Monthly Archives: June 2010

Nick Augustine is the President of ALR/PRA, Inc., a national full service law practice management agency headquartered in downtown Chicago. He took some time to talk about what he hopes to discuss at Thursday’s event.

This presentation offers instruction on how lawyers can organize and leverage their professional brand during transitions to another firm, or solo practice.  Two main ingredients to success are practice development and lawyer marketing.  Practice development is a skill we learn and protect, and lawyer marketing is a means to the development end.  Practice development first requires us to recognize our professional brand and what qualities make us effective and memorable.

The biggest social media mistake that legal job candidates and professionals generally make is inundating their social networks with irrelevant material, causing confusion and irritation.  A working knowledge of your audience is essential before publishing targeted information.  In deciding how to best use social media to leverage your brand, start with a marketing plan you can maintain.  Remember, when planning your content, your reader is always asking “What’s in it for me?” Your response should be to that end.

Lawyers can best use social media when they approach it as a large canvas upon which they can paint their best professional portrait.  Understanding the style of each channel of social media communication will take time, but is worth the investment.  Although social media may be cost effective, successful usage requires long term planning and commitment.  Creating and using a profile is an ongoing journey and as the sites evolve, their platforms require active participation.

The main advice for lawyers looking to make a career transition is to start with a set of blindfolds, forget for a moment where you currently work or even that you went to law school.   Then, make a list of your strengths; an honest self-assessment is necessary to determine your best career goals.  Once you feel you are on a solid path towards a career transition, just do it and don’t look back.

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

Last week I attended a meeting at the Chicago Bar Association on the topic of the CBA’s lawyer referral service (LRS). As the meeting proceeded I had an “aha” moment, thinking what a great resource this is for both attorneys and clients. What surprised me was that I have never taken advantage of this service. I certainly intend to now.

Now that I am finally focusing on this resource I realize what a useful tool it could be to build up your client base. One attorney at the presentation claims he receives eight to 10 referrals a month from it. The referrals are pre-screened by the CBA LRS, either by attorneys or by a trained layperson.

The cost is relatively low. Annual dues range from $75 to $300 for CBA members, double for nonmembers. You pay 15 percent of the fees you collect on referred cases to the CBA.  The client pays a $30 fee for using the referral service. Once you are retained by the client, you collect that fee and pass it on to the CBA.

The so-called general panel covers 47 areas of law and each attorney can sign up for referrals in up to four areas of law. The Special Experience Panels cover fewer areas of law and the annual registration fees are higher.

According to the CBA LRS website, under the Services tab, the qualifications to receive referrals in any of the general panel areas are:

• Handle general civil litigation (contract disputes, collections, property damage, etc.)
• Admitted to practice for a minimum of one year and engaged in the substantial private practice of general areas of law.
• Maintain an office outside your home with telephone access.
• Maintain an adequate office calendar/support system for tracking cases.
• Have reasonable courtroom experience.
• Complete written application, maintain professional liability insurance, obtain approval of screening panel.
• If approved, annual registration fee of $75 if in practice under 5 years; $100 if 5 years or more (rates are double for nonmembers).

The Special Experience Panels require the following qualifications:

• In addition to General Panel qualifications above, must have at least five years’ concentrated experience in area of law applying for.
• Annual registration fee of $150 or $200 (depending on panel) for up to four panels (rates are double for nonmembers).

Additionally, the Lawyer Referral Service has an ARDC panel of attorneys experienced in representing attorneys in disciplinary proceedings before the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.

Hopefully, none of us will need the latter service ever, but I, for one, am going to test out the client referral service soon. Of course, there are numerous other lawyer referral services for Illinois lawyers and if any one of you readers has used any of them, please leave me a comment sharing your experience.

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

When I started out as an associate at a medium-sized law firm, I had no choice but to be a generalist. All cases that were not criminal or personal-injury cases ended up on my desk. This included all types of civil litigation, which no one in the office wanted to handle.

