Legal Ease Blog

How to Get Speaking Engagements

I talk to lawyers all of the time who want to use speaking engagements as a way to establish their expertise, provide value to a potential referral source, or as a means to reach an audience of potential clients, but they don't know where to start.

One of the easiest places to start is by becoming a CLE speaker. It's a great way to gain experience speaking, and most bar associations are looking for new, dynamic speakers with good ideasto present for them.

Jennifer Ellis from Freedman Consulting did a recent guest post on the Legal Productivity blog on how to become a CLE speaker and then be invited back. Her post contains some excellent, common-sense tips (which can apply to speaking engagements other than CLE programs as well), including:

Be specific: Make it as easy as possible for the CLE director to choose your proposal by giving him or her a specific program topic, rather than just expressing your interest in speaking on a broad practice area. I can tell you from my experience working at our local bar associations trying to choose program topics and presenters that those who just express and interest in speaking, without more, are rarely contacted. 

Giving the program coordinator a topic idea, along with a proposed title and perhaps even a draft outline will put you head and shoulders above the rest. It is also helpful to include some information about you and why you think you would be a good choice to speak on that topic.

Show you're responsible: If you've never presented for this person or organization before, you need to prove yourself. Make sure you know all deadlines and meet or exceed them. Respond promptly to all requests for information.

Provide valuable information: Most states require written materials to accompany the presentation. Don't skimp on those materials or complete them at the last minute, as an afterthought.

You can read more of Jennifer's tips in the full post here.

If you want to do a lot of speaking engagements, you may want to create a speaker sheet or "one sheet." It's like a bio, but it is specifically targeted to showcase the information that would be attractive to someone seeking to engage you as a speaker for their event or program. Instead of being written with your clients in mind to sell your expertise and services as a lawyer, the speaker sheet is meant to highlight your expertise for a different audience.

If you want to try your hand at creating a speaker sheet for yourself, Carolyn Elefant at MyShingle has a one sheet generator tool that you can use to create a professional looking one sheet to give to organizations or program coordinators.

Client Testimonials for Law Firm Sites

"How do I ask clients for endorsements or testimonials?"

"If a client posts a testimonial or recommendation on sites like AVVO or LinkedIn, can I copy that endorsement and put it on my website, too?"

These are questions I hear from lawyers fairly frequently. Most recently, they appeared on a lawyer's list-serve that I participate in, and they sparked quite a discussion.

Asking clients for recommendations

There are many ways that you can ask clients to recommend your work. I think the most effective approach is the simple, straightforward approach. It’s always good to strike while the iron is hot – when a client sends you a nice email or thanks you for helping them, that’s the best time to ask if they would mind writing an recommendation of you for your website or other marketing materials. 

You can also make a request for a recommendation part of your standard closing letter (or conversation) to clients. If you've done a good job for them, most clients will be happy to do so - and your work will be freshest in their minds right after their matter has been completed.

What makes an effective testimonial

Testimonials are most effective when they address common objections or misconceptions, but you can also ask clients to write something that addresses a specific aspect of your service – especially if they have already mentioned it themselves in their "thank you" note or comments to you. 

It isn’t necessary to use a client’s name in a testimonial. You can still get the point across and showcase what you do in a concrete way without breaching a client’s privacy. Ed Poll, coach and law firm management consultant, believes that client names shouldn't be used on lawyers' websites - he believes firmly that even if the client agrees to reveal their name, it sends the wrong message.

Whether you agree with Ed on that point or not, as you can see from the client success stories on Ed’s site, it doesn’t matter that the client’s name isn’t used. The stories are written in such a way that it is unlikely that they were “made up” and they contain the kinds of specifics that address the exact reasons why clients would hire someone who does what he does.

Beyond credentials

While your credentials are important and should be included in your marketing materials, the problem is that, to the layperson, many lawyers seem to have 'the same' credentials or experience. It's hard to tell lawyers with similar levels of experience and similar practice areas apart.

Sometimes, you can set yourself apart by the number of years that you have been in practice, but that alone won't cut it. Potential clients want to know more about who they will be working with or who they will be entrusting their business, their financial future or their freedom to. The writing or speaking you have done in your area of expertise can be another factor - which is why it is always good to keep developing your content and publicizing it - but again, those won't show the human side of what you do, or the day to day realities of working with you.

Even if you haven't been in practice that long or you haven't yet built up your content library and speaker credentials, the work you have done for clients can work for you.

