I predict that just about EVERYONE on LinkedIn will have a good reason to add Legal Updates, the new application from JDSupra, to deliver legal industry content to their landing page. For lawyers, though, at least those who are posting to JDSupra.com, the new app is…

“….like peanut butter and chocolate….”

That’s what Ron Coleman, head of the intellectual property practice at Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP in New York and publisher of the award winning legal blog Likelihood of Confusion, thinks. I spoke to Ron on the phone the other day about LinkedIn and JDSupra after hearing about the new client he got in response to a document he posted on JDSupra. Here’s what he told me…

“I was fan of JDSupra early on. I saw it as a great way to sell what I had to offer — experience, originality and quality of work. It’s extremely easy to use and it provides another place for a profile which I use to point people to EXACTLY what I’ve done. I probably have an advantage over lawyers who don’t have the freedom to post things. I’m not hemmed in by institutional concerns.”

Despite the notion that the social Web is all about sharing, conversation and collaboration, for Ron, it’s about how the documents he posts on JDSupra are dynamically aligned with search engines; allowing anyone searching for him or his expertise to find it.

With the new LinkedIn Legal Updates application, it gives him another gateway;  a gateway serving a fairly targeted business audience. Any time you can leverage what you post—post once and distribute it widely across the Web without added work—is a real plus. When you have a captive, targeted audience, well, it’s like getting a double dip. And that’s exactly what the JDSupra app for LinkedIn is all about.

You can preview and install the application here.

You don’t need to have a JDSupra account to access and download the app to your LinkedIn profile. But if you do publish to JDSupra, you’ll want to connect your JDSupra account to the LinkedIn app so all of your content is fed seamlessly into the app and can be searched for or browsed within the application by anyone within the LinkedIn social network.

About that client…

So, you’re probably wondering about that client Ron got, right? Well, here’s the story.  A mid-west lawyer’s client was served with papers in New Jersey. With no attorney relationship in New Jersey, the lawyer went to Google. Instead of blindly searching for a lawyer, he started by searching on the name of the guy who was suing his client. As it happens, a link to one of Ron’s documents on JDSupra that discussed how he had successfully litigated against the same plaintiff turned up. The lawyer reads the document and figures here’s a guy who knows who we’re dealing with. He then called Ron and within a few hours sent him a $10,000.00 retainer to handle the matter.

Some helpful instructions for making the most of Legal Updates on LinkedIn.

Publishing on the social web is an excellent marketing tactic that as Ron knows, “enables you [and search engines] to point people to EXACTLY what you’ve done.”

For users, the beauty of JDSupra’s LinkedIn application lies in its simplicity of set up and customization. Here are some simple instructions:

1. Connect your JDSupra account to the LinkedIn app.
2. The heart of the app, EVERYONE on Linkedin can do it. Customize your LinkedIn page feed.
3. How to recommend, share, save Legal Updates.

There you go!

Got any good stories about getting new clients from publishing your content on JDSupra or LinkedIn? Share them below. For more social.lawyer stories check out my new site www.sociallawyers.com.

The first time I saw the new Old Spice commercial I chuckled and said to my friend, that’s clever, good branding. Great appeal. Well, overnight it became a viral success on YouTube and of course all over the Internet. Now, as  Eric Lipman from Legal Blog Watch says it’s become bacterial (love the lingo, Eric!). And, it seems everyone is jumping in. I’ve seen quite a few spoofs on the ad — which is itself a spoof of the old macho image of Old Spice.  This one is too too funny. More on the NEW SPICE Guy here. Enjoy!

PST: Heather Milligan just posted on the demise of print advertising for law firms here. And admittedly, we’ve got better things to do….

Setting up a blog is easy. Whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you, it will probably be the last easy thing you do in your life as a lawyer who blogs. The rest of your life as a lawyer who blogs will revolve around an empty white box—a box longing to be filled with your nifty ideas and brilliant insights. Trouble is, nifty ideas and brilliant insights are not enough. As a practicing lawyer you also must write quality content to reflect the level of quality that represents you. For some (probably most) lawyers who blog, both new and experienced, it can be a real challenge to keep meaningful, nifty, brilliant, and high quality blog content flowing.

So, let’s look more closely at how to write a great blog post. First, if you’re going to blog effectively, you should keep these three basic goals in sight at all times.

Three Goals.

1. Write blog content that is attractive to readers.
2. Write blog content that others want to share and promote.
3. Write blog content that opens connections to new people.

Next step is to add variety.

Style.

Every blogger has his or her own writing style and voice. In most cases this remains consistent throughout the blog. A consistent voice helps readers get to “know” you better. In some cases it can be like hearing the lawyer think out loud. (This can influence business decisions!) But, you’ll probably want to mix up the format of the content you present to keep it interesting for both you and your readers. For example, you may have some posts that simply report pure information while others will go into a longer form of analysis or a how-to.

Fresh format ideas can be found from reading other blogs outside the legal industry and modifying them to meet the criteria of your law firm’s blog policy and your ethical responsibility to the legal profession. In addition, sites like PRO BLOGGER or Copy Blogger offer valuable tips and inspiration for your journey. Meanwhile, here are a few new ideas I compiled from my own journey. (And Here and here are a few old ones too!)

Format.

