Listening to news & trends

I read an interesting article this week titled Law Firm Leaders Still Aren’t Listening. You no doubt know where the article is going based on the headline alone, but here are a couple of excerpts:

On the one hand, [law firm leaders] admit that client demand is shaky, there are too many lawyers, the delivery of legal services is creakingly inefficient and firms are unwilling to change. But at the same time, they remain content to simply let the future just happen.

. . .

Mostly, law firms are playing with fees yet only 33-percent of firms surveyed are instituting strategic changes to their pricing structure.

. . .

More law firm leaders need to look for where the puck is going when it comes to planning for the future of their organization.

 

Especially if you aren’t a law firm leader, you may be asking, so what? A few tasks every lawyer should be taking on right now:

• Clarify what your clients (and potential clients) do and don’t want. Most answers will be specific to legal representation, but the better you know your clients, the better you will be able to tailor your services.
  
• Innovate. Other industries and other practices can spark ideas, but meaningful change will be driven almost exclusively by what your clients view as valuable. Change for the sake of change does nothing.
  
• Distinguish yourself and distinguish your firm. When you’ve made a meaningful change, make it loud. There’s always a risk of a misstep, but if you look like everyone else, others will assume that’s how you act, too.

Read the full post, and then ask yourself… Are you listening to the trends? More importantly, are you responding?