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http://www.patrickmckenna.com/blog
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January 1, 2008
Post #271 - Sunday, December 30, 2007
The ABA, Shamefully, Does Not Practice Diversity!
 First off, a huge thanks to those of you who regularly visit this site. I guess I should be excited to be celebrating my sixth anniversary this coming January, having started this initiative long before it became the latest fad (back in early 2002), but as many of you know, I never set out to create a “blog.”
I don’t consider myself a blogger, and only finally succumbed to calling it a blog earlier this year after receiving a number of e-mail comments from readers. I write here to share tips and techniques, talk about what I’m working on, and occasionally rant about something, just to get it off my chest. I am told that this site now generates well over 100,000 page views a month . . . like I should know or care what that really means.
I do however sincerely admire and read fairly regularly, the posts of some of those who are real bloggers and those who invest the time to provide meaningful commentary for the legal profession. Some of my favorites include:
• my good friend and fellow author, David Maister. What I really enjoy about David’s blog is his passion for contributing comprehensive insights into the management of professional service firms. In addition to his frequent blog postings are numerous podcasts offering substantive advice that firms would normally pay dearly to receive;
• Suzanne Lowe is another contributor appreciated in the legal community, but who also offers her perspectives (primarily on marketing) across the professional services spectrum. Suzanne always offers practical advice – like her recent “five biggest professional service presentation don’ts”
• Amy Campbell, who started her web log as an experiment back in April 2003, is another respected commentator on marketing topics who can usually be counted upon to provide worthwhile suggestions to help lawyers get business development results;
• one blogger who I wish would make more frequent contributions is Mark Beese, who authors Leadership For Lawyers. You can count on his site to be a source of leadership development tips for lawyers; and
• Michelle Golden works with both accountants and lawyers and hosts a site dedicated to making professional service firms more profitable and enjoyable workplaces. Hers is a highly rated legal marketing blog.
 What makes these few blogs relevant (and there are more I could list) is that during this past weekend while attempting to catch up on some of my reading, I came across the December issue of the ABA Journal. For those of you who haven’t seen it, the cover is dominated by a huge red star with the headline: The Blawg 100: The Best Web Sites By Lawyers, For Lawyers. The copy inside, written by two ABA staff members (mcdonough and randags) invites readers to vote for their favorite blawgs in each of a dozen different categories.
Now admittedly the article lists some great blawgs including Bruce MacEwen, Gerry Riskin, Tom Collins and a host of others. But are any of those I’ve just listed above included?
NO.
Why?
Because they are not authored by lawyers!!!
(Amy Campbell even confesses on her blawg: “This is my disclosure that I am not a lawyer although I would love to play one on TV.”) Good one Amy.
I cannot believe the shameful audacity of the ABA Journal to rate web sites for lawyers . . . by including only those written by lawyers.
For those who long suspected that the legal profession, unique amongst professions for categorizing people as either being lawyers or non-lawyers, really doesn’t understand or support diversity, you now have the proof.
Here is to a Joyous New Year . . . and to hoping that someone in this profession will break some windows and let in some fresh air; because this is the kind of nonsense that makes me gag!!!
Post #270 – Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Year’s Highlights
I’m delighted to have completed my last client assignment and am now home for the rest of the year. The problem with modern travel is that humans were not made for it. During the thousands of generations in which our species evolved, no one ever had to reckon with jet-lag . . . or airline food . . . or security checks. All these things are unnatural but somehow I manage to endure them for a good part of each year.
I’m often asked about my consulting practice, what kinds of assignments I get called in on, for what kinds of firms, what I’m currently researching and writing about, and just generally how I spend my professional time. I looked back over my various activities during this past year. With some of these items (like clients served) activity is not a sufficient measure, results and the client’s satisfaction are really what counts. But for purposes of looking at where one’s time is invested, here is what my last year looked like:
 • Served 21 Client Firms.
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS:
17 U.S. Based
2 Canadian
2 European
NATURE OF ASSIGNMENTS:
6 clients with strategic planning
7 clients with management and leadership issues
8 clients with client relations and marketing
FIRM SIZE RANGE:
5 firms of over 500 attorneys
3 firms of 300 to 500 attorneys
11 firms of 100 to 300 attorneys
1 firm of 80 attorneys
1 In-house Legal Department
• Initiated 3 Research Projects.
