Thursday, October 29, 2015

The Best Trait of Attorneys is Also Their Worst

The most successful attorneys help companies reduce risk, avoid problems and break down barriers. They find loop holes that others miss and help define strategic direction into executable steps. There is a single trait, common among just about every attorney I have ever met, that helps them do these wonderful things for their clients. It’s called skepticism. Skepticism is the lens through which lawyers view the world. Skepticism is a pervasive doubt as to the truth of something. And that doubt is bred into them in law school. I suspect, even, that those who are natural skeptics gravitate toward the practice of law more than anyone else. The law and precedent is a comfortable place for those that are skeptical and doubtful. Doubt results in caution, which is good. Caution is the most essential survival trait.

On the other hand, innovators are not cautious people. They don’t doubt that their ideas will work. They try new things with little regard for the consequences of what they create. To the innovator, their boundless curiosity leads them to try new things, analyze what results, make adjustments and then try it again. They repeat this process sometimes hundreds of times until they create the vision that inspired their drive. The only role doubt ever plays in the innovator’s process is to provide direction.

Inventors and innovators are not, by their nature, skeptics. Innovation requires a different mindset, one that seeks why something didn’t work and what will make it work. Skeptics approach challenges from a risk aversion point of view. They look for why something won’t work and avoid that risk. Skeptics look for the consequences of actions and inflate those consequences to reveal its risk. Innovators deflate the consequences to reveal an action’s opportunity.

The trait that makes for highly successful legal practitioners also limits these same people when it comes to business and client development. The skeptical nature of their world view can keep them from the experimentation and practice that hones the skills of business and client development. Skepticism can also limit an attorney’s ability to become a trusted advisor of companies. Business leaders value skeptical caution. But they also value the innovators curiosity and drive for breaking new ground. To win the confidence of a business leader, don’t tell them all the ways something could go wrong. Tell them what you think will work. Skeptics who consistently dampen the discussion of opportunity risk being shut out of the room.

In working recently with a young partner, I was reminded of the devastating impact of self-limiting beliefs and skepticism. He asked me how he could build his practice and what he could do on a daily basis to move toward a larger book of clients. I explained the process and gave him a list of five things he could do each day to build his practice. While his curiosity asked a brilliant question, his limiting beliefs and skepticism found a consequence that suggested his situation was different and that the tactics would not work for him.

So, how does one turn skepticism into opportunism. First, recognize the thought pattern as it happens. Ask yourself, have I squelched an idea because I’ve seen a potential negative consequence? Was this idea well thought out? If so, then rate that consequence in terms of the likelihood of it actually happening. If the potential consequence is highly likely to happen (most well thought out actions do no produce negative consequences), examine whether the unintended effect would help you understand better how to do the same thing the next time. In other words, unintended consequences provide direction. The unintended consequences of thoughtful actions should rarely derail those activities. And yet, skeptics often allow unlikely consequences to inhibit their action. Even knowing that taking action is the fundamental energy that drives business development success.


So, what consequences do you fear?

Monday, October 5, 2015

Learn How to Peel an Onion

Clients don’t buy services, they buy solutions. So finding the root cause of a problem is critical to determining a comprehensive solution. While many will say that the solution is winning a case or successfully completing a transaction, the value creating solution is often not nearly so obvious. Providing true value to clients means that you are looking out for their interests and trying to understand the circumstances and outlying factors that contributed to the situation or inhibited its resolution. Learn how to ask questions that uncover need and pain.


Learning how to probe and get to the root cause of an issue is an artful talent. It requires active listening, open ended questioning techniques and relentless probing. Use the 'five whys' questioning technique to probe deep into causes and circumstances as well as to reveal the value that solutions can have for the company and your client. Once you know the scope of the issues, provide solutions not just for the immediate problem but ways to avoid the problem in the future as well.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Put Your Back Against the Wall

Busy restaurants are bee hives. They are full of people coming and going, animated conversations and more distractions than the human mind can process. The attention span of most people is already limited so the more you can cut down on distractions the longer you can keep someone's attention. When dining with clients, always choose the seat that puts your back against the wall and give clients the seats facing the wall. This limits the amount of distraction and allows clients to focus on you and the conversation.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Ask For Referrals Early in the Relationship

Most professionals never ask for a referral. When they do, it's often after the project has been completed. This may not be the most opportune time to ask for a referral or testimonial. Earlier in the relationship may be better. Early in the relationship avoids the Honeymoon Hangover effect, the point in time when the honeymoon is over and the reality of the relationship sets in. Requests for referrals after compelling value has been delivered early in the relationship may be the best time to ask for a referral to professional peers who may also have need for your services.

Watch For Client Easing

Clients rarely abruptly stop using the services of an attorney. Instead, they ease out of the relationship slowly. The same is true of how clients prefer to get into a relationship. Pitching too much too quickly demands too much trust too early in the relationship. It is better to offer a way to become familiar with the attorney’s work and grow the relationship from there into more practice areas as trust and comfort builds. 

Monday, September 14, 2015

Never Bundle. Always Unbundle.