• Dissect a problem. Is there is a common mistake people make related to your area of practice? Define the problem and describe a few suggested ways to avoid it. Don’t give away the punch line, but give readers enough to take away a practical pointer or two.
• Tell a story. Do you have an instructive experience to tell? Put it in story form and share what you have learned with your readers.
• Teach. Imagine yourself a law professor. Create a “tutorial” series. Break down complex concepts into simple to understand steps. For example, you might explain how venture capital deals are created; the various structures used, the types of individuals involved, sample goals for the individual parties, etc.  The key for teaching posts is to keep them simple, use lots of subtitles, sections and even illustrations. (See more on Visuals below)
• Share a statistic. When you come across an interesting statistic, build a blog post around it. This could be as general as labor department data points, trending worldwide mergers by geography, or the number of insurance claims filed annually in the state of [fill in the blank]. While you could include an analysis or connect the dots to some pending legislation in the content copy, often the graphic itself can be the focus of the post, providing a fairly work free entry.
• Promote your clients (and even their customers.) This type of post, when handled appropriately, is sure to generate good will and add some new readers, not to mention the SEO juice you, your client and your client’s customer will get from the links you place within the post. Try an interview style that serves up a story of how one of your client’s customers benefited from their product or services. You could do a friendly review of a new product line, or invite them to do a guest post on a management issue or etc. (Make sure to disclose your relationship.)
• Re-purpose your press releases. Turn your press releases into a news story for your blog. Include links to publications where the story was originally covered and get bonus points.
• Go off topic. Blog readers often find your content via a general web search. That’s why its important to employ smart usage of keywords and tagging. Though your blog is focused on your area of expertise, sometimes throwing in an off topic post can generate new readers and give regular readers something extra. It could be a topic that is related to the legal industry but not necessarily “your” topic. For example, although your blog is about international law, you could write a post about general counsel who blog.
• Ask a non-legal question. Got a burning question? Ask your readers to help you solve it. Again,  it’s okay to go off topic from time to time to mix it up. For example, say you are trying to decide between a Kindle, a Nook, or an iPad. You could create a post about your 10 key needs—things you are considering in your decision—and see if you don’t get some feedback.

Visuals.

• Graphs and diagrams. Graphs and diagrams are one of the quickest ways to communicate complex information and add visual interest. A visually simple graphic delivers value that readers will often share with others and even re-blog, helping you build new readers. Some of my favorite sites for ideas about the visualization of information are: InfoGraphics Blog,  Flowing Data, and Information is Beautiful.
• Photos and videos. Photos (and videos) are almost always featured in search results on major search engines, so, make sure to give the photo good keywords in the alt tag, caption and post title. Videos work well with teaching posts and can be easily re-purposed on your YouTube channel giving you added exposure. Feeling creative? Robert Thomas, Inversecondemnation.com, takes pictures of funny signs he sees around the court buildings he visits and adds them to his blog and Facebook page.
• Illustrations and cartoons. Bankruptcy Bill is the best example of blogger using this format successfully, though there are probably a few others. His character is used to illustrate relevant challenges businesses are confronted with in bankruptcy matters and also to make complex concepts simple. (You can purchase these cartoons!) You could probably find a local illustrator to hire or if you like snarky stuff check out Hugh McLeod at Gaping Void. (rights reserved)

Persona.

• Humor. While not everyone knows how to be both funny and professional, if you’re one of the lucky ones, injecting a humorous post into the mix can be a nice diversion for you and your readers. You may want to create a specific “category” for these posts like Friday Funnies or Coffee Break.
• Vision. Adding some visionary posts to your blog content mix can set you apart from the rank and file. Instead of just reporting on pending legislation or commenting on high profile cases in the news, with a little imagination you could craft an illustrative scenario that connects the impact such events may have upon a particular industry. While this may take some research and care in keeping your points general, writing this type of post can establish you as a thought leader. Thought leaders are highly valued by blog readers.
• Subtlety. If you typically go around spewing marketing messages, then doing so on your blog will be totally consistent with your persona. Go for it. If you don’t, well, be subtle. In my experience, the competent lawyer blogger does not ever need to “sell” their services. Their content does it for them. Content that is generous—meaning you share experience and expertise fairly freely and often—is more effective than any pitch you might make. Of course, a discrete link from relevant content back to an article on your law firm’s Web site is totally okay and qualifies as subtle in my mind. Other subtle promotional options for your blog would include having a personalized “About Me” page rather than a cut and paste biography from your formal web site. And, as you demonstrate knowledge, good will and authority people will be more receptive to more prominent promotion, so go ahead try including a short bio at the end of each post and test it’s impact on your marketing efforts.

Posts.

On a final note, whatever formats you chose for your posts it’s important to respect your readers’ time. The best posts are written for time-starved people who struggle with information overload. Keep posts concise, well-organized and focused. The inverted triangle style used by journalists can work well for lawyers who blog. The widest part at the top, your introductory paragraph, represents the most substantial, interesting, and important information you want to convey while the tapering lower portion includes material in order of diminishing importance. It is sometimes called a “summary news lead” style. The format is valued because readers can leave the story at any point and understand it, even if they don’t have all the details. Using bullets and bold headlines at the beginning of your paragraphs will also make it easy for readers to skim. Not exactly what you are hoping for after you’ve spent hours writing your post, but the fact is, the most valuable posts, those that meet the criteria in the three basic goals, are typically those that take 60 seconds to read.

Got any suggestions for unique posting formats?

Coming soon from Thomson Reuters,  social.lawyer | transforming business development,  my new book about business development fundamentals translated for the social Web.