Basic principles

This goes back to the main principles of marketing:

• What is it that convinces a client to hire you?
• What makes you stand out from others?
• How can you demonstrate your expertise and give the potential client or referral source looking at your marketing materials a concrete understanding of the specifics of what you do for clients on a daily basis?
• How can you anticipate and overcome the common objections to hiring someone in your field?
• How can you demonstrate that you understand the client's problems and that you have a solution that will work?

Cover these basics in your marketing materials - and keep them in mind when writing case studies or talking to clients about recommendations or endorsements.

Copying a client's endorsement for your website

As for the second question posed at the beginning of this article, I think it’s a great idea to use endorsements that others have already given you in multiple places. But I always think it’s best to ask them first.

Drop the client a line saying something like, “Thanks so much for the great endorsement you gave me on Avvo. I really appreciate it. Would you mind if I posted it on my website as well?” Most clients are going to say yes, but I always think it’s better to err on the side of caution.

I've written about testimonials before on two of the other sites I write for: on the Lawyeristsite, I wrote generally about client testimonials for lawyer marketing. I followed that up with a post on Slaw on what makes a good testimonial for a law firm website. Check out these posts for additional tips.

Questions from LinkedIn for Lawyers Webinar

I just finished doing a webinar with the ABA Law Practice Management section on LinkedIn for Lawyers with Michelle Golden and Dennis Kennedy. Of course, there is so much more information that we didn't have time to cover in the 90 minute program, and although we covered some of these questions during the presentation, I'm not sure that all of our particpants caught the answers, so I've decided to list some of the questions (and my resposnes) here.

Please feel free to comment and add your responses, too, since I know not everyone has the same 'take' on these questions as I do:

How can you take advantage of Linkedin as a business entity if you are a solo pracitioner or a small firm?

LinkedIn is a great tool for solos or small firms because it helps you extend your reach further and faster. Leverage your connections by seeing who they are connected to, asking them for introductions to people you want to meet, and looking at their Groups for ideas. Answer questions and join discussions within Groups to increase your expert status. Make sure your profile is complete and that it showcases your best skills and abilities. Use LinkedIn's powerful search tools to find events, industries and companies that you want to watch or connect to. Add a link to your profile on your website, email signature, blog, and other profiles on the internet for greater visibility. Build a company page for your law firm and make use of the 'services' feature to describe your practice areas and link back to practice pages on your firm's website.

What is the new Skills section, and how can it be useful in the future?  

Skills is a new feature on LinkedIn that can be included in your profile. I think this feature will be especially useful for job-seekers as a place to quickly summarize the skills and abilities that set you apart from others. For young lawyers who may be skilled in social media, you may find a firm looking for someone who can be the firm's social media presence. Perhaps you are fluent in another language - putting that in 'skills' might get you noticed.

Is there a tactful way to refuse a connection request? Do you have any guidance about people you shouldn't connect with or is it an all-comers approach? 

We didn't have a chance to discuss this much during the webinar, but I know that Michelle and I differ somewhat in our approaches. Some of it comes back to what you consider your purpose to be in participating in LinkedIn. I do not take an "all-comers" approach, because I prefer for my network to be useful to my connections. In other words, if one of my connections wants information about or an introduction to someone else in my network, I'd like to know enough about both of them to make an intelligent introduction (or have ready reasons why I wouldn't do so). 

I take two approaches to 'refusing' connections. First, if it is someone I really don't know and never heard of, I may just ignore the connection request. This is particularly true if I don't know the person and they have sent me the generic 'invitation' without personalizing it or telling me something about how they know me. Sometimes there are just too many to respond to each of them personally.

My second approach is not to accept the invitation, but to reach out to that person with a note expressing thanks for the invitation and asking them if we can connect by phone, in person or otherwise to get to know one another better before we actually connect on LinkedIn. (For more on this topic, see my post, "Who Should I Link to or Friend on Social Networking Sites")

I don't usually report an invitaiton as "spam" unless I have a very good reason to do so (and I'm not sure that has ever happened to me).

Do you recommend upgrading from the free LinkedIn service to a paid one? 

I haven't tried the paid service, so perhaps it isn't fair of me to answer this one. I know the paid service has some greater functionality as far as organizing contacts (although the new 'tags' feature does that fairly well in the free version, from what I've seen), and it allows you to see full profiles of people who are 'out of your network,' but I don't know whether that makes the paid version worthwhile. There is plenty of functionality in the free version to make it a very robust tool for most lawyers' purposes.

Is there a way to put video on a Linkedin profile?

Yes! (And it's a great way to stand out - although I haven't gotten around to doing it myself yet.) With the SlideShare application, you can add video to your LinkedIn account. You'll need a slideshare.net account (free). Create the video and upload it to YouTube and then embed the video into a SlideShare presentation, and publish the SlideShare presentation to your LinkedIn account. 

 All in all, I had a great time preparing for and putting on the webinar with Michelle and Dennis. If you're looking for more ideas about how to use social media effectively, check out Michelle's book, Social Media Strategies for Professionals and Their Firms.

[Update: Two more questions came in after we finished the webinar]---

Is it a good idea to connect LinkedIn to Facebook?

To me, this comes back to your purpose. Many people use Facebook as a more personal, social interaction and LinkedIn as more of a professional network with colleagues, clients, referral sources, etc. and cross-posting or linking the accounts may not work in that case. You will want to ask yourself whether your postings on each are appropriate for both audiences, and whether you want to have a different kind of presence on each platform.

On occasion, I do cross-post to both (using my Facebook Fan Page, rather than my personal FB profile), but I don't automatically link them.

How do you connect LinkedIn to Twitter?

Connecting your LinkedIn status updates to twitter is easy. You can add your twitter account to your profile in the space provided as you are building your profile.  In the status update box, you can check the box next to the little bird that represents Twitter to have your update go to Twitter as well. Click the little arrow to the right of that to get to your Twitter settings or to add a Twitter account. LinkedIn will lead you through the process. 

You can also connect to Twitter by going to your Account Settings in LinkedIn and clicking on Manage Twitter Settings. Those settings will also allow you to tell LinkedIn which of your tweets you want to display on LinkedIn - you can display all of your tweets on LinkedIn, or only those that are 'tagged' with a LinkedIn hashtag (#li or #in).

Just as I noted above with Facebook, you'll want to think about whether you want to simply display your twitter 'handle' on your LinkedIn profile or actually cross-post between platforms, depending on your audience and your use of each platform. Since Twitter is generally thought of as a more 'conversational' platform, simply posting status updates may not work as well on Twitter as it does on LinkedIn. And if you tend to get into conversations with others on Twitter that would be difficult to understand by reading a stand-alone tweet, you may not want to publish all of your tweets automatically to LinkedIn. 

 [Update: The program should be available by Friday afternoon, August 19 on demand here:www.ali-aba.org/rstp03]

Social Media and Reputation Management

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, when speaking with a group of lawyers about marketing on the internet, one lawyer said to me, “I’m afraid to enter into the world of social media because I think it will open the door to allow disgruntled clients or other naysayers to put bad things about me on the internet.”

My response to this is that you cannot prevent disgruntled clients or crazy people from posting negative reviews on the internet. Not participating in social media or other outlets on the internet cannot prevent this, and indeed, these kinds of bad reviews are a good reason why lawyers - particularly those in small firms or with solo practices - need to participate in social media and other online outlets.

Why?

Precisely because you cannot prevent those kinds of postings, and often once they are posted, the damage is done, even if the post is eventually taken down. But more often than not, they cannot be taken down unless the lawyer can prove that the posting is factually false – opinions are exempt. And if you don't participate, the only content about you on the internet will be controlled by others, and it is very likely that the message they put out about you will not be the message you want.

One of the only ways to counteract negative reviews or complaints is to flood the internet with positive content about you, whether that content is directly generated by you or is a result of collaboration with others online or through opportunities for clients and colleagues (where permitted by your jurisdiction’s ethical rules) to post positive comments about you and your work.

If you are not participating in social media and actively searching for information posted online about you, it will be nearly impossible for you to manage your online reputation. And the fact is that whether you participate directly or not, you do have an online reputation. Why not participate directly and make that reputation a result of your own words and actions, rather than the words and actions of others?

At the Massachusetts Super Marketing Conference last month in Boston, Conrad Saam, Director of Marketing for the lawyer rating site Avvo expressed a similar point - you cannot erase content on line. The best thing to do is to overcome it with good content that you control.

According to Saam, the worst thing you can do is make a big deal about it or "play the lawyer card" because usually that strategy blows up in your face, and the negative content "goes viral" and gets repeated over and over. Trying to suppress content on the web makes it proliferate more, and posting negative responses to negative comments on line only sends an additional negative message about you online.

 

Testimonials for Law Firms

My most recent column on Slaw appeared earlier this week, discussing what makes a good law firm testimonial. Coincidentally, on the same date, fellow consultant Ed Poll's LawBiz Tips Ezine arrived in my mailbox with an article entitled, "Testimonials Should Sell Soap, Not Lawyers."

Ed and I have had this discussion about testimonials before.The point of Ed's article (which he makes in his opening paragraph) is that Ed feels that lawyers should not use client names in testimonials, but I'm not sure that he believes that lawyers should stay away from testimonials entirely.

As Ed himself will tell you, he believes strongly in client confidentiality and believes that testimonials should not contain client names even where the client consents, because it dilutes the privilege and commoditizes lawyers. But there is no getting around the fact that a lot of lawyers get business through "word of mouth" or referrals.

What if a prospective client doesn't know anyone who has used a lawyer, or if their legal matter is too sensitive to discuss with someone else, so they do not want to ask for a referral? The fact is that testimonials - in the form of stories from real clients who have had an experience with a lawyer or law firm - can make a huge difference in getting a prospective client to take the next step and contact your firm.

As I point out in my post on Slaw about what makes a good lawyer testimonial, what is important isn't necessarily the name of the client - it's the story that they tell about their experience with your firm. Even anonymous testimonials can have a big impact. So if you're in Ed's camp and you believe that a testimonial which is attributed to a client by name is a bad idea, don't toss out the idea of testimonials entirely.

Does your firm use testimonials in your marketing? Have they been successful? Why or why not?

(For more about lawyer testimonials, see my recent post on Lawyerist, Effective Testimonials for Lawyer Marketing).

How do I get lawyers in my firm to follow procedure? And what if the worst offenders are my partners?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions in my consulting practice, and one of the most frustrating for my clients.

Some firms fail to give partners (especially rainmaking partners) any structure or requirements, and then they can’t understand why the partner doesn’t comply.

Each partner within the firm should have a partnership plan which includes goals that partner has set for the year and milestones the partner is expected to reach. Compensation should be based, at least in part, on compliance with the partnership plan.

Set clear expectations for everyone in the firm, including the basic requirements to be followed by everyone in the firm, regardless of their position.

Sometimes, partners don't follow procedure because they don't like being dictated to, but other times, partners don't comply because they just don’t see the value in the procedure or policy. Talk to partners one on one to be sure that they understand the purpose of the policy, why the policy is important, and how their failure to comply hurts the firm (and the bottom line). Obtain the partner’s agreement about the importance of the policy or procedure. If it's important to your clients or to the smooth operation of your firm, compliance should not be an issue. If you can't obtain this agreement, you may have other problems on your hands.

Ascertain the ‘currency’ of each individual partner. Your partners have different personalities, likes, dislikes and motivations. If compliance is important, tie it to the ‘currency’ that speaks most clearly to that partner.

Create accountability agreements and stick to them. Get a specific commitment from the partner - most people don't like to break promises they’ve made to others.

Do a reality check - are you being realistic - is this a new trick the old dog really must learn? No partner is perfect. Make sure that your expectations are reasonable in light of the work the partner is being asked to perform.

Seek feedback and input from those who complain or are not in compliance– perhaps the policy or procedure needs to be improved. Ask them what the obstacles to compliance are. Listen to their point of view. You might find a valid objection that needs to be addressed. Find out how you can help and support them.

Brainstorm together about how to overcome the obstacle. A partner who is involved in setting policy or ‘buys in’ to the importance of that policy will have a much more difficult time justifying non-compliance – even to themselves. When the idea comes from them and they have ownership of it, they will be much more likely to follow through.

Enlist the help of others, including staff that works closely with each partner. Sometimes a partner's trusted assistant can be more effective in obtaining compliance than another partner or the management team.

Be consistent. If the firm allows inconsistencies in its policies and procedures, management will be seen as weak and it will be difficult to convince partners, associates or staff that these policies and procedures are important to follow. Publicize your expectations and the requirements to be followed by all members of the firm.

Do Lawyers Really Need Practice Management Software?

Earlier this week on the JD Hacker blog, Will Geer posted "Do You Really Need Practice Management Software?" His answer was no, but I'm not so sure - I think his post missed some of the big reasons to have practice management software.

Geer opines that most lawyers purchase practice management software for document management, but that this is a 'ridiculous' reason for making this purchase. He sets out a system for storing documents in your operating system, which is the default method for most solos and small law firms (and even some mid-sized firms). He goes on to describe this system, complete with folders for each client and subfolders for individual document types, as well as his naming system for those folders.

While this system sounds logical and can work for a while, as a practical matter, it has a number of pitfalls which I have, unfortunately, witnessed first-hand both in the law firms I worked in as an associate and as a partner, but also in the law firms I work with as a consultant.

First, creating a file folder for each client makes sense, it doesn't help if you have a number of different matters for the same client. Geer suggests that this is easily solved by naming the folders with the full name of the engagement, but this can also get confusing, and as your client base and the number of engagements with your office grows, you'll find that duplicates and other complications often arise. What happens if you have a practice in which you have a large number of cases with a particular client (for example, if you do insurance coverage work or all of the litigation for a particular company)? Long folder names can get cumbersome quickly.

Geer next suggests creating subfolders within each client's file for managing documents, and suggests folder names such as "pleadings, discovery, client communication, correspondence, documents and trial." But these categories are open for broad interpretation. Does a letter to a client go in correspondence or client communication? If you're in New York, does the bill of particulars get filed under pleadings or discovery? Does a witness statement get filed in documents or trial? If it is exchanged by another party during discovery, does it get filed under discovery? If a piece of correspondence addresses discovery issues, is it filed under correspondence or discovery?

While some of these issues can be resolved by creating rules within your office for electronic filing of documents, even those rules can get out of hand, and no set of rules will be able to account for every single document created or received in your practice.

Practice management software eliminates many of these headaches because the documents can be categorized as above (and multiple categories can be assigned to a single document), but search and retrieval of documents is much easier.

With regard to naming of documents, I am often baffled by lawyers who insist on saving documents and naming them using the date. Your operating system allows you to sort documents by date regardless of how they are named, so naming them using the date is not only redundant, but is another area open for error because many will forget to use the necessary zeros, causing documents to be out of order anyway. And all of those numbers before the name of the document makes scanning through a document list for a particular document type or name difficult.

Filing documents by file type also isn't necessarily productive or helpful - should it matter whether a document is a pdf or a word file in most instances? When you are searching for a particular document, is its format most important? Consider naming documents using criteria that you would use most often to search for them, or names that give you some idea of the substance of the document itself, to make the document easier to identify during your search.

If you are filing documents in client subfolders, it is also not necessary to include the name of the client in the file name - the document is already stored in that client's folder. The longer the file name, the more confusing it is and the less likely it is that you'll be able to see the entire name on your screen in some formats. Easy and simple but descriptive should be the order of the day. You should name documents in a way that allows you to tell at a glance what the document contains so that you dont' have to open multiple documents to find what you are looking for. While it is true that each operating system has its own search function, many of these search functions are not as robust as those that are made a part of practice management software packages.

Another big advantage of practice management software is its ability to link clients with matters and documents with clients or matters. You can easily see what work has been done for a particular client across multiple files, and any document created on a particular file is also linked to that client and contact - along with to-dos or tasks for that client and upcoming dates or calendar entries. This is a big advantage when communicating with clients, because you have all of the information at your fingertips, without having to search several different applications (Word processing, email, calendar, etc.) and individual client matters for information - you can get it all through the client interface.

Practice managemetn software also is a huge time saver when a client's information changes. Instead of having to go into each file separately to note an address change, a contact name change, telephone number change, etc., the change can be made once in the client's information screen and it will automatically be applied to each of that client's matters. Over and over I have seen law firms struggle with address, telephone number or contact person name changes where files and information are stored in individual file folders because lawyers and staff either are not informed of the change or they forget to make the change in each individual file.

Conflicts are another area of concern that can be addressed with practice management software. While it may be easy to determine whether you've ever represented a particular party before, it may not be as easy to determine whether you represented another party (such as a codefendant) with adverse interests without a robust database of information.

Practice management programs integrated with time and billing programs can help you not only create and assemble documents using information stored in the system (rather than constantly re-typing the same information over and over), but can help you track and bill your time for those activities as they're being performed (if you must bill hourly).

Is practice management software an absolute must? Probably not, but the advantages in productivity and efficiency and the time and effort it saves is well worth it - especially if you're not a true solo and you need to share information with staff and other attorneys.

