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Client Services Bulletin June 2003
Bulletin Number:
03-001   Date: June 2003   Subject: Periodic News

Dr. John Olmstead
  1. TIPS FOR ACHIEVING A PROACTIVE BUSINESS CULTURE IN YOUR FIRM

    2. Business management in many law firms suffers from decision-making paralysis - in other words - helpless inactivity and the inability to act decisively. Lack of effective implementation of decisions is also evident. One attorney recently stated to us in an interview "I don't believe that we are capable of implementing anything." The result - missed opportunities and a deteriorating competitive position in the legal marketplace.

    Many of our law firm clients have asked us for tips on implementing proactive business cultures in their firms. Here are some of our thoughts and suggestions:

    • Learn how to trust others in the firm to make and implement business and management decisions.

    • Design and implement an effective governance plan and structure in your firm. Distinguish between policymaking and overall governance, practice management, and administration. Establish the boundaries by defining roles and responsibilities for the partnership at large, managing partner or executive committee, administrator or office manager, and practice group heads. This will help reduce the second-guessing that inhibits decision-making in many firms.

    • Respect the boundaries. Resist second-guessing and allow others to perform their roles.

    • Hire an administrator or office manager and offload "administrivia" tasks and free up partner time for practicing law and focusing on longer-range business and practice development issues that will determine the firm's future.

    • Demonstrate that time and effort spent on management is just as important as billable client service work.

    • Don't hide behind strategy and planning. Attorneys love to postpone implementation. Keep strategy and planning simple. Undertake a few projects at a time that can be realistically accomplished. Delegate tasks across the firm. Build upon initial successes and move to more complex strategies, which will require more difficult degrees of change.

    • Find ways to focus the firm and foster accountability from all.

    • In all of our client engagements we typically discover that the root cause of most problems is poor internal and external communications. Poor client service, staff competency and morale, interoffice conflict, and client defections typically can be traced back to poor communications. Work on improving internal communications with firm personnel and external communications with clients and prospective clients. Yes, you have to have meetings now and then. Devise systems to improve communications and implement properly. If a meeting is required - conduct it properly, use agendas and take minutes. Use your email systems. Match the richness of the communication method with the nature and depth of the message to be communicated.

    • Come to grips with the fact that times are changing and law firms are going to have to change and reinvent their firms dramatically in the next few years.

  2. ASKED & ANSWERED

    3. A successful law firm competitive strategy requires effective law firm management. Managing Partners and Administrators must keep updated on all aspects of law firm management. In order to assist in this effort we are pleased to share our insights and thoughts.

    Readers and clients alike have asked us the following questions pertaining to a variety of management topics.

    Please contact me via email at jolmstead@olmsteadassoc.com with your question. I will answer your question and share with our readers as well.

    • Q. Are more law firms engaging in strategic planning? Have the results been Successful?

    • A. According to a recent survey conducted by the Legal Marketing Association (LMA), 59% of the responding law firms (ranging in size from the largest to 45 attorney firms) have formal written strategic plans. Smaller firms have a much lower experience. In our experiences with smaller law firms we are finding that fewer than 15% have formal written strategic plans. I consider success to be achievement of measurable results as evidenced by achievement of the goals and objectives outlined in the plan and actual implementation of action items. Lawyers and law firms seem to do better at planning than they do at implementation. Larger firms usually are more successful in implementation due to availability of management resources, leadership and functional governance. Smaller firms tend to have problems with implementation. In fact, we frequently recommend that a firm address other management issues prior to engaging in strategic planning. If a firm is having problems implementing day-to-day operational decisions the firm will not be effective in implementing strategic planning initiatives.

    • Q. If a law firm could select only one area for future investment, where would you recommend that such investment be made?

    • A. In their people - their intellectual capital. I am amazed at the minimal investment that law firms make in their staff. Law firms are in the knowledge business and their product is their intellectual knowledge. While law firms do invest in their attorneys, such is not the case with the staff. Although staff members are often on the front lines in dealing with clients, very few law firms are providing them with skill training in areas such as communication, marketing, client service, conflict management, effective writing and speaking, time management, computer applications, client complaint management, etc. By the way, attorneys need training in these areas as well. Why do law firms hire the cheapest talent they can find to fill the receptionist position when it is the receptionist who often has the initial contact with a new client? I find it amazing that firms spend huge amounts of money on advertising and marketing and they fail to invest in the other tools needed for effective new client intake. Small firms should consider assigning their receptionist the role of marketing coordinator with responsibility for assisting in the management of client relationships and the firm's marketing program.

