The Greatest American Lawyer

Think Big

If you really want to get ahead in the world of business, you need to think big. Whether it's an entire marketing strategy or a revenue objective, the only way in which to make yours a great operation is to set out with high goals in mind.

Its so important to "go big" because to do any less would be to sell your business short. You have a definite faith in your product, so why wouldn't you want to maximize customers? I mean, if you set little goals, aren't you just stunting your growth? Accepting the accomplishment of a little goal as an achievement in itself, when in fact you have the capacity to do so much more?

This "big thinking" is so important in the world of new-age firms because you have a product that is on the verge of an explosion of popularity and is multitudes better than old-style competition. Think big. New-age firms are the next generation for the practice of law, and it is in both your, and every clients', best interest for the end of old-style firms to come as soon as possible. So make it happen! Start up a large marketing campaign to trumpet your technological advantage and set a challenging goal for a minimum client load. Don't allow yourself to accept small, aim big.

Backup!

One of the largest obstacles that keep people from making the "digital jump" is their fear of the well-known computer crash that erases all of your records and puts a halt to your life while you try and salvage what you can. Even for clients, the inherent distrust of technology can inhibit their ability to understand and appreciate the lengths at which technology allows you to beat out all other competition.

In order to put away those fears and fully release yourself in the digital era, you need to have backup systems in place, both for you and your clients' sake. The most effective way to do this is online, whereby you can hire-out the storage space and time that it takes to manually backup files that come into your system each day. There are companies today that will even scan and backup paper files on their own servers, which removes even another hassle. Some of these backup companies also have internet access, whereby you can access their servers (with your data) on a daily basis.

Making the investment in data backup is necessary for the security of your entire business. To allow your firm to work off of one copy of all client data puts you in a very hazardous position, and will have your firm in dire straits when your server fails. Seek out those companies that will backup your data as often as you update it, because it will not only eliminate that risk of data loss, but it will also allow you to answer your clients' question of  data security with one simple explanation.

Corporations are Very Limiting

I hate the industrial age society.  I am so glad it is dieing.  Its death is only prolonged by the baby boomers that slowly age, still thinking the internet is a cool little gadget that allows them to email their grandchildren.

There are many people in this world who realize that the internet and the technology, which has born it, will in fact continue to change the world in new ways at an accelerated rate, probably beyond our comprehension.

I have posted previously about the industrial age here. I hate the industrial age.

Those of you who understand the importance, and appreciate the gift, that is the information age should be flexing your first amended rights.  The power of having the idea -- well -- has simply never been so powerful.  The revolution has begun.

Staying Ontop of the Wave

Capital is the key to success in any business, but in the world of new-age firms that can virtually start from anywhere, you need to be willing to continually re-invest in order to maintain a firm that is just as high-tech it is supposed to be.

Your ability to do email correspondence and upload files to an extranet is a great asset that does give you a step ahead of the competition, but without continued research and investment of capital, that boost can quickly fall back into the pack. Any business that is so heavily dependant upon the internet needs to have the best in available technology so that they can best harness and utlitize the abilities that are sustained by it. High-tech isn't something you purchase once, you must continually strive to maintain that title.

Today, these are necessary tools that support the title of "high-tech":
Up-to-date projectors that allow you to display your models to clients much easier and cleaner than binders and photocopies;
Mobile computing capacity so that you can access your work from anywhere, be it at home, the coffee shop, or even the courtroom;
Small digital recorders so your ability to dictate expands farther than your access to files;
Networking and Server capabilities that encompass all computers within your office;
and the countless different software options that give you the ability to monitor email status, organize filing systems and transfer large-size files online.

There are many more pieces of technology that are just as necessary, and even some of these you can get around, but it is so important for new-age firms to stay at the leading-edge of technology because they are the firms that are most aided by new-found abilities. You dove into the new-age wave to gain efficiency and capacity, but both are subjective terms that can easily be lost if you don't remain mindful of current technological breakthroughs.
Do not let yourself fall behind, use capital for what it is for: investing in your business.

Finding Your Values

Looking back at the last two years, I realize many things. One of the things I realize is it is easy to loaf your way through life when you're working in a classic law firm partnership. Your values are heavily influenced by the firm's values. It's inevitable. Someone else's blue and your red make a new color purple. But it's still not your color.

The coolest and hardest part about being an independent practitioner is there are no cop-outs. You decide how you live your life every day. Your values, your creativity, and your passion dominate everything.