An opportunity to present capabilities to a client is not a request to learn about every practice in the firm. Nonetheless, many attorneys sneak additional practice areas into the materials or presentation ‘just in case they have needs’. But pitching to win a bundled set of services complicates the decision process unnecessarily. A focused proposal offering a viable solution to a specific problem is much more powerful than a broad statement of capabilities, no matter how strong those capabilities are. For one, multiple practice presentations require the buyer to make multiple decisions. In this case, it is much easier to decline all than agree to only one. And once one 'no' is verbalized, it becomes much easier to verbalize 'no' again and again. Conversely, a strong pitch focusing on one practice area makes the decision simpler and lowers the risk to the client should only one practice area not work out. 

Unseat the Competition

The majority of lawyers approach a pitch without regard to how well the work is currently being done for the client by the incumbent firm or professional. Even in situations in which they have knowledge of poor performance, most attorneys don't attempt to understand the dynamics of the poor performance. Instead, they pitch indiscriminately in hopes that serendipity and need conveniently converge to win the client's interest.

No one changes providers until they first question the value they get from their current provider. Shaking a client from the comfort of a long term relationship requires that the client see a much higher reward with at least as low a risk as their current provider. Barring that, clients are unlikely to entertain switching from the devil they know to the devil they don't know.


Clients are constantly questioning every aspect of their business. And they value those who help them through this process. If the incumbent provider is not doing this, it leaves a gaping opportunity for a competitive provider to offer this guidance. Develop a questioning technique that walks the prospective client through every aspect of perceived value in the relationship. Your effectiveness in guiding this process is the key to creating the opportunity to present alternative solutions.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Do Your Eyes Smile?

A ‘Duchenne smile’ is a powerful way of striking up a new relationship, a new study finds. People are highly tuned to the Duchenne smile, which involves upturned lips and crinkly eyes. And they can easily spot a fake smile, which tends to involve only the mouth and not the eyes.The research tested how much people are aware of each other’s emotions, whether negative or positive. It found that people were more aware of positive emotions in other people than negative. Read the story.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Have My Guy Call Your Guy

Non-attorneys can play an important role in client development. Failure to effectively use them is a failure to make use of all the resources available to you to attract clients. There are many ways in which non-attorneys can assist in the client development process including promoting the firm online, with their network of contacts, attending pitches to answer questions, helping attorneys stay organized in their business development initiatives, etc. Want to make full use of your administrative support person? Download my checklist of ways Admin staff can help attorneys in their business development efforts.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Beware of Client Entertainment

Client entertainment is often viewed as low risk, high fun times to share with clients and prospects. But too often, it can be fraught with risk and erode client relationships, especially early on in the client relationships. I hear hundreds of stories in which hosts or clients got too drunk, forgot their manners, made inappropriate sexual advances, had the credit card bounce, forgot to invite key client team members, poorly communicated event details, clients didn't show up, the host cheated on the golf course, a last minute replacement ruined the discussion and ate all the shrimp, the wives got into a fight, etc. etc. Stories abound. Client entertainment should be treated like an interview- a yearlong or more interview. Prepare well, keep your wits about you, follow up with a sincere thank you and hold the celebrating for when you get back home. Wait until you have a longstanding secure relationship with the client before you loosen the reins.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Negative People Get Headlines. Positive People Get Partners.

The world is full of negativity. The news and our culture seem to exist on a diet of fear, gossip, rumors and conspiracy. Negativity gets the headlines. But it also brings the spirit down. Never, ever say anything negative about the competition, former or current employers, peers, friends, family, politicians or religious people. Instead, always look for something positive to say or say nothing at all. Maintain a positive, upbeat attitude and people will be attracted to you. The rarity of a consistently positive outlook is contagious.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Don't Poke a Wound

Gossip, innuendos, rumors or unsubstantiated claims are like open wounds. Each person that passes along the information pokes the wound and irritates it a little bit more. Wounds take a long time to heal when they are constantly poked and prodded and kept raw. Wounds leave ugly scars. People remember the gossip and, too often, where they heard it. The reactions to poking a wound and passing along gossip are the same: It is fascinating to watch but the respect you feel for the poker is diminished. One can’t help but wonder if you had the wound, would the poker poke it too. 

Monday, August 3, 2015

Imagine You Peed Your Pants

Be humble and be vulnerable. Studies show people are most attracted to those they can relate to. Humility and vulnerability are two qualities that rank high in attractiveness. Everyone has been in a vulnerable situation making vulnerability one of the most effective ways to engage and endear oneself to others. Treat everyone as if you needed their compassion and understanding at your most vulnerable time. They will repay you with sincere interest in you and your success.

Monday, July 27, 2015

OFFER ‘GOOD’, RECOMMEND ‘BETTER’, BE ABLE TO PROVIDE THE ‘BEST’

Presenting offers in three stages helps buyers make decisions. Always offer a good basic solution, a better solution and the best solution. When presented as 'Good-Better-Best' offers, behavioral studies show that buyers discount 'good' solutions as likely missing important value. The risk of loss is one of the most powerful influencers on buying decisions. The 'best' solutions are seen as more than what is needed and often viewed as wasteful. This mental calculus most often results in clients choosing the ‘better’ solution. 

Monday, July 20, 2015

Use a Dummy to Prove a Negative

Business people evaluate decisions based on the return on investment. Showing an ROI requires you to monetize the value of the benefit. But sometimes the benefit is the avoidance of problems. How can you monetize the value of something that has not happened?


