« September 28, 2008 - October 04, 2008 | Main | October 12, 2008 - October 18, 2008 »
October 10, 2008
What your clients will do--and your firm needs to do.
Judgment Day. No, American capitalism is not dead. It's just morphing. Again. We're not headed for barter systems. Yanks are still the leader; compared to the U.S., the next most competitive economies on the planet are like Maynard G. Krebs, or maybe Borat, on downers and cough syrup. But while things shake out, corporate clients all over the world are going to change. Firms that advise, fight, solve problems and engineer for them must change, too. So start now. Get lean, get mobile, get agile.
Now.
In six months.
(T2 Photo: Tri-Star Pictures)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)
The Recession: The next big things for your clients are...
A. Austerity. Your clients will try to: (1) Do only The Urgent. That means respond to/defend regulatory enforcement action, renegotiate loans, litigation, etc. (2) Do The Urgent only In-House.
B. The Status Quo. That's the Latin short for "the state existing before the war". Clients will not change outside counsel as frequently. Not as many new engagements. So hold on to what you have.
C. Real Value. When your firm is called upon to work for a client, that client will want Real Value. Real Value does not necessarily mean lowering your rates or doing flat-fee arrangements. It will be determined, as always, by the gut-level reaction General Counsel has in that first 30 seconds when he or she reads your invoice. So what RV did your firm add?
Posted by JD Hull at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)
October 08, 2008
The Value Movement: "The Value Challenge".
It's a client thing, it's a GC thing.
Pat Lamb of Chicago's Valorem gave us this piece last week. WAC? adds that the call-to-arms for giving value to higher-end clients is not just about this blog's recently-increased focus on making expensive employees productive faster. It is a top-to-bottom affair, and all good clients deserve it--whether they ask for it or not. Billing, quality of product, efficiency, real ($) value-added by associates and paralegals, real customer service, keeping the Client First, communications, speed.
Our advice: Forget about what sophisticated corporate clients will tolerate, or are "used to". Give them something they need, and that will increase your value to them. In good economies or bad, surprise great clients, keep their business and attract more.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2008
So what do we do now?
Service Firms, and The Way-Down Global Economy. Some advice, often with related links, from people who think about it all the time (so you don't have to). You can hire them, too:
Ed Poll: "Three Lenses for Law Firm Recession Survival" (9/16/08)
Jim Hassett: "The First Thing Lawyers Should Do In A Recession" (1/30/08)
Dennis Kennedy: "Planning for Legal Technology in a Recession" (1/22/08)
Tom Kane: "Time to Get Closer to Clients" (9/25/08)
The prescient Larry Bodine: "Get Ready for the Coming Recession" (8/26/07)
Bruce MacEwen: "Costs & Revenues: Health Check Time" (9/5/08)
Dan Hull: "In Praise Of Structure: Get A Standard" (7/23/08) and "Rule 4" (12/12/05)
Jennifer E. King: "Marketing Your Firm’s Legal Services During an Economic Decline"
Posted by JD Hull at 07:58 AM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2008
"Women good, men bad."
Ah, the utter tragedy, and injustice, of Nature, of biology--and of the girl and boy thing. Where will it all end? "Where Are All the Female Law Bloggers?" has been getting lots of press--but we can't figure out why. The best, brightest and strongest bloggers--and writers, speakers, corporate lawyers, business owners, actors, humans, etc.--we know are "females" and regularly trounce us "dudes" in most endeavors in work and life. And there's a lot of these creatures. The author of the piece, obviously talented and well-meaning but trying to set the women's movement back about 40 years, is invited to impress us all in the future with a better choice of topics.
UPDATE: Some serious and comprehensive coverage by our betters and friends: Simple Justice, Legal Blog Watch, Diane Levin (all with links to dames who blog).
Ms. Gish is one of many "females" in the WAC? Pantheon. Gish is said to avoid whiners and weenies.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (6)
So far, U.S. bailout not helping in Asia and Europe.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
It's official: Blawg Review, and legal blogging, have arrived.
Today I'm in hard-working heavily-German southwestern Ohio, where it's always German-American day. And this morning from Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate--the area thousands of west Germans (including a few Hohl families) left for America in the 17th and 18th centuries, and where more than a few global law firms have business clients--Andis Kaulins at Law Pundit gives us his Blawg Review #180 , a truly international and immediately useful tour of this morning's odd world. Bravo, sir.
Since we began in 2005, WAC? has wanted insular North American and European businesses and their advisors to compare notes. Mr Kaulins' Blawg Review #180 is a good place to start. Please do not miss the list of German transatlantic organizations at the conclusion of #180. Clearly, the now-global Blawg Review has arrived.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)
Client Service Worldwide: And the winner is...
The Client Choice Awards 2008, sponsored by the International Law Office, picked London-based Allen & Overy as the top client service firm internationally. Jones Day won in the U.S. More winners in nearly 50 jurisdictions are here. See also Legal Blog Watch.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:28 PM | Comments (1)