I Represented Michael Moore

As I was reflecting the other day (which is something I'm not prone much to do), it occurred to me that my little law firm sponsored the world premier of Borat right here in my hometown. I paid $1,500 to sponsor a film which Warner Brothers had not ever seen. They had a special section roped off for Michael and a group of Warner executives. Rumors were running wild in the back streets of Hollywood over this movie. In the form that we first saw it, the film was not yet rated. It was beyond R for sure, crossing the line well into X. The entire theater erupted in side-splitting laughter from the first moment the movie began for the first 40 minutes solid. It was unlike any other experience I have ever had in a theater.

My little independent practice was the sponsor of that film. We sat in the front row, right in the middle. Michael Moore stood 4 feet from us as he thanked my law firm for sponsoring the film. Larry Charles attended as well. He was dressed in a tunic-type dress suit with a full beard that ended in a point at least 12 inches below his chin. He looked like a Jewish Rabi.

And my little firm in the middle of nowhere sponsored that film.

How in the world could that have happened? And how did I end up on the phone with Michael Moore at all hours in the night working on contracts for the festival.

Perhaps the most important question that you all could ask yourself is whether something like that can happen if you are walking someone else's path.

It is hard for destiny to take you by the throat -- to fulfill your potential -- if you are not on your path. My path has led us in some incredible directions. The best reason to become an independent practitioner is because it makes you independent. It frees your mind, your body and soul to fully become -- you. The second best thing is knowing your children see you as a man fulfilling your potential and answering to no one at no value beyond your own.

Have you Ever Been a Defendant in a Court Room?

Every attorney should get sued. Every attorney should sit in the back of the court room as a client. Every attorney should know what it feels like to rely on someone else for legal advice.

As you know from this thread GAL GETS SUED, me and my firm got sued by my old law firm several months ago. I had no hesitation about hiring my own attorney to defend me. I never carried the delusion that I could be objective enough as a defendant to give myself good legal advice. It's cost me some bucks, just like our clients pay us big bucks out of their own pockets -- from their own hard-earned money -- to defend themselves in court or seek justice through the judicial system.

Marketing to a New Base

Marketing any business is the most important part of making your endeavor a success. In the world of the new-age law firm, new-age marketing is an area never fully explored by this field before, but essential to a firm's survival. The use of the internet as a marketing tool can go far beyond simply sponsoring search-engines; the simple existence of a website, along with a broad strategy of internet marketing can attract those clients who are confident in the world of technology, and will be in the best position to appreciate the capabilities that your firm will be able to offer  when they are comparing you to their grandfather's firm.

As a technological firm you can offer increased transparency and better communication; but in order to take advantage of those traits, your clients do need to be a little tech-savy. This is why internet marketing is so important, because the latest generation of lawsuit-facing Americans are the ones who grew up using computers and the internet in elementary school, and are using the internet daily.

Targeting this new client base is the best way in which to sustain your new-age firm and display your skills to a base that will be able to appreciate what you offer. A client who knows exactly what you are talking about when you say "set your username and password for the extranet" is the best one to take advantage of, and fully utilize, the capabilities offered by the technology. These are the clients who will also realize the advantages of your firm (and the entire corps of new-age firms) and leave the last-century firms at a loss for words.

The Power of Positivity

There is a great discussion going on in the blogosphere concerning the dependency of bloggers to point out what is wrong with the world.

David Maister has this post "Are We Too Negative" which started a vigorous debate (actually more folks agreeing with David that blogosphere may be making us more cynical).

Stephanie West Allan picked up on the discussion and provided these great links:

* Arnie Hurst "Seeing the Positive Side of Negativity in the Law Profession"

* Julia Fleming Brown "Look What’s Right"

* The transcript of Larry King Live on Positive Thoughts and the Benefits of Gratitude."

Beware Unsolicited Email from Prospective Clients

The ABA Journal has a great article called "Open Season on Email?".

The article analyzes an ethics opinion from the San Diego County Bar Association which concluded that attorneys who receive unsolicited emails from prospective clients can represent a client adverse to the sender of such email. Essentially, attorney in question received an email from the driver of a vehicle who hit the attorney’s current client. The issue was whether or not that unsolicited email precluded the attorney from representing, or continuing to represent, the current client arising out of the same auto accident.