So I became a generalist by default. I had to research new cases heavily, consult the other lawyers in the office and generally make a significant effort to make sure my clients had competent representation no matter what their issue was.

I worked excruciatingly long hours and was either in court, meeting with clients or drafting motions and other pleadings at 2 in the morning. The experience was invaluable in that I learned how to be a good lawyer with lightning speed and I was involved with complex cases and first chaired several trials in my first two years as a practicing attorney.

When I opened my first law office, I continued to be a generalist. My clients came to me for any and all issues they had and, out of loyalty, I felt that I needed to represent them in any and all of those issues where I was competent to do so. I felt I understood them and could serve them better than by referring them to another lawyer. When I referred them to another attorney, some clients felt they were being handed off to a stranger they did not necessarily trust.

This way of practicing was not the best way to use my time or to be compensated fairly, really, because I spent time getting up to speed on many legal issues and did not always bill for time I thought of as my own “prep” time.

So this time around, after lots of analysis of the past, reading and thinking, the business model for my second law office is predicated on strict specialization. I will only take on a specific type of client, I will not take on clients’ overflow matters, no matter how sympathetic I feel about their dilemma, and I am on track to become a total expert in only a couple of specific related areas of law. Definitely going for depth over breadth this time.

But no sooner had I come to that decision than my attention was drawn to multiple trade articles, blog postings, and expert advice by legal practitioners that indicates that the best way to develop a successful practice is by being a “one-stop-shopping” type of law office, where clients feel comfortable bringing most of their legal issues and trusting that they will have one lawyer they know well handle them. This implies a sort of cradle to grave idea as well.

An alternative I see to the last mentioned model is that of working with a tightly controlled referral group of attorneys, where you would stay closely involved in the case you referred for the duration of the case. But I believe most attorneys I would refer cases to would not want to have me remain closely involved with the work they are doing for “my” client.

It is difficult to decide how to handle this issue. Maybe as my practice evolves it will become clearer how to handle clients who expect me to be their sole provider of legal services. Alternatively, maybe I should stop reading and listening to so many different opinions.

Audrey Rubin is president of Rubin Solutions Ltd., advising law firms and law departments on business solutions.  Rubin often serves as Interim Chief Operating Officer for start-up law firms.  She consults on alternative fees, collections, and profit enhancement.  For more information visit http://www.rubinsolutions.com/.

There has been a trend over the past year of lawyers leaving large firms and opening their own smaller firms.  There are various reasons for this, including client resistance to high rates and law firm reductions.  Large firms have a place in the legal industry, but with more flexibility, and the ability of partners to have more direct control over their practices and profits, boutiques are a highly attractive model and the wave of the future.

Opening up your own firm — with or without other lawyers — can be fun and rewarding.  Depending on your business model, you might even make more money than you did at a larger firm.  However, planning and execution of solid plans are key to making your transition a success.

If you’re thinking that all you really need to get started as a small firm owner is a desk, a computer, and a phone, THINK AGAIN!  If you want to avoid wasting a lot of time and money so that your new firm gets off to a profitable start, you need a plan for success. If you’re breaking from a large firm, you’re probably accustomed to infrastructure being provided for you and managed by others.  You didn’t have to figure out what accounting system to select or how to set it up.  You didn’t have to apply for malpractice insurance and negotiate with underwriters. You didn’t have to develop a marketing strategy.

The list of items that have to be tackled and decisions that have to be made is long.  Our “To Do” list for clients launching their own firm includes:

– Time and billing, and accounting systems. (Time and billing systems are not the same thing as accounting systems.)

– Budgets and business plans. You may have realized you need some kind of budget so you could know what to expect in the way of income and expenses.  But what you probably didn’t know was that without solid budgets and projections, you won’t be able to get a line of credit. And you probably won’t get a lease without a bank line of credit and a solid business plan. Landlords are so skittish about renting space to today’s businesses, that they require business plans, client lists, personal credit reports, a line of credit from a solid bank, and interviews with you and your future partners about your client base and business projections.