Use a dummy, made up situation to make your point. The process of walking through the potential savings helps prove the negative. If the likelihood of the situation occurring is strong, it will not be a stretch to get a client to assign a monetary value to that situation. For instance, if you charge $25,000 to develop an employee manual, you should be able to make up a reasonable story of a situation that could go wrong. Use this example to demonstrate how the training and policies developed in the manual can avoid the potential costs associated with not having the manual. 

Monday, July 13, 2015

Promote Yourself Sparingly

Promote yourself sparingly. Be real and genuine. Make sure the achievement you are promoting is significant and adds value to your client relationships. Don’t embellish. Strike the balance between sharing your accomplishments that clients should be interested in with 'wearing out your welcome' by adopting the client's point of view when deciding whether or not to promote an accomplishment. Do this by asking yourself, 'What value, benefit or new capabilities does this accomplishment convey to my clients?'. If you cannot come up with one way in which a client would benefit from this information, it is most likely just empty self promotion. In this case, think hard about what impression this creates among the recipients. If you find one, make sure you include an explanation of the benefit to your clients in your announcement.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Keep Epic News to Youself

It's tempting to open a conversation with a prospective client with a tale of your epic vacation to Tahiti. You had a wonderful time, the weather was beautiful and Tahiti is an exotic place few people get to enjoy. Who wouldn't enjoy hearing about your epic vacation?

It turns out, you will feel worse off after having told the story because people will feel less like you. I've noticed this phenomenon in my own sales presentations but didn't understand why this occurred. Epic tales (a large purchase or exotic vacation, for instance) are extraordinary. To be extraordinary is to be different, and social interaction is grounded in similarities. It runs counter to what you would expect, but social research backs this idea up. Participants in a recent study thought that sharing their extraordinary experiences would make for an engaging conversation. But in fact, the opposite happened as the people being told the extraordinary story felt more distant and less able to relate to them. 

Monday, June 29, 2015

The Single Most Important Question To Ask Every Client

A simple yet very effective way to gauge how well you are doing in servicing your clients is to ask one simple question: On a scale of 1 to 5, how likely are you to refer my services to your closest business associates, peers, family or friends?  The question is known as the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and has been used extensively across many different industries for the past two decades. When I was the VP of Marketing for a regional bank, we added the question to as many customer touch points as we could and reported the monthly average score on our management reports. Financial reports are a trailing indicator for your firm's performance. But the NPS gives you a real time snap shot into how you are perceived by your clients and their willingness to participate in your success. 

Monday, June 22, 2015

PUPILS ARE THE WINDOWS ON THE MIND

A person's pupils expand and contract depending upon what they are thinking and how engaged they are in a conversation. When a person's pupils are large and remain large, it can indicate they are interested and engaged in what you are saying. Conversely, when the pupils get smaller, the person has lost interest, their brain is overloaded or their mind may be wandering.  But don't stare at your prospects pupils too long. Looking into someone's eyes for longer than 5 seconds will make them feel uncomfortable.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Help Yourself by Talking to Strangers

Striking up a conversation with a complete stranger is hard. But it may just prove more useful to you than the target of your conversation. Engaging others in conversation not only opens up potential new relationships and connections but it can also improve a person's sense of well being and put individuals in a more positive mood. Being civil toward random strangers is typically believed to benefit others—society at large or those who are befriended. But results of recent research indicate that 'pro-sociality' benefits the individual as much if not more than the target of the kindness. Think back to the times when a stranger has started a conversation with you or even just commented on something you both just witnessed.  In the vast majority of those instances the person proved to be interesting, friendly and good natured. So say hello to strangers and start a dialogue. You'll be glad you did, and happier.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Humility Is The Secret Sauce of Rainmakers

Attorneys who are humble tend to develop relationships faster and are seen as more trustworthy and accessible. They also make better leaders and often can be the source of strategic value by uniting people in shared values across practices, offices and geographies.  


Humility is manifested in self-awareness, openness to feedback, appreciation of others, low self-focus, and pursuit of self-transcendence. Humble people willingly seek accurate self-knowledge and accept their imperfections while remaining fully aware of their talents and abilities. Humble rainmakers  appreciate others’ positive worth, strengths, and contributions and thus have no need for entitlement or dominance over others. 

Monday, June 1, 2015

More Often Than Not, Networking is Unnecessary

Many professionals launch into networking without first considering whether or not meeting new people is necessary. They attend events, collect business cards and strategize on how to build a relationship with their new found target. But is 'networking' really necessary? If you have lived in a vacuum since birth, it may be. But if you have traveled life's path building friendships, meeting acquaintances and being friendly to peers, you may not need to network. Most professionals do not realize the number of people they already know who can be valuable contributors to their network. Cataloguing your current and past associations can reveal a treasure trove of valuable contacts- all of whom share with you some common ground already. So before you decide 'networking' is a key business development strategy, first make sure you don't already know the people you need to know to be successful.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

What Do General Counsel Want?

Guest Post by Bruce Heintz 

This question represents a dangerous intellectual pursuit for a client-handling partner. Why? It assumes that all general counsel have similar needs and preferences.

