Working Smarter, Not Harder

As they say, a picture paints a thousand words. Today's Dilbert comic poignantly illustrates the disconnect between lawyers who bill by the hour -- and who believe the quantity of hours is both a measure of quality and a measure of financial success -- and the rest of the business community, in which making money while you sleep is the true measure of success.

Lest this come across as some sort of new age anti-work philosophy, the concept is really quite simple: Successful businesses embrace the learning curve business model, in which efficiency gained from prior experience provides a competitive cost advantage. Business leaders with a continuous improvement mindset don't value workaholics who toil furiously and endlessly at a task and generate high volume as much as they value those who can do more with less, exploiting experience to find more effective ways to generate similar or better results in less time. This excess capacity is then deployed against new projects, in turn generating new financial returns. So the true measure of success is making more profit in less time.

As the legal profession evolves, a necessary outcome is moving away from the silly notion that hours are a measure of anything other than cost. When we decouple hours from compensation, or more accurately when we begin to pay more to those lawyers who can generate comparable revenue and profits in less time, and when clients shift to paying for outcomes rather than for production, then innovation in the legal profession will accelerate.

Think about all of this after you've finished billing your time today. We'll be at the pool with a cold daiquiri waiting for you.

Timothy B. Corcoran is the immediate past President of the Legal Marketing Association and an elected Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. He delivers keynote presentations, conducts workshops, and advises leaders of law firms, in-house legal departments, and legal service providers on how to profit in a time of great change.  To inquire about his services, contact him at +1.609.557.7311 or at tim@corcoranconsultinggroup.com.

Leaders in Legal Business

The legal profession is changing. Perhaps you've noticed? What was once a profession is now most assuredly a business. Of course, it's always been a business, but when things are going so well that both buyers and sellers are content, we can convince ourselves that we're above the challenges faced by lesser mortals. Things like economics, and consumer behavior, and profits in alignment to client satisfaction rather than in opposition. Luckily, the disruptive forces impacting the legal profession are pretty routine for anyone who studies business cycles. Those who are most challenged when facing a changed future are not those who have never faced these changes previously, for they will turn to expert guides. Those who will struggle mightily are those who refuse to believe lessons from other business segments apply, and they will blindly lurch from strategy to strategy in a vain attempt to maintain profits and market position while clinging to outdated business practices. Given my career history as a corporate executive and former CEO who now shares my business training with law firm and law department leaders, I was invited to contribute to a new publication, "Leaders in Legal Business," compiled by industry veteran Stephen McGarry. In his words:

"Is law a profession, a business, or both? For decades, every law school, bar association, and law society has posed this proverbial question. The fact is that today, the profession of law annually generates more than $700 billion dollars in revenue. There are several million people employed in the legal profession, and hundreds of thousands support it through products and services. Some would even argue that the profession of law has morphed into the business of law.

Twenty-eight distinguished leaders in legal business discuss the history, development and the future of the services and products they, their firms, companies and associations provide the profession of law. This is must reading for the legal profession."

I am pleased to be in the company of some of the fantastic minds helping to guide the profession today, many of whom are good friends as well as colleagues and thought leaders I turn to for inspiration. Take a look at this roster. It's like a live concert with the remaining Beatles joining the Rolling Stones on stage to play the entire Taylor Swift catalog, or something like that!

Here's the lineup:

Chapter 1 – Introduction to Leaders in Legal Business
	Stephen McGarry – Founder Lex Mundi, WSG and HG.org
	Overview – Legal Business Services	Jordan Furlong – Principal, Edge International
Chapter 2 – Legal Business Publishers and Publications
	Publishers on the Business of Law	Bill Carter – President and CEO, ALM
	Legal Business News	John Malpas – Publisher, Legal Week, Incisive Media
	Law Firm Directories and Rankings	Derek Benton – Principal, Warwick Vine Consulting Ltd.
Chapter 3 – Legal Business Consultants and Advisors
	Hiring a Consultant or Advisor	Michael Roch – Founder and Partner, Kerma Partners
	Law Firm Business Strategies	Timothy B. Corcoran – Principal, Corcoran Consulting Group
	Business Development, Coaching, and Sales	Silvia Coulter – Founder and Partner, LawVision
	Online Content Marketing	Kevin O’Keefe – CEO, LexBlog
	Social Media Marketing	Nancy Myrland – Myrland Marketing and Social Media
	Corporate Legal Management	Susan Hackett – Principal, Legal Executive Leadership
	Public and Media Relations	Richard Levick – CEO, LEVICK
	Recruiting and Staffing	Jon Lindsey – New York Founding Partner, Major, Lindsey & Africa
	Discovery and E-Discovery	Carolyn Southerland – Former Director, Huron Consulting
	Knowledge Management	Ronald Friedmann – Senior Consultant, Fireman & Co.
	Technology Assessment	Robin Snasdell – Managing Director Huron Consulting
Chapter 4 – Law Firm and Multidisciplinary Networks
	Stephen McGarry – Founder Lex Mundi, WSG and HG.org
Chapter 5 – The 100 Largest Law Firms – Management
	Tony Williams – Founder and Principal, Jomati
Chapter 6 – The Bar, Corporate Counsel, and Administrative Associations
	American Bar Association	James Silkenat – Immediate Past President, ABA
	International Associations	Fernando Pelaez – Past President, IBA
	Corporate Counsel Associations	Veta Richardson – President, ACC
	Legal Administration Associations	Oliver Yandle – Executive Director, ALA
Chapter 7 – New Law – Alternative Business Models
	Mark Ross – Global Head - LPO, Integreon
Chapter 8 - The Future of Legal Business
	Legal Business Publishing	Tony Harriss – Group Managing Director, Globe Business Media Group
	Overview – Legal Business Services	Jordan Furlong – Principal, Edge International
	Legal Business Consulting	Gerry Riskin – Founder and Principal, Edge International
	Law Firm Networks	Stephen McGarry – Founder Lex Mundi, WSG and HG.org
	International Law Firms	Markus Hartung – Director, Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession
	Bar and Legal Associations	Bob Young – Chair, ABA Law Practice Management Division
	New Law – Alternative Models	Joseph Borstein and Edward Sohn – Global Directors, Pangea3
Chapter 9 – Epilogue
	Stephen McGarry – Founder Lex Mundi, WSG and HG.org

And perhaps the best part is the book is free! Click here to download the PDF, and here to download the eBook. Enjoy!

Timothy B. Corcoran is the immediate past President of the Legal Marketing Association and an elected Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. He delivers keynote presentations, conducts workshops, and advises leaders of law firms, in-house legal departments, and legal service providers on how to profit in a time of great change.  To inquire about his services, contact him at +1.609.557.7311 or at tim@corcoranconsultinggroup.com.

Collaboration - It's not just for breakfast anymore

One of the most iconic and memorable advertising slogans was developed by the Florida Orange Growers Association to expand interest in orange juice from a breakfast drink to an all-day drink. "Orange Juice - It's not just for breakfast anymore." This slogan came to mind recently after I conducted a project management and process improvement workshop for nearly 100 in-house counsel. The program provided an overview of key concepts along with opportunities for attendees to begin applying the learnings to their own particular law department challenges. One section was devoted to collaboration with outside counsel, with the underlying rationale that few law departments operate in isolation. Sooner or later, in-house counsel will need to rely on outside counsel, so we'd better understand how best to communicate in order to maximize the collaboration. Indeed, some of the most effective and impactful workshops occur when both in-house counsel and their outside counsel representatives come together at the same table. A handful of in-house counsel offered feedback after the workshop that the trend in their organizations is to keep more I work in-house, so they suggested we de-emphasize the need for collaboration with outside counsel. This trend has been widely reported elsewhere. Trouble is, this is not a sustainable trend. Yes, of course, there is some legal work that is more effectively managed in-house. There is also some work that doesn't need to be handled by the legal department at all. And there is a great deal of legal work that can benefit from treating it like it isn't the first time we've encountered it. Ron Friedmann and I will be exploring this as part of our #DoLessLaw panel at the upcoming ILTA conference. But, and let me be gentle here to any potential empire builders, there is no way most CEOs will agree to a long-term shift of outside counsel spend to in-house counsel spend.

Businesses make products or deliver services. The good ones have a narrow focus and develop significant expertise in their core competency. For some, it's a unique product feature; for others, it's a business process, like a lean supply chain or a global distribution infrastructure. But one thing is certain -- doing legal work is far from the organization's core competency. That's not to say the in-house legal department, if one exists, does a poor job. In fact, oftentimes quite the opposite is true. A small group of lawyers takes on an astounding array of legal topics every day with efficiency. But growing the legal department is not an area of strategic priority for the CEO. We want to be good at it and not waste money but nor do we want to spend a single dollar or Euro or Pound more than necessary to achieve the desired results. For every law department that is in-sourcing legal work in order to exploit efficiencies and save money, there's a law department that five years ago in-sourced and now a new CEO has determined that the organization can save on its carrying costs by outsourcing non-core functions, like legal work. Many law firms exist solely because companies don't want to do legal work when an equivalent investment in new product innovation can generate far greater returns.

So collaboration between in-house counsel and outside counsel is here to stay. But I'm astounded to learn how few organizations have a systemic, sustainable, measurable program of collaboration between in-house counsel and outside counsel, let alone between in-house counsel and the internal clients who rely on them. We need to fix this. We can talk all day long about developing a philosophy of continuous improvement, and we can all attend process improvement and project management workshops, but until we do this together, with all stakeholders represented, we won't maximize the benefits of our collaboration.

With that in mind, the good folks at CounselLink asked me to offer some suggestions for how in-house counsel and outside counsel can approach collaboration, beyond merely working on a legal matter together. Jump over to the CounselLink Business of Law blog for "7 Creative Ideas to Kick Start Collaborative Legal Conversations." And while you're at it, go ahead and share some of your own. After all, we're all in this together. Collaboration -- it's not just for breakfast anymore.

Timothy B. Corcoran is the immediate past President of the Legal Marketing Association and an elected Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. He delivers keynote presentations, conducts workshops, and advises leaders of law firms, in-house legal departments, and legal service providers on how to profit in a time of great change.  To inquire about his services, contact him at +1.609.557.7311 or at tim@corcoranconsultinggroup.com.

Using Client Engagement Letters to Better Define Services

I was recently interviewed for the Association of Legal Administration's Legal Management magazine on the topic of client engagement letters. Writer Paula Tsurutani gathered commentary from a number of industry leaders and presented a thoughtful article outlining the vast, and largely untapped, benefits of a well-designed and well-written client engagement letter. Here is the feedback I provided:

IT’S AN EVOLVING MARKETING ELEMENT

Timothy B. Corcoran, Owner of Corcoran Consulting Group and [immediate past] President of the Legal Marketing Association says, “I often take firms to task for over-reliance on engagement letters that offer broad, or even no, parameters about how the matter will be handled, aside from the negotiated hourly rates.” He says that the client engagement letter has evolved in recent years as clients have demanded matter budgets and project plans.

The start of a great relationship Use this moment to stand out in the crowd and show how your firm can be responsive, on-point, and client service-oriented. Enlightened firms have taken this requirement as an opportunity to differentiate their services. “Client engagement letter may be a misnomer,” says Corcoran. “The document could be a letter, plus a project plan. The point is that this first communication can demonstrate how the firm can better serve the client by showing an understanding about the client’s concerns and issues. Don’t treat it as a simple letter or a fill-in-a-template document. Treat it as a process — a starting point where you can ask needs-based questions, get a better handle of the client’s concerns, and tailor your staffing, fee structure, and communications plan on the client’s issues.”

Just say no While many firms may be inclined to instantly say yes when asked for a proposal, Corcoran says no often is a smarter response. Instead of automatically responding to a request for proposal, start a richer conversation by saying “if you want us to help, that’s great. But we need more information. Then we can respond.” Those are the firms that are using the client engagement letter as just one element in initiating a relationship with the client — adding other information, including a discussion of project management, proposed project plan, touch points in the engagement, staffing and budget management — so the client is more informed, engaged and involved.

This mindset becomes part of their pitch process. Firms can use it as an opportunity to talk about the firm’s approach to engagement management, project management, how they will communicate changes to budget, how and when they will keep the client informed. “Even if you don’t have all the facts, if there are unknowns or imponderables, you can discuss how you will respond to those variables,” says Corcoran. It’s a clear way to show commitment, customized service and responsive solutions.

Reprinted with permission from Legal Management magazine, Volume 34, Issue 2, published by the Association of Legal Administrators, www.alanet.org.

Timothy B. Corcoran is the immediate past President of the Legal Marketing Association and an elected Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. He delivers keynote presentations, conducts workshops, and advises leaders of law firms, in-house legal departments, and legal service providers on how to profit in a time of great change.  To inquire about his services, contact him at +1.609.557.7311 or at tim@corcoranconsultinggroup.com.

Do Less Law - Redefining Value in the Delivery of Legal Services

I have the good fortune to be invited to attend the upcoming ILTA annual conference to join my friend Ron Friedmann in conducting an interactive workshop entitled "Do Less Law." This session builds on a growing concept that the maturation of law practice is as much about doing less as it is about doing more with less, a concept that Ron coined in a November 2011 article "To Reduce Legal Spend, Do Less Law" and that he has since expanded on his blog and #DoLessLaw tweets. As regular readers know, I have also addressed this concept regularly here and in my other speeches and articles. Corporate law departments face budget pressure and demand more value from their law firms. Yet many cannot clearly define value. Some in the market equate value with efficiency.  A focus only on efficiency, however, misses many other opportunities to control cost and create value. Doing something efficiently that does not need doing at all still wastes money. What exactly does it mean, however, to do less law? And how big an opportunity is it?

At ILTA 2015, we will have an opportunity to crowdsource the answers. In preparation for the interactive session at ILTA, this post introduces the idea in more detail and seeks feedback.  Below is the taxonomy of Do Less Law options. Whether you think the ideas are terrible or great, we welcome comments or email to help refine it. And, we hope to see many of you at our session on Wednesday, September 2, 2015, at 3:30pm PDT in Las Vegas.  Our goal at the session is to get you and your colleagues discussing these ideas and deciding which are worth pursuing – and how to pursue them.

Do Less Law Taxonomy

1. Do what we now do but better 1.1 Improve Efficiency 1.1.1 Automate 1.1.1.1 Lawyers learn tech to their work faster and more consistently 1.1.1. 2. Market adopts interactive advisory systems (e.g., Neota Logic) or cognitive computing (e.g, IBM Watson) to supplement or replace lawyer work 1. 1. 2. Improve process to eliminate waste 1. 1. 3. Manage work to control effort (legal project management) 1. 2. Reduce Cost 1.2.1. Staff matters with lower cost resources (“alternative staffing”) 1.2. 2. Partner with or use alternative providers (LPO, New Law, doc review companies, or .lower cost firms 1.2.3. Reduce overhead with smaller offices, moving work to low cost centers, and working virtually)

2. Do what we now do but less intensively 2. 1. Scope matters systematically, more specifically, decide explicitly the level of effort warranted 2.1.1. In transactions, decide what risks need papering 2.1. 2. In litigation, use risk analysis (decision trees) to value matters 2. 2. Stick to scope with legal project management (LPM)

3. Do less than we do now by practicing preventive law 3. 1. Improve compliance (or decide consciously the appropriate level of compliance) 3. 2. Identify legal risks in advance and then act to avoid them 3.2.1. Conduct legal health audit and act on findings 3.2.2. Use big data and analytics to find problem 3.2.2.1. Detect prior “bad patterns” to prevent future recurrence 3.2.2. 2. Identify risky behaviors via analyzing email traffic (“big brother”) 3.3. Train corporate employees to comply where cost of non-compliance is too high

4. Re-think how we do what we do now 4. 1. “Settle” sooner 4.1.1. Decide litigation settlement value earlier and stick to it 4.1.2. Decide transaction key terms and stop negotiating when you get them 4.1.3. Decide how thorough a counseling answer is enough – what risks are you willing to live with – boulders or motes of dust? 4.2. Create open source law (this is not the law of open source code) 4.2.1. Pool know-how and re-usable documents across clients (privately or publicly, e.g., Docracy) 4.2.2. Think of this as collective knowledge management (KM) 4. 3. Automate contracts 4.3.1. Use existing technology more and more effectively 4.3.1.1. Analyze and systematize contracts (with, e.g., KM Standards) 4.3.1.2. Build document assembly systems 4.3.1.3. Deploy contract lifecycle management software (e.g., Apttus or Selectica) 4.3.1.4. Use eSigning software 4.3.2. Re-invent contracts 4.3.2.1. Write contracts as software code 4.3.2.2. Write contracts as database records (XML, JSON, or similar) 4.3.2.3. Design and deploy a Blockchain approach 4.4. Re-think litigation 4.4.1. Substitute information governance for eDiscovery 4.4.2. Do risk analysis (e.g., decision trees) to assess individual matters and portfolios 4.4.3. Assess cases early and decide consciously whether to look for boulders, rocks, stones, pebbles, or motes of dust. 4.4.4. Online dispute resolution 4.5. Automate counseling 4.5.1. Collect inquiries systematically (KM) 4.5.2. Develop interactive advisory systems to handle high volume problems 4.5.3. Convert regulations into code

Timothy B. Corcoran is the immediate past President of the Legal Marketing Association and an elected Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. He delivers keynote presentations, conducts workshops, and advises leaders of law firms, in-house legal departments, and legal service providers on how to profit in a time of great change.  To inquire about his services, contact him at +1.609.557.7311 or at tim@corcoranconsultinggroup.com.