The Greatest American Lawyer

Who Am I Really?

I have updated my profile page .  Click here to learn more about the man behind the mask.   By the way, I wonder if Scheherazade Fowler @ StayOfExecution (one of the most prolific and well written personal blogs on the net) knows that I taught sailing for over 12 years, and grew up on a Formosa 51 which my lawyer dad owned?  Having met Ms Fowler at LexThink where she seamlessly performed the difficult task of 'facilitator', I bet she looks great in a blue blazer, hanging out at the yacht club sipping rum and coke.

And yes, I shall remain anonymous.  Even though it is probably no longer necessary, it feels better that no one in my town knows that this blog exists.  Medium-sized towns chew people up and spit them out when they step outside the norm.  "Out of line" is essentially anyone who challenges the way things are being done.  There are a lot of very powerful and wealthy people who have a vested interest in status quo.  Plus, I  work hard to make sure that there are no impediments to the things I can and must say here.

Let me put it to you this way.  I wouldn't jump on the table at a dinner party and scream obscenities.  I would feel comfortable doing that here. That freedom feels good.

It is also liberating to know that only a relatively few people in the blogosphere know who I am.  It is always easier being a stranger.

FileCenter: Another Piece of the Puzzle

I just had a very interesting product demo of a product called FileCenter by Authoritative.net.  They received major Kudos in a TechnoLawyer.com piece written by Jim Garrison, Legal Computing Services, The HotDocs.com, www.hotdocs.info.   

FileCenter software potentially solves two pieces to my technology puzzle, file management and remote access. I have found Woldox to simply be way too much for my small office needs.  I tried Filenotes but was not impressed enough to purchase (it really seemed to slow down my computer).

Here is what the manufacturer says about their File Center Software:

More than document management. More than a paperless office. With FileCenter, small offices can finally enjoy the intra-office harmony of a complete file management suite. ...

A picture does really speak a thousand words.  Here is a schematic which shows the file management functionality:

I am beta testing next week and will let you know how it goes.  It looks like a natural for my virtual paralegal/law clerk program and file management needs (Thanks Todd for the demo!).   

No Non-Solo Is An Island ...

Carolyn Elefant offers a preview at the chapter she's contributing to an upcoming edition of the ABA's book, "Flying Solo." In "How Not to Be Lonely," Elefant writes,

Ironically, one of the greatest benefits of starting a law firm - being able to work alone - may actually be one of the greatest hazards of solo practices, as this Q&A from the Massachusetts Bar Association website points out (thanks to my fellow blogger David Giacalone for sending this article my way). 

I appreciate Carolyn's point.  There is a sense of isolation away from the superficial hustle and bustle of a large law firm.  I don't know why I should feel any less involved now as an independent as I did before, but in honesty I do feel less 'in the loop.' It doesn't really make sense.  I have no problem being alone.  I can be social, and have all the right skills.  But I don't need other people around.

I was so busy billing hours at my old 10 lawyer 40 person law firm, I rarely socialized during business hours or thereafter.  I felt a subtle guilt in talking to friends and family on the phone while at work [when I could be billing clients], and neither visited me except in rare circumstances.  Yet, there was more of a sense of 'invovlement.'

Today, I sit in MY office doing things MY way under MY rules [or lack thereof].  Friends and family stop by regularly.  Clients visit more often.  I love this lifestyle as well as my practice.  But if I don't make it a point to schedule lunch dates and activities with other lawyers, I start to get a little unsettled and disconnected.

A small firm or non-solo independent practitioner needs certain qualities to succeed:

1. be self-motivated;
2. be  steady and efficient worker;
3. be motivated to get out of the office and mix among peers. 

Marketing Your Firm With Alternative Billing

Larry Bodine's PROFESSIONAL MARKETING Blog reprints an article from the April 18 issue of the Chicago Tribune titled "Hourly legal fees under attack, Traditional billing by time spent is standard at most big law firms, but McGuireWoods is advertising alternatives." 

One of the more interesting things about entering the blogosphere has been the realization that I am not the only person who (1) believes hourly billing is bad for clients and bad for the profession of law and (2) is trying to change the way law is practiced.   In the above noted article, there are several references to large law firms which offer innovative and service-oriented billing alternatives to their clients.  Here are some of my favorite quotes:

• Survey after survey of in-house law departments shows that their top priority is reducing the money they spend on outside law firms.  Some of the growth in legal expenses is out of their control, as companies deal with more lawsuits and regulations and turn to outside lawyers to handle these matters.
• One Chicago firm has found that alternative arrangements work in handling large, complex lawsuits. Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott, a boutique litigation firm, typically charges a flat fee, payable in monthly installments. The client retains a percentage that it pays only if the firm is successful. Otherwise, the client keeps the money.
• "We like to get paid for results rather than the hours," said Sidney "Skip" Herman, Bartlit Beck's managing partner.
• McGuireWoods has been offering alternatives to hourly bills for years. About 35 percent of the firm's annual revenue of about $300 million comes from alternative billing arrangements.

I have always believed that alternative billing offers a tremendous marketing advantage, since so few firms do it.  Virtually every client hates paying by the hour.  But most have no idea there are alternatives. 

I am about to launch my own advertising campaign.  I have selected the most upscale restaurants in my county, where business owners and managers are most likely to dine.  My "Johnny Ads" displayed in restroom will play on client discontent with hourly bills by attorneys.  It will then introduce them to the fact our firm bills for results, not hours. I have purchased a four-month run from June through September. I'll let you know how it goes.

Not Yet Announcing ... My Law Firm

When you open a new business, there is a temptation to want to tell the world right away.  I would recommend anyone opening a new law firm to be careful not to send announcements too soon. Here I sit some 2+ months after starting my new firm.  I still have not sent announcement letters to attorneys or clients despite my initial plans to do so right away.  And it has worked out much better.

I was initially delayed by the fact that our plan to rely exclusively on cell phones for business was hampered by the fact that reception proved to be spotty in my office and non-existent in Jenny's office.  Once we got our ISP phone through lingo.com hooked up, we were already swamped with business.  We couldn't imagine taking in any more cases and did not want to provoke referrals until we could handle the load.  We then set out to hire virtual law clerks and paralegals.  Now that we have two law clerks on board part time, and one part-time paralegal, we are confident we can handle additional litigation any matter that comes through our announcement and coordinated marketing campaign.

The delays have been to our benefit.  We will now coordinate our mailing to about 500 people, with our summer advertisement campaign through Johnny Advertising (yes, rest room ads which I will post about in the near future) and a coordinated press release.  From a  marketing point of view, we want people to see us three or more times over a short period.  Also, our physical offices are in better shape to receive visitors.  And I will be in a much better position to handle the calls, many of which which will be congratulatory, than I was my first two months in business where I spent a lot of time putting out fires. 

The 'Real World' of Independent Practioners

My Shingle posts on two "solo" experiences which are instructive and interesting.  My favorite is "Hanging Out a Shingle: Following the Dream of Starting Your Own Firm"
by JAIME LEVY PESSIN posted here at LegalMatch Marketing.

Here is some wisdom to live by if you are an independent practitioner:

''You get a lot of great publicity from doing something good. If you're going to do it, be committed to it. These groups have seen a lot of phonies come in, try to network with everyone and be out the door in six months,'' said Bernard Wysocki of Wysocki & Smith in Waukegan. ''Clients and other attorneys aren't necessarily looking for the best lawyer. They're looking for the lawyer they feel is going to care about them.''

It is true.  Being good helps, but other attorneys are looking for a comfort level with the person, as much as the lawyer, when they refer out cases. 

I also agree that marketing to the larger law firms in town is critical in generating referrals.  A large percentage of referrals come as a result of a conflict of interest with another attorney, who then advises the prospective client where they should go next.  Larger firms obviously have more conflicts and are a great source of referral business.

Billable Hour Obsession Born Of Firm Manager Laziness?

Here is an interesting article about the the difficulties of our profession.   It is written by Hillary Mantis, republished by the Vault.com with permission of The Princeton Review.  It cites some old data from interviews of new lawyers back in the early 1990s.  The findings were as follows:

The 3,000-plus "young lawyers" (defined as under age 36 or less than three years in practice) interviewed cited three major problems causing job dissatisfaction:

1. Lack of time for self and family, due to billable hours requirement
2. Failure to communicate and isolation within the firm
3. Lack of training or mentoring within the firm

If these were the findings back in the early 1990s, I can only imagine what the results would be in 2005.   

I would suggest that unhappiness is a function of lack of purpose.  People who go to work with vision and purpose are rarely unhappy because of work. Going to work with the primary purpose of billing 10 hours to a paying client before you go home is hardly fulfilling. 

What I never understood is why firms didn't motivate their associates with a purpose of delivering quality and value.   A  lawyer motivated to deliver results would work just as hard, and likely even harder.  And providing a deeper purpose to associates would further instill pride, self-worth and other job satisfaction metrics.

I sometimes wonder if the near obsessive focus on the billable hour by firm managers was born of a mixture  of mathematical simplicity and laziness.  Why try to quantify value and quality if you can get away with simply adding hours a the end of each day? I also conclude that that billable hour obsession by firm managers has, over the long term, worked against their own business interests.

One of the benefits of this blog is that I renew my purpose each time I post.  If I feel a lack of focus coming on, I can always go back and re-read what I have written.

Thin Skinned Solos

My previous post and follow-up about rethinking the label of solo-practitioners drew numerous comments, both on this blog, and on the MyShingle blog (where my post was again referenced by the Legal Blog Watch hosted by Law.com).

Some more pointed comments suggested that I should toughen up and ignore any stereotypes about solos in my own practice.  But that approach misses the point.  I could  care less what people think of me personally.  That much should be clear from my bio.   But I do care about perceptions since they tend to perpetuate the current systems and business models which dominate our profession. And if we simply say "who cares," we can expect more of the same for many years to come.

I am grateful for the discussion however, and the feedback.  I do agree with one comment made Dave who hosts the South Carolin Trial Law Blog:  He commented to my post on MyShingle; "Let your life be the proselytizer and attitudes will change."  I had to look up "proselytizer" but after doing so could not agree more. Actions do speak louder than words. Words, however, have a place in this as well  Words provoke discussion and, together with actions, give great potential for change.

Silence Perpetuates the Status Quo

Here is an interesting article written by Daniel B. Evans in 1993 which discusses in detail "Why Lawyers Can't Manage."

Some interesting observations made by Mr. Evans:

I have read too many articles and commentaries which lament the extent to which law has become a "business". The implicit assumption is that if a lawyer acts like a greedy, unprincipled, and insensitive pig, he is acting like a businessman. The truth is that a successful service business strives to provide useful and attractive services at reasonable prices, promote customer satisfaction, and earn a profit. Why are those concepts so offensive to the legal profession? ...

At a partnership meeting, most lawyers will be better at raising issues than at resolving them. They will not be happy until they have dissected every aspect of the situation, raised every possible problem or consideration, and voiced every possible argument for and against every issue. Trained to identify problems, they do so at every opportunity, whether or not it is appropriate, often blocking any managerial action by the firm.

Because they raise (or create) so many problems in business transactions, lawyers have a reputation for being "deal killers". What is often overlooked is that lawyers can also be "law firm killers"....

Recording time spent of behalf of clients was originally supposed to help law firms bill clients and allocate resources more intelligently. ... However, law firms today do not use recorded time as one factor to consider in billing clients, but use recorded time as the sole factor in billing clients. This has so many adverse effects that the "billable hour" has become a Frankenstein monster, now threatening to destroy the lawyers who have nourished it.

After a long day (or a long week) of arguing with opponents in court or negotiating with the other parties in a commercial transaction, a lawyer will return to the office to meet with his or her partners. Unable to psychologically "shift gears" or "shift roles", the lawyer will continue to think and act like an adversary, and will proceed to argue with his or her partners or negotiate with them instead of cooperating with them.

There clearly are significant institutional issues working against significant improvements in the legal system, and especially the business practices of law firms.  That is why I believe that the most immediate and important goals for innovative lawyers include offering market alternatives to clients and educating other lawyers, clients, law schools and associates about the problems and alternatives to traditional hourly billing business models.  We can make a difference but we can not do so silently.  Silence merely perpetuates the status quo and leaves people with the impression that (1) the current system is appropriate and (2) there are no alternatives.

Hurricane Force Winds Destroy Legal System

I am vacationing in Punta Gorda, Florida which took the brunt of Hurricane Charlie on Friday, August 13, 2004.  Most of downtown will eventually be demolished and rebuilt. Many parts of the city still look like a war zone.

Old out-dated buildings were the first ones to be decimated by the hurricane.  Those with poor foundations and weak roofs did not stand a chance against Charlie's force.

Ten years from now, this will be a brand new city, with brand new buildings and numerous hurricane induced improvements. The brand new roofs completed thus far already give the community an air of progress, renovation and improvement. Out of destruction comes rebirth.

Will the legal system have to be destroyed before true innovations and improvements are seen?  Or do blogs have enough force to knock down the pillars which hold up the current iteration of the billable hour law firms? 

One thing is for sure.  It would be nice to see some shiny new roofs on the old structures which dominate the legal landscape.

The Independent Practitioner

Carolyn Elefant of MyShingle web log fame (devoted to encouraging practitioners to abandon partnerships in favor of what has traditionally been referred to as solo practice) posted about what should we call practitioners who are not in partnership-based law firm.

Her response to my post yesterday goes to show how far ahead of me she is on this journey into a non-partnership-based practice.  She offers this insight from her personal experience:

As I posted in GAL's comments, when I started my firm, I referred to myself as an independent practitioner.  These days, when asked what I do, I typically say that I have my own law firm - though I might say that I work for myself. 

What can I say.  I love it. An independent practitioner sends all the right connotations and provides a nice contrast to "partnerships."  One of the benefits of being a solo is that you truly are independent of the influences which inevitably interfere with the duty to the client. Partnerships end up being about the partners far more than the clients.  The partnership business model becomes and end in and of itself.  As importantly, the word "independent" does not suggest "alone." 

Solos exercises independent judgment, independent thinking and are in a much better position to offer independent advice to clients.  In fact, the disciplinary rules and ethical considerations which speak to the issue of duties to the client govern conflicts of interest and seek to ensure that lawyers exercise their best judgment on behalf of each client, free from all competing or conflicting influences.

The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (2004) note that a Lawyer's duty to their client includes that of advisor.  A lawyer's duty as an advisor is defined as follows:

Rule 2.1 Advisor

In representing a client, a lawyer shall exercise independent professional judgment and render candid advice. In rendering advice, a lawyer may refer not only to law but to other considerations such as moral, economic, social and political factors, that may be relevant to the client's situation.

Thanks again for your insights and wisdom Carolyn .  It is no wonder you are featured in JD Bliss "Success Story: Carolyn Elefant: How to Go Solo." As always, you are a true inspiration.

Solo Means Alone; I am Not Alone …

As many of you already know, I have taken issue with the term ”solo” for practitioners who do not practice in a partnership setting.  Solo has the negative connotation of being alone.  When I was working in a partnership, I had no more resources than I have now.  In fact, I arguably have more resources now, since I can easily look outside the walls of my own firm for answers to important questions.  Finding the most knowledgeable person, rather than the most knowledgably person in your own firm, is liberating. 

With email list services organized by practice areas and a growing number of legal blogs providing rich vertical content, any attorney has a variety of methods to identify issues and solve legal problems.  There is no competitive disadvantage for attorneys who avoid the partnership model of legal services.

So what should we call practitioners who are not in partnership-based law firm, if not solo-practitioners?  Maybe we should simply reject the solo label and simply reject distinguishing ourselves at all.  We are lawyers.  We are law firms. This is an issue I will be thinking about over the next months. I would welcome your suggestions.

Thinking About Every Minute Of Every Day

One of the advantages of a contingency fee lawyer is that they rarely think of their practice in terms of hourly time.   Most do not keep time sheets at all.  I have worked in both settings.  For the unmotivated, the billing sheet provides a steady task-master for the attorney, ensuring that they stay focused activities which allow them to bill client files.  A contingency fee lawyer simply does what is required for the case.  Motivation is compelled by the fact that no recovery means no pay.  In many ways, a contingency fee lawyer’s interest is tied directly to the client’s interest.  They are both in the boat together.

As I break the ties of 5 years working in an aggressive hourly environment, I look forward to shedding the habits of an hourly lifestyle where every minute doing something with your family, your friends or simply tending to your own life is not equated with lost profits.

Howard Roark Law Firm

Remember when Roark went to trial to defend his destruction of the Stoddard Temple?  He won during jury selection be choosing jurors who believed that society had no right to the competence of any man.  I wish Ayn Rand would have made Howard a lawyer.  I would have loved to see how he created a perfect professional services law firm.  What would he have thought of LexThink?

Greatest American Lawyer Revealed

The GAL is an ideal. It is an aspiration to the professional standards which must become, at a minimum, part of the discussion.  Currently, such standards are considered foolish idealism.  The real crime is that such standards are considered idealism as opposed to capitalism.   The GAL does not aspire to altruism.  Neither does the GAL feel the need to give away legal services.  GAL believes in capitalism as originally intended; value paid for value provided.

One thing is for certain, the current iteration of the hourly billing method has little to do with providing value or being paid for quality. It has little do with anything except billing .. .hours.  Is that capitalism?

Does Size Really Matter?

Reputation Dilemma

For trial attorneys, going small / solo can cause perception issues.   The local bar often presumes competence and success is somehow related to firm size.   The most prestigious law firms are presumptively the ones with the largest number of attorneys.  The least prestigious are presumptively the smallest firms and the solos.

Does size really matter?  I once had a high school friend who was often heard to say, “It is not the size of the wand, but the magic in it.”  As I venture deeper into non-solo practice, I am beginning to think he was he was indeed a wise beyond his years.

At LexThink, there was discussion about the difficulties imposed by common stereotypes attached to solo law firms.  These stereotypes can affect client decisions concerning representation, the settlement positions of adverse counsel and insurance companies, referral networks and related issues.

Prospective clients sometimes favor large law firms for no other reason than that they are large.  What they fail to realize is that they are the ones who pay for the overhead of the gorgeous lobbies and big shiny buildings.

What clients may not realize that they may be trading a small firm business model based on competence for a large firm business model based on billing as many hours as possible. I am going to start a link section to solo success stories which will include lawyers and law firms have broken through the stereotypes to become dominant market players in spite of (and in fact because of) their small size. We need to add to these success stories, and market our advantages so that the stereotypes slowly dissolve and competence is judged on quality and other objective measures.

I am Posting This From 30,000 Feet

The Mile High Club (Virtual Airplane Blogging):

Actually I wrote this post last night.  One of the cool features of TypePad (and other blogging tools) is that you can schedule posting to occur at a future date (like when you are in the middle of a flight).  Most bloggers say it is best to post in the the morning.  The easiest way to make that happen is to write posts and schedule them to release before the sun comes up so the early risers will see content in their newsreader.  Pretty cool ..

Finding Virtual Law Clerks

I received a comment and question about Virtual employees as follows:

Where and how do you find these virtual workers? How do you evaluate them? What are the confidentiality and conflict screens you use? I'm very interested in this concept, but don't understand the specifics very well.

Posted by: Scheherazade | April 6, 2005 12:45 PM

Finding Employees: I posted for law clerks on my Alma mater law school web site which allows attorneys to post job openings.  Interestingly, I received students with excellent credentials.  I attribute this to the uniqueness of the posting which emphasized independent work, flex hours, self-motivation and great pay. I also anticipate that there are many lawyers out there who stopped practicing to raise children and would love to step into a virtual position, but would never go back to a 50 hour/week job at  a law firm. 

Evaluation:  I evaluated them initially based on their resumes, grades etc and a phone interview.  The real test is in their work product.  Since they are not employees, they only get work if they complete the assignments in a timely fashion delivering quality solutions. So bad workers simply don't get further work.

Confidentiality:  Each worker signs an Independent Contractor agreement which mandates confidentiality, etc.  If there is a conflict, they can reject the assignment.  All documents transmitted with attorney client information are labeled as such and, in the case of Adobe docs, password protected, locked down for printing, etc. I instruct all workers that they must delete files from their hard drives at the conclusion of the assignment.

LexThink Attendees

I have added all the LexThink attendees to my Non-Solo Resources links on the right-hand margin.  If you were wondering who the cool people are, look no further than these links ...

LexThink To Do List: Create Billing Standard

I think everyone at LexThink agreed that the current hourly billing model needs substantial reform.  One thing that I want to see happen is for the LexThink group is to agree on a set of principles which we can subscribe to which formalizes new billing concepts and guidelines.  These are simple practical things such as :

1. no charging for copies and long distance;
2. no billing for  phone calls under 10 minutes (just the action items which come out of phone calls);
3. the difficulty of the task determines the fee rate, not the lawyer who happens to be assigned (thereby pushing easy stuff down to lower billing rate);
4. matching clients with billing structures which meet their needs (flat fee, contingency, value hour);
5. working within a client approved budget;
6. creating a documenting efficiency incentives;
7. the lawyer should take on some level of risk with each project.

This is an outcome I hope to work on over the next year. 

Familiarity breeds stupidity

New Site Design
With all my  new friends and a steady growth in traffic, I though it was time to change things up a bit.  I think everyone needs change in their life just to keep them thinking. 

How do you like the new look?

Smart Lawyers Leverage Technology For Pleasure

Last Thursday, my client decided to settle a case scheduled for trial in two weeks.  Within 24 hours an e-ticket from Northwest Airlines arrived in my in-box courtesy of my beautiful wife and three sons.  If I worked for a traditional law firm, I would  not be joining  my family in Florida for 9 days.   

THE WORKING VACATION...

I have always believed that it is preferable to mix business and pleasure, rather than stay home while my family goes on vacation.   I have always been pretty good at balancing family and clients while on a working vacation (which as a litigator is most of them).   I am putting this post in the non-solo category because it should be an inspiration for any attorney who values the  flexibility which technology make possible.

Working vacations are great time to under promise and over perform to both family and clients.   Well implemented technology means you can work from anywhere.  The trick of course is to avoid juggling family and work, and instead effectively and fairly manage both.

Not that I don't worry whenever I leave the office behind.  I just worry about the right things.  I work on the kind of things that are meaningful to an effective and successful working vacation:

1. leveraging all available technology to work remotely and efficiently,
2. buying additional roaming minutes for the load which will  be placed on my cell phone,
3. using gotomypc.com to access files and applications securely,
4. preparing task lists to make sure things move forward for clients;
5. using the QuickScribe digital dictation system (I love this software program) on my Compaq nc6220 to keep the paper flowing ;
6. ensuring all incoming mail is scanned, meta-tagged and emailed to my laptop each day;
7. waking up early to get things done before the family wakes up;
8. working after the kids go to bed;
9. managing phone calls but letting almost everything go to voice-mail and setting aside blocks of time to respond;
10. setting two 'no work' days.
11. fighting off (or ignoring if necessary) any interloper clients, counsel or other malcontents whose negative karma  would seek to ruin that ever-so-delicate working vacation balance.

I am more efficient on my computer dictating directly onto my Adobe .pdf files sitting poolside than most lawyers are sitting at their desktop computers.  As they scramble to find paper files and run cassette tapes to secretaries for dictation, I'll be e-filing digital briefs.

The big firm life of the Anonymous Lawyer would never allow for this level of flexibility.   A non-solo answers only to him/herself, his/her family and the client.   He/she works efficiently and flexibly focusing and resolving specific tasks.  The fact that they wear a bathing suit while solving problems or educating clients detracts nothing fro the bottom-line and make most everyone else just happy enough.

GO Non-SOLOs!

The Truth About the Billable Hour

The Yale Law School Career Development Office has a great post which calculates the number of hours an associate must work each day in order to meet the billable hour expectations of most law firm. What the spreadsheet shows from my point of view is that the only way to meet those expectation is to engage in creative if not fraudulent billing practices (although that is not the intent of the author who merely wants to help associates understand what to expect). 

There is a great disclaimer at the bottom of the calculations, none of which actually explain how an associate legitimately reaches the hourly goals:

BUT once again this schedule does not account for any personal calls at work, training/observing, talking with coworkers, a longer lunch (to exercise? Christmas shop?), a family funeral, any pro bono work (if not treated as billable hours), serving on a Bar committee, writing an article for the bar journal, interviewing an applicant, etc.

I would add that the Yale calculations assume that every hour that is in fact worked gets billed whether it added value to solving the client's problem or not. We all know that many firms could care less about the value of the hour spent which creates a major conflict of interest with the client's goals.

I once knew a lawyer who used to quip about associates "We can put a monkey in that chair and get them to 2000 hours."  I always believed that particular quote really captured the anti-client business model of most hourly billing firms.

How is it that many firms seem to bill at a rate of 100%-140% of the time they actually put in at the office? Associates are effectively forced to bill on their timesheets 10-12 hours per day by inflating the hours actually worked.  They are under tremendous pressure to charge a minimum 12-18 minutes for work that may take 1-5 minutes worth of time.  They bill for everything they do, whether administrative or otherwise (ie transmittal letters). And of course, they are under pressure to always round minutes upwards.

Here is a good discussion thread on what a reasonable billable goal is, measured about how much time you actually work. There is discussion that suggest you are efficient if you bill 40% - 70% of the time you actually put in at the office. 

Billable Hour Cliff Notes

Adam Smith brings the collective wisdom of the blogosphere on my favorite target, The Seemingly Indestructible Billable Hour.  His results of "Savvy Blawgers" Query #2 is the best discussion I have found concerning the billable hour ... a must read for those interested in the subject, or for those who want to know what all the gripe is about. 

Some of the best insights:

• The billable hour is a terrible thing. Everyone in large law firms is better off by scuttling it, with the exception of the dishonest and inefficient, who will fare poorly. The savings garnered by the client can be split with the honest and efficient lawyers. Prof. William Henderson.
• The 1960s marked the coming of age of the billable hour –  "Today, unintended consequences of the billable hours model have permeated the profession.  [...]" Former President of the ABA Robert Hirshon.
• I expect alternative billing to remain in the realm of experiment, primarily used by innovative lawyers who will be criticized by some of their peers and praised by their clients. Dennis Kennedy.
• "For about the last seven years, I have been preaching that the billable hour will be dead in five years. What's a little hyperbole among friends? Monica Bay (joking of course)
• But the system we have now is so complicated that it's too hard for all the important king-makers to figure out a new system that they could all make as much, or more, money in that's also simple. The solution, in the case of lawyers and alternative billing, is that the system has to purge a few king-makers and make the remaining ones scared enough to believe that failure to innovate might be detrimental to their financial health." Ernie the Attorney.

My own belief is that the current iteration of the billable hour will be around for a long time, although it will be re-packaged by big firms to seem more client friendly.  However, innovative lawyers will see the low hanging fruit and offer clients a market alternative. Alternative billers must become dominant market players in order to drive the current crop of hourly billers out of business. Capitalism will favor those who deliver value and return on investment for each legal dollars paid.

Virtual Paralegal/Clerk Update

I have hired two virtual law clerks and one virtual paralegal.  These folks work as independent contractors on a project and task basis.  There was much interest in this concept at LexThink so I thought I would create a separate category for the topic and provide an update.

So far, the program is going very well in the following areas: 

Task Based Projects & Budgets:  Every assignment to a virtual employee is narrowly defined, documented and budgeted.  Unlike traditional firms which assign tasks to paralegal and clerks which are open ended and designed to create billable work, these tasks are designed to accomplish the opposite.  We reduce billable work by posing narrow questions and asking for narrow answers and solutions to narrow problems.  Each task allots so many hours of work to completion.  If the worker needs more hours, they must be approved.  All incentives push hard towards efficiency and answers.

Overflow Capacity: These virtual workers provide much needed overflow capacity for my practice.  I still have not sent out announcements for my new firm since I can barely handle the current workload.  The virtual program will create the capacity for me to deal with the inevitable increase in work that those announcements will generate.

Alternative Billing:  By pushing easier tasks down to lower billing workers, I am in a position to deliver much more bang for the buck.  On my flat fee cases, I increase my margins by not doing the work myself (and assuming I am working on another case while the virtual employees performs a task I would have otherwise performed).  On my value billing (hourly) cases, I push tasks down to the appropriate billing level which saves the client fees.