Will alternative fee arrangements be profitable for lawyers?

Last week’s Legal Business Development Blog entry was part 16 on a series on alternative billing, entitled, “Alternative Fees (Part 16) - Win-win or win-lose?” The article opines that firms who are talking about their success with alternative fee arrangements may be over-stating their success, particularly in the short term.

The article suggests that some who have begun using fixed fees are not seeing additional profits above their hourly work. There was some discussion on one of my legal list serves last week pointing to this article as an example of why fixed fees won’t work, particularly in litigation. I’m not sure that conclusion was valid – even based on this article.  There seems to be a lot of information missing. For example, how are these firms calculating profits? Are they basing profits on hours? Are these firms staffing and working files the same way for hourly work as for fixed fee work? Have they implemented project management, technology and other productivity and efficiency boosting measures? Are their calculations taking into account the benefits of fixed fees with regard to time records and billing and collections issues?

When firms say that most of their non-hourly work is ‘less profitable’ than their hourly work, are they comparing non-hourly and hourly work on the same kinds of matters or on different kinds of matters (are they comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges)? What kind of fixed fee or non-hourly arrangements are we talking about here? None of these issues seems to be directly addressed in the article.

It doesn’t surprise me that the article indicated that the larger the firm was, the less profitable the reported non-hourly work. Large firms were built and staffed for and are used to working on an hourly basis, and they may not have adapted their processes to a non-hourly system.

It’s also telling that the article points out that, “Lawyers have been rewarded for their entire careers for putting in extra hours to analyze every risk from every possible angle.  Most lawyers will have a hard time delivering the quality they are comfortable with when they must work within hourly limits.” Placing ‘hourly limits’ on a matter isn’t the same as creating a true non-hourly billing system and fee structure - it’s merely capping the hours (or capping the fee and then trying to fit that into an old hourly mindset). That’s trying to change only half of the system – the way the client pays, rather than changing the whole system, including the lawyer’s reliance on hours as a basis for value.

That same paragraph goes on to talk about expecting lawyers to be productive for a certain number of hours, and finding those goals unreachable if some work is billed on a fixed fee basis. But why should the firm care if a lawyer is ‘productive’ for 2000 hours a year unless they’re still stuck in an hourly mindset? (And I’d challenge the idea that lawyers are ‘productive’ for 2000 or any other specific number of hours a year just because they’ve previously billed that number of hours per year).

The goal of fixed fees isn’t necessarily to make MORE money than you would make on the same matter billed on an hourly basis. The goal is to create a fee structure that your clients can understand and buy into, that doesn’t create conflicts between lawyer and client, and that rewards lawyers who can manage well, staff appropriately, resolve disputes expeditiously and work efficiently. In addition, it eliminates a lot of the traditional conflicts between lawyers and clients that are inherent in the hourly billing system, and it focuses on the knowledge, skill and ability of the lawyer in achieving the service and outcomes a client seeks, rather than focusing merely on hours expended. 

As the article correctly notes, increased competition is likely to drive down prices, particularly in this economy. So whether you’re billing hourly or not, you may see clients who are seeking to pay less for legal services – unless you can convince them that the value of those services justifies the fee. In my opinion, that’s harder to do on a pure hourly system. But even if it isn’t, it may be unrealistic to compare the profitability of work this year to the profitability of work last year in light of today's economic climate. Blaming it on the fee structure doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.

Working with alternative fee structures and setting fixed fees is not necessarily 'easy.' It takes trial and error and a lot of work and specific discussions with clients up front. Change is never easy.People are used to the hourly billing system so it seems easier, but is it really? Just look at all of the problems and complaints it creates. Hourly billing has its own challenges with write downs, write offs, and constant challenges to the amount of time a task 'should have' taken. 

Might shifting to a non-hourly billing structure mean a loss in the short term? It most certainly might. But if it results in a long term gain, increased client loyalty and a better client base, (or even one of the above), it’s still probably worth it. Is the fact that it may be 'difficult,' (especially at first) to implement a reason to give up on alternative fee structures?

If, as the article suggests, alternative fees are going to be more and more prevalent, lawyers are going to have to learn how they can use them or risk losing clients. In some cases, they may be ‘less profitable’ than hourly fees, but less profit is better than no profit - and for some firms, the amount of ‘profit’ that they were making on particular matters might not have been reasonable in the first place.

