My mom’s birthday was last month. On her birthday, I thought about our times together and apart. She and my aunt had moved back to Virginia when we lived there and had followed us from Roanoke to Richmond. Years later we moved to Dallas.

The picture is from Jill’s wedding in 2005, the second to last trip my mom made to Dallas.

On December 30, 2008 she passed away in a hospital room. I spent the night with her. It was one of the most emotional experiences in my life. She was blind and not doing well, but she knew I was there.

That night, I thought about the times she called me at my office. Each time she said:

“Cordell, I hope I am not troubling you…”

Each time I replied:

“Mom, you are never troubling me when you call.”

Even though I was sincere, she never really believed me. She obviously thought a busy lawyer like me could not possibly have time to talk to his mom. Her opening line told me I was not conveying very well that her place in my life was as important as any client for whom I was working.

My mother’s opening also reminded me of a story in Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s book: Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life .

Even if you are not a Duke grad and do not even like basketball, it is a book worth reading. Coach K describes his mother’s call which started:

“Hi Mike, I don’t want to bother you or take up too much of your time.”

Coach K writes that he did not remember anything else about the call and only remembered that when he hung up the phone he cried.

If you are a young married lawyer with children, you are likely very family focused. You likely want to spend more time with your children than your parents spent with you. But, I ask these questions:

  1. How much time are you spending with your mom and dad?
  2. Do they think you are so busy with your law practice and children that you do not have time for them?

I ask these questions because I know from my own personal experience that when they are gone, you will wish you had spent more quality time with them.

In 2007, I bought a Mac PowerBook for myself and for Joyce with the intention of converting my entire office to Mac. But, I continued to use my PC. It was simply easier to use the PC because I did not have to think about how to use the various programs. I had done it for years.

Realizing that merely owning the Mac was not going to be enough, I bought a book titled Switching to the Mac. But, simply reading the book was not enough. Several times, I almost gave up on my Mac conversion. It was just too challenging and stressful to learn something so different and change the way I was doing business.

Mac Computer.jpgThen, I discovered two things. At the time, for a very modest annual fee, I could get one-on-one lessons as often as once a week at my local Apple store. Second, I discovered that at the time Apple produced a weekly one-minute video podcast on topics that were really helpful to me.

These are both examples of how Apple coached its customers. I learned by doing not by watching or listening to a speaker. As a result of this learning by doing, in January of 2008, I went cold turkey and completely switched over to Mac. Each day using the programs on my Mac became more of a habit and far less stressful.

Years later, I could go to my local Apple store for free classes on a wide variety of subjects, and every time I bought a new Apple product, I was able to spend thirty minutes on the telephone learning how to use it more effectively.

In 2020, I am working on my third iMac, my third MacAir, and I am waiting to receive my new iPhone 12.

So, what does my Mac experience mean to your law firm lawyers?

I have written many times that just having a speaker come in and teach how to develop business will likely not cause the lawyers in your firm to change what they are doing. When your lawyers learn by doing client development becomes a habit.

Over many years I gave dozens of presentations at law firm retreats on client development. I believe I motivated and inspired young lawyers and gave them practical tips they could implement to bring clients into the firm. But, I quickly realized that no matter how well I presented, very few lawyers would retain the information and even fewer would actually make the changes necessary to apply what they had learned.

To get your young lawyers more involved in client development, I recommend learning by doing.

If you want to teach lawyers how to write effective blog posts, have them write several and then work with them to make the post more effective.

If you want to teach lawyers how to give presentations, have them give mock presentations, shooting video and then work with them to help them become more effective presenters.

If you want to teach lawyers how to interact with clients, create a scenario and have senior lawyers play the role of the client and then go over how your lawyers interacted with the make believe clients.

 

There are many highly skilled lawyers who have little or no business. You may know some of them. I certainly do. I know they can become successful at client development by working on it.

Here is the interesting thing: In 2020 in part because of COVID and the economy, law firms have cut back on training and developing their lawyers’ “people skills” and other “soft skills.” Has your firm cut back?

I believe that learning  “people skills” is even more important now because eventually your lawyers will be able to meet with clients in person. I also fear that kids who have not been to school in person since March are missing out on learning how to interact with classmates.

Business people casual.jpgLaw firms spend a substantial amount of money for CLE and development of substantive legal skills. They do it primarily because their State Bar requires a certain number of CLE hours for lawyers to remain active in the Bar. Law firms spend very little to develop soft skills. Why? In part, because the State Bar does not require it. In other words, training and development costs are not spent to help firm lawyers be better lawyers and be more valuable to clients.

What are soft skills? According to a Wikipedia article:

Soft Skills are behavioral competencies. Also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, conflict resolution and negotiation, personal effectiveness, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, team building, influencing skills and selling skills, to name a few.

Is your firm helping your next generation of lawyers become proficient in any of those “soft skills.” If not wouldn’t it make sense to invest in them? While you will never be able to directly measure the return on your people skills investment, I happen to believe the return will be substantially greater than your return on your CLE investment.

P.S. When I finished writing this, I did a search and found an interesting 2017 article I want to share with you. Read 10 Things They Don’t Teach You in Law School (But Should).

I confess. When I grew up my heroes played baseball, basketball and football. I spent hours trying to make my pitch look like Don Drysdale’s or my jump shot look like Jerry West’s or Oscar Robertson’s. At the time there was only one quarterback who was about my height. His name was George Mira.

I also grew up reading biographies. I started with heroes in history. At 13 I read Clarence Darrow’s autobiography. Later I read about top lawyers going all the way back to Earl Rogers who defended Darrow in Los Angeles, and whose daughter wrote Final Verdict about her father. You can read about Rogers in this Tennessee Bar Association Blog Post: The Triumph and Tragedy of Earl Rogers.

I wanted to discover common themes and see if I could follow them. I still have several lawyer biographies in my bookcase even today. I wrote and gave links to several of those books six years ago: Recommended Reading: Are you reading about the great ones?

Forbes posted an article a few years ago about a book titled: The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well.

Here is the list:

  1. Dedication to a Vision
  2. Intelligent Persistence
  3. Fostering A Community
  4. Listening and Remaining Open
  5. Good Storytelling
  6. Testing Ideas in the Market
  7. Managing Emotions
  8. Constantly Evolving
  9. Practicing Patience
  10. Pursuing Happiness

If you want a different perspective, years ago I read an article titled: Becoming A Super Achiever: The Requirements of Success by Thomas D. Meyerhoeffer and George Vasu. (It apparently is no longer available on line.) They listed 10 strategies. Which of these 10 do you believe apply to super achiever lawyers?

  1. Stay Physically Fit for Life
  2. Confidence and Courage
  3. Persist Until You Achieve
  4. Respect Everybody
  5. The Ultimate Team Player
  6. The Relentless Pursuit of Excellence
  7. Take Personal Responsibility
  8. The Three C’s of Power Speaking
  9. Study the Masters
  10. Self-Reflection

Look at both lists. Ask yourself which of those in each list you are doing.

One final thing: Read Seth Godin’s blog (you should subscribe if you haven’t. Years ago he  posted: Are you a scientist?  After reading, ask yourself whether you are a scientist or an analyst. To be the best, you need to become a scientist.

I watch high school and college students clicking on their phones even when the person with whom they are communicating is close enough to speak in person. I fear young lawyers have gone from meeting in person and talking on the telephone to email and texting.

When I was still practicing law and mentoring our firm’s young lawyers, I frequently played the role of a business client and video taped my first meeting with a young lawyer. It was a great way for our young lawyers to practice.

I got the idea way back when I was in law school. In our Estates class, the professor played the role of the client and over the semester we had to probate an estate with the county clerk going along with the exercise.

Several years ago I read a short article by famous writer and management consultant Peter Drucker in the Harvard Business Review. The title of the article was What Makes an Effective Executive. He noted that the CEOs with whom he had worked were all over the map. Some were extroverted and some were near reclusive. Yet, what made them all effective is they followed the same eight practices.

It occurred to me that effective lawyers and business developers follow most, if not all, the same eight practices. Here is the list.

  • Practices 8.pngThey listen first and speak last
  • They asked: “What needs to be done?”
  • They asked; “What is right for the enterprise?”
  • They developed action plans
  • They took responsibility for decisions
  • They took responsibility for communicating
  • They were focused on opportunities rather than problems
  • They ran productive meetings
  • They thought and said “we” rather than “I”

Don’t these really apply to lawyers? If so, which of these practices are you actually doing?

In 2020 you may have to practice on-line meetings with clients. If so the same principles would apply.

I have been asked why I chose to focus on transportation construction contractors. The answer is really pretty simple: I loved the people in the industry and I marveled at the magnificent projects they constructed.

Contractors who build complex construction projects have to have a “can do” attitude. Occasionally they are building a project that has never been built before. It is one thing to draw it up and another to actually design and construct it.

I am reminded of what I have read, seen and heard about the design and construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1800s. For many years people wanted to build a bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan, but the idea was always thought to be impractical. When it was completed in 1883,  it was the world’s longest suspension bridge. Thirty men, including the bridge designer, lost their lives during the construction.

Several years ago I sat in the conference room of a firm I was coaching at the time. Ann-Marie came in with a gift. It was a book written by famed historian David McCullough titled: The Great Bridge. I had read his book John Adams. I had listened to his book 1776 on the Revolutionary War. I didn’t know he had written about the Brooklyn Bridge. I read the book cover to cover with great interest in the history and background.

If you want to learn more take a look at this short video clip. I wanted to work for people who built projects like the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

I have struggled this year with on-line church. In the past I have struggled with on-line Spanish classes and on-line writing classes. I guess I am old fashioned in that I need to be there in person to stay attentive.

Teaching, training and coaching lawyers on client development has never been more challenging. This year, more than any, you’ve got to deliver the training/coaching in bite sized pieces.

Over the years starting when I was still a partner in my law firm, I gave many presentations on client development at law firm retreats, state bar meetings, ABA meetings and in webinars. You may have participated in one of those presentations.

Some people said I motivated and inspired young lawyers and gave them practical tips they could implement to bring clients into the firm. While that was a kind compliment, and I beamed when I heard it, I realized that no matter how well I connected with the lawyers during a presentation, very few lawyers would retain the information and even fewer would actually make the changes necessary to apply what they have learned.

To teach, encourage and get your young lawyers more involved in client development, break down your training into smaller components and let them implement those components a piece at a time.

After all, you are not teaching them how to do a client development crash diet. Instead you are teaching them how to make a life style change.

Want some examples? You can reach out to me and I will be happy to share ideas with you. That said, I would start with how to prepare a business plan that works and implement it.

When I started practicing law, back in the old days, the rules of the game were well known:

  1. You went to law school and got good grades.
  2. When you finished, you went to work for a high quality law firm.
  3. While an associate, you worked hard and billed lots of hours (far fewer than what is considered lots of hours now.)
  4. At the appropriate time, you made partner.
  5. In at least some firms, compensation was “lock step,” meaning even as a partner you made what others in your class made.

You never had to worry about bringing in clients, because the firm had all the clients it wanted. The firm leaders likely told you the firm did not want you to learn about client development. Your job was to keep the firm’s clients happy.

I know you realize that practicing law and law firms have changed. In most firms, the new reality is if you do not bring in clients and business, or at least expanding relationships with existing clients, you may have to find another job.

Why did the rules of the game change? I think because the practice of law went from being a profession to being a business. When did it occur? It had to be as early as 1988 because there is a Vanderbilt Law Review article that year titled: The Law: From a Profession to a Business.

To show you how practicing law has changed, I want to share with you a question I received years ago when I spoke at an associate retreat:

Why should I want to take time to develop business and have clients who rely on me?

She went on:

Why do I even want to make partner – what’s in it for me?  I don’t mean that to sound cynical, but as I get closer to the goal it’s clear that making partner no longer means what many of us thought it would when we were young, namely prestige, lower billables, or more money. What are the actual advantages?

rsalesman_smiling_business_woman.jpgWhen law went from being a profession to being a business, young lawyers like the one who asked the question debated whether they even wanted to become a partner in the new game.

Sadly, in 2020, without clients, at best you will have no control over your life and career. At worst, you will not be in private practice. See: Pay Cuts, Layoffs, and More: How Law Firms Are Managing the Pandemic, or Adjusting the COVID-19 Response: How Law Firms Are Altering Austerity Measures

When I began at my first law firm, I had already practiced law for five years in the USAF, mostly litigating government contract cases. I quickly discovered that to have any control over my life and my future, I would need to develop business and client relationships. When I began my client development efforts, the partners for whom I worked were not happy. They would have preferred for me to remain dependent on them.

I was motivated by my desire to control my destiny and by the satisfaction I felt from the relationships, including friendships, with my clients. But, naturally having a book of business and client relationships enabled me to become a partner also, and it kept me in the game during each recession that followed.

So, if you want to build a career in private practice and want control of your career and your life, begin focusing on developing and expanding relationships with clients.

When I practiced law, almost every new client that considered hiring me came as a result of a recommendation. Your potential new clients will consider you when someone recommends you. I believe in 2020 it may be even more important than it was when I practiced law.

Here are three questions to consider:

  1. Do you know who is out there recommending you?
  2. Do you know why they are recommending you?
  3. Are you doing anything to thank them for recommending you?

I knew who recommended me. Many times I simply asked the new client who called me.

While it is important, people will not likely recommend you just because they think you are a good or nice person. Almost always a person will recommend you because he or she thinks you are a “go to” lawyer who understands the potential new client’s problem and business and thinks you will be a “good fit” for the client.

After you find out who recommended you, send a handwritten thank you note. More importantly, the best way to say thank you is to make your referral source look good by doing an extraordinary job to help your new client.

I recently visited my doctor for my regular check-up. After studying my labs, she told me to eat fewer carbs, exercise more and lose some weight. I have heard that advice before and sometimes I even start to implement the advice.

But, by the time I visit again I am back where I started.

I know what I need to do, and back fifteen or so years ago I did it. I lost weight down to 150 pounds. How? I broke down my eating and my exercise into smaller components and kept track of how I was doing on each.

Okay, I am confessing this to you because I promise to write a blog in 2021 saying how I am doing. I’m determined to break it down again.

I often wonder if law firms are teaching client development to young lawyers in 2020? Is your firm?

If your firm is teaching client development to young lawyers, how are you doing it?

If your firm is just having a speaker do an on-line presentation to your young lawyers I doubt many will change and follow through. They will look at client development as if they were climbing Mount Everest and will not take the first step.

I gave many presentations on client development at law firm retreats, new partner orientation and for bar associations. My goal was always to motivate and inspire young lawyers and give them practical tips they can implement to bring clients into the firm.

But, as lofty as my goal and as interested the lawyers were in learning, I realized that no matter how well I presented ideas and tips, very few lawyers  retained the information and even fewer actually made the changes necessary to apply what they had learned.

To get your young lawyers more involved in client development, break down your training into smaller components and let them implement those components a piece at a time. Then, follow up to see if they got it and see if they are making changes. The follow up is as important as the initial efforts.

After all, you are not teaching them how to do a client development crash diet. Instead you are teaching them how to make a life style change.