Legal Profession Lawcast: The Naked Lawyer on the future of the legal profession

Chrissie Lightfoot gets down to the nitty gritty with Mike Semple Piggot (aka Charon QC) in a podcast for the Legal Profession. It makes for great listening. Not too long, and it really shows how far off the mark some law firms and/or their lawyers are when it comes embracing new marketing and sales techniques, particularly with regard to improving client prospecting and existing client service.

For example, Chrissie makes the case beautifully for Social Media, for lawyers to attend networking events, meetings and spending a focussed time on the phone 'selling' their skills and services. What's the difference when it comes to Social Networking? ... The same level of trust, contact and personal persuasion takes place before a meeting is arranged and business takes place.

Listening to this podcast is insightful, honest and provides ideas and pointers for those who want to be authentic in what they do.

You can listen to it here.

Buzzacott: Legacy Leadership Seminar

Wednesday
9 March 2011

5pm registration with 5.30pm start. Ends at 6:30pm with refreshments.

There is no charge for attendance at this seminar.

This seminar will take place at the new Buzzacott offices 130 Wood Street, London,
EC2V 6DL.

Register Here

Alternatively contact Eloise Scanlan at marketing@buzzacott.co.uk or call 020 7556 1200.

Buzzacott and Trafalgar invite you to a Legacy Leadership Seminar addressing the changing structures of Law Firms.

This event will explore the merits, opportunities and pitfalls of key structure options, and how they can be seen as catalysts for change.

Buzzacott and Trafalgar have joined forces to debate and explore:

• How the changing structures of firms can create or inhibit leadership;
• What Alternative Business Structures (ABS) could offer and potential opportunities for growth and business development;
• What the leadership and financial merits and pitfalls are of different structures;
• What action you, as Managing Partner/Partner can take.

Key speakers at this event include:

Patricia Wheatley Burt (Director, Trafalgar - The People Business) who will address insights from over 70 Law Firms on the above topics.

Alastair McQuater (Partner, Buzzacott) who will provide the latest thinking and experiences of client firms in relation to financial considerations.

How does CSR benefit YOUR Business?

A fair question and one that we put to several senior business leaders.

Here’s what they had to say -

Business Leaders Talk CSR from Katalina Media on Vimeo.

But that’s not enough – how do you best communicate your CSR success?

We believe that Video should be an integral part of any credible CSR programme. It provides an unparalleled medium for showcasing the effort and contribution made by your staff volunteers.

Trafalgar has teamed up with Katalina Media to create a ‘video story’ based on the real activity and experiences’ of the people involved in your community investment programme that delivers impact and emotion. We are able to help you design, plan and deliver powerfully, with support from Trafalgar’s team of voice, speech and presentation to camera skills coaches to make sure the messages you want shared are seen and heard.

"Being able to effectively communicate our CSR activities is vital and we believe that video is a very powerful tool." Robert Bond, Senior Partner, Speechly Bircham LLP

CSR Video 'Life Matters' from Katalina Media on Vimeo.

For more information about videoing in-house for your CSR project or help with raising your Brand Profile, get in touch with Patricia Wheatley Burt, Dave Clarkson or Sheelagh McNamara.

Review of “Leadership for law firms: after the Legal Services Act”

After the recent review of Chrissie Lightfoots excellent The Naked Lawyer – RIP to XXX (see previous post), we were over the moon to recieve the following review from George Bull, Head of Professional Practices Group, Baker Tilly of Patricia Wheatley Burt's Leadership for Law Firms.

More information is also listed on LinkedIn via The Law Society.

December 2010 In her introductory paragraph, Patricia Wheatley Burt makes the point that, if law firms had not previously understood the relevance of leadership, the great financial crisis has brought home to many that clear leadership is required if a firm is to flourish and prosper. Context is everything, and in the remainder of the book the author explores the different forms of leadership which might be appropriate in the light of the circumstances of a particular firmand the aptitudes and abilities of its leader.

Helpfully, at an early stage the author debates the distinctions between leadership on the one hand and management on the other. She concludes that leadership is having vision, strategy and goals; management is making it happen. She also warns of the dangers of muddling up these two.