The ethics committee, in my opinion, correctly decided that no attorney client relationship or expectation of a relationship is created by unsolicited email. The practical reality is that the internet makes communication so easy that lawyers would always be at risk of conflict of interest as a result of unsolicited emails.

Note that the lawyer in the unsolicited email even received information which would otherwise be strategically advantageous to the adverse party. Although the opinion covers a hypothetical situation, it is instructive for all attorneys who practice and market on the internet. Here is a link to the Opinion and your thoughts are welcome.

GAL Gets Sued Update

For those of you who have been following, you can see the history of litigation brought by my former firm against my firm for a quantum meruit fee on a particular case where we believe the former firm breached its ethical duties to the client. By way of brief synopsis, the former firm in its effort to try and retain the client, failed to advise the client of their right to select me as counsel. They, from my point of view, purposely deprived the client of information and proposed an illegal contract which would have precluded the clients’ choice.

The former firm’s position has been that it had no duty to inform the client that they had had a right to choose counsel. The former firm views that client as property of the firm. They brought a motion for partial summary disposition asking the Court to rule that they didn’t breach their ethical duties. That hearing occurred yesterday. The Court slammed my former firm and affirmatively held that there is an absolute duty by the former firm to advise the client of their right to select counsel. There is some great language in the hearing transcript which I will provide. Essentially, the Court confirmed my belief that a law firm may not disadvantage the client in any way while trying to serve its own interest in a fee.

This is a great day for the firm and exactly what I hoped would occur. For a while, I thought I was the only one who believed that you have to put your client ahead of your own interest. See my prior post on "Just Think of the Fucking Client".

Becoming Too Virtual

The ability to work from home, have employees who work from theirs, and to be able to maintain the same level of productivity as if you were in the office is great, but it should not be a replacement for time actually there. If you are working too remotely, the lack of face to face interaction can cost you. Working loads of hours from home may be great for your family, but you need to show your face at the office often enough, for both your colleagues, and your entire business.

You need to show your face to your employees to give them the help and support that they need in order to work their full capacity. While it is easy to assign a task to a colleague with a line in an email, it takes a little of “over the shoulder” supervision to make sure that you are both on the same page for its implementation.

Maintaining a good amount of time in the office is also a great way to stay connected to the basics. You probably have a person who handles the logistics of the firm, but don’t let yourself lose site of those basics, because they will leave you disconnected and distant from your own firm if you get too caught up in the high-end stuff.

By staying connected to the body of your business, and maintaining some time “in office”, you will surely maintain a great work atmosphere, where your employees and clients feel free to approach you for help or clarification. Further, your face, and being visible to show you working diligently will inspire your colleagues, and avoid from having employees who expect all higher-level communication from their inbox. This in turn, will create a more personable business and a welcoming atmosphere, which your clients will most definitely pick up their first time in the door.

Road Warriors Require Flexibility

To be a true road warrior, you need multiple avenues to accomplish the same task. I am currently down state for a multi day series of events for one of my friend’s fortieth birthday celebrations. This schedule is basically to party at night and work during the day.

When I arrived at my friend’s house, I discovered there was no wireless network. Luckily, I was able to receive emails on my Blackberry to know basically what was going on. We realized that one of our clients had been defaulted on a complaint they never forwarded to us. Of course, the motion to set aside the default had to be filed today. I needed to dictate some documents. I have my portable dictation device. I have my dictation software on my laptop. But my laptop could not connect to the Internet.

My friend did have an old desktop computer with an Internet connection. I logged onto our web dictation system and was able to dictate the motion to set aside default with only an Internet connection and a log in account.

True road warriors need two or three different ways to accomplish tasks on the road. When one avenue is blocked, another one is available. The beauty of web-based systems, such as our extranet and our web dictation, is that you only need "a" computer connected to the Internet. It does not have to be your computer.

Our Firm Sponsored the World Premiere Borat

It just occurred to me last night that my firm sponsored the very first showing of the blockbuster Borat at our local film festival. Borat is now the # 1 film in the country. Not only was I part of an audience that was the very first audience, including Warner Bros., to see Borat, but the introductions to the film at that event noted my firms sponsorship of that particular movie. At the time, no one knew if it would even hit the big screen, let alone become the blockbuster that it has.

Of course, this may be a clue for those who want to guess who the Greatest American Lawyer might really be… (No guessing if you already know).

What Makes a Good Worker in The Technology Age?

