ANNOUNCING THE 2005-2006 AWARD WINNERS

My Edge International colleagues and I are pleased to announce the winners of the 2005-2006 Edge Awards for the best articles published in Law Practice Magazine.  The awards commend outstanding written works most likely to have a practical influence in shaping the actions lawyers take to manage their practices.  All votes were cast and winners chosen by the 2005-2006 Edge Award Article Review Board.

BEST FEATURE ARTICLE
Certificate and $2,000
“Is Your Marketing Stuck Inside the Box?”
Mark Beese• Ann Lee Gibson• Diane E. Hamlin• Phyllis Weisshaserot• Linda Hazelton• Nikki A. Rovito• Sally J. Schmidt• Bob Weiss• Milton W. Zwicker
MARCH 2006

SILVER FEATURE ARTICLE
Certificate and $500
“‘First, Let’s Sell All the Lawyers’: A Personal View of Legal Marketing’s Long, Strange Journey”
Ross Fishman
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2005

BEST COLUMN
Certificate and Commemorative Gift
“The New Generation of Lawyers: Planting the Marketing Seed”
Sally J. Schmidt
DECEMBER 2005

A special thank you to our 2005-2006 ARTICLE REVIEW BOARD:
Peter K. Fagen, Partner, Lozano Smith, Vista, CA
Samuel M. Maruca, Managing Partner, Miller Chevalier, Washington, DC
Daniel R. Mackesey, Office Managing Partner, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, Vienna, VA
William L. Meyer, Partner, Smith, Gambrell & Russell, Atlanta, GA
Stuart M. Pape, Managing Partner, Patton Boggs, Washington, DC
Gail W. Ruopp, Executive Director, Flaster/Greenberg, Cherry Hill, NJ
Stewart D.Saxe, Partner, Baker & McKenzie, Toronto, ON

For a copy of the full page ad that will appear in Law Practice Management, click the Edge Award plaque, above.

Can the American Bar Association possibly be correct?  If so, then: 

"Eighty-one percent of minority women quit private law firms within five years because they get shunted into dead-end jobs and aren’t welcomed the way other new employees are, according to an American Bar Association report."

This according to a news report today in the Miami Herald: "Minority women held back in private law firms"

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American law firms could learn a lot from the exemplary efforts of some South African law firms we have the privilege of serving.   Admittedly, they are spurred forward by their Black Empowerment legislation (which includes gender issues) but they are leap years ahead and the same study there would yield contrasting results.

My question:  at what stage does bigotry become abusive?

I am a staunch "free enterpriser" and if I thought these results reflected a contrast in merit or capability I might look at this differently but the results are too extreme for that speculation. 

So who gets the black eye – American private law firms or minority women.  The photograph has the black eye where it is but not where it belongs.

As a Managing Partner (or other member of the senior management of your firm), it is extremely important that you look beyond the incestuous offerings from inside the legal profession. Internal thinking sometimes has us gazing at our own navels.  If you want a glimpse of the outside world but in a way that is extremely time efficient, suggestica may be the answer.

Today at 8:00 AM PST, suggestica launched both the suggestics web site and the suggestica blog.

You can sign up for a newsletter at the web site and if you do not have an RSS aggregator you can sign up for an email alert at the blog.

Knowing the genius of the people who are behind this site, (including Rajesh Setty), I am optimistic that the "suggestions" from "suggestica" will be highly valuable to you as a thought leader in the legal profession.

You might start with Rajesh Setty’s blog post called Paradox of Choice for Books which will link you to a fabulous free pdf download containing fascinating research by Barry Schwartz.

The other people you see referenced at suggestica will either be people you have heard of (like Oprah Winfrey) or people whom you should know, if you don’t already (like New York Times Columnist and prolific author, Thomas L. Friedman).

Punchline:   Look outside our legal profession for catalysts for thought and the learnings that can be translated back into our profession for great benefit.  As a leader you want to keep it fresh and keep it powerful.

Dear friend, Sue Stapely, FIPR FRSA is thought to be the UK’s only practising solicitor providing comprehensive strategic communications counsel, with unrivaled experience, particularly working in the legal sector.

Read her July 20th article in UK’s Law Gazette:

When reputations are on the line

Here’s a tiny excerpt:

…we should also worry about the reputations of our firms. One slip, one oversight, one badly handled complaint, one aggrieved staff member can destroy overnight reputations that took decades to establish.

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The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.  Mark Twain


Rajesh Setty of Life BEYOND CODE in his post "Ways to distinguish yourself #153 – Use humor right!" has some importanmt rules for the use of humor that we have long subscribed to in Edge.  Check it out!