Against this background, the book addresses the range of options available for law firms and the consequent impact on leadership structures. This then leads into a consideration ofleadership structures following the introduction of alternative business structures (ABSs) on 6 th October 2011. While the author has researched this area in detail, wider lessons drawn from outside the legal profession might have been helpful. For example, while the book makes a certain equation between the legal structure of a firm and the implications for leadership, the connections are not inevitable. Indeed, for many years after its IPO, Goldman Sachs successfully operated a partnership model notwithstanding the high levels of accountability associated with its IPO. The reconciliation here of course is the question of governance. In my view, clear governance provisions will be as important as sound leadership, the right structure and a clear strategy if an ABS is to succeed.

Addressing the importance of matching leadership style to the needs of the firm, Patricia Wheatley Burt reviews the five transition phases of a firm before drawing on the experience of many well-known managing partners who share their experiences for the benefit of readers. From this emerges the key question: where is the firm now and where does it want to be? Leaders of course require followers but not in the sense of slavish adherents. This theme is developed into a useful consideration of the behaviours and key traits for leaders and the related question of cultural change within a firm. All of this, of course, points towards the notion of career leaders, individuals who will serve their time as professional leaders of law firms but then move on as they will have given up their client list along the way. Developing the theme that to really see the benefits of the managing partner role, firms need to create a recognisable career path, including a structured entry, exit and succession plan, leads inexorably to the idea of the formation of a cadre of professional managers within the legal profession (not all of whom will be lawyers).

The Legal Services Act affects every law firm in England and Wales. Some will be affected more than others. All must consider their future strategy and the leadership required to help achieve that. This book provides helpful signposts along what for many could be a difficult and daunting path.

As always we welcome feedback and want to hear from you, if you have queries or questions about this book "Leadership for Law Firms: After the Legal Services Act " - let us know, we'd be happy to answer. contact us to buy your copy: patricia@trafalgarpeople.com

The Naked Lawyer – RIP to XXX: How to Market, Brand and Sell YOU!

We are delighted to reproduce this Book Review in full from Stephen Mayson, professor of strategy and director of the Legal Services Institute at the College of Law. He also acts as a strategic adviser to legal services businesses. He is the author of Law Firm Strategy: Competitive Advantage and Valuation (2007, Oxford University Press).

I’d like to announce the publication of the book I’ve always wanted to write. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been written by me. Chrissie Lightfoot – entrepreneur and solicitor – has beaten me to it! If you’re wondering where to start in the quest for new business, or if you’ve ever questioned your own ability to be a better business developer, this book is for you. If you’ve never wondered or questioned, then you are either a consummate rainmaker or more in need of this book than you realise!

This new book is available both as an e-book and in hard copy, so there’s no excuse for not being able to find a copy. It is innovative in style and approach, and should be compulsory reading for every young lawyer – and strongly recommended for every other practitioner still drawing breath. It is not about preparing for the future, some far-off time when life will be tougher and more competitive than it is today. It’s about the here and now, the reality of practising law and winning new business today – when life is already tough and competitive.

Some will no doubt be put off by the title, and the often racy tone of the writing. After all, a naked lawyer might not conjure up pleasant images for large segments of the population! But don’t be put off. Some things need to be said; others need to be done. Getting the message across in direct and unforgettable ways, to inspire changes in attitudes and activities, is what this book is about. Remember The Naked Chef? Jamie Oliver did rather well out of that without taking his clothes off! The idea of the naked lawyer is in the same vein – stripped down to bare essentials, and doing the things that really matter and make a difference. Blaming the medium will be a denial of the message – except that the message is irrefutable.

Winning clients and delivering market-leading service require many of the same skills as seduction. The essence of the book is ROAR (reach out and relate). Chemistry in personal relationships is about relating; chemistry in professional ones is the same. But how many lawyers truly reach out and relate? Too many sit back and wait. It doesn’t matter whether you call the process ‘selling’, ‘marketing’, ‘business development’, or ‘reaching out and relating’: done well, it calls on the same processes and psychology. To relate to someone else well, you have to understand yourself pretty well, too. Only then can you have the confidence to put yourself in the client’s shoes and frame of mind. Only then are you really ready for the journey.

This book is actually about two journeys. The first is Chrissie’s, and is an illustration of the ideas promoted in the text. It’s real, it’s grounded, and it’s firmly rooted in the digital and social media age. It’s a story of learning and success. The second is the reader’s, and is designed to take each of us beyond our current comfort zone to a new destination. All journeys begin with a single step; with Chrissie constantly on hand to help, the journey to become ‘a naked lawyer’ is not a leap into the dark, but a step-by-step guide from start to finish. It begins with self-discovery and personal brand foundations, and progresses through demonstrating value and empathy to winning and retaining business, taking in social media and innovation along the way. It’s personal and relevant because it is what you make it. Not going all the way will only cheat yourself.

The text is written in an engaging, contemporary, straight-talking style. There are some wonderful and memorable turns of phrase and imagery (I love ‘law law land’). You’ll need to concentrate to remember all the concepts and acronyms. But they are all part of a coherent philosophy and approach that comes together as the journey unfolds. The person at the end of the journey is a lawyer entrepreneur – a rare breed, but increasingly needed.

The book does not provide a blueprint, and won’t guarantee success. But it is a template, with a tried-and-tested record. The Naked Lawyer is more than lawyers have been offered before. Not to try it out is to miss out on wealth – a wealth of knowledge and experience, and the wealth generated by clarity of purpose, confidence, and a successful practice.

For the thinkers who read the book, there is an impressive array of powerful ideas and wide reading distilled into these pages as well as references to follow for those hungry for more. They are not presented as dry, theoretical material, but as additional insight and illustration for the story being told.

For the doers (and the thinkers who need to move to action), there are activities, exercises and applications – ‘just do something!’ interludes that punctuate the text, and some ‘after dark activity’ at the end. It’s why the book is so valuable as CPD: there’s plenty of scope for learning and developing skills and action points, as well as for truly reflective practice. At last – great value CPD that means lawyers will learn something they need to know!

Clients want to deal not just with someone they can relate to (how many clients do you know who positively relish the thought of spending 12 hours sitting side by side with their lawyer on a flight to the west coast of the US?!). They want to use a lawyer who really wants to act for them – enthusiastically, passionately, rather than grudgingly. And this book is about enthusiasm and passion ... for extraordinary relationships and great customer service.

One of the most fascinating insights in the book is the revelation that Chrissie’s former bosses allowed her enough scope to do much of what she now recommends while she was still a trainee. If only more partners in law firms felt secure enough to do that. So if you control the purse strings and are not sure whether to support your own trainees and assistants (and even partners!) in taking the naked lawyer journey, consider this: as a trainee (and new business owner) in 2009, Chrissie generated new business enquiries and referrals during one year of this recession that were worth more in value than many long-established partners will have managed after many years of practice and at the height of a boom. Now replicate that performance around the firm... In the competitive world of 2011 and beyond, it should be all hands on deck – and here’s what the deck-hands need to know and do.

Entrepreneurialism is what the clients of the 21st century will really pay a premium for. Strip out interest on capital and a partner’s wage, and it’s what the rest of a profit share rewards. Practising law, and being part of a legal services business, is not just about giving legal advice (and nor, in truth, has it ever been). It is about reaching out and relating.

Every interaction you have with someone outside the firm (and for those of you still chasing the often vain goal of internal cross-selling, even interactions within it) is an instance of ‘relating’ – or, if you prefer, marketing. Ask yourself these questions: is each interaction good, bad or indifferent; effective or ineffective; positive or negative; brand-building or brand-destroying? These are important questions, because one of the most central messages of The Naked Lawyer is this: branding is not everything, but everything is branding.

This book deserves to be a ROARing success – as does the career of anyone who follows its advice. Don’t wait: reach out and relate!

We welcome feedback and want to hear from you, if you have read The Naked Lawyer – RIP to XXX please tell us what you thought.