is failing to catch the Rocketboom's daily vlog

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliff is a magnificent firm that had the courage to be innovative and create a Virginia based service center for itself.

…and now, according to an article in The Lawyer.com:

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe is planning a new outsourcing services company for other law firms.

"The truth is that the global 100 are competing with each other, but most lawyers aren't in those firms. There's a whole universe of lawyers who are spending inordinate amounts of money doing their own finances and supporting their technology and we can do it for a fraction of the cost," said Baxter.

Punchline: Whatever happens, keep an eye on this and learn from it — we don't see too many clear transitions in the practice of law — if this works, it will in hindsight have been a big one.

Metaphors and analogies help us understand and apply principles. In his post, "Market as Hospitals Do", Larry Bodine demonstrates the art.

Punchline: Transcending our context ignites our imagination - use this phenomenon with your colleagues and watch them find the magic that tries so hard to hide inside them.

Thank you, Larry Bodine, for the reminder.

DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR INNOVACTION AWARD ENTRIES TO JULY 13 (so I take the liberty of posting on these awards again).

At Edge International, we are very proud of our Innovaction Awards that we produce in concert with The College of Law Practice Management.

Awards (by firm size) will be presented in four categories:

Client Service Virtuosos
Sponsored by ABA Law Practice Management Section
Those evidencing the best innovation in client service or delivery.

Market Disruptors
Sponsored by Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
Those who have displayed the best innovation in the creation of an entirely new revenue stream or market development.

Knowledge Stars
Sponsored by Baker Robbins & Company
Those who have made the most innovative advances in skill-building or knowledge-sharing initiatives.

Leader Ships
Sponsored by Astin Tarlton
Those who have taken the most innovative action toward improving their internal management or firm efficiency.

If you have any questions about the awards, kindly contact my Edge International colleague, Patrick McKenna, by email or phone him at 780.428.1052.

If you are curious, you can read about last year's winners here.

At Edge International, we are very proud of our Innovaction Awards that we produce in concert with The College of Law Practice Management.

A HUGE thank you to Prism Legal Consulting for their reminder of the approaching deadline (June 14)

Awards (by firm size) will be presented in four categories:

Client Service Virtuosos
Sponsored by ABA Law Practice Management Section
Those evidencing the best innovation in client service or delivery.

Market Disruptors
Sponsored by Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
Those who have displayed the best innovation in the creation of an entirely new revenue stream or market development.

Knowledge Stars
Sponsored by Baker Robbins & Company
Those who have made the most innovative advances in skill-building or knowledge-sharing initiatives.

Leader Ships
Sponsored by Astin Tarlton
Those who have taken the most innovative action toward improving their internal management or firm efficiency.

If you have any questions about the awards, kindly contact my Edge International colleague, Patrick McKenna, by email or phone him at 780.428.1052.

If you are curious, you can read about last year's winners here.

I understand that for many it's too late for this year, so why not find out how to enter and get a headstart on next year.

In the newest issue of Fast Company, an article entitled The Interpreter starts out like this:

Claudia Kotchka is holding the secret to understanding design at Procter & Gamble in her palm. It's not a P&G product but a tin of Altoids, the "curiously strong" mints produced by Wrigley. As the scent of peppermint oil wafts out of the box, she points out the nostalgic typeface, the satisfyingly crinkly liner paper. "Even the little mints look handmade," she says. "It's not completely full. The whole thing is very authentic."

Then comes the twist. "Let's say P&G buys this brand. What are we going to do?" asks Kotchka, P&G's vice president for design innovation and strategy. "[Employees] always gave me the same answers. 'We're gonna cost-save on this tin. We're gonna get rid of this stupid paper -- it's serving no functional purpose.'" She plops the tin on the table and picks up another product, unable to suppress a mischievous smile. "And I go, 'Okay! Exactly! And this is what you get.' "

Kotchka reveals "Proctoids," a box made of cheap white plastic from P&G's baby-wipe containers. With uniform beige ovals jammed into the container, fewer colors on the lid, and no paper, Proctoids taste like Altoids, but they look as appealing as a pile of horse pills. Gone is the pleasure people get when they buy Altoids. Gone, too, is the up to 400% premium they pay. "That's what design is," she says of the look and feel. "That's what designers do."

Food for Thought: What Claudia says Proctor & Gamble would do to Altoids is exactly what most law firms do... Good lawyers believe that quality work should speak for itself and therefore be in high demand. But in the real world, people are attracted to the "crinkly liner paper"... the "experience"... In our highly fragmented profession, it's time for some law firms to stand out from the pack by creating an attractive experience that goes along with the high quality work. You've heard of practice management - but do we disciuss "Practice Design"? No, most will laugh off the idea - too new... too unusual... but a few will think about it and do something that creates competitive advantage. So, in your firm, who will you appoint as the Practice Design Manager?