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http://www.patrickmckenna.com/blog
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Post #222 - Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Life After OJ
As I’m working in my office (as I do from time to time) I usually have one of my televisions tuned to CNN. Today I was rather surprised to look up and see the face of Robert Shapiro, of the OJ Dream Team fame, hawking some new service. I immediately turned up the volume to hear . . . “Created by top attorneys, LegalZoom.com helps you create reliable legal documents from your home or office.”
Going to the website I discovered that Shapiro is a co-founder of the venture and chief spokesperson: “Welcome to LegalZoom. As an attorney, I know from experience that not everyone needs a lawyer for some common legal processes. Also, not everyone can afford to pay attorney rates. This being the case, I am thrilled to be part of LegalZoom. You make your own legal decisions, with the use of our online library and tools, and LegalZoom will prepare your required documents. Its simple, affordable and efficient. We hope you enjoy your visit and look forward to providing you with the resources you need to handle your legal procedures.” Sincerely, Robert L. Shapiro.
The Legal Document service claims to handle incorporation, LLCs, trademarks, copyrights, patents, divorce, wills, living wills, power of attorney, living trust, business names, name changes, small claims, prenuptials, deeds and other common legal matters. “Simply answer a few questions online, and your documents will be prepared within 48 hours. We even review your answers and guarantee your satisfaction.”
As I looked at this list of legal documents, it got me to thinking about what the career potential is for young people entering the legal profession who don’t make it to the big leagues and then find themselves competing with self-help ventures to earn a living. Then it got me to thinking about the mid-sized law firms across America. Mid-sized law firms are largely catering to the needs of smaller businesses in the U.S.; a not insignificant market given that companies of 500 employees or less represent 99 percent of all U.S. employers. So, what happens when a fair portion of this legal work can be handled via business people going to internet sites to do for themselves that which they once hired lawyers to do for them?
Post #221 - Friday, July 27, 2007
How Do Others Feel in Your Presence?
Once in a while, we note a catchy phrase that resonates with us and makes us reflect on our own experiences. "Emotional Wake" is just such a phrase. In the book Fierce Conversations, Susan Scott defines "Emotional Wake" as ". . . what you remember after I'm gone. What you feel. The aftermath, aftertaste or afterglow."
 As a managing partner or practice leader, in stressful circumstances, you may make an off-hand, negative comment that might devastate some partner who works with you. Sometimes, you may not even be aware of the impact that your words have had. Often, you forget the incident, but the recipient can recall your words verbatim. And long after he or she has left your presence, they will still remember the negative psychological experience that was created.
The converse is the ability to create positive psychological experiences, or positive feelings; to bring out the best in others, to inspire them to give more and gets results. Think back of some practice leader who consistently made you feel good about yourself, a leader who inspired you to do your best work, a leader who motivated you to go the extra mile, every day. Chances are, that leader was an individual who left you with an emotional afterglow, not an emotional aftermath.
Effective leaders know that their emotions, both negative and positive – are contagious - that what they say and do - can affect the people in their team and the entire firm, for better or for worse.
Take a moment to reflect on your leadership style. Are you emotionally attractive? Do you drive others' emotions in your organization the right way? Are people eager to give you their
discretionary effort? The answer to these questions can have a profound impact on the quality of your work relationships and, ultimately, on your practice group’s productivity.
Post #220 - Friday, July 27, 2007
IBA Speaking Engagement
 I am delighted to be a member of the faculty for the International Bar Association’s Risk Management For Law Firms Conference being held in Munich, Germany on 16 - 17 September 2007.
Topics include, conflicts of interest - dilemmas and practical solutions, money laundering - is there an escape for lawyers, professional liability - how to survive in a shark basin, protecting partner assets, business continuity in the legal environment, the thread of convergence, and management of reputational and legal risks - lessons from a financial institution.
This is a fantastic opportunity to network and to benchmark best practices, along with a conference dinner on Sunday 16 September. It is an event not to be missed!
CLICK HERE to view the program
Post #219 - Monday, July 23, 2007
Book Recommendation
It is always extremely flattering to be acknowledged by a peer. Today I received by courier, a copy of Compensation As A Strategic Asset, written by Dr. August Aquila and Coral Rice. August has repeatedly been selected as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the Accounting Profession and is the esteemed author of a number of noteworthy texts, his last one with Bruce Marcus, entitled Client At The Core; while Coral comes from having spent many years with the folks at FranklinCovey.
Within the Acknowledgements they write, “We could not have written this book without the help of many people. Among those who have influenced us over the years are Patrick McKenna, Edge International, one of the most creative consultants to professional service firms.”
At 186 pages, this text very nicely covers the important topics of how to grow the compensation pie; the current compensation methods (with a nice acknowledgment to my Edge partner Michael Anderson for his work in this area); how to set goals; and how to manage and pay for performance. It is an important work for anyone wanting to drive performance and reward the behaviors that contribute to achieving your goals.
Post #218 - Monday, July 23, 2007
Presenting & Speaking
Doug Lawrence has been a professional singer, music director, and speech coach. He is a highly respected concert artist having sung for almost forty years in venues such as Carnegie Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to singing, he’s done tons of speaking in front of groups of all sizes. Singing and speaking have something in common— the main goal is to engage your audience and make them want to listen to you. Here are a few Doug Lawrence tips for giving an engaging performance or presentation:
 • Circulate with your audience. Before every concert, speech, and seminar, mingle with the crowd, ask questions, and let them know you’re glad they came.
• Bite your tongue. If your mouth gets dry in the middle of your presentation, try gently biting your tongue. Opera singers use this all the time to release saliva which moistens your mouth.
• Use your eyes all the time. If you can’t engage people with your eyes you will eventually lose your audience’s attention. Scan the room, select a person to make a point to, and look right at them. It’s a little intimidating for them, but it keeps you focused on the individuals who make up your audience. Keep moving to new people—right, left, middle—it works!
• Get quiet. If you really want to get people’s attention, get quiet suddenly. I guarantee the audience will pay attention. That’s the “you could hear a pin drop” effect. Believe me, that’s what sells your talk!
• “Underline” certain words with a pause or repetition. If you really want to make a point, slow down, pause, and say the word or phrase that you most want people to hear with a calculated emphasis on each word. The sudden switch in style gets attention.
• Take a risk and be vulnerable. Say or do something that’s totally out of character for you; something shocking or humorous. Whether your persona is reserved or funny, it’s endearing to have a little fun. This trick humanizes the most serious topics.
• Tee it higher. Raising the overall pitch of your voice for a few seconds will create urgency. It shows your passion for the subject matter and also relaxes your exhausted larynx. Low pitched voices relax the room—high pitched voices increase the adrenaline flow of the audience.
• Know when it’s time to go. Check your “presentation barometer” often to see if everyