Large law firm partnership models are changing

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Large law firm partnership models are changing.

An American Lawyer article reports that BakerHostetler (along with several others, including DLA Piper and Akin Gump) has shifted to an “all-equity” partnership model, leaving behind a two-tier partnership system. This doesn’t mean that all partners have full equity membership, however: it simply means that all partners have some equity, though a “significant number of partners are both firms . . . . still receive more than half their compensation in the form of fixed pay.

While the article (and a law firm consultant) recognizes that the shift gives all partners a stake in the firm that may eliminate an employee mentality among nonequity partners, this is the paragraph I found most interesting:

[Roger] Meltzer [co-chair of DLA Piper] also noted that DLA Piper raised more capital from the shift, with all partners required to make some contributions. “It creates more of an equity cushion,” said Meltzer, ho declined to specify how much capital was raised. 

Read more here. 

It’s no surprise that large firms continue to evaluate and tweak partnership models, but I’m not sure I’d be dancing just yet if I were a nonequity partner just granted a stake in the firm.

Project your power

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Leadership presence, which includes the ability to project power, is critical in any kind of interaction, whether you’re speaking with one person or to a crowd of 1000.  Failing to exhibit the kind of power that demonstrates self-confidence may leave your audience uncertain about your skill, but overdoing a display of power may come across as arrogance, which is a turnoff for almost everyone.

Amy Cuddy’s presented her research on “power poses,” which demonstrates that adopting or even just visualizing a confident pose delivers self-assurance in one of the most viewed TED talks of all time.  One of the fascinating aspects of that research is that taking a “power pose” can affect levels of testosterone and cortisol. In other words, this is not just a “fake it til you make it” shortcut: taking a powerful stand causes physiological effects that can change how you present yourself and thus how others perceive you.

Stanford professor Deborah Gruenfeld, who spent years studying the psychology of power, discovered that simply understanding the research is not enough to reap its rewards. She eventually teamed up with a theatre instructor to teach a Stanford Business School class called Acting With Power.  Watch her micro lecture Playing High, Playing Low and Playing It Straight on YouTube, and you’ll pick up tips on how to project authority and approachability. It’s a worthy investment of time if you’ve ever felt a lack of confidence, if you’ve ever received feedback that you come across as tentative, or if you’ve ever worried that you’re coming on too strong.

What does this have to do with business development? Simple: no one wants to hire or refer business to someone who may not be able to handle it. While leadership presence isn’t necessarily indicative of actual professional skill, it’s the stand-in that others will evaluate (consciously or not) as they decide whether you’re trustworthy.

Take a few minutes to check out these resources, and if you’re uncertain about how you come across (especially in situations that are uncomfortable to you), ask a trusted colleague. Your presence will have a significant impact on your career, so don’t delay.

Not getting answers to your biz dev emails?

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Email can be a good way to reach out to new contacts (people you’ve met briefly or with whom you’d like to connect via LinkedIn, for example) or to reconnect with longer-time contacts, but you may get frustrated by slow or no responses. 

It’s tempting to make email contacts meaty, to give all the detail we feel necessary to justify the contact and to elicit a response, but often the result is a big block of text that the respondent delays reading or answering.

If you’ve run into this problem, check out this solution (which I’ve illustrated in this email): http://five.sentenc.es

Although you may be unable to limit every email to five sentences or less (especially client communications), taking this challenge will prompt you to be brief, which makes your emails easier to digest and answer.

Why not give it a try with your emails this week?

One size never fits all.

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There’s no secret about which activities may be helpful for business development, right? Pick up any law practice management magazine, flip to one of the zillion practice-related website and blogs, or read marketing suggestions for other professions, and you’ll find all kinds of activities that work for landing new business.

The challenge can be finding which activities work for you. There’s no one-size-fits-all template for business development. When it comes to finding your best process, you must start with self-understanding. What are your skills and opportunities for attaining credible visibility? How do you best interact with people?

It is possible to enhance and even change your natural tendencies—if, for example, there are good indications that speaking would be a productive activity but you’re not a skilled speaker. However, you’re unlikely to succeed unless you first believe you can succeed. Here’s why:

How do you see yourself when it comes to business development? To get a clear view, download and complete my RainMaster Business Development Plan Template (you’ll also be subscribed to my weekly email newsletter, which offers strategies and insights to strengthen your business development activity.) Part one is all about identifying attributes of yourself as well as your practice and your target clients, and part two helps you to use that information to build a plan that actually fits you.

Don’t fall for a paint-by-numbers template that fits everyone and therefore fits no one. It takes work to design your unique strategy, but that’s the only way to succeed. (Need help? Let’s talk.)

How much should you market?

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There’s one question I’m asked over and over: How much time should I spend marketing? Depending on the situation, I may respond in terms of how many hours a week a lawyer should spend marketing at various stages of practice, in terms of the minimum amount of time a lawyer should invest in marketing where there isn’t enough time to keep a full schedule, or in terms of what current results indicate about future activity. All of those measures are valuable, but there’s really a deeper question that most lawyers forget to ask….