Profit Center:  As every non-solo knows, profits are tough when there is only one set of hands doing the lifting.  Each project or task assigned to a virtual worker results in profits for the firm.  Working properly, everyone wins.  The client pays lower fees.  The firm profits by assigning tasks to the lowest appropriate billing level.  The virtual employee wins by having flex hours and self-managed projects.  I am able to pay the virtual worker more since I don't have to provide office space, etc.

Thinking About Thinking

Fresh back from LexThink, I find myself...thinking.  Hear are my random thoughts:

1. The legal system can be saved, one blog at a time.

2. There are powerful people  who care about reforming the legal system.

3. Someone must be responsible for this mess. Let's sue them.

4. My dependency on technology scares me.

5. Legal bloggers are all interesting forward-minded people, but surprisingly diverse.

6. LexThink is an interesting project which only aspires to make people think.  It is up to the LexThink attendees to make something happen with those thoughts.

7. I lost my Bluetooth wireless earpiece at the Tech Show. I bet my buddy someone would turn it into lost and found.  I lost. Then again, I'm from a small tourist town on the lake.

8. Seeing little kids and babies in Chicago made me uneasy.  Where do those kids run? What are those babies breathing?
9. Raising kids in a medium sized city close to nature was the best career decision I have ever made.

10. I was looking for a verdict @ LexThink. But was it designed for that?

11. The Westlaw beach blanket was the best free (listen to this sales pitch) hand-out at ABA Tech Show.

Us & Them .... TechShow Thoughts

I had a nice day visiting with two of the 'us'  ... Ben Cowgill  at an eggs lunch and Monica Bay for morning coffee (thanks for the cookie). 

Bloggers Dinner number # tonight, then off to the House of Blues to see Toots and the Maytals...

Reflections on the day ...

1. Adobe Standard 7.0 should be mandatory for every law office.
2. Bloggers were the unkown variable fo the TechShow.  Will blogging be a fad  ... Or is it important?
3. Will technology move the balance from 'form over susbsance' to equal prioritization of 'substance' and 'form'?

Best TechShow Laugh

During the afternoon session of 60 sites in 60 minutes, the following link received a well deserved roar of laughter.

http://www.meet-an-inmate.com/

Race to Post. . Messing Around at TechShow

Ben Cowgill and Monica Bay decided to see who could take a  photo and post the fastest.  I came into the contest late but my bluetooth rocks.  Here is Ben trying to get his post up before Monica....

Look like GAL and his bluetooth enabled cell phone wins!

Favorites from ABA Tech Show

It is Friday at the Tech Show.  Here are my favorites thus far:

1. Bloggers Dinner:  The coolest people at the TechShow ...  There is a buzz around bloggers, blogging and blogs.  These folks are different and  this year the buzz will get louder ..
2. The Lawyers Guide to Adobe Acrobat - Speaker: David Masters  ...  Acorbat is the still the standard as more offices go paperless. 
3. Craig Ball on PowerPoint:  Speaker: Craig Ball.  Man, can that guy make PowerPoint go.
4. 60 Tips in 60 Minutes:  Speakers: Ellen Freedman, Reid Trautz, Laura Calloway, and Dan Pinnington.  Worth the price of admission. I can hardly wait to review the links provided on the CD.  I can easily commit to 50% of the tools identified and expect to see significant increases in office and practice efficiency.

I am revved up.  One o the more interesting vendors I have visited is Buzz Bruggeman with his ActiveWords product.  Here is what Slacker Manager a has to say...

I am in love with ActiveWords

The best thing, in my view, about ActiveWords is that the initial learning curve is so short.  If you do nothing but install the program and one add-in (misspellings), you'll reap some benefit immediately as ActiveWords corrects common misspellings on the fly, no matter what the context.  You could be in a word processing program or in a text field on the web--doesn't matter.  ActiveWords will correct a misspelling immediately after you type it.  I'm still startled by it when I mistype something and the word disappears then quickly reappears, corrected.

I'll let you know how the free download trial goes ...