Lawyers appreciate good health, security and happiness – BUT WAIT, doesn’t everyone?  Yes.  That’s my point.  Lawyers are people and the vast majority of them are really good people.

Lawyers appreciate people who treat them with the dignity and respect. 

Lawyers appreciate people who recognize lawyer jokes for what they are – a form of bigotry (and who therefore pass on the opportunity to proliferate them).

Basically, I guess this means that lawyers appreciate the same things everybody else does – so whether you are a lawyer or not,  may you have the things you appreciate in abundance in 2007.

Happy Holidays!

Note:  This is a departure from my usual posts which are directed to Managing Partners and those who assist them in running their firms.  This is a "lawyers appreciate" post conceived by Julie Fleming Brown of Life at the Bar and Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg as a way to close out the year with a flurry of appreciation in the legal blogosphere.  (I am honoured to have been tapped to do a “Lawyers appreciate" post and to tap three more bloggers to do the same.)
Continue Reading Lawyers appreciate…

Thank you Michelle (of Golden Practices) for mentioning my email etiquette post and taking the thought further to embrace phone calls:

Michelle goes on to say:

Another rudeness that Gerry’s post makes me think of are abruptly ended phone calls. The failure to say "good-bye," or even "thanks," and simply ending a call by dropping the phone onto its base–often loudly–is more common with lawyers than accountants. And it happens a lot…usually by men.

When did people become too busy (or important?) to say "Good-bye," "Hello," or "Be Well"?

I am asked very frequently by wonderful lawyers how to they might raise client satisfaction and attract better work.  As Peter Paul and Mary sang (and Bob Dylan wrote):  "the answer my friend, is blowing in the wind…"  May we all improve our listening skills – Thank you, Michelle!

PROTECT ME!!!  The Daily Mail (UK) is either the most fair-minded  publication on the planet or the most confused – in an article titled "Women talk three times as much as men, says study" the near-ending reads:

Deborah Cameron, an Oxford University linguistics professor with a special interest in language and gender, said the amount we talk is influenced by who we are with and what we are doing.

She added: "If you aggregate a large number of studies you will find there is little difference between the amount men and women talk."

PUNCHLINE:  Stereotypical typecasting psychobabble should be seen for what it is and avoided at all costs.

Here’s a quote from an article called ‘Yours Truly,’ the E-Variations in today’s New York Times:

Many e-mail users don’t bother with a sign-off, and Letitia Baldridge, the manners expert, finds that annoying. “It’s so abrupt,” she said, “and it’s very unfriendly. We need grace in our lives, and I’m not talking about heavenly grace. I’m talking about human grace. We should try and be warm and friendly.”

I will add that many do not add a “sign on” like “I hope this finds you well” or “It was nice seeing you at the conference.  You will recall that I promised to send you a…” or even, “I hope you are having a pleasant day in San Francisco”.

If you want a quick preliminary test of your email etiquette, go to www.netmanners.com and take the Netiquette Quiz.

PUNCHLINE:  You work so hard to attract and satisfy clients – make sure your emails are not crafted in a manner that undermines your good efforts.

The Secret Step:  Asking the delegatee for ideas regarding the assigned task. 

Four reasons why your delegatee may have an unanticipated but valuable contribution to make

1)  Your delegatee may have performed a similar task in the past for someone who knew something different (and valuable)
 
2)  Your delegatee may be just creative enough to originate a valuable suggestion that you had not thought of

3)  Your delegatee sees the task from a different vantage point than you do and may have a better sense of how to tackle the task in the most efficient manner

4)  Your delegatee will be motivated by the respect you show in asking, whether you accept a suggestion or not.

Caveat:  It’s OK to say no.  Asking for suggestions does not mean you must accept them.  Your delegatee will appreciate your asking (and your consideration) even if you decide in your particular circumstances to proceed differently (perhaps as you originally intended).

Try it – our (Edge International) research indicates it works!!

"…$18 million a year in savings to the world’s largest law firm"

"…around-the-clock attention and legal advice for global clients"

This is no longer a hypothetical.  Many law firms who think this will not apply to their practice for a decade or two will soon wake up behind the eight ball. 

Outsourcing is neither easy nor comfortable but with approximately six times the number of lawyers graduating annually in India as in the USA and with escalating domestic support costs for labor and premises, clients will soon gravitate to those law firms who have figured out how to outsource. 

Read the full New York Times story: Law Firms Are Starting to Adopt Outsourcing

In July of 2006, The National Association of Women Lawyers challenged law firms to double the number of women equity partners and for corporations to double the number of women chief legal officers by 2015. 

The survey released today gives us a score – tells us where we are today, and it’s not a pretty picture.  Why if 45% of associates are female are only 16% or women equity partners and why are they compensated less than men?  The answers may be uncomfortable but they must be addressed.

"The Survey also found that women play a less extensive role in the governance of law firms, with only 16% of governance committee members and 5% of managing partners being women."

Check out this EarthTimes.org posting for the full story.  It includes quotes by Cathy Fleming, President of NAWL and a partner at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, like this one for instance:

"What gets measured gets done," she says. "By providing quantitative benchmarks on the retention and promotion of women attorneys, NAWL expects to help advance the cause of women in the legal profession."

I congratulate Cathy Fleming and her organization for what they are attempting to achieve.

According to The Lawyer.com today in Australian law firms to make IPO history:

"Three small West Australian firms are set to make legal history with a proposed IPO and listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)."

"Australian law allows non-lawyers to control ownership of firms based in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia."

Punchline:  Anyone who does not think that the Clementi Review of the UK legal services regulatory framework which made floating UK law firms theoretically possible is not going to have an impact is smoking the wrong substances.  Stay tuned for the end of the legal profession as you knew it.