– Office space.  How much do you really need?  Some buildings have more usable space than others, but you’re charged for the footage anyway.  Some space is not easily convertible to law firm usage.

– Other attorneys. Are you taking other lawyers and staff out of your firm to join your new firm?  If so, there are numerous ethical and practical mine fields you must avoid.

– Staff. If your new firm will have any employees at all, you will need to establish payroll, hours of operation, and work rules. The last thing you want is a tax penalty or labor regulation violation, simply because you were unaware of the rules, or ran out of time to deal with them.

– Marketing. You need to spend time understanding and promoting your brand.  There should be analysis of your pricing, target clients, web site and printed materials.  Even your office style and location speaks to your brand.

– Technology.  If you are coming from a larger firm, you probably did not have had to select technology platforms and apparatus before.  Someone else chose the computers, type of systems, document management systems, calendaring systems, remote access systems, security, and all of those other necessary aspects of technology without which you can’t operate.

– Office equipment.  Here’s an area that most lawyers hate thinking about, if they’ve thought about it at all.  How in the world will you know which copiers to select?  The pricing of them varies wildly.  How will you know the quantity of copiers to obtain?  How many printers will you need?  What type will they be and where will you put them?  These questions alone can take several days of a lawyer’s analysis, when in fact there are experts who can walk you through it much more quickly.

The list goes on and on.  There are so many decisions that at times you think the world has gone crazy with choices.

And sole practitioners:  Don’t be fooled.  You need most of the laundry list of items when opening your own firm as well.  Technology, leases, payroll taxes and budgets are not just for “the other guy.”  But with the right support team of experts, and a solid business plan, you can start your own firm, feel more empowered, satisfy your clients at a more efficient cost, and make a very nice living – often more than you made before.

There are valid business reasons for the recent trend of lawyers to open their own boutique firms.  If you have that entrepreneurial spirit – here’s to your new venture.  And your new adventure.

Tiffany Farber is a solo practitioner who has been practicing law since 2008. As someone who has been through transition in her career, she understands the challenges lawyers in this situation face.

Traditional job searching gets old fast.  Here are some quick tips for tapping resources you may not have thought of before.

Alumni: Contact your law school and ask for a list of alumni in your geographical area who practice in areas of law you are interested in.  People write this method off as pointless, but they shouldn’t.  Alumni who are willing to give of their time are clearly helpful people by nature.  If they had no interest in helping out, their names wouldn’t be on the list.  If you are shy, it’s easier to connect with someone who walked the same halls and had the same professors as you.  The truth is that folks have more of an interest in helping people they feel camaraderie with.  You already have a leg up with someone who proudly graduated from the same school as you, why not use that resource?

Become and independent contractor: If you have malpractice insurance, and you are willing to work at a relatively low hourly rate, you can work as an independent contractor for another attorney.  This is a great way to develop relationships with attorneys who already have established a practice.  By doing this, you can prove yourself as a reliable and competent attorney.  Not only do you get great legal experience doing this, but you just may land yourself a job with one of the attorneys.  If they have a successful practice, and more work than they can handle, they may bring you on as an associate.

Work with legal recruiters: Legal recruiters don’t traditionally charge to work with you.  Although the market is tight right now, I have been told by several recruiters that it is picking up.  Different recruiters work with different types of candidates.  Some of them place candidates permanently and some of them place candidates in short term or temporary jobs.  Once you are hired, recruiters get paid by the firm that hires you.   In my opinion, it can’t hurt to try working with one.   Many of them are very dedicated and provide feedback about your resume.