Nothing makes me more confused and frustrated than when I anticipate one thing and get something entirely different. When this happens I think that I have failed to communicate clearly or manage my own expectations. (I.e. “How could Santa leave me a book when I clearly asked for a doll? Maybe the North Pole wasn’t making dolls this year and I shouldn’t have expected one.”) Lately however, I realize that the primary reason for mismatched outcomes is caused by how well people are listening. There’s a lot of  hearing-what-you-want-the-person-to-be-saying going on rather than listening to what they are actually saying.  (Yes, even Santa suffers from this condition from time to time —matching what’s in the inventory to what’s being said rather than what the client is actually saying.)

The Cross-Sell.

Think about the last time you set up a casual lunch with a business client to go over some “things” and at the last minute you decided to make it into a “cross-selling” call by bringing along a few other lawyers from your law firm—a tax lawyer and an IP lawyer. Your rationale was that all business people have taxes and most have intellectual property issues, right? And, since the law firm has put a significant emphasis on cross-selling lately, why not? Although the client was probably polite about the two new “products” you introduced, they really weren’t interested because they didn’t anticipate the scenario or want what you were trying to cross-sell. Quite possibly they were expecting the meeting to be about their agenda, not yours, and they were disappointed. In that case, hopefully the cross-sell moment died a quiet death. But, don’t believe for a minute that the client didn’t leave the lunch feeling confused or even frustrated because they didn’t accomplish what they anticipated. Cross-selling legal services, or any service, requires a delicate balance of timing and presentation that comes from active listening and trusted relationship.

A recent experience brought this to my attention in a dramatic fashion.

Listening.

This past January, I joined a newly established health club. Though it was five months later and I had not yet used it, mainly because the opening was delayed and they failed to communicate when they finally did open –bad way to start a business relationship—I stopped by the club to inquire about an orientation of the facility. Specifically I explained that I was promised when I bought the membership that someone would help me design a simple work out program. I also explained to the woman behind the counter that I was interested in the circuit equipment. She said she’d be happy to help me tomorrow at 2pm.

She got everything wrong…

I arrived at my scheduled time.

My objective: a friendly orientation of the facility’s features and a suggested work out routine on the circuit equipment.

The employee’s objective: sell me personal training services.

Although I had again explained to the very personable (and knowledgeable) employee that this was my first visit, she did not show me around the layout of the gym, instead she walked me to her “sales” desk…hmmm. I again, yes again, explained my objective for our meeting—set up a circuit program. She nodded her head and began to chitchat about my exercise history, my goals, my level of commitment, and etc. Fine. I gave her all that good stuff thinking it would help her help me get started using the membership I had purchased and had not yet benefited from. Several times during our conversation I again mentioned that I was most interested in circuit training and some cardio. I explained that I was not a big fan of classes or “exercises” that I could do at home.  When we finished the chat at her sales desk, we were ready for my sample workout.

She walked me past the circuit equipment and over to the exercise floor. For ten minutes I did what she directed me to do; stand on a wobbly ball while lifting weights, lunges and leg kicks, i.e. exercises I could do at home without paying a membership fee –trust levels were dropping by the minute.  Before the 10 minutes were up, I began to resent her for wasting my time, though I remained polite. I decided right then that whatever she was trying to sell me I didn’t want. It was apparent that she had HER agenda and was not interested in helping me with a circuit. The only voice she was listening to was her own. At that point I just wanted to get out of there.

Could I have benefited from a personal trainer? Probably, but I wasn’t ready. At that moment I didn’t want a personal trainer, I wanted a quick orientation to a circuit program.  I wanted to experience some benefit from what I had already paid for. Had she done a few things right, for example listen to and act upon what I requested, I might have considered a few personal training sessions. Instead, I walked out with a strongly negative feeling toward the WHOLE CLUB.

How to earn my trust.

1. While I’m not closed to learning more about the additional services you offer, first I want you to show me the value of what I already purchased.
2. It’s really about me and you can’t miss that point. It’s not about you making your sale, it’s about me getting to know, like and trust you because you understand my goals.
3. My time is valuable and I want you to show me that you understand that. If you can’t, why should I trust you?
4. Once we’re on the same page, I want you to build a relationship with me, so when I need additional services I can trust you to steer me in an intelligent direction.

Lost opportunities.

The fitness instructor/sales person followed up with a phone call a week later and asked if I was ready to sign up for personal training. I laughed to myself and told her I was out of town and would contact her when I was interested. NOT!

What could have changed my response? If over time this fitness instructor saw me around the gym and stopped to ask how I was doing, give me a few pointers, and demonstrate her helpfulness, I might have purchased some training. Or, better yet, if the fitness instructor would have given me what I anticpated during that first meeting I might have been so convinced I’d have purchased more sessions on the spot. These few things could have turned around the outcome. How often do lawyers miss the forest for the trees? It’s so much easier to “sell” their services when the preparation is in place and that can only come from listening.

Which brings me to a final thought…if an opportunity (prospect or cross-sell) mysteriously disappears, you might want to ask yourself how well you were listening. It could be that you weren’t dialed in to what they were actually saying. And that happens to everyone as circumstances and communication styles differ…but when it happens to me, I’m going to make it a learning experience so I can do better next time.

I want social networking online to give me greater reach, not add to my workload. I’m always searching for ways to cut down on the amount of time I spend keeping in touch with my valuable online social networks. One way I’ve found to double up on my efforts is to sync some of my services, i.e. add my Twitter feed to my LinkedIn profile page. By syncing my Twitter feed to my LinkedIn profile page I post once and cover more territory without jumping back and forth between networks. Another very important management tactic I use is Twitter “lists.”

How to Use Lists on Twitter.