- Most Admired Law Firm Leaders Survey
- Managing Partner’s Burning Issues
- Passing The Baton: The Managing Partners Last 100 Days
• Initiated 2 new Strategic Alliances
- Change Leaders Inc. (network for executive leadership development)
- Hogan Assessment Center (international network of consulting psychology partners)
• Participated in 6 Speaking Engagements
Facilitator: New Practice Leaders Masterclass – ARK Group (February)
Co-facilitator: First 100 Days Masterclass – ARK Group (February)
Key Note Speaker: The Law Firm Leadership Institute – North Star Conferences (March)
Conference Chairman: Second Annual Practice Group Leadership Forum (May)
Key Note Speaker: World Services Group Annual Meeting (September)
Speaker: Management Conference – International Bar Association (September)
• Authored or Contributed To 25 Articles.
IN 10 INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS:
Addendum – Newsletter for Law Firm Leaders
CBA National - Canadian
Canadian Corporate Council Association (CCCA) Magazine
Law Office Management and Administration Report
Law Practice Magazine
Law Times
Legal Week –UK
OnlineLegalMarketing.com
Of Counsel
The Recorder (AmLaw)
WLG Connections – The World Law Group
• Acknowledged As A Contributing Source To 2 Books.
- The Extraordinary Law Firm: Making Your Firm A Great Place To Work -- Charles E. Stinnett (ALA, 2007)
- Compensation As A Strategic Asset -- August J. Aquila and Coral L. Rice (AICPA, 2007)
• Received 2 Honors
- My book, beyond KNOWING (IBMP 2000) won an Award in January for outstanding design from an International Design Competition called ‘Creativity Annual Awards.’
- The January 2007 issue of Of Counsel acknowledged – “A recent recognition and perception survey, conducted of U.S. managing partners from law firms of 100 attorneys or more, named Edge International (once again) among the top three best and most well known consultancies.”
I might call this brief snapshot my personal Annual Report . . . recognizing that little is ever the achievement of one individual alone and in my case, many of the items identified here were accomplished in concert with my partner Michael Anderson.
Consider this: perhaps every professional in your firm might be asked to prepare something similar. What would yours look like?
So what’s in store for 2008?
Well, one can always wish!
And here is wishing you a Very Merry Christmas. Have a fabulous Holiday Season with a safe, joyous New Year’s Celebration.
Please take time to share joy with whomever you care about.
Post #269 – Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The State of The Banking Industry
I received the following from my friend Gary who is a noted U.S. economist and knows that I have a keen interest in this subject matter. I thought you might find all of this fascinating, especially those of you who have an active banking practice or share my curiosity in this area.
 You have heard of NINJA loans: no income, no job or assets. These were loans made by local mortgage brokers to first-time home buyers. Poor people were offered loans at rates far lower than conventional loans. The brokers told the prospective debtors that they could re-finance later to get long-term loans. This was not put in writing, and so it cannot be proven. But everyone in the industry knew it was being done. Therein lies the trap for America's largest banks. "Everyone knew."
If lawyers can persuade juries that everyone knew, America's largest banks are on the hook for more money in reparations than they have as capital. Why? Fraud. They sold investors, including European banks, investments known to be fraudulent.
To substantiate his point, Gary points me to the December 9 issue of the news service, SF Gate, which ran the headline: MORTGAGE MELTDOWN. The author, Sean Olender, is a lawyer. He explained what he thinks the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and the banks are really up to. It's not about helping poor homeowners. (You probably suspected this.)
Now, just unveiled, comes the "freeze," the brainchild of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. It sounds good: For five years, mortgage lenders will freeze interest rates on a limited number of "teaser" subprime loans. Other homeowners facing foreclosure will be offered assistance from the Federal Housing Administration.
Mr. Olender is not persuaded by the sincerity of the offer. He perceives this as a judicial move, not an economic move. He sees it as the government's attempt to place a legal moat around the banks' castles.
The sole goal of the freeze is to prevent owners of mortgage-backed securities, many of them foreigners, from suing U.S. banks and forcing them to buy back worthless mortgage securities at face value - right now almost 10 times their market worth.
The ticking time bomb in the U.S. banking system is not resetting subprime mortgage rates. The real problem is the contractual ability of investors in mortgage bonds to require banks to buy back the loans at face value if there was fraud in the origination process. And, to be sure, fraud is everywhere. It's in the loan application documents, and it's in the appraisals. There are e-mails and memos floating around showing that many people in banks, investment banks and appraisal companies -- all the way up to senior management -- knew about it.
Mr. Olender then gets to the heart of the matter: the bottom line. What is the bottom line? Well . . . the bottom line . . . of course.