Get to know someone who works at the agency or firm you are interested in. The truth is, jobs open up all the time.  People move away, they get promoted, they leave to be with their families or they change careers.  Sometimes you have to be patient with this particular tip, but if someone gets to know you and sees you as someone who can be trusted, they may recommend you as their replacement when they leave.  When I was a first-year law student, I met an attorney who worked at an organization I was extremely interested in.  At the time I met him, he had chosen his interns for the summer.  I was really dedicated to working with the organization, so I kept up with him.  We developed a good rapport, and by the time next summer rolled around, I had an internship there.  It was fantastic, and I still keep in touch with that attorney today.  Remember, the best job seekers cultivate important relationships in the process of job hunting.

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

Just so you know that I take my own advice. I have been seriously training for a triathlon since March and this weekend actually participated in one. Having interests and challenges outside of work, or outside of your job search, really does add a vital component to your life. Struggling, competing and enjoying the camaraderie of sports is a great distraction from our daily dealing with professional issues.

Having been a sporadic athlete all my life, I didn’t have to make too many changes to my routine to prepare for the triathlon, but I had to put in substantially more hours and effort than my regular fitness routine requires. The biggest change for me was training in the evening, rather than in the morning. The evening schedule does not suit me, because by the end of the day, I don’t have as much energy and motivation as when I first wake up, the proverbial “morning person.” But if I wanted to work out with the training group, that was the schedule.

There were times in the last three months that I had to talk to my feet to get them to walk in the direction of the gym and not in the direction of the “L” home. But, invariably, by the time I geared up and met up with my team mates, everything was copacetic and I was totally into the effort of trying to master new drills or beat my last time/distance, whatever.

Sticking with the training schedule and working with a good team of coaches paid off and this weekend I was able to meet my goals in two of the three triathlon events. A new bike is on my budget list. It is not productive to do a road race on a mountain bike, I found out!

Participation in the training and the triathlon this weekend resulted in many benefits for me — spending time with people who are not lawyers and getting to know about their lives and challenges, contributing to a charity, being able to present myself to new people in a different way, not just as “counsel” but as a teammate. Within that group, what you do for a day job isn’t relevant; the support and encouragement of the group was focused positively on everyone’s improvement and was truly inspiring.

Today I feel a sense of accomplishment and of renewed energy, optimism about the future and excitement about new ventures. I feel refreshed and re-energized, thinking about moving forward on my career transition with anticipation.

I am glad I did it, but I am also relieved I can look forward to a few weeks of lighter work outs, ‘til the next intensive training period for a longer triathlon! Yikes!

Tiffany Farber is a solo practitioner who has been practicing law since 2008. As someone who has been through transition in her career, she understands the challenges lawyers in this situation face.

You would be surprised by how many attorneys don’t actually want to practice law.  Some attorneys decide this after years of practice, and some know it right away.  While you may have a license to practice law, you also have a license to choose your own career path.  Yes, I know that was totally cheesy, but I stand by my statement.

You’ll argue with me.  You’ll tell me that you have student loans and you absolutely must be an attorney to pay them off.  Hey, it’s your call.  That is a valid reason to stay in the field of law.  But, if you are that attorney who doesn’t actually want to be a lawyer, ask yourself this question: What if you could make money doing something you love? What!? I know it sounds crazy, but why not consider the option.

Most of us have “grown-up” syndrome.  You won’t find a diagnosis for this in the DSM IV because I just made it up, but you will relate when I tell you what it means.  It means that you have a treadmill in your mind and you are stuck on it.  The treadmill moves faster and faster with each passing thought about the future of your career and your life in general.  Eventually, you are mentally exhausted and start daydreaming about the things that you find fun.  What if you could stop the treadmill for a minute and focus on the fun things?  What if you could find a way to translate the fun stuff into a career goal?

I have done this own calculus in my brain.  Here is what I came up with.  I think people are fun.  I like meeting people, connecting people, and listening to people.  I think people are so much fun, that I don’t find them to be work.  Because of my passion, I pursued career paths that would allow me to use my law license and connect people.  There are many possible options that afford this experience: legal recruiter, career coach, law school career advisor.  I have considered all of these options.  While I am a successful and passionate attorney, I also know that I am not a one dimensional person.  I have many interests and skills, and I’m not afraid to consider all of my options when I’m thinking about careers.

