Before I get to the post topic today, I want to share a great article I read about Carli Lloyd: Mental toughness key to Carli Lloyd’s success and a Youtube video of 50 goals she scored.

I heard her say in an interview that her key to success was to “empty the tank” each and every day. I like that commitment to excellence.

Throughout my career, I frequently thought about my future. I always wondered: “What will I be doing five years from now?”

I’ve been thinking about that recently. What will I be doing five years from now? Will I still be coaching lawyers? Will I be writing novels full-time?

While I ponder my own future, I have some questions for a law firm contemplating its future. Here goes:

Questions 1

  1. How many baby boomer rainmakers will retire or otherwise leave your firm in the next 10 years and what will their leaving do to your firm’s revenue?
  2. Do you have a business succession plan?
  3. What will your retiring rainmakers’ clients do when their lawyers retire?
  4. Do all of your younger partners have a written business plan with goals? (I should really ask that another way. Do they have a written plan with goals that is meaningful to them, or is it one they turned in as a homework assignment because the firm required it?)
  5. What is your firm doing to insure that your young partners and senior associates are implementing their business plan and being accountable?
  6. Are they (your young partners and senior associates) effectively and strategically using their non-billable time?
  7. How are they raising their visibility in the community? Their practice area? Their clients’s industries?
  8. Are they writing articles? Blog posts?
  9. Are they doing presentations to industry associations?
  10. How are they keeping track of what is happening that raises legal issues for your firm’s clients?
  11. What do they doing to build relationships with your clients, potential clients and referral sources?
  12. How is your firm “pulling” potential clients to content your lawyers are creating?
  13. Is your firm and its lawyers effectively and strategically using social media tools for client development?
  14. Who in your firm is giving feedback and offering ideas on client development for your lawyers?
  15. If each junior partner and senior associate in your firm in two years was able to double the $$ of business they bring in, would that have a positive impact on your firm’s bottom line?
  16. Are your very best clients delighted with the service and value your junior partners and senior associates are providing?