Do you remember your logic classes in high school? Applying the general (What do general counsel want?) to the specific (What does your client’s general counsel want?) is false logic . The assumption can lead you to an incorrect conclusion – and possibly a big problem with your client!

Take the Rules of Engagement as an example, despite what you may read or hear, most companies develop their own rules for their law firms based upon the company's operational needs and its strategic objectives. How you serve one company may not fully translate to another. The focus on Alternative Fee Arrangements is another area in which the hype does not follow the practice. While some general counsel believe strongly in AFA's, many find them hard to set up and administer, and sometimes even causing them to overpay. Instead, a growing number of general counsel report that it’s easier to find a trusted law firm and  “pay as you go” using the traditional billable hour model.

Conversely, one can't take what a general counsel on a panel says at face value either. For example, I heard a general counsel panelist state that, instead of having a third-party interview him, he would prefer that the law firm’s responsible partner come to meet with him. However, this general counsel had never been interviewed by a consultant on behalf of a law firm. As such, he had no basis to compare two different interview regimens. He was simply stating his preference to speak with the relationship partner. This, in and of itself, is revealing. Asked about it, the general counsel revealed that no relationship partners had ever come to visit him!

With regard to client interviews, the individual conducting the client interview depends upon what the firm is trying to do. If the firm is simply monitoring whether the matter met expectations, the relationship partner can handle the discussion. If the firm is interested in deepening or securing the client relationship, having a Managing Partner meet with the client can make a big impact. But if the client is trying to understand client needs and preferences and get a sense of its market and competitive position, a third party is the best course of action. Regardless, client interviews are not depositions. They require training in how to tease out valuable information and avoid defensive comments and body language that can derail the conversation. But done correctly, client interviews can help you avoid making assumptions about your clients and their business.   


 “Assumptions can kill you!”  Particularly with regard to your most valued clients. Instead, ask your client’s and their general counsel, specifically, what does he/she want from you and your firm. And then do it.

Bruce conducts client interviews. He can be reached at Bruce@heintzconsulting.com

Thursday, April 16, 2015

How to Successfully Integrate Lateral Partners

There are two ways lateral partner recruiting can grow the revenues of a law firm. The first is through the acquisition of additional client relationships brought to the firm by the lateral partner. The second is the added work generated by the lateral partner serving more of the legal needs of the firm's existing clientele.
Neither growth strategy is a sure bet. The first strategy, though, will benefit significantly from a comprehensive due diligence process. The second strategy relies on a well designed integration process, one that has broad internal support and commitment and is strategically focused.

There are three levels of integration into a partnership. The first level is the physical integration. This includes all of the administrative, marketing, human resources and technology tasks and training associated with integrating a new attorney into the firm. The second level is the incorporation of the attorney's practice. This involves the degree to which the new attorney's clients are absorbed into the firm and the new attorney is welcomed into the firm's existing client relationships. Lastly, there is the cultural integration of the attorney into the firm. This is the social and personal blending of the attorney with the social fabric of the firm. The physical and cultural integration into the firm are relatively easy to accomplish. It is the practice integration that presents challenges for many firms.

Roadblocks to Success

In many cases, the primary focus is to port over the attorney's clients to the firm. But when this takes time, which it often does, or clients choose not to move to the new firm, the lateral must fill his plate with work from other attorneys and existing firm clients until he can rebuild his practice with new clients. Cross-marketing a lateral partner's services to the firm's clients is far more difficult than porting over the lateral's own clients. Even though recent research suggests cross-marketing is more lucrative for both the firm and the individual attorney, it continues to be a difficult challenge in many law firms. Laterals find themselves needing to supplement their hours with work from other attorneys in the firm in what becomes a frustrating, uphill battle for the new partner.

And that's the crux of the issue. Practice integration planning often starts too late in the process, frequently lacks sufficient strategic focus and rarely identifies what should happen if things don't go as planned.

Start Early

The first interviews a lateral has with the firm can lay a powerful foundation for that lawyer's success later on. The partners who interview laterals often develop a stake in their success, so selecting partners with complimentary practices, a willingness to share their client relationships and whose clients may have needs can influence how successful the new lateral is in integrating their practice into the firm. Even before a candidate is chosen, though, firms should identify the attorneys who are more open to sharing clients and map out which clients may have legal needs in the targeted practices of the recruiting committee. As a side benefit to this, the information gleaned can be persuasive to candidates in the interviewing process. The ability to plug into a plan that has already been developed and vetted can be quite attractive—even to attorneys who are expecting to bring most of their clients with them.

Develop a Strategic Focus

Lateral recruiting and integration is a dynamic process which hinges on a large set of variables for its success. What works in one situation may not work as well in another. It's difficult to know with certainty which laterals will be successful. Without a map of the process and a clear set of criteria to test and benchmark the process, growth by attorney acquisition will be little more than a crapshoot. Adopting a strategic focus to the recruiting program by using a "lateral recruiting scorecard" and focusing on fewer but better-qualified cross-servicing opportunities can help improve results significantly.