How do I know if I should be a lawyer?

I recently received an email from an undergraduate student seeking advice that might help him to determine whether a career in law was right for him. Here are some excerpts from his email request and my response. Please feel free to add to my comments and provide your own perspective - how would you have answered him?

Dear Ms. Shields:

I don't think you receive many e-mails of this type, but I'll try to keep this as brief and to the point.

I am an undergraduate student with an undeclared major. I have [done research] and I have taken assessments and think I am close to declaring a major. But when it comes to career path I am still really undecided. [The assessments I have taken seem to point to the law as a career path and I am trying to determine whether I would like it]. I have looked up all sorts of information about what it takes to be a great lawyer, and what the job atmosphere is like. I even visited once with my family's lawyer, but he is in private practice and I would also like other points of view.

I was looking through the internet and I ran into a link to your website [LawyerMeltdown.com]. I noticed that you help with lawyer meltdowns and I figured you may be able to give me some advice or a new outlook. I am not a lawyer having a meltdown by any means, but I am looking into law and if I do choose to become a lawyer, I don't think I will want to have a meltdown. So I wanted to ask you a few things:

• What are some common causes of meltdown that you have seen?

• What are some aspects of being a lawyer that you find people to have the most trouble dealing with?

• I have seen some articles about how it can be very overwhelming to be a lawyer because there is way too much work and they are always busy working overtime, [especially] when they are starting out in a big firm. Is this really the case? Is the amount of work so intense? I definitely see myself as a person who will be focused on placing my family first when I am older, and spending time with my kids, so I want to make sure I wouldn't be going into a profession where I don't get to spend much time with my family.

• Lastly, I have seen a lot of articles that say to be a good lawyer you have to be passionate about what you do. I have a little trouble grasping this because, if you look at it closely, it can be so broad. Passion in doing what exactly? Interacting, researching, presenting? I understand that they mean passion in your area, so that you will want to do all those things, but how would I ever know if I will be passionate about it unless I go into it?

I have simply been looking into the profession, and would like to know more about it from someone who's been there. I don't even really know what all the different areas exactly do(corporate, criminal, etc), but the whole field seems so broad that I don't know how I wouldn't find something I like doing.... I know what the general idea of a lawyer and what their job is, but I want to know more and I want something more specific. If you could help me out that would be great.

Sincerely,

E.A., Kansas State University

Dear E.A.:

Thank you for taking the time to write to me. Although I can give you my perspective, ultimately the decision about what path to choose for your future is one that only you can make. Since you are an undergraduate with an undeclared major, I am guessing that you are only a sophomore or a junior in college. While the deadline to declare a major may be fast approaching, there is certainly no reason to put undue pressure on yourself to determine the rest of your life right now. You have plenty of time to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life. There is much you will want to learn and experience. Don’t lock yourself in to any one profession or career path ever – but especially while you are still so young. Although in years past, many people chose one career path (and indeed, often only one job), today, people change jobs and even careers much more frequently. In addition, if you do choose to pursue a career in law, there are many avenues that will be open to you as a result. A law degree can open many doors, even if you never actually practice law in any capacity.

All of that being said, I will try to respond to your individual questions:

1.    There are many factors which contribute to what I call “lawyer meltdown.” Law school, like any other form of higher education these days, is not cheap, and many lawyers are only able to complete law school by taking out rather large loans to finance their education. As a result, they graduate from law school with significant debt and financial pressure.

As I indicated above, a law degree can provide many opportunities, but the practice of law is a demanding profession. Lawyers have significant ethical and fiduciary responsibilities and their work often affects their clients in very profound ways. It can be difficult to disengage from work at the end of the day or week, and some lawyers internalize their clients’ problems and issues.

Many law firms demand long hours, particularly for new lawyers. Lawyers that start their own firms or seek to move up to partnership have additional business development pressures and requirements.

Lawyers tend to be perfectionists, and the system of legal education often teaches lawyers how to identify problems without necessarily equipping them with the skills or the means to solve those problems. Most law schools teach substantive legal issues but provide very little, if any, training about the business side of the practice or how to attract and satisfy clients. Many lawyers think that they’re alone in these difficulties and are brought up and/or educated to believe that they can do anything, and therefore they don’t recognize when they need help or don’t want to ask for it.