You can do the same sort of calculus in your head.  Maybe you have a skill that could open up a career path in your life.  I once knew a guy who was on track to get a doctorate in psychology.  Instead, he decided to run a custom furniture business with his father, and he did really well.  These are some crazy times we are living in, so get creative.  If there is something that you excel at, and you are willing to consider how to turn your passion into a career, brainstorm a little.  No one is telling you that you MUST walk away from the legal profession, but if you are someone who has thought about it I’m telling you that it’s possible.

Your challenge this week is choose your own career adventure.

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

As I continue to make plans for my new practice, I am grateful for colleagues who come forward and offer suggestions. But I am most appreciative of those colleagues who are interested in forming part of the new endeavor.

The vision I have is of a flexible and virtual practice where each attorney adds value with contributions in their area of law, not necessarily working next to each other in a bricks and mortar office.

The first iteration of my law practice was in a traditional format. As a solo practitioner I served individual clients in various areas of law, real estate transactions, real estate litigation, other contract disputes, some family law issues. That practice dealt with individual clients who had been sued or who had a reason to bring action against another party or needed help putting together a transaction. I attracted clients who wanted to work with a lawyer who spoke their language and understood their culture. It was what I call a “retail” practice, solving legal problems for one individual at a time.

Attorneys referred clients to me (a large part of my business) whose cases they did not want to litigate or for some other reason that was relevant to them. If the referred case was in one of my areas of competence I handled it. But the referring attorneys and I did not have a shared vision or a collaborative agreement, we all did our own thing.

The second iteration of the practice that is coming together is focused on business sectors that are underserved, small to medium foreign corporations initiating a U.S. presence, non-U.S. groups looking to purchase real estate or to develop real estate they already own.

Attorneys I have worked with or known socially are coming forward and want to work together on this endeavor. They see a need as well and are excited about collaborative work. We will be working in a larger arena and together expect to bring to the endeavor unique skills not easily found in the lawyer population.

What is developing is a truly international group of attorneys ready to serve multilingual, multicultural clients, global clients, with entrepreneurial businesses. The contribution of foreign businesses to the U.S. is vastly undervalued and having appropriate and relevant legal assistance is absolutely necessary for their development and success, which in turn benefits all of us.

The process of putting together this legal team is exciting. Discovering synchronicity among a group of fellow attorneys and envisioning how we can all work together toward a worthwhile common goal is energizing. I believe collaboration beats competition every time.

Tiffany Farber is a solo practitioner who has been practicing law since 2008. As someone who has been through transition in her career, she understands the challenges lawyers in this situation face.

I heard once, “the way you do anything is the way you do everything.”   Although you may not agree with this statement, a potential employer most certainly does.   This is where the concept of professionalism comes into play.  It goes beyond that childhood question your mother asked you when someone gave you candy, namely, “What do we say?”  I suppose I don’t have to remind you that professionalism is important when you are a job seeker, but some of us have been known to forget the rules from time to time.

Potential employers will gauge your level of professionalism during your first communications— before they even interview you.  If you apply for a job, and you receive a call about an interview, make sure you call the potential employer back as promptly as possible.  This shows that you have great follow up.  When you call back, make sure that you are in a quiet place.  If you need to type while you are on the phone, make sure to convey that you are taking notes.  There is nothing more off putting than hearing distractions in the background of a conversation or, worse, hearing someone typing.  When scheduling an interview, try to be as flexible to the interviewer’s schedule as possible.  It shows that you are respectful of their time.