    • Q. What changes do you believe will have the greatest impact upon the legal profession?

    • A. The continued impact of the Internet and globalization of business. The Internet is making the world smaller, introducing new markets and competitors, and having a direct impact on what legal services are offered and how they are delivered. Legal services are, and will continue to be provided electronically over the Internet. This will cause increased commoditization of some forms of legal services. This technological revolution fueled by the Internet has placed us in the midst of the biggest transformation of civilization since the caveman began bartering. Business is going to change more in the next ten years than in the last fifty. We have become a self-help nation and more self-help legal services are on the horizon. Within ten years the legal profession will be dramatically changed and reinvented. According to Tom Peters, a leading management consultant, only one in ten lawyers (in roles as we now know them) will left standing in ten years. During this period of transformational change it will be imperative that lawyers discard the status quo, embrace change, and define and take charge of their future. Failure to do so will result in the same fate as the medial profession.

    • Q. How are law firms doing with deployment of technology? What are your thoughts?

    • A. Law firms are spending lots of money and making substantial investments in technology. However, many are simply automating old processes and ways of doing things that no longer make sense. Law firms needs to begin using technology to enable the firm to implement new processes and ways of serving clients. Obsolete practices and procedures should be discarded.

    • Q. I am a new administrator with my firm. I am also the first administrator that the firm has had. Do you have any suggestions as to where I should start? What are my priorities?

    • A. As a first administrator you will face a dual challenge. You will have to justify the new position as well as yourself and your performance. You will be second-guessed and partners will from time to time question whether a legal administrator was necessary or wise. There will be problems with role clarification. Suggest that you insist on a job description for yourself and a governance plan that outlines the authority and responsibility of the administrator, the managing partner, the executive committee, and the partnership. This will set the boundaries. On your first day at work suggest that you start by meeting with all of the personnel. Meet individually with the partners and associates and get to know them, their desires and hidden agendas. Initially conduct a get acquainted meeting with the staff and then meet with each staff member individually. Discuss their jobs and their duties. Ask for suggestions. Work with the bookkeeper and get up on the accounting operations as quick as you can. Learn the office computer system. Initially your two biggest priorities will usually be personnel and accounting. Read the minutes of firm meetings and office administrative files. If you are weak in accounting and computers obtain whatever additional training that is required. Join the Association of Legal Administrators and attend their meetings and conferences. Our firm provides skill transfer coaching and provides materials for new legal administrators as well.

  3. NEWS RELEASES

    4. The following news release can be reviewed in detail on our web site www.olmsteadassoc.com under the News Releases area:

    • Olmstead & Associates announces that Dr. John W. Olmstead has been re-appointed to Law Office Economics Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association.

    • Olmstead & Associates announces that it is now offering Web/Internet Client Satisfaction Surveys For Clients.

    • Olmstead & Associates announces that it is Providing Remote Online Training Classes For Tabs 3, PracticeMaster and Worldox software products.

    • Olmstead & Associates announces that Dr. John W. Olmstead will participate in Illinois State Bar Association Conference.

    • Olmstead & Associates announces that The Institute of Management Consultants has awarded Dr. John W. Olmstead Certified Management Consultants (CMC) status.

  4. RECENTLY PUBLISHED LAW FIRM MANAGEMENT ARTICLES

    5. The following articles were recently published in The Lawyers Competitive Edge: The Journal of Law Office Economics and Management, West Group and other publications:

    • How to Get More Business: 25 Tips on Marketing the Small Law Firm, by Dr. John W. Olmstead.

    Please note that all of these articles have been copyrighted by Olmstead & Associates. However, copies of these articles can be obtained for references purposes by printing them from our web site at www.olmsteadassoc.com. Copies can also be obtained by calling our office.

    Many other fine articles are published in The Lawyers Competitive Edge. To order a subscription contact West Group at (800) 328-4880.

  5. QUOTED IN THE MEDIA

    6. Dr. John W. Olmstead was recently interviewed and quoted in The Post and Courier Newspaper, Charleston, South Carolina in a story entitled, "Law Firm Expansion."

  6. CASE STUDIES

    7. Please review our case section on our web site. A total of three case studies are now up on our web site. These studies feature case study summaries and articles on successful strategies being deployed by some of our clients.

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