If you’re new to Twitter, here’s a little bit of info about Lists. Lists are helpful in organizing your listening to make your conversations more targeted. For example, you could manually create a “Media” list that includes all the people you follow who are members of the media. When you view the list, only posts from those people appear in the stream.

You can jump back and forth between lists, essentially blocking out noise created by unorganized, random conversations in your main stream. When you open a list you can easily scan what listed people are talking about and enter into the conversation where appropriate.

To create a list, simply select Create New List and name it. Then, scan through the people you follow and add appropriate people to the list. Or add to lists as you follow new people. Once you have a list it will appear in the right sidebar on your main Twitter page.

You can manually build lists for personal friends, industry segments, politicians, CEO’s, social causes, and so forth. One way to quickly add lists to your Twitter experience is to visit Listorious.com. There you’ll find a bunch of ready made lists that you can add and follow. You can also follow the lists that others that you follow have created. They show up in your lists with @theirname.

Now, thanks to a LinkedIn application, Tweets, you can also make a Twitter list from your Connections on LinkedIn.

How to Create a LinkedIn Business Connections List.

We know from experience that it takes a number of touch points to build meaningful relationships off line or online. If you’re looking to increase the value of the connections you already maintain on LinkedIn, you can add the Tweets Application to your profile. Tweets allows you to see who within your Connections is on Twitter, give you the option to follow them, and seamlessly create a “LinkedIn Connections” list.

Simply go to the APPLICATIONS DIRECTORY page, and select add the Tweets application.

Once you add the Tweets Application you’ll be directed to the Application page. The Tweets Application will initially recommend people in your network to follow. You’ll also find tabs for Overview, Connections, My Tweets, and Settings.

When you select the Connections Tab you’ll see a list of all your LinkedIn Connections with a Twitter account synced to their LinkedIn profile. (Remember, you must also sync your LI and Twitter accounts. It’s an option on your (edit) profile page.) From there select the LI Connections that you want to “Follow” and “List” on Twitter. The application will automatically add the list to your main Twitter page and by default it is made private – which means that no one else will be able to see or follow your LinkedIn Connections List.

Using your LinkedIn-Connections list.

When you’re on your LinkedIn home page, Tweets will feed the last few posts sent from your LinkedIn-Connections Twitter List. You can directly post your status there or you can click on the “see more” to jump to the Tweets Application without leaving LinkedIn. In the Application you can get the complete stream of your Connections’ updates and update your Twitter status, reply, retweet or add more Connections to your Twitter list.

When you’re in Twitter, you’ll find the list in your sidebar, click on the list and check out what your LI Connections are discussing or sharing. From there you can of course do all the stuff you normally do on Twitter. (Your lists also replicate to your Tweet Deck or other software that you might use to manage your Tweeting).

That’s it! If you need help with the Tweets Application on LinkedIn, go to the FAQs, type in Tweets in the search bar and there are a number of helpful hints.

If you have any tips for staying organized with your online social networking I hope you’ll share them in the comments below.

What are you doing to differentiate your law firm in a highly competitive market?

Differentiation is the process of distinguishing products or services to make them attractive to a target audience. In short, differentiation helps “us” choose – pink or blue, regular or lite…. What happens when there’s not enough differentiation? What happens when everything is gray? The choice doesn’t matter as much.

Years of doing what “other law firms are doing” has created a lot of undifferentiated law firms. When everyone is average they begin to compete on price location and style. Are law firms ready to start acting like Walmart and Target? Or are they already there? Are they in too deep?

Prospects want law firms to tell them why they should choose them. But that’s impossible, right?  Meaningful means something different to everyone. Impossible to align, so many variations among clients and practices.

This presentation suggests that law firm leaders stop focusing on differentiating their features and start differentiating around something that matters to clients. Something that will help them choose. Focus on delivering the basic category benefits –those things all clients expect from their law firms — better than anyone else….and the rest will follow.

In these changing times, we all need fresh ideas and inspiration.

Delivering Happiness delivers.  

Tony Hsieh’s recently released book, Delivering Happiness | A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose, is destined to be a classic Gen X must read business book following in the footsteps of other great Boomer reads such as Jim Collins’ Good to Great and Built to Last. I read it cover to cover and found tons of nuggets. Despite being a case study of an Internet retailer the nuggets should be pure gold for law firms who currently are struggling with their business model, culture or staff morale (law firm layoffs) in light of the recent economic landscape.

Here are just a few:

• Figure out the game when the stakes aren’t high. Get core values in place, know who you are as a culture so you will be ready when the stakes get high.
• Don’t play games you don’t understand even if you see a lot of other people winning at them, i.e. making a lot of money from them.
• Take the focus off of “making money” put the focus on people; happy people, and passionate people, people who want to go to work tomorrow. What would it take?
• Great companies (and great people) have a greater purpose and a bigger vision beyond just making money or being number one in the market…if you fall into this trap you never become a great company…the core values of your employees must go beyond the paycheck. The best gift you can give your employees is the perception that there’s something ahead for them…
• Help shape the stories that people are telling about you. Do you want to be about the VERY BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE? How many people in your organization want to be known for the VBCS? Your culture is your brand.
• A customer centric organization will execute exceedingly well on core competencies. A core competency of Zappos is shipping. They ship product. They promise customers delivery in 4-5 days, but they “upgrade” the service for almost all customers. It’s not something they have to do and it’s not something that increases their profits in the short term. It is something that creates a great customer experience.
• Never outsource our core competency. Trusting a third party to care about your customers as much as you do is a big mistake.
• What is the extra step? Think about some experience where you interacted with a person responsible for your satisfaction….what did they do?
• Life values apply to both work and life…that’s they way they should anyway.
• Make the transaction for the customer as easy and risk free as possible.
• Make customer service a priority for the whole company, not just a department.
• View each interaction as an investment in building a customer service brand, not an expense of time or staff you’re seeking to minimize….
• How a company treats its vendors is a reflection on the company.
• If you had to describe your company’s culture in two or three paragraphs, what would you say? If you asked your coworkers to do the same, what would they say? How different do you think their answers would be…

The World is Changing for Law Firms.

The power structure is shifting from the law firm to the client in the legal industry. That’s the word on the street from general counsel to clients, law firm leaders, marketers, and Michael Bremer, President of The Cumberland Group in Chicago. He addressed attendees last week in a keynote at the Legal Sales and Services Organization’s RainDance conference. He suggested that what is missing most when the average law firm tries to improve its position in a competitive market is a focus on customer value, engaged employees, and an executive mindset that knows these are the most important things.

According to a Gallup poll, in an average organization less than 30% of people say they are ‘highly engaged’ at work. Certainly the average level thinking of law firms of today fit in that mold. Worse is that they don’t see a need to change, don’t want to change, feel they’re already working at it and routinely push back on fresh ideas. How long can that be sustained and keep employees engaged?  If we’re not giving employees a voice with open environment, learning environment we’re loosing engagement. The firm misses out on good ideas when employees are not passionately engaged. To remedy this, it is leadership’s primary responsibility to create an environment where people can do their best work (this does not mean a well decorated office space and stocked break room).  It’s easy to say we want this to happen and we aspire to this but to be successful organizations must have above average thinking and strategy. Leadership needs to understand that customer loyalty IS linked with business performance.

Every employee of the organization is capable of driving customer loyalty and this is exactly the message you’ll find in Delivering Happiness.

Back to Zappos….

Delivering Happiness is an action packed story, easy to read in a few sittings, documenting how Tony Hsieh and his associates at Zappos did exactly what Michael is suggesting for law firms who want to succeed in the value game…create a workplace where employees are fully engaged, do their best work and exceed customer expectations because they perceive a greater purpose than making money. Zappos provides an open, learning environment that has made them one of the most successful Internet retailers of the decade. ( On Oct. 31, 2009 Amazon purchased Zappos for 1.2B. In Jan 2010 Zappos moved up 8 slots and was ranked #15 in Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list.)

Gen X

So, the book is really great and I highly recommend it…with a few sidebars.

1. Tony built the culture of Zappos inspired by PLUR, an acronym for “Peace, Love, Unity, Respect” born out of the rave community.  (see here for Wikipedia description of Raves) (This may be a stretch of the imagination for anyone pre GenX. I had to adjust my thinking a bit and well, that’s exactly why I think the book is great. It made me think outside my box….yeah, hippies rule, right?)
2. Tony had a “mysterious” and brief encounter with a woman following a New Year’s Eve party that involved ear whispering: “Envison, create, and believe in your own universe” which became a sort of mantra for him. (Not dissing that, just pointing out that again, not exactly the stuff you’ll hear from a managing partner of law firm…tee hee)
3. Tony does not use proper grammar and sometimes the structure is weak. This was a distraction for me as I most enjoy well-crafted (written) books. True to his GenXer generation…he chose to write the book without the help of ghostwriter, and I get that but…. he also chose to use a lot of dangling prepositions to make his grade school English teacher cringe. I read an advance copy of the book and so some of the structural things may have healed themselves with an editor at the helm—hope so.

Otherwise, again, fantastic case study with lots of golden nuggets and inspiration for law firm leaders, marketers, human resource professionals and certainly anyone responsible for process improvement in an organization….

As a final note…gotta run down to my mail box….I looking forward to some happiness being delivered today…placed an order on Zappos last evening, got an email an hour later telling me it was packed and shipped and  already in route to my house  and may even get here today… LOVE YA ZAPPOS.

(Disclosure: I received an advance copy of Delivering Happiness through a call for bloggers who would write reviews. The criteria for receiving an advance copy was that I would give an honest review of the book, which if you got this far, you have read. Cheers!)

Following my post on Alternative Fee Agreements for law firms and their clients I had one of those days where I wished I had never heard of the phrase. I was sitting in the middle of a flat fee project. Had I priced by the billable hour, I would be rich and retired today. Instead, my hourly rate is clocking just above minimum wage and it’s not finished yet. That’s just how it goes sometimes, I guess.

Of course I was discouraged. Of course I started beating myself up for not having managed my time better. I kept thinking over and over wondering what went wrong and how could I have stopped the runaway train? There really was nothing unusual about the project, a pretty straightforward engagement that I’ve done successfully many times over, which is why I priced it the way I did. Still, things got out of hand. Some things that happened were out of my control but there were also things within my control and I was starting to get really angry…then I had the opportunity to speak on the telephone the next morning with Laura Colcord, the lead instructor for Legal Sales and Services Organization’s Legal Lean Six Sigma training program focused on process improvement for law firms. Yup, that was it…somewhere the LawGravity process broke down and the process needed improvement…

Laura is presenting a pre-conference workshop at Raindance next week. She told me that she and the team at LSSO has translated every six sigma concept, methodology and tool into an easy to understand and practical guide specific to the legal industry. I was pretty impressed. I thought Six Sigma was for car manufacturers…isn’t it that management strategy used to improve the quality of their products?

Indeed. She explained that essentially, Six Sigma process improvement identifies mistakes, defects, waste and seeks to reduce them as well as minimize variability in repetitive processes. When the automobile industry needed to reinvent itself they employed Six Sigma. Today these concepts, methodologies and tools are finding application in other businesses, including professional services firms; law firms, in particular, who in the past two years have been dealing with a lot of change. She was reminded of a quote that resonates:

“If the rate of external change exceeds the rate of internal change the end is in sight.” Jack Welch.

Well,  I think we have enough evidence to recognize that law firms can no longer just sit on their laurels, they need to keep ahead of the change. One place change is taking effect is in the pricing and delivery of services, thus the whole discussion of Alternative Fee Agreements. Laura suggested that by improving certain processes involved in doing repetitive tasks and managing certain types of cases, there is benefit for the client and for the law firm in light of these new fee agreements. It involves a combination of pulling together timing, knowledge and expertise into a repeatable process to maximize the probable outcome.

For example, if a law firm uses an alternative fee agreement and they spend too much time on it they are not going to make a profit. [Ask me, I know!] Therefore, they need to break down predictable tasks and allocate them to the correct level of talent. When you can staff the work appropriately, the high paid brain power will be engaged only for the high value portion of the work, making the whole arrangement satisfactory for the client and profitable for the law firm. Sigma methodologies focus on looking at how people work and finding ways to improve them–eliminating the need for a clean sheet of paper every time something needs to get done. The organization asks: what is the best way we know how to do this? This applies to more than just how a law firm structures case management.

Beth Cuzzone, a founding member of LSSO and Director of Marketing at Goulston Storrs, speaking on a panel at the 2010 Marketing Partner Forum gave a number of examples how process improvement can be applied to administrative tasks in accounting, IT and marketing, and other client facing experiences, such as the intake process or even what happens when they visit the law firm’s physical location. Almost anything that has a repetitive element can be improved through the concepts, methodologies, and tools of Legal Lean Six Sigma as long as the quality of the outcome is satisfactory to the client.

By the end of my conversation with Laura, things became clear….surely I need to improve some processes at LawGravity. We’re a young business, and growing. Just took off the training wheels, have a couple scrapped knees to show for it, but all the same, ready to get back on the bike, keep peddling forward and with some process improvement we’ll be better prepared to maximize the probable outcome, stay profitable and continue to make the quality of the outcome satisfactory to the client.

Legal Lean Six Sigma offers a private label training experience as well as a twice yearly open enrollment two day course and an annual introductory level training during the pre-conference session of Raindance. More information can be found here….

I’ll be reporting live from Raindance next Wednesday and Thursday here on VMO and Twitter (Follow #RD10). Hope you’ll check in on all the action….

Just as I started to breath easier—Facebook rolled back the ridiculously complicated privacy settings that were causing chaos for those who care—alien generated community pages started showing up. In the tunnel vision of FaceBook…

“Community Pages are a new type of Page that enable you to see what people are saying about the things that matter to you, and discover the friends and people who share these connections with you. They are similar to any other Page to which you can connect, although they won’t generate stories in your News Feed, and won’t be maintained by a single author. Where available for the relevant topic, they also show content that Facebook has licensed from Wikipedia. We think your experience on Facebook will improve as your profile is turned into a living map of all the connections that matter to you, instead of a static list of your interests”

Wow…Facebook knows what matters to me? Facebook thinks my experience will improve by turning my profile information over to a “living map” that I don’t agree to or want? After baiting us with connectivity to people we choose to friend, they switch us to fit into their deal with Wikipedia?

Hey, I’m all for new ideas, but this one is a bit of stretch considering that most people on Facebook have REAL jobs. They just might care that Facebook is associating their lighthearted comments to a page dedicated to their employer—like they might want to have a say in that?

If I chose, “Only Friends” it’s supposed to be only friends, right? A Facebook robot sent to glean my keywords and create a fan page for my employer is NOT MY FRIEND? In fact, it may be an enemy and make me lose my job….. 

As a law firm leader, what’s your take? Like?

Clearly this feature that creates pages based on what your employees are saying on their Facebook profile is creating a real problem for law firms who have employees, lawyers and partners with “zippy” profiles on FB. Here’s how it works: where a law firm is identified as the place of employment on a user’s profile, Facebook grabs a topic or experience that is “owned collectively” by others with the same employer in their profile and automatically generates a fan page using those key words. As playful as Facebook may be for some unsuspecting users, it now plays out rather awkward for some of their employers, including law firms.  As reported in yesterday’s The National Law Journal...

Bimbos at Baker & McKenzie. Slaves at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Whipping boys at McDermott Will & Emery.

These groups — and dozens of others for virtually every major law firm — now have their own Facebook pages.

They’re not the product of disaffected employees — at least not directly. Instead, they’ve been automatically generated by the social networking site itself via a new feature called community pages.

For brand-conscious law firms, Facebook’s latest “innovation” is a bit mortifying. After all, does Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe want to be known for its porno stars? Shearman & Sterling as paper-pushers extraordinaire? Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman as ticklemasters? DLA Piper — well, we won’t even print the one about DLA Piper.

Amusement value aside, the newest Facebook pages illustrate the perils that law firms — not the most avant garde marketers to begin with — face as they navigate the world of social media.

I have to agree with Rob Kahn, director of business development at Mountain View, Calif.-based Fenwick, who according to the NLJ…

“dismissed the page as “a nonissue” but said that the community pages could be “confusing for businesses and consumers and clients.

“It’s not likely anyone would take Fenwick’s sex page seriously, just as most people probably won’t believe Perkins Coie has a jester or O’Melveny & Myers has indentured servants. The pages may not reflect well on the firms, and certainly don’t bolster images of dignity or seriousness, but they’re unlikely to cause genuine confusion. However, the pages centered on the firms themselves just might.

“At Fenwick, for example, Kahn maintains a well-developed Facebook page for his firm, filled with news updates as well as fun asides (Jan. 15 — “OMG. Snoop Dogg is in the Fenwick West conference room right now for USTREAM.tv event.”).

“But now, there’s also a Fenwick & West community page created by Facebook, complete with Fenwick’s blue logo. The page features the firm’s Wikipedia entry and links to other Web pages and posts in which Fenwick is mentioned.”

I’m a bit more dramatic in my outrage….. how can “they” circumvent the privacy settings they now have taken the pains to simplify only to expose our deepest sentiments we thought we were sharing with our friends, not our employers? And even straining our employer’s good will and brand? What’s UP FACEBOOK? Have aliens infested Mark Zuckerberg‘s brain in his attempt to show a profit? This may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for some of us….So what is this new “community page” feature supposed to do for users except get them into trouble? Turn us into a map of living connections? Not my idea of a good time. Your reaction?

The bright side.

Calming down now, I’m thinking how good it is that Rob is taking the high road, I’d expect that from him as he has great professionalism and years in the technology trenches. His example is one all law firms would do well to model….maintain strategic presence on all social media sites. Better to be proactive than reactive. For example, in the 2009/2010 recall of Toyota vehicles, Toyota used social media when the public relations crisis hit. Shiv Singh, vice president and global social media leader for Razorfish.com claims that “their use of social media helped them” and there appears to be little significant damage to the company’s rep in the short run on the social websites. Of course there is more to it than just having a Facebook page. Law firm leaders, marketers and their representatives need to stay current on trending social media spaces AND know their audience. According to Lauren DeLisa Coleman writing for the Huffington Post, you want to do your homework to make sure you’re reaching the right audiences, know who is using what and where. I would add AND educate and train employees in best practices.

What should law firms do?

As Rob points out, most clients of his law firm would not be phased by some silly Facebook play that created these automated communities. That’s probably true, however, I believe law firms should include in their strategy an education based policy. The best approach is to educate employees in the best practices of participation on the social Web.

Most law firms now recognize that guidelines or policy are necessary. I suggest they not stop there. Circulating a policy or guidelines to employees and attorneys and partners is not enough. You need to add education. Face it, policies are skimmed and filed away. There is no direct association between the guidelines and the users’ behavior until the law firm says….”we’re serious about this.” Serious enough to invest the time and resources to add an educational component to the mix. When they do this they communicate that they understand the impulses associated with the freedom of voice and the balance necessary to maintain the firm’s well being. It’s not about taking away the individual’s voice. Employees and partners need to understand that everything they do on the social Web has a direct or indirect effect on their paycheck! When a law firm adds the educational component they say “we care about your professional development and here are some tips to help you stay on track.” If people want to add funky stuff to their profiles or associate with non-professional themes or persons then they should not add their employer to their profile. It’s that simple.

For more ideas on Social Media Policy check out my earlier post. Meanwhile, if your firm needs some training, that’s what we do at LawGravity. We’re in the trenches and know the law firm environment. We’re ready to help you.

Thinking about the best way to structure that Alternative Fee Agreement your client is requesting? Well, it may take some time up front and some serious understanding of the benefits for both client and law firm to strike the right balance. And, as in most things alternative, AFAs are situational, but when done properly can be a win-win for everyone.

For anyone new to the discussion, the best place to start may be to understand why the topic of AFAs has escalated in the past year or so. While the “economic downturn, everything is changing” scenario is a good start, according to Will Auther, a partner at Bowman and Brooke, sophisticated buyers of legal services have ALWAYS relied on fee ‘arrangements’ as opposed to the billable hour. It’s just lately that the rank and file client has challenged the commonly accepted billable hour.

When I spoke with Will last week, he shared with me some of the key issues that his panel will be addressing at the June 9-10 Raindance Conference presented by the Legal Sales and Services Association and West Legal Education.  Joining Will on the panel are David Susler, Associate General Counsel at National Material, L.P., Anita J. Wilson, VP and Chief Employment Counsel for TreeHouse Foods, Inc., Patrick J. Lamb, Founding Partner of Valorem Law Group.

If you’re short on time, I’ll tell you the punch line—your missing the boat if you think they can’t be used for almost every type of matter your law firm handles. If you want the whole story you’ll have to attend RainDance 2010. It’s sure to be enlightening. Meanwhile, here’s the sweet low down.

[VMO NOTE: This post reflects the notes I took during our conversation and are not verbatim. I have used the “interview” format to make for easier reading.]

VMO: Why are we talking about Alternative Fee Agreements? What’s the story?

WILL: Our firm has been using [alternative] fee agreements for as long as I can remember. Depending on whom you talk to, hourly billing didn’t become vogue until sometime in the 60’s, maybe 70’s. Before the billable hour it would work like this; a client came to your law firm with a legal need, a lawyer would deliver services, write out a bill for services based on the value he or she believed was delivered—rendered X DOLLARS—and the client would pay it. End of story.