The good news is that a lot of these problems are preventable. There are great resources available for lawyers and for law students if they choose to avail themselves of them. In addition, some lawyers are better suited for pure legal work while others are more entrepreneurial and are better suited to be owners or managers. Some lawyer discontent arises not from the choice of the wrong profession, but from the wrong choice of job, practice area or business structure, or from a lack of systems or structure, poor delegating or time management skills or other problems that have nothing to do with the practice of law or the profession itself.

2.    The amount of work for a young lawyer can be VERY intense, as I mentioned above, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Many firms today have flex time or part time work arrangements. If work in a large firm isn’t for you and you are looking for a more 9 to 5 lifestyle, there are many other options for lawyers, including in-house legal work, government work, or work for firms with more flexible billable hour and time requirements.

Your law degree does not necessarily have to lead you into the practice of law itself – the options are almost limitless. In addition, technology is changing the practice of law, allowing lawyers to work from anywhere. Some lawyers have even started virtual firms.

Work/life balance has been getting increased attention in the legal world and lawyers are working to create work structures that allow them to spend time with family and still satisfy work and client obligations. Right now, many of the high paying legal jobs require long hours, but there are trade-offs as with anything else. It’s a matter of knowing your priorities and recognizing what sacrifices you’re willing to make to reach the goals you set for yourself. Sometimes the sacrifice is time, sometimes it’s money, sometimes it’s freedom – and sometimes it’s a combination.

3.    I firmly believe that in order to reach your highest potential and to get the most pleasure out of what you do, you must feel passionate about it – whether it’s law or anything else. But no matter what career or job you choose, there will always be aspects of your work that you don’t like. That’s just reality.

Yes, ‘passion’ is very broad. You can be passionate about what you do, who you do it for, or how you do it – or some combination of those. Some lawyers are inspired to help a specific population – the elderly, the falsely accused, women going through a divorce. Some are passionate about what they do on a daily basis – they love the drama of the courtroom and the excitement of trials, or they enjoy the intellectual challenge of legal research or negotiating the best deal for their clients. But the best and most satisfied lawyers look forward to going to work every day.

Yet another perspective on the question of passion is this: some people work in order to make the money necessary for them to follow their passions in their spare time. Rather than seeking passion in their work, they seek work that will provide them with the time and financial stability to be passionate about their leisure activities, charity work, etc. Getting paid for your passion is, at least in my opinion, the ideal, but it isn’t necessarily the only path.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck and enjoy the remainder of your college years – they will be some of the best of your life.

Allison C. Shields
Legal Ease Consulting, Inc.

If you have questions about "lawyer meltdown" or want more information to help you get more satisfaction out of your law practice, please visit my website, www.LawyerMeltdown.com. View my post about how even young lawyers can take charge of their own practices here.

Who should I link to or 'friend' on social networking sites?

As social networking becomes more and more popular, and as lawyers become more willing to engage in online interactions, this question crops up more frequently.

There are some professionals out there who believe that 'friending' or linking to as many people as possible is the way to go. But (like any other tool), it depends on what your purpose is and what your goals are - what result do you want? I want my LinkedIn network to be as useful as possible not just for me, but for others in my network. That means I need to know enough about my connections and to have enough of a working relationship with them that I can feel comfortable making introductions and referrals.

When I receive a link request from someone I don't feel I know well enough to introduce or refer - or to call upon if a need for their services arises - I generally send an email or make a telephone call to find out more about that person and their business - and perhaps to meet them in person, if possible -before accepting the invitation.

Questions to ask when determining when to link to or 'friend' someone include:

• Why did I decide to engage in this particular social media outlet?

• Is this person someone that I know, or would like to know?

• Is this person someone that would be a good connection for my clients or colleagues?

• Is this person someone with whom I would like to be associated?

• Is this person a potential referral source or strategic partner?

• Would I be comfortable introducing this person to other professionals or others in my network?

• Do I know enough about this person, their work and/or their reputation to enable me to introduce them to others in my network?

If you think the connection might bear fruit but you still aren't sure who the person is, feel free to postpone your decision and reach out to the person making the request to open up an email dialogue, make a date to talk by phone or in person to learn more about each other and what you might be able to do for one another. Review that person's on-line profile and their list of connections to see which connections you have in common. Reach out to your common connections to learn more about them.

If you decide not to accept an invitation to link or 'friend' someone, be careful about what you do next. On LinkedIn, for example, clicking on the 'I don't know this person' option may get that person into trouble or lose them their LinkedIn privileges.