It can always Wait
People often complain that watching a cycle race is like watching paint dry. Admittedly, if you have to listen to 5 hours of David Duffield, it can get pretty monotonous (others may disagree). Even…
The HARD sell of Legal Services
I can hardly wait. More or bigger entrants to the UK legal market. No doubt, the usual marketing triggers will be wrung through. Interruption marketing will be the default position. How many times have you…
The Art of Business Development (with a few How-Tos …)
Times are tough. “No s*** Sherlock.” Every day you are driven to work harder and harder to make a $/£ or two. And still the targets keep going sky-ward, despite such euphemisms as being…
Is the practice of Law at risk of being forgotten?
In all the (endless) chatter about business development, social media and technology, is the practice of Law at risk of being forgotten? I am not someone that would wish to see the legal…
Unlocking the potential of your clients
Clients can be demanding creatures. Indeed, there are some where, it doesn’t matter what you do, it will never be enough. But, at the risk of stating the obvious, your firm is the…
What do you do?
A solicitor/lawyer/advocate/barrister/attorney. Professional services. Deal with clients. Law. Solve problems. Bill. But what do you do? No really. What do you do? This is not the Why or How question. This is much…
R.I.P. up the ‘Business Development’ Script
What does Business Development (BD) mean to you? Branding? Networking? LinkedIn? Social Media? Blogging? Sales? Marketing? Innovation? Change? Thinking the i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e? Imagine being offered a blank sheet of paper and asked to write…
The fallacy of the cost/benefit paradigm
The exalted cost/benefit analysis is a specious proposition. You cannot predict with (any) precision: The outcome of the case; The costs; The actual benefit to the client. Client: how much will the case…
Social Media: Manage from the Inside / Leverage to the Outside
Social media doesn’t start with the platforms.
It starts with the people who are entrusted with its development.
If they are disinterested then no amount of technology will rescue your efforts.
You may feel inclined to produce a compendious social media policy or, if you are feeling brave, you may even combine this with a strategy paper. But, as much as it pains me to say so, you need to up-skill first (the ‘What’ is just as important, at this stage, as the ‘How’), and to paint vivid and meaningful pictures of a world filled with remarkable content that engages your clients. If all you think about is content of old, then social media will not correct your ego based obsession with showing how learned you are!
Too Much Style ~ Too Little Substance
It is hard to escape the winds of change blowing through the legal profession.
- ABS
- Outcomes Focused Regulation
- On-line legal services
- A lack of work in certain areas necessitating a root and branch review of the business
Many partners will wonder:
(a) why they went into law; and
(b) why such an esteemed profession could find itself in such a precarious (falling like a stone) position.