The lateral recruiting scorecard is used to align candidate sourcing, due diligence and integration activities to the strategy of the law firm and practice group. It helps improve internal and external communications and is used to monitor the firm's performance against its strategic talent acquisition goals. Adapted from the "balanced scorecard" concept used for decades in business, government and nonprofits around the world, the lateral recruiting scorecard combines strategic, non-financial performance measures to traditional billing and client data to give firm leaders a more "balanced" view of lateral recruiting success and improvement opportunities in the firm.

Secondly, practice integration plans are often too broadly defined. They frequently lack the specificity and action steps necessary to hold people accountable and generate results. Practice integration plans should focus on a few select client relationship opportunities among willing partners who are most likely to achieve results. The early successes can build critical momentum for the lateral.

Plan for Failures

I've developed a set of questions to predict which clients will move with the attorney to the firm. It's a good system for predicting client mobility but it's not foolproof. Clients don't always move as predicted. When this happens, the firm should have a backup plan to ensure the attorney can make his or her hours quota. Law firms should not wait too long to pull the safety chute. Backup measures often take longer than one would like.
There's a saying that "integration starts in the first interview." But in some respects, integration starts long before that. It starts with an understanding of the challenges a lateral will face coming to a new firm, and finding ways to ease and assure this transition as much as possible.




Monday, April 6, 2015

Keep Epic News to Yourself

It's tempting to open a conversation with a prospective client with a tale of your epic vacation to Tahiti. You had a wonderful time, the weather was beautiful and Tahiti is an exotic place few people get to enjoy. Who wouldn't enjoy hearing about your epic vacation?

It turns out, you will feel worse off after having told the story because people will feel less like you. I've noticed this phenomenon in my own sales presentations but didn't understand why this occurred. Epic tales (a large purchase or exotic vacation, for instance) are extraordinary. To be extraordinary is to be different, and social interaction is grounded in similarities. It runs counter to what you would expect, but social research backs this idea up. Participants in a recent study thought that sharing their extraordinary experiences would make for an engaging conversation. But in fact, the opposite happened as the people being told the extraordinary story felt more distant and less able to relate to them. 

Monday, March 30, 2015

The Single Most Important Question to Ask

A simple yet very effective way to gauge how well you are doing in servicing your clients is to ask one simple question: On a scale of 1 to 5, how likely are you to refer my services to your closest business associates, peers, family or friends?  The question is known as the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and has been used extensively across many different industries for the past two decades. When I was the VP of Marketing for a regional bank, we added the question to as many customer touch points as we could and reported the monthly average score on our management reports. Financial reports are a trailing indicator for your firm's performance. But the NPS gives you a real time snap shot into how you are perceived by your clients and their willingness to participate in your success. 

Monday, March 23, 2015

Pupils are the Window on the Mind

A person's pupils expand and contract depending upon what they are thinking and how engaged they are in a conversation. When a person's pupils are large and remain large, it can indicate they are interested and engaged in what you are saying. Conversely, when the pupils get smaller, the person has lost interest, their brain is overloaded or their mind may be wandering.  But don't stare at your prospects pupils too long. Looking into someone's eyes for longer than 5 seconds will make them feel uncomfortable.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Help Yourself by Talking to Strangers

Striking up a conversation with a complete stranger is hard. But it may just prove more useful to you than the target of your conversation. Engaging others in conversation not only opens up potential new relationships and connections but it can also improve a person's sense of well being and put individuals in a more positive mood. Being civil toward random strangers is typically believed to benefit others—society at large or those who are befriended. But results of recent research indicate that 'pro-sociality' benefits the individual as much if not more than the target of the kindness. Think back to the times when a stranger has started a conversation with you or even just commented on something you both just witnessed.  In the vast majority of those instances the person proved to be interesting, friendly and good natured. So say hello to strangers and start a dialogue. You'll be glad you did, and happier.

Monday, March 9, 2015

The Reign of Error in Lateral Recruiting

The legal landscape is littered with lateral partners who didn't meet the hiring firm's expectations. The underwhelming performance of lateral partners includes a range of ways in which laterals can fail to meet the firm's original expectations. The most obvious is a failure to bring their clients to the firm. But lateral partners also frequently struggle to develop new clients or are ineffective in promoting their practice in a new firm. Some leave their new firm too quickly while others simply don't get along well with others.

What were we thinking?

How can law firm's improve the success rate of lateral hires. That's a central question posed in a February 9th, 2015 article in The American Lawyer entitled An Rx For Lateral Heartache, by professors William Henderson and Christopher Zorn. They point out what they believe may be the most prevalent error in the recruiting process, confirmation bias. 

"We believe the biggest source of error in the lateral hiring process involves a form of motivated reasoning, or emotion-based decision making, that works like this: The mind has a tendency to lock into conclusions relatively quickly. We use our mental processes to look for evidence that supports our views, while evidence that would undermine those views is discounted or ignored. Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as confirmation bias."