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Arnie Herz of "legal sanity" gets down to brass tax in his "energy management for lawyers" post.  You will see a reference in the  post to the heart’s role in all this, courtesy of the Law Practice Today post "Meet the Most Powerful Stress Manager: Your Heart"

Find out which graph ought to represent your heart, and why:

Personal:  Call me lucky, but a week Saturday, I will be attending my friend Arnie’s workshop in New York where he will be demonstrating his "XE Factor" teaching model, referenced in this blog.

Title of this post:  For those who think my grammar has deteriorated, the title of this post is from an old song performed by Eddie Fisher (deceased – former husband of Debbie Reynolds) ).  Perhaps the last verse would be of interest in light of the contents of this post and its audience:

You gotta have heart
Miles and miles and miles of heart
Oh it’s fine to be a genius of course
But keep that old horse before the cart
First you’ve gotta have heart

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

Ernie the Attorney (Ernie Svenson) and The Adventure of Strategy (Robert Millard) both came at the same issue today but in entirely different ways.  Unbeknownst to each other, they posted on a common theme:  lawyers leaving their law firms.

Ernie referred to Denise Howell of the Bag and Baggage blog:  "So, now Denise is taking a new career path and I am really happy for her; she is going to be going in a more fulfilling direction… I love this passage":


"my professional roadmap henceforth will involve only things that are washed through a stringent "how much do I really love that?" filter"

Ernie went on: "I think more people are starting to discover that filter.". 


Greenberg Traurig’s Cesar Alvarez, quoted in Robert’s post said:"One of the keys to preventing lateral defections is to keep attorneys from feeling isolated."

The two bloggers seem to emphasize different perspectives on why the issue of lawyers leaving their law firms is so important:


Ernie’s:  "We don’t’ really have time to do things that aren’t supremely meaningful and enjoyable to us.  We barely have time for the things that matter most, and time is running out."



Robert’s:  "Key to any strategy is to have the right people in place to be able to execute the strategy. If firms are bleeding top (partner) talent at such a rate, then this is something worth addressing."

My Opinion:   Ernie and Robert are both absolutely correct and that’s why I brought their complementary posts together.  A firm cannot prosper without keeping its best people and the best people will always have choices which they will exercise based on their drive for self actualization.  The Managing Partners who understand this and manage accordingly will be judged as our profession’s greatest heroes.

Links to Referenced Posts:
Ernie the Attorney: "The Love Filter – Denise Howell departs big firm"
The Adventure of Strategy: So-Long and Thanks for the Fish
Bag and Baggage: Have Aeron, Will Travel

Question One:  Do you know the difference between "sex" and "Sachs"

If "YES", go to "Question Two"; if NO, click here

Question Two:  Do you know the difference between "Goldman Sachs" and "Goldmansex"

If "YES", go to "Question Three"; if "NO", GOOD GRIEF !

Question Three:  Do you know the difference between "www.goldmansachs.com" and "www.goldmansex.com"?

If "YES", you might want to contact Rob Muller and offer yourself up as a witness before the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) in Europe.

If "NO" then Goldman Sachs Group Inc is right to complain that "Internet domain name goldmansex.com would cause confusion".

By the way, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES check out the contents of that other domain name.

This post strictly relies on the accuracy of a Reuter‘s story of today’s date called "Goldman Sachs challenges Web site Goldmansex.com"

Seth Godin’s blog post on Receptionists is 100% correct.  When I was a managing partner, my firm required a receptionist for our largest office.  I personally reviewed 215 applications myself and created my "A list", about 42 applicants, whom I invited for interviews late one afternoon.   I asked 6 of my partners to help me and we interviewed 6 applicants each.  Any WOW applicant was interviewed separately by at least two partners.  Were we insane to take so much partner time on this?  You decide.

PUNCHLINE:  For many years thereafter, we had a legendary receptionist whom clients loved on the phone and in person.  I personally received an average of two positive remarks about her every week.   Many of my partners and associates reported similar experiences.  She created the "positive experiences" that Seth blogged about.

I remember a call from New York one day and the lawyer started by saying: "before we get to the business at hand, I just have to tell you…".  I did not have heart to tell him "yeah, I know, you are the 100th person this year to tell me". 

By the way, I told that receptionist about every single positive comment I heard, personally or second hand (and no, that did not lead to extortion – she appreciated the recognition and the credible praise). 

Cynics – who are tempted to guess that she was the winner of a beauty pageant – don’t go there –  she got the job as the best applicant and got her praise on merit – her performance was awesome.