I previously posted about new skills required of the workforce in the technology age. I remember at my old law firm, we decided to abandon our Word Perfect/Corel Suite of applications when we got into a new computer lease. We were spending approximately $14,000 dollars in additional license fees by having both Word and Word Perfect on every computer. The commercial cases all involved word documents. Our clients were using word documents. But when it came time to tell the staff that we were switching, many of the workers rebelled. Despite the fact that we offered substantial retraining and resources to ease the transition, many of the workers were stuck in the Word Perfect mud.

Forgetting the fact that Word Perfect does offer a better "reveal codes" function, this was a relatively minor technology change in the grand scheme of things. Yet, you would have thought the world was coming to an end.

Those workers, who rebelled, would not qualify as good candidates in the technology age. A worker in today’s world must be flexible, be constantly willing to change with innovations being deployed by their company, and always be open to try new things.

At our firm, we deploy new technology and refine processes almost on a weekly basis. Our workers are the best kind of workers for the technology age. They know that there will be challenges in using and incorporating new technologies. But they are up for the task. Perhaps flexibility and open-mindedness are the most important traits for a true technology age worker

Outreach

The ability to work through the internet and connect with your colleagues with the click of the button is a great tool that drastically increases your capacity as a firm. The ability to work digitally allows your employees to work from home or across town with the same efficiency and work capacity as if they were right across the hall. However, it also expands your reach to encompass a much greater pool of potential paralegals and clerks by eliminating the problem of distance.

The advantages to having internet based work transcend the ability just to work from home. With case work and research being done online, and it unnecessary to require a “nine to five”, you do not have to restrict yourself to the paralegals and attorneys within your city limits. Technology gives you the capacity to utilize attorneys, clerks and paralegals from across your region, a capacity that could garner great returns for your firm.

Technology even allows you to tap into the best and brightest of the up and coming generation of lawyers. Utilize your capacity and sign on those first and second year students onto your practice while they are still in school. Without the restrictions from a traditional firm, those highly motivated "lawyers to be", will be able to work hard for your firm in between their studies and after class.

Technology in your firm opens up a much wider pool of prospective employees. The ability to work online will give you access to very qualified people who would not normally be able to work within your firm because of distance, or the constraints of a full load of classes; but because of your firm's ability to offer flexible hours and the ability to work from any computer, you will be able to bring in some great people.

Being There for Your Clients

Communicating with your clients and customers is an integral part of running any business, but it seems on many occasions too many of us forget this important aspect when working within the field of law; when in fact this field is where it is most important to connect with your clients.

Communicating and being available for your clients is so important within the field of law because of the inherently confusing nature of any lawsuit. To the average laymen who is involved in his first lawsuit, the court room is a confusing labyrinth of legal jargon and indiscriminate motions and rituals, in which lawyers maneuver around with their lives over the course of months.

These maneuvers consist of depositions, mediation appointments, pleadings and motions, and all play a very active role in the everyday workings of your office, but are a foreign language to many of your clients – who are relying upon you to decipher it for them.

This is why it is so important to communicate and make yourself available and approachable to your clients, because you need to walk them through the process and keep them abreast of their case at all points during the long process. An attorney locked up in their office is not the way to educate and update clients over the months during which they are working together, an attorney needs to be there for their clients and work hard to help them understand the status of their case as it progresses.

By constantly being available, in consistent contact, and transparent in your activities, you can open your office to your clients who will repay your work two-fold. Just as a suggestion from a new restaurant increases your interest - a great report from a friend about a lawyer, about how they always kept them updated of their case, will be better than any advertisement.

There Is Nowhere To Hide In The Law

Like every other service business, the law requires you to move the ball from point A to point B. Lots of clients rely on you each and every week. Documents have to be generated, negotiated and regurgitated.

People who sell products can sometimes walk away from the day to day grind of service. They can worry about things such as production and distribution.

Thank god for my virtual workers. When I am away for a week, atleast revenue is still coming in.

But we are what we work. Revenue is a direct function of effort.

Do Institutions Promote Stability or Simply Quash Innovation

Institutions are everywhere. Some are political, others are religious. The Bar Association is an institution. Even what we know is the legal profession, acts as an institution.

Institutions have all sorts of norms and rules which govern conduct and act to control behavior. Many institutions do so on the basis of morality or, in the case of the legal profession, ethics. Subtle and not so subtle pressures exist to keep everyone within the legal profession in a small tight box. Lawyers who step out that box are minumized, laughed at and shunned. In some instances, the institution actively seeks to attack the credibility of those who challenge the core precepts of the institution.

There was a time when institutions provided insulation against anarchistic behavior. Anarchistic behavior was perceived as bad. But innovation is only one step removed from anarchy. It is my belief that technology will in many ways erode the power which institutions have on our society. To the extent that you believe innovation and diversity are the core of capitalism, then we may actually be on the verge, for the very first time in American history, of true capitalism. As institutions lose their strangle hold on society and professions such as the law, market choices will increase. Discussions about what our society and the legal profession should look like will thrive. The institutions themselves will be challenged on intellectual, social and philosophical grounds.

Isn’t that what is happening right now in the blogosphere? Aren’t we seeing communities of like minded people banding together and entertaining national discussions about issues in ways that were never possible before?

Wake Up and Make Your Wife Coffee

I don’t know whether it is the fact that my life is no longer some robotic routine. Certainly, having the fexibility to work from home, make the kids breakfast in the morning and go to the office at 9:00 helps. Having your wife and kids visit you at the office on a regular basis is certainly a reminder of what is important.

I’ll admit it. Coming up on two years post "I quit", I am more in love with my wife and my family than ever before. I get to see them more often. The diversity of my day keeps a spring in my step. The best part about being an independent practitioner is that it breeds an appreciation for life, family and work which simply can’t be achieved at big law.

I have a busy day ahead of me. But I woke up early, cleaned the kitchen and made my wife coffee. The kids came down early. I got them fed and took a shower. I’ll be to work about 30 minutes later than usual. But there was no artificial time by which I had to be sitting in my chair. More importantly, there was no "pressure" for me to arrive at work at a certain time and make an appearance.

I was channel surfing last night and stopped on Larry King who had five guests on. I don’t know who they were but they each had a singular message. Life is what you make of it. You have the ability to see each situation either positive or negative. We have that choice at each and every moment of each and every day. Somehow, the sense of control one has when working for oneself spills over into other areas. No longer are we part of a large group. We are individuals. We do things because we decide that they need to get done. We are bound only by our own principles and motivated only by our own goals. We take charge of our lives as opposed to turning our lives over to others.

Why do we send our best law students off to the assembly line of big law? Why are greatest minds and talents wasted slaving to the will of others?

If the answer used to be because there was no other real alternative, then that answer is no longer a correct one. it is time to unshackle the lawyer slaves of the world. The age of individuals is upon us. Wake.Wake. Time is wasting. The time is now.

Oh! And don’t forget to make your wife coffee in the morning.

The Changing Workforce

The workforce that is required within a new-age business model is very different than those traditionally associated with other businesses within the same field. A business attempting to adopt 21st centruy technologies in order to win the ability to compete in the latest century can only succeed with the right people on its payroll.

You need forward thinking people who can think out of the box, who are familiar with the different technologies available in this new century and are dedicated to the drastic revolution in the field that your new tactics would bring about.

However, striking the right harmony between this energy and fresh thinking, and the experience and expertise that is required in any business is a difficult to achieve. Latest research is showing that this might be growing more and more difficult. With the coming retirement of the baby boomers, experts foresee an economy starved of these experienced workers over the next 10-15 years.

Research is also showing that the 25 – 34 age group will only grow 7.5 percent, while the group between 35 and 44 is projected to actually decline; statistics showing how our economy may very well be sucked dry of experience, and left with too much fresh thinking and energy.

In order to best harness the enhanced capacity offered by technology you have to have the right combination of personalities and talents within your company. With the forecasted scarcity of experience that is needed in order to succeed, new-model businesses  have to adopt more than just new software in order to survive in the new economy. You need to adopt new-age ways to hold onto and attract those valuable, and experienced, employees.

However, new-age businesses are in the best position to offer lucrative “perks” that will give them a step ahead in the competition. Flexible hours, and the ability to work wherever you can take a laptop can be the best option you can offer to prospective employees who may be thinking less about a 40 hour week and more about retirement style caribbean cruises.

Consulted: "Where Will You Find Your Workers in the Years Ahead?", by Ken Dychtwald

November 2006 Web Server Survey

News.netcraft.com is reporting that there are now more than 100,000,000 Websites on the Internet. Growth for 2005 is almost double from 2004. Blogs have driven part of this explosive growth as a result of the ease in which blogs can be launched.

Download site_count_history.pdf