Henderson and Zorn may be on to something here although I don't think it fully explains why so many laterals pass muster only to disappoint. Certainly the process is more complex than that. There is, more likely, numerous errors being made or cognitive bias' at play in the due diligence process.   
Out of curiosity, I looked up a list of behavioral science theories and cognitive bias' and tried to match them with my own experience observing the interviewing and due diligence process. The number of them which applied were striking. But to make my point, I'll cite a select few with the caveat that these bias' are not unique to the legal profession. First, there's the Halo Effect which is the tendency for a person's positive traits to "spill over" from one personality area to another in others' perceptions of them. "She is very personable. She must also be good at developing client relationships." There's also the In Group Bias, the tendency for people to give preferential treatment to others they perceive as similar to them "They come from a really good firm. They will fit in well here." Or, how about the Self Serving Bias, a tendency for people to evaluate ambiguous information in a way that is beneficial to their interests. "I'm not sure why they would leave such a good firm. We must offer a much better opportunity for them."

Besides the cognitive bias' that can plague individuals in the interviewing process, I have additional theories about why firm's who rely on their own partners' to interview candidates may not produce a clear understanding of the candidate's potential. For one, these interviews may not to be broad enough in scope. That is, interviews may be limited to the technical abilities of the attorney and the attorney's likability or personality fit with the partners. In my experience, interviews do not attempt to gauge the candidate's managerial and work style, their personal and professional attributes and, most importantly, the strength of the relationships with their clients and referrers.

A second theory, is that lawyers don't ask the tough questions of their potential future partners, especially regarding the strength of client relationships. Most likely this is because pointed questions might be perceived as adversarial or even challenging of the candidate's integrity. Or, they may be perceived as 'intelligence gathering' on the candidate's clients, which at that point in the recruiting process, could be off putting to the candidate. As a result, the critical intelligence needed to determine whether the candidate truly has a portable book, information that forms the basis of the 'deal', goes uncollected.

Similarly, I suspect motivations are rarely questioned. For instance, the question of why a partner is leaving the partnership is an area deserving of thorough exploration. The most common explanations rarely face scrutiny because they are the expected explanations (another form of confirmation bias). If the move is upstream to a larger platform, inevitably the reason is that the former firm doesn't offer the breadth of practices the client requires. If the candidate is moving downstream, the clients are resisting the bigger firm's rates. Or maybe the reason is conflicts but I suspect the steps the candidate took to alleviate the conflicts is typically not fully understood. There are other reasons, of course, but the point is that the rigorous due diligence that one would undertake in, say, buying a business is nothing near the rigor of the process typical of lateral partner recruiting in U.S. law firms.  


In Henderson and Zorn's article, they re-iterate a solution which I originally presented in my August 11th, 2014 column in this publication, entitled UK Style Lateral Due Diligence. Both publications propose the use of independent consultants to conduct assessments of the lateral's client base and portability, their business development skills and managerial style. As I pointed out then, the practice is common among U.K. and other European country law firms. And as Professors Henderson and Zorn point out, independent due diligence is also the standard practice in the U.S. private equity industry as well as many others. Bad hires are costly in revenue and reputation and can hamper future recruiting efforts. U.S. law firms should consider the proven techniques of their U.K. peers and add independent lateral due diligence to their lateral recruiting process.  Readers interested in learning more about lateral due diligence and client mobility can request GDC's Seven Predictors of Client Mobility by sending a request to: eric@groupdeweyconsulting.com.



This article won the BigLaw Pick of the Week award. The editors of BigLaw, a free weekly email newsletter for those who work in midsize and large law firms, give this award to one article every week that they feel is a must-read for this audience.

Humility is the Secret Sauce of Rainmakers

Attorneys who are humble tend to develop relationships faster and are seen as more trustworthy and accessible. They also make better leaders and often can be the source of strategic value by uniting people in shared values across practices, offices and geographies.  
Humility is manifested in self-awareness, openness to feedback, appreciation of others, low self-focus, and pursuit of self-transcendence. Humble people willingly seek accurate self-knowledge and accept their imperfections while remaining fully aware of their talents and abilities. Humble rainmakers  appreciate others’ positive worth, strengths, and contributions and thus have no need for entitlement or dominance over others. 

Monday, March 2, 2015

More Often Than Not, Networking is Unnecessary

Many professionals launch into networking without first considering whether or not meeting new people is necessary. They attend events, collect business cards and strategize on how to build a relationship with their new found target. But is 'networking' really necessary? If you have lived under a rock since birth, it may be. But if you have traveled life's path building friendships, meeting acquaintances and being friendly to peers, you may not need to network. Most professionals do not realize the number of people they already know who can be valuable contributors to their network. Cataloging your current and past associations can reveal a treasure trove of valuable contacts- all of whom share with you some common ground already. So before you decide 'networking' is a key business development strategy, first make sure you don't already know the people you need to know to be successful.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Words to Live By

My dad is a voracious reader. Or was. He still reads a lot but he no longer can recall what it is that he read. He reads almost out of habit. But I inherited that habit. I hope just the reading part.

When my mother offered that I look through his library of several thousand books, to take home any that I like, I was thrilled. Thrilled like a first-time safari adventurer.

It took several hours to hunt through all of his books. Some were out dated. Others not of interest. Some the narrative so long that I knew I would never read them. But a few met my Venn sweet spot where interest, utility and ease of reference intersect.

And in one of those, I found this.

The six most important words:
I admit that I was wrong.

The five most important words:
You did a great job.

The four most important words:
What do you think?

The three most important words:
Could you please....

The two most important words:
Thank you.

The most important word:
We.

The least important word:
I.

