Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

A nugget from Trey Ryder’s, Lawyer Marketing Alert:

A READER WRITES In response to last week’s article about collecting receivables, Lisa Derr offers this suggestion:

Lisa Derr Derr, Doyle & Villarreal, LLC
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
llderr@derrlaw.com

Just wanted to share a small nuggest re. the above here. I read a blurb about it in an article I was reading. I’m not a member…they exist to support law firm administrators. But just doing some brief poking around, they have a whole library of free law firm managment documents accessible for free…worth a look.

For you non-IL Bar Assn. members out there I wanted to point out a couple of programs coming up that deal with small firm management issues that might be of interest.

1. Rainmaking: Becoming a Trusted Advisor to Your Clients. To me this is a convenient time slot (for those of us with no children or no life) at 6pm to 830pm, July 18th.

2. Shine up your Shingle. This is ISBA’s second attempt at this major effort for CLE to I think in essence take care of most of your year’s worth of MCLE in one full weekend…it’s out at Pheasant Run in St. Charles. I personally missed it last year but heard good things. And your’s truly and Bryan Sims, James, Gustafson, and Thompson, Ltd. are doing a panel on electronic communication.

Attended a decent marketing event recently and thought I’d just put a nugget out there.

The speaker’s main point was to cut to the essence of lawyering:

Understanding someone’s problem and helping them find a solution.

So the next time you’re with a prospective client, forget about trying to figure out how to get them to hire you. Rather, relax and focus your attention on understanding the person’s problem in all its dimensions. If you can layout a solution…great! If not, it surely doesn’t hurt you to cultivate a Referral Source by includling their services in your solution to a problem.

Here are three experiences I’ve had in the last 10 days:

Chicago paternity court, 32 W. Randolph. I represent a mother and there’s a visitation dispute. My client alleges “serious endangerment” to the child and won’t allow visitation with the father. So father petitions court for visitation. The result is sort of a judge-brokered compromise to allow visitation with no overnights and then send the parties to mediation for longer-term resolution. Fine, my client was satisfied with this result. Father is represented by a pregnant, female attorney. So the judge gives us this compromise and we get out of the courtroom to draft the orders. Father’s lawyer just starts yelling at my client regarding how dispicable it is of her to deny this father visitation and goes on and on. And “as a mother….” yada, yada, yada.

Real estate deal #1. There’s no contract in place and parties are negotiating a deal. I send out my first modification letter to seller’s lawyer. I get a call from a furious real estate agent saying we had a deal, the parties had already agreed to everything (despite the fact this letter was my first communication). And asorted other personal attacks. And of course this is my first phone conversation with this gentleman.

Real estate deal #2. I represent a potential buyer in a deal. So we’re in the attorney modification period. We make some modification requests that seller denies. I think the case law says this rejection terminates deal because our request is a counteroffer. My rant isn’t tied to the legal disagreement, reasonable people can disagree. However, seller’s attorney and I do disagree, which is fine. But then lawyer sends a letter to me with language directly saying I’m “negligent” and have no experience in real estate.

Whatever happened to the concept of the “detached professional?” Are these instances above the norm out there? Am I too detached? How does this kind of behavior help clients? Is it driven by clients?

My position is that the great professional zealously advocates for his client but also remains independent in his judgment so that he can tell his client if the client is wrong if he needs to. Are these lawyers above just running up fees for themselves or what? Should these people be “professionals” or bouncers at bars?

One other thought stemming from the WSJ.

It had a nice overview about Accenture recently and its CEO, Bill Green. As you might know, Accenture has some 129,000 employees worldwide and no headquarters. It’s a true virtual company. And it’s certainly not just Accenture, the piece mentions Google, Boeing, and Earthlink as other high profile companies managing large parts of thier companies from multiple locations.

Can’t us lawyers do what Accenture does? We’re counselors (lawyer-speak for consultants), right? There’s a large savings on overhead. Obviously in-person time is still important when things get dicey or perhaps in dealing with personel issues. But who really wants to pay for the oak-paneled office on the 90th floor of the downtown skyskraper any more? I wouldn’t.

Saw an informative interview with the AirAsia’s head Tony Fernandes in the WSJ last week. His tips on creating a bottom-up culture:

1. Dress down-no suits. Overdressing creates a superiority complex. Agree, how comfortable do you feel with a male with a gold bracelet…come on?

2. No private offices-everyone sits in an open floor plan. I think this is the only one probably not applicable to lawyers. Some privacy/confidentiality is needed.

3. Lots of parties-social occasions break down invisible walls.

4. Honor and reward individuality.

5. Spend time with front-line workers; get suggestions and act on them.

Just saw this item from June’s Chicago Lawyer as very curious. J. Michael Luttig, 15-year veteran of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, resigned his place on the bench to become general counsel at Boeing.

That general counsel’s spot at Boeing must be pretty nice to give up a $200,000+ lifetime appointment.

Legal Assistant – work from home!

Chicago (Loop) law firm with satellite offices in Oakbrook Terrace and Schaumburg is looking for a meticulous legal assistant. This position will be 10-12 hours per week over three mornings…work-from-home. We are looking for someone with QuickBooks experience and general technology savvy such as blogging and/or Web design. Specific legal support is desired primarily related to real estate transactional work and some general dictation. Candidates must have Internet and fax access from home. Pay range is $10 to $12 per hour. Please send letters of interest or resumes to Mr. Peter Olson: petero@olsonlawfirm.net.

(Just in case anyone knows of anybody).

More evidence that those of you not blogging are ignoring its influence at your peril.

Two blog pieces here and here from the NYTimes recently about a blogfest the Democratic Party held and how job seekers are being scrutinized via their blogs, Myspace.com listings, ect.