As legal services became commoditized in the eyes of, for example, insurance companies who believed the amount of time spent on such and such type case was fairly predictable, there was a move to dictate what an hour of time was worth to them, thus, the billable hour. I don’t think you’ll find many lawyers had that mindset early on; it was driven by an industry clients that wanted to quantify the work. [See also new reader comment below for more insight on how the billable hour came about]

The billable hour then led to what we now know as the common business model for larger law firms; LEVERAGE. Leveraged pyramids didn’t exist in the old law firm business model, only value for services rendered which is essentially a Fee Agreement.

VMO: As they say, what’s old becomes new again. Why is the model now swinging back to Fee Agreements?

WILL: For the past twenty years or so law firms incrementally raised their hourly billing rates, annually. Clients were seeing their rates rise but they continued to receive the same value and same service. (VMO: obviously not a sustainable proposition and that’s why we’re talking about Alternate Fee Agreements today!) Even before the economic down turn general counsel began trying to figure out how to fix it. One big factor in the current discussions has been the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Value Challenge. The ACC Value Challenge has elevated the discussion to a different level. Sectors that had not previously been thinking about what sophisticated users of legal services were doing for a long time are now reaching into the business models of every firm. AFAs have become THE hot topic in past year. That’s why we’re hearing so much about it. Small, medium, large, sophisticated and non-sophisticated purchasers of legal services are waking up the discussion. If you think about it, law firms today are primarily comprised of attorneys and in-house counsel who literally grew up with the billable hour. So, this is a big departure for many and one that needs careful attention to do them well.

VMO: The Alternative Fee Agreements I’m seeing today are pretty sophisticated, more than an old-time agreement of X for services rendered. What’s working?

WILL: Yes, that’s right. There are many ways to skin a cat and it pretty much comes down to how you want to share the risk with your client. For example, you can approach an Alternative Fee Agreement with fixed fees, phased fees, milestone fees, bonus fees, volume arrangements, contingency fees, or disaggregation of services, i.e. bill or price on a commodity basis.

No matter what the approach one thing is true of all; an Alternative Fee Agreement is a move away from the billable hour. Discounts and blended rates are NOT an AFA, because they do not take the emphasis off the billable hour. Though some will still debate this, the fact is, discounts and blended rates do not drive down cost for the client nor improve the profit line for the law firm, two elemental reasons for instituting Alternative Fee Arrangements. This will be a topic that the panel will be going into with more detail.

VMO: What’s in it for the client and what’s in it for the law firm? Why does it work?

WILL: There is great benefit for the client. AFAs will drive down costs over a period of time and they offer predictability. Sophisticated clients know their metrics – when and how much they’re going to be sued – it’s typically a line item on an annual budget.

For law firms, using tools and processes to deliver value to the client while reducing their own internal cost can increase their profit margin over time. When done right and well, it’s a win-win situation. For example, law firms might use early case evaluations to help the client make a decision whether the case should be settled early on.

Further, depending on the structure of the agreement an AFA can be an annuity for the firm without the cost of administrative oversight, collections and such. In fact, for both client and law firm there are significant efficiencies. The law firm can reduce payment delays and both parties eliminate time consuming conflicts over billing issues.

Mutual trust is a cornerstone of alternative fees. So, although there may be a substantial investment of time and resources at the on-set in developing an acceptable framework, in the long run it is time well spent for the law firm and the client. Arrangements built on mutual trust and willingness to share the risk typically lead to a long-term relationships.

VMO: Who is typically involved in pricing this modern version of the Alternative Fee Agreement?

WILL: It probably goes without saying that the Alternative Fee Agreement is a business transaction that is separate and apart from the legal transaction. In its simplest form it is a business proposal for the client and the law firm to work out and “agree” upon.

Alternative Fee Agreements are essentially the evolution of what it takes to deliver value to clients. Sophisticated clients typically know what a matter is worth to them to a large degree depending on the type of case and they don’t need to be beholden to the firm to tell them what it’s going to cost. You’ll find that some clients are aggressive in fixed fee programs; they tell you how they want you to bid it—this way or that way. Others, those who don’t use legal services on a regular basis, don’t even know how to bring the discussion up let alone how they would implement. In those cases it may be for the lawyer to bring it up and explain to the client why it makes sense for everyone involved. IF you can demonstrate you know what you’re talking about, build the value proposition—assure the client that you are there for them—after that; it really just depends on the client’s circumstances and need.

VMO: I once heard a general counsel comment that law firms commonly include in services descriptions phrases such as “regularly handle this” or they “routinely do that,” yet when asked how much is this case going to cost, they can’t answer. Are there cases you have seen that are a better fit than others for AFAs?

WILL: There’s no reason an Alternative Fee Agreement can’t be used in every practice area. They can be very effective in labor and employment cases, intellectual property, finance, mergers and acquisitions and litigation. Again, there are many types of AFAs and some work better than others for certain types of work, for example; cases that are more routine may benefit from disaggregation of services as opposed to cases where you are doing something really different, then it probably makes sense to build in a contingency, phased or bonus arrangement.

Where a matter does not appear to be routine, stopgaps can be built into agreements to protect the law firm in the event of something really unusual. Our panel has a lot of experience to share in this regard.

VMO: Thanks, Will. I look forward to the panel’s discussion. See you at the Raindance!

[There are a number of good resources on Alternate Fee Agreement and some fairly hearty discussions have taken place on Martindale.com’s Connected community as well as Legal OnRamp.  And there are dozens of blog posts on the topic.

Two interesting reads on billable hours and predictability come from Tim Cororan "Don't Tell Me What You Think I Want to Hear, Tell Me What I Should Know and Heather Milligan  "How much does your hourly billing rate cost your client?" Recommended reading....and food for thought.]