The catastrophic consequences of bond investors forcing originators to buy back loans at face value are beyond the current media discussion. The loans at issue dwarf the capital available at the largest U.S. banks combined, and investor lawsuits would raise stunning liability sufficient to cause even the largest U.S. banks to fail, resulting in massive taxpayer-funded bailouts of Fannie and Freddie, and even FDIC.
Mr. Olender goes on to name names and identify culprits. If all of this is correct, I fear that the economic losses are gigantic and will grow. The bailouts have only just begun. The trickle of bad news may become a flood into the New Year.
Post #268 – Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Not Your Average Attorneys
 Minneapolis law firm Parsinen Kaplan Rosberg & Gotlieb certainly have their tongues firmly implanted in one cheek as they launch a new law magazine – Despicable Lawyer
The magazine is a marketing ploy that was specifically picked to “challenge readers with the question of just how despicable lawyers really are.” The title of the publication is actually Not Just Another Despicable Lawyer, with the first three words in tiny print." Open the magazine and the Welcome states: “In this issue, we consider: perception or reality? We acknowledge the common perception of the distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the bar – and offer a slice of reality that clearly separates us from our competition.”
The magazine is very well done and if they were trying to get people’s attention, they definitely got mine! Have a look for yourself: http://www.parlaw.com
AND, don’t miss this: Some of their other marketing ploys include a series of print advertisements. Here are the titles from some of their ads:
• The typical lawyer is easy to understand. If you’re a typical lawyer.
• There are over 1,200 species of petrified wood. Any of which, incidentally, are more fun to talk to than your average lawyer.
• We understand that people love lawyers. Just like they love getting their backs waxed.
Post #267 – Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Support The Hunger Site
Click on the image to feed hungry people
at no cost to yourself!
Post #266 - Sunday, December 16, 2007
Another Lucrative Practice Area
In my post #248 on October 26th, I predicted one of the red hot practice areas for professional service firms in the coming years. Here is another area, that my work with client firms indicates will be extremely lucrative in the years to come:
 The American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card points out, we're $1.6 trillion behind in infrastructure investment. That is the amount of tax cuts Mr. Bush tried to get passed in 2001 before the War on Terrorism and the Iraqi war.
Some facts from the report:
Since 1998, the number of unsafe dams has risen by 33% to more than 3,500. The number of dams identified as unsafe is increasing at a faster rate than those being repaired.
America faces a shortfall of $11 billion annually to replace aging facilities and comply with safe drinking water regulations.
The Federal Government has not assessed the condition of America's schools since 1999, when it estimated that $127 billion was needed to bring facilities to good condition. Other sources have since reported a need as high as $268 billion.
Aging wastewater management systems discharge billions of gallons of untreated sewage into U.S. surface waters each year. The EPA estimates that the nation must invest $390 billion over the next 20 years to replace existing systems and build new ones.
Post #265 - Sunday, December 16, 2007
 The only thing you have power over
is to get good at what you do.
That’s all there is;
there ain’t no more!
Sally Field
Post #264 - Sunday, December 16, 2007
Canada – In Six Words or Less
The National Post (daily newspaper) recently ran a cross-country contest to choose a “moto” for the country. Apparently the publication received hundreds of suggestions; some funny, some sad; some dark and some just plain weird. Here are ten of my favorites from the entries that were submitted:
• Canada: Americans on Valium
• Life, liberty and the pursuit of hockeyness
• True north, strong and free health
• Canada: nine equal provinces and Quebec
• Mediocre and reasonably proud of it
• Domicile of delightfully dysfunctional do-gooders
• Where the beaver and Blackberry roam
• Canada: scenery, greenery and political chicanery
• Dominating sports no one else plays
and
• No wonder Sir John A. drank!
(For those who don’t know, Sir John A. MacDonald was the first Prime Minister of the country and known for his indulgence in all thinks high spirited.)
Post #263 - Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Your Next Managing Partner
The new issue of Law Practice Magazine is out and I was delighted to collaborate with Steve Taylor, an award winning freelance journalist on his cover article Your Next Managing Partner: Succession Planning Strategies wherein the dos and don’ts of succession planning are outlined in some detail.
It was ironic that when Steve and I first talked about this subject back in September, I was in the final stages of interviewing a number of recently retired managing partners and completing my latest White Paper, Passing The Baton: The Last 100 Days.
At Steve’s request, I’ve delayed circulating that White Paper until this article came out . . . so will now look at various option for publishing.
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