What activities count as marketing? There’s active marketing (finding opportunities to speak to potential clients or referral sources, for example) and passive marketing (such as writing a blog post or article and waiting for it to garner suitable attention to lead to an inquiry from a prospective client). You probably know the broad buckets of activities within each of those categories…

But there’s a better answer.

Next time you wonder whether you’re marketing enough, think about how you’re approaching the people you encounter and whether you need to market better, not just more.

Getting real about connections

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He spent the first 45 minutes typing on his phone.

My college friend Helen came to visit me recently, along with her partner of four years whom I’d never met. Tom pulled out his phone as soon as he sat down and kept it out for almost the whole evening. When we tried to draw him into conversation, he’d respond and then return to his typing, and when Helen prompted him to talk about his work, he pulled out his phone to show us some videos related to his job. Tom has a great smile and friendly eyes, but I didn’t get a feel for who he really is. Technology prevented the connection.

Now, you’d never spend time typing on your phone when you meet someone new for business development purposes, right? But think about these instances in which one might unintentionally let technology block a beneficial connection:

  • You’re attending a conference and you spend breaks checking your email and voicemail to avoid getting too far behind instead of chatting with someone new.
  • You make a new connection on LinkedIn (or other social media) but don’t take the relationship any further.
  • You email a client or contact instead of picking up the telephone—not because you know that the person you’re communicating with prefers email, but because it’s easier for you.
  • You have a follow-up plan in place for new contacts, and it relies primarily on email or social media.
  • You’re so busy processing email during a flight that you don’t even notice the person in the seat next to yours, much less speak to him or her.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these scenarios, but if they repeat frequently, you’re probably missing out on opportunities. Technology can extend your reach and allow you to work in places you couldn’t have in the past. It’s a strength to use technology well, but any strength overused becomes a weakness.

How can you use technology well for business development purposes? Use it to connect on a regular basis with people interested in your practice (through newsletters, blogs, and social media), to identify and contact people with whom you have common interests, for quick check-ins, and so on, but…

Especially in the early stages of building a business relationship, you’ll benefit from making the effort to interact face-to-face or by voice. Think about the contacts you plan to make this week and ask yourself whether a visit or telephone call would advance the relationship more effectively than an email–and keep your eyes open for new opportunities that you might miss if you’re engaged with technology rather than with the world around you.

What’s really stopping you?

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You’ll find information on how to land new business anytime you pick up a law practice management magazine. You can’t avoid advice and resources about business development. And maybe that’s a good thing.

If all that information hasn’t helped you to develop your own method for securing new work, there’s something you need to figure out more than how or even why to get new business… 

It’s what Seth Godin describes as “help and insight about getting to the core of the fear that is holding us back.”

Read this quick post, and then get honest with yourself about what fear is getting in your way. (Some common fears that I see are fear of seeming desperate or needy, fear of rejection, fear of disapproval, and fear of looking foolish. It’s worth noting that I have yet to see someone fail because of a fear of success.)

Need help with this? Let’s talk.

Want change? Think goal, not tactics

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What if you could make it easier to change your habits and meet your goals? That’s the promise of The Key to Lasting Changes: Think Goal, Not Tactic on the Harvard Business Review Blog. Elizabeth Grace Saunders. The post’s author, proposes three steps to help “identify tactics that will actually work for you and keep your focus on your big objectives:”

  1. Determine which goals you’ve been unable to meet despite your best efforts;
  2. Brainstorm other tactics you could use to achieve your goals; and
  3. Test one of your hypotheses.

As Saunders recognizes, change will always require discipline, patience, and practice. In other words, change requires effort, but it doesn’t have to be hard. 

I’ve been using these steps recently to change a long-standing but detrimental habit of using my email inbox as a tickler file. Using a new folder for items that require follow up and an If Then Then That recipe to create a reminder on my calendar, I’ve been able to clear those items from my inbox. Not only is my inbox cleaner (which feels good), but I’m better at follow-up. That’s a huge win.

What would you like to change? Give Saunder’s process a try. I’d love to know how it works for you.

Should you take a stand on social issues?

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Like so many people, I was rocked by last week’s shootings at the Emmanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, SC. (For those of you outside the US who may not have heard about the story, here’s an article that will fill you in.)

In 2012, I wrote a short article following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, urging lawyers to act in whatever way they felt appropriate to address the issues. Nearly three years later, we’re still facing these issues, and others (especially concerning racism and how law enforcement interacts with various groups of people) are boiling.

Here’s the relevant excerpt from the 2012 article:

There’s been much discussion about what we as a society should do in terms of gun control, making treatment more available for the mentally ill, and protecting our children. This newsletter isn’t the forum for me to promote the solutions that seem most appropriate to me. The bottom line for me is, as expressed by Nelson Mandela, “We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.”

As lawyers, we are in a unique position. We are not “more equal” in any Orwellian sense, but we are often de facto leaders in our communities. There’s been a great deal of discussion about whether this is the time for mourning or action, but I personally believe that the stakes are so high that the two should not be separated.

Please, use your leadership and your voice to advance the solutions that you think stand the best chance of creating the life our children deserve. I will be doing the same in my community. And whether we agree or disagree about the “how” of building a safer society, I believe that the free and open dialogue joined with action will advance that goal.

I received a number of responses to that newsletter, most questioning whether and how to take a stand without alienating clients and potential clients. It’s a fair question, especially when addressing hot-button issues like how to address racism, whether to institute some additional forms of gun control, or access to mental health treatments. And the truth is that if you take a stand, there’s a chance that someone will be offended. That’s true for less-pressing issues as well, though: do you support the “right” community activities? Will someone be offended if you do (or don’t) sponsor some organization?

Taking a stand may cost some business, and it may also attract some other business. The bigger question is the cost of not saying or doing something that’s in deep alignment with one’s values.

Whether it’s in the context of recent events or more day-to-day affairs, think about these factors as you consider taking a public stand:

  • How likely is it that your stand will alienate a class of [potential] clients? If you’re considering taking a public position in favor of gun control, for example, and you represent gun manufacturers, it’s a safe bet that your clients and potential clients will be affected and probably displeased.
  • How important is this position to me? If you choose to take sides on a hot social issue, make sure that the issue really matters to you. Otherwise, you’ll likely find that any cost outweighs the benefit. But don’t take a position just to get business—it may appear disingenuous and if so, it’ll backfire.
  • How likely is it that your stand will attract a class of potential clients? Your answer here should not determine whether you decide to take action, but it may provide some comfort. If you can’t answer this question, look at the psychographics of your ideal client. Just as some investors choose socially conscious investments, some clients may be attracted to a lawyer who views the world as they do.
  • How publicly should you act? Your options range from taking a very public role to donating money anonymously. Choose an action and a forum that matches your level of commitment and your assessment of business risk.

I’ll close with the same call I made in 2012: Please, use your leadership and your voice to advance the solutions that you think stand the best chance of creating the society we deserve. 

Informal networking for pleasure and (maybe) profit

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Clients have been asking a lot of questions lately about networking. Whenever you have an opportunity to meet people, it’s a networking opportunity. If you expand your thinking beyond business networking, you’ll find that you can make useful connections just about anywhere. That means that you could bring back more than shells from your next beach vacation, if (and only if) you have a plan in place that will let you connect with people in a friendly way that opens the door to business conversation if appropriate. Here’s how you do that… 

First, keep your eyes open for opportunity. Especially since so many people are on smartphones and tablets all the time, it’s easy to miss a good connection. And if you’re open to talking with others, you may find that reading a newspaper or magazine makes you more approachable than reading the same thing on a device. Because this is casual networking, don’t try to be strategic about the people with whom you’re talking. Unless you’re in a pre-selected group of people, you’ll find it difficult (if not impossible) to isolate someone who’s ideal for your business purposes.

Make your overture. Your opener doesn’t need to be special or memorable, fortunately. Try ordinary openers like, “First time at this resort?” “How’s the coffee here?” or even a simple greeting. Remember how you meet people when you’re just being friendly? Do that.

Ask questions in a curious (but not prying) way. Your goal in asking questions is to find a point of connection. That might be business, but more likely you’ll start with a personal connection, like a shared hometown, kids who are the same age, or a spouse who begged off whatever you’re doing to spend the day by the pool. A caveat here: don’t be the person who starts off by asking, “So, what do you do?” It doesn’t matter whether you’re at your child’s soccer game or at a resort in Fiji, that question is more likely to close conversation than to open it.

Keep this quote in mind:

At some point, work will probably come up naturally in the conversation. If not, there’s no harm in asking.

If you discover a potential business connection, share what you’ve found and suggest continuing the conversation at a later time. Share enough to pique curiosity (the nature of your mutual interest, how you might benefit each other, what you might be able to offer), and then suggest a later telephone conversation or meeting for business conversation. Although it will occasionally be appropriate to talk business in the moment, more often you’ll find too much other activity nearby and a lack of privacy.  Here’s more on how to handle this stage of the conversation. 

Be sure to get contact information for follow-up, and where it’s appropriate, follow up as soon as reasonably possible. If you’re vacationing, you might wait until you get home, but if you bumped into someone new at your child’s camp or at a friend’s barbeque night, send a quick email or LinkedIn connection (with a personalized introduction!) within 48 hours.

If you don’t discover a business connection but you enjoy the person, keep talking. Perhaps you won’t find any business benefit from the connection, but you might be able to make a useful introduction to someone else, or maybe you’ll just make a new friend or pass a pleasant few minutes chatting. That’s the beauty of informal networking.