« July 16, 2006 - July 22, 2006 | Main | July 30, 2006 - August 05, 2006 »

July 28, 2006

SRO: "Stealing and Keeping BigLaw Clients".

That's a predatory title for a "how-to" marketing seminar. But while discussing that very course title with an influential blogger/thinker I spoke with on the phone this week (refreshing, because I wrongly never make time to do that), he said to me in effect: well, Dan, why not?

Certainly, two relatively recent developments in law practice--first, boutique firms formed by elite lawyers voluntarily leaving large firms and, second, reasonably-priced technological advances which made smaller firms more nimble and powerful--have changed legal markets. The large law firm (300+), an institution I am quite fond of in its saner incarnations, will always have its role. However, high-end clients are no longer forced to hire large firms to obtain top drawer lawyers, results and service. The contrary notion is a myth--a proven ruse.

GCs are now smarter and bolder. Smaller firms can and do land and serve top clients. At top rates, too. It's about service, not price. No point not getting rich just because you start a new, smaller and more client-centric firm. Keep your high rate; savor your lower overhead, if you can achieve one. You deserve it.

So a serious course on getting (okay, stealing) and keeping high-end clients (Fortune 500 companies and large Asian and European companies) might actually fly. But...I'm wrong a lot. Would that catch on? Are we ready? Any presenters out there? Hundreds might attend--but who would teach? Who can I get to speak? Who has experienced it, has credibility, is not afraid of the subject, can articulate it?

A new model is already here. Let's talk about it, and make it work. It's about time--and, hey folks, the time is right.

Posted by JD Hull at 03:01 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2006

Tune In.

Is the name of a really swishy bar in my old DC neighborhood but it's also what we at WAC? would like everyone to do this Saturday for an hour. Meet Howard and Robin with MBAs. Listen to mega-successful entrepreneurs The Baby (Neil Senturia) and The Babysitter (Barbara Bry) on San Diego's CA$H 1700 AM on Saturdays from 1-2 p.m Pacific time or on the CA$H web site. Or go to I'm There for You Baby and hear podcasts of the first 4 shows. Customer service ideas is a staple. Regular segments include: Billionaire Update, Trump Watch ("when is enough enough?"), the ongoing saga of the U.S. patent system, Crooks of the Week, and "I wish I had thought of that idea" Idea.

Posted by JD Hull at 06:04 PM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2006

Emerging Markets: Vietnam as the Next China.

Is Vietnam the "next Asian miracle"? Asia Business Law has a great post inspired by Dan Harris's earlier and equally fine piece comparing Vietnam to China at his China Law Blog.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2006

Keith Richards Watch: Pardons, Coconut Trees.

He'll be pardoned by Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee for a 1975 reckless driving offense. And Richards is "begging" a Pirates of the Caribbean III director to fall Fiji-like out of a coconut tree in the movie but director Gore Verbinski is worried. He thinks Richards should not even climb up pirate ship steps--which might be best accomplished with a stunt double. According to Virgin.net news, Verbinski said: "For a guy who falls out of coconut trees, those steps could be a problem."

Posted by JD Hull at 07:20 AM | Comments (0)

July 24, 2006

Sane American Employer Sought By 157 Mega-Productive Lawyers.

WAC? does not, generally speaking, love either American lawyers or the U.S. federal estate (or "death") tax. Neither institution encourages productivity, is efficient, has high standards or is "customer-service" oriented. However, as to lawyers, there are always exceptions. And everyone loves productive lawyering. According to a New York Times article by David Cay Johnston, in what may be the Bush Administration's "back-door" play to emasculate enforcement and collection of the death tax in lieu of an outright repeal, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is cutting 157 out of its 345 estate tax lawyers in the next 2 months.

Forget for a moment about how you feel about the death tax and consider this amazing fact. The NYT article says that "for each hour they [IRS estate tax lawyers] work, they find an average of $2,200 of taxes owed to the government" (emphasis ours). WAC?'s advice is (1) show the article to associate lawyers to inspire new efficiency techniques and (2) if you do tax work at your shop, find out who these 157 people are--and hire them.

Posted by JD Hull at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

Coming of Age: Legal Blogs as a "Vast Amicus Brief".

See this particularly insightful and--if you think about it, exciting--Howard Bashman special to Law.com.

Posted by JD Hull at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)

Blawg Review #67 - Rules of reason and much more.

David Fischer and his colleagues at Antitrust Review have covered last week's better posts in Blawg Review #67. There's a nice balance here of everything from Denise Howell, Alison Margolin's wonderful YouTube performance and golfers on drugs to Ted Stevens, Presidential cursing and even BAR/BRI, which may owe quite a few of us money under the antitrust laws.

Posted by JD Hull at 06:48 AM | Comments (0)