                                                            Anonymous


Words to live by. Still teaching me. Thanks, Dad.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Finding the Silver Linings in Partner Departures

In 2014, lawyer departures reached another record year, up 7 percent over the prior year to more than 2,700 moves, according to The American Lawyer's 2015 Lateral Report. While nearly 3,000 lateral moves in one year may seem like a lot, it represents only a fraction of the total head count of U.S. law firms. Still, it's a troubling trend that's fraught with challenges for firms and one that is, most likely, just in its infancy.

For the law firm losing an important partner, the notice often comes as a shock. Questions swirl within the firm's leadership as well as among the partnership: Who else will leave? Why are they really leaving? Why didn't we see this coming? Which clients will follow them? Do they know something I don't know about the financial health of this firm? Should I be looking too? In many cases, the impulse is to circle the wagons and ease any concerns.

Take a Step Back

But the departure of a partner can also be a strategic opportunity for law firms. Departures can be good timing to reassess the practice group's strategy, improve communications, demonstrate client focus, provide opportunities to younger talent, improve practice group and firm financials and learn more about how clients value the firm. At their core, partner departures offer a unique opportunity to reassess the firm or practice group. It's a chance to deepen your understanding of the firm's culture and its competitive advantage, and it provides a unique and timely opportunity to communicate this both internally and outside the firm.

Take a Hard Look in the Mirror

The reasons a partner leaves a firm are as varied as the lawyers themselves. Despite what many would have you believe, it's not all about the money. Money is important, to be sure. But compensation is more often a symptom than the cause. Changing law firms is a huge risk for an established practitioner. A move to a new firm more often than not must solve several challenges for the lawyer. It's the job of firm leadership to unravel those motivations regardless of where they may lead. The health of the firm demands that you be objective, dig deep and take the time to understand the lessons to be gleaned from the partner's departure.

Demonstrate Client Focus

Acting quickly and decisively to assure clients of a smooth transition regardless of their decision to stay with the firm or go with the attorney can do wonders for client goodwill. Take the opportunity to learn as much as you can about how the client views the firm, the attorneys who have worked with the client, what alternatives the client is considering and their legal needs going forward. These interviews should be conducted by the managing partner of the firm or the practice group leader. The goal here is to convey to the client that the firm is focused on what is best for the client.

Assign a new relationship attorney but choose the succeeding partner carefully. Make sure you understand the client's needs and preferences and select an attorney that will enhance the relationship. Sometimes that can be a younger partner who will reenergize the relationship with better support and servicing.
A partner's departure represents an opening to competitors. Clients who plan on staying with the firm and who know a firm's leadership is listening, attentive and proactive can help protect the firm from poaching attempts by other firms.

Clarify the Firm's Strategic Direction

In some cases, the exit of a partner offers an opportunity to clarify and reinforce the strategic direction of the firm. Sometimes the practices of departing partners are outliers to the firm's core growth strategy. Other times, the practice may lack the bench strength or client base to warrant a reinvestment in the practice. Often times the partner does not take as many clients as they had planned to take, leaving the firm with an opportunity to improve the financials a bit. Conversely, the lawyer's practice may have been focusing on an emerging area of law that represents an important growth opportunity for the firm. In that case, reinvestment makes sense. Regardless, the decisions by firm leadership and how they respond to the departure can help crystallize the strategic direction of the firm.

Culture is the glue that holds a partnership together. An attorney's book of business that can easily be unbolted from the firm is an indicator of at least one underlying problem in the firm's culture. Departures present an opportunity to talk openly about difficult issues such as the lack of cross practice servicing of clients and explore what to do about those challenges. Tolerating territorialism in the firm has very real and damaging cultural and financial implications, as that experience can so aptly demonstrate. Getting to the root causes of this behavior is difficult but essential to the long term health of the organization.


It's hard to find a silver lining in a partner leaving the firm, but an objective look at the situation and asking some tough questions can reveal opportunities for law firm leaders to benefit from an otherwise difficult separation.

New Practice Area? Three Simple Questions That Will Save You From Wasting Time And Money

Emerging legal issues, new legislation, new regulations and new technologies often present sexy new opportunities to form a new practice area. But the time, cost and use of marketing resources to launch a new practice area can be substantial. It can also distract the firm's focus from other, more promising opportunities. As a result, many new practice area initiatives sputter along in name only on the website, never reaching their full potential.

Why is that?

One reason is that the decision on whether to build a new practice capability is rarely subject to a rigorous due diligence process.  Questions with regard to how much opportunity there is, the level of investment required, the ramp up time and learning curve required and other important factors that underpin the success of the initiative rarely get asked, let alone thoroughly answered.

It's hard to douse the enthusiasm of a partner who is motivated to do business development. But constrained time and resources being what they are in most firms, it's important to choose investments in new marketing initiatives carefully. To hedge your bets,  the firm will need to answer three key questions: How will attorneys monetize their knowledge of this issue? Who needs the services? And, how well positioned is the firm to provide the services?

To dig deeper into the practice area's potential and guide the analysis of the market opportunity, follow this line of questioning and gather specific evidence where possible.