When you show up for the interview, make sure you are early and, of course, dressed appropriately.  Wear a suit! You don’t have to be obscenely early, but try 10 minutes at least.  While you are waiting, try not to play with your phone.  Sit quietly and go over potential interview questions in your head.  If you want to calm your nerves, read a magazine that has been left in the lobby.   Constant fiddling with a cell phone gives the impression that you will do the same thing at work.  You may think it’s no problem because the potential interviewer will not see it, but their administrative assistant might.  Someone may be less inclined to hire you if they know you’re going to be updating your Facebook status from your desk, or sending texts.  Although they themselves may engage in this behavior, they don’t want you to do it on their dime.

While in the interview, make sure that you listen as carefully as possible.  Show that you are listening by repeating back questions if you do not understand what is being asked.  Most importantly, think through your answers before you speak.  Although it’s hard to avoid the occasional “ums” and “likes,” try to limit them as much as possible.  If you think through your answers before speaking, it will help minimize these utterances.  Try to keep your answers to two minutes.  It may be hard due to nerves and excitement, but it shows that you have a concept of the rules of conversation—speak then listen.

Once your interview is over, make sure to thank your interviewer.  Not only should you do this verbally, but you should send a written “thank you” note immediately.  Write it out as soon as you get home that day or you will forget.  If you send an email, make sure to follow it up with a hand-written card.  It’s impressive to get an actual thank you note from a potential employee.

Some people ask how often they should check back after they have had an interview.  Many people are afraid to follow up because they feel as though they are “stalking” the interviewer.  A potential employer will not think this if you are reasonable in your contact.  Usually, he or she will tell you when to expect to hear back.  If you aren’t told, it’s okay to ask this during an interview.  If you are told that it will be two weeks, don’t contact her until it has been two weeks. After that, shoot over an e-mail or give her a call.  Tell her that you really enjoyed learning about the firm or agency during your interview and that you are curious about the status of your application.

These techniques may seem very obvious to you, but they are good to go over in your head before the whole interview process.  We all forget things from time to time.  This week’s challenge is to recite your professionalism game plan.  You may realize you were missing a step in there somewhere.

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

There are many benefits to keeping a schedule for your job search. Making a plan for the week, calendaring the job search tasks and sticking to your timeline is a great way to make sure that you continue to move steadily toward your goal of either being employed by an organization, or setting up your own practice.

There is a flipside to this as well though. Occasionally being unencumbered by schedules and routine and living a free-form life also has its rewards. I often think about a relative who, when asked whether she worked, responded, “I tried it once and I didn’t like it.” We were on the golf course at the time and she outscored me handily.

Having endless time and few responsibilities could be boring or mind-numbing, but, short term, it can be a good thing for surfacing or developing your creativity, practicing skills or acquiring knowledge.  Now, at the beginning of summer, living without schedules and routine might be an attractive idea, if you can afford to do it for a while.

If you find yourself between jobs, or for some other reason without specific scheduled plans for a few days or a few weeks, decide to freewheel a bit. Let yourself wake up without the alarm, eat when you are hungry, not at lunch time or dinner time, nap if you are tired, work on projects in the middle of the night, if that’s when desire and inspiration strike. Listen to what your mind and body are saying.

Follow “interest whims,” that is, if something interests you, devote yourself entirely to investigating that thing for as long as it maintains your interest and see where it takes you. During this time, give yourself permission to experience life in a different way than you are used to, just don’t sit and watch TV or read a book all day.

Because I have been driven and structured from a very early age, during brief periods in my life when I have done this, I have had a strange sense of unreality, but have also come to learn about myself and what I am really interested in, and sometimes, found out that what I thought I was interested in I did not really care about.

I just finished a class in a specific type of writing that was satisfying. It gave me something different to think about in addition to my career and developing my law practice again and opened up other directions of thought. Learning or doing things you normally don’t do provides a welcome respite from our “regular” lives and may lead you in positive new directions.

For anyone interested in astrology, May 27 ushered Uranus into Aries. This is a time to express your own individuality and to tune into your true interests. Best of luck.