1. What is the billing potential of this work?

  •     What are the substantive legal issues in the new practice area?
  •     What are the questions of law that have not yet been addressed?
  •     What is the degree of regulatory oversight related to this issue currently. Is that oversight intensifying or easing?  
  •     How predictable are these issues? Are they fairly routine or are they dynamic and unpredictable?
  •     What other practices in the firm might benefit from or contribute to this new practice area?


2. Who is the target audience for the services?

  •     Which types of businesses and in which industries would the services be needed?
  •     Which existing clients of the firm would have need for this service /expertise?
  •      How strategically important are the issues to the company? What degree of risk do the issues present companies? What opportunities for growth do the issues present companies?


3. How well positioned is the firm to provide the services?

  •     Which other law firms or attorneys provides the advice or service currently?
  •     What areas of the law firm's current practice offering could lend credence to this new practice?
  •     Which lawyers in the firm currently have the experience and knowledge in this area? What substantive legal knowledge needs to be developed or researched?
  •     Which attorneys will dedicate the time to market the new practice area? What is their level of commitment to this project and their ability to dedicate other demands on their time?
  •     How would this practice be marketed and what costs would be associated with marketing this new practice?



While it's tempting to dive into a new practice group to gain an early entry advantage, the haste can make for a waste of valuable resources in the firm. Taking the time to clarify the opportunity will help to articulate the business opportunity clearly and lay the groundwork for a more strategic approach to the market.  

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Hiring a New Partner Is Just the Start With Laterals

Successful integration of a lateral into a law firm can be measured by new originations, but the number of new clients only tells part of the story. The success of the recruiting process can also be measured by how quickly the lateral assimilates into the culture of the firm and the speed and scope of the marketing and business development issues that were successfully handled. These 'soft' variables depend on a thorough integration plan and diligent execution.

Get Started Early
The sooner the firm begins planning for the lateral's arrival, the better. There is a lot to do and time is needed to plan accordingly. It's important to the firm's brand that marketing materials, website and bio information for the attorney is updated before the announcement is made. Don't wait until a day or two before the announcement to involve marketing. Set up a meeting with the marketing folks and the lateral early on to enable marketing the time to put a strong plan together. This also ensures the lateral has time to collect the materials marketing will need to update the website and other materials.

Plan Accordingly
A lateral integration plan is actually several distinct plans. A well developed 'master' plan includes a public relations plan, an internal communications plan, a marketing plan, a client development plan and a plan for 'on boarding' the new partner including the human resources, operations, training, conflicts and technology issues that need to be addressed. Firms active in lateral recruiting should have a robust template and process in place which can be quickly updated for a new lateral candidate.

The PR plan should identify the media channels and any 'exclusivity deals' which the firm will grant in exchange for prominent coverage. The plan should identify the publications and contact information for reporters who will receive press releases with the main 'talking points' or specific reasons clients will benefit from the combination.

The PR plan should identify and determine responses to any potential negative information which might arise from media coverage of the move. Lastly, don't forget to notify and monitor coverage of the move among the main social media channels, blogs and discussion groups that follow developments in the lateral's practice area.

The marketing and promotional plan should include a list of marketing materials that need to be updated, the authored publications coming with the attorney and the updates needed for the attorney's bio. It should itemize the directory listings, social media sites, award publications and professional associations in which the attorney's profile will need to be updated. The plan should also outline the advertising which will be placed to announce the attorney's move as well as any events or client receptions held in her honor. Lastly, the plan should describe how the clients of the firm will be notified of the new attorney's arrival and who will handle the notification.

The internal communications plan should include how the firm will notify people inside the firm of the lateral's arrival and who will sign the notification. It should also detail the meetings the new partner will be asked to attend as well as outline important firm event dates and the role the new attorney may be asked to play in each event. If appropriate, a plan to inform the firm's network of referral sources, like bankers, accountants and referral networks, along with any strategic alliances or consulting groups, should also be outlined in this section of the plan.

Most importantly, the master integration plan should include a client development and cross servicing plan. The plan should outline the new attorney's clients likely to port over to the firm, the firm's clients with expansion potential and prospective clients who may be attracted to the firm as a result of the combination. Each key client and prospect should have a plan of action with specific strategies for how the introduction will be made.

Bring Value to Your Clients
In most cases clients aren't waiting with bated breath to meet the new partner. A meeting solely to introduce a partner is often seen by clients as unnecessary. So, plan meetings to include other agenda items that provide value to clients. To make a change, clients need a compelling reason to switch providers. That means your introduction of the new partner should be accompanied with a summary of how they have helped similar companies, how they can solve a unique problem for the client or ways in which they can generate greater efficiencies or cost reductions. Finding a value added angle requires research, planning and a heavy dose of objectivity, but the result will be appreciated by clients.

Plan Support for the Long Run
The integration of a lateral's clients can take several months to complete. So integration plans should pay special attention to the period of time after the initial enthusiasm and energy has waned. In particular, create check in or progress reporting deadlines and have two to three people assigned to mentor, guide and troubleshoot for the lateral throughout the plan time frame. The team could include a senior partner with influence in the firm to troubleshoot problems, a partner to act as a mentor and a dedicated marketing support person.


Planning for the integration of a new partner is a series of distinct activities and plans which all must be implemented quickly and seamlessly. In all of these plans, strong and consistent communication is the key to the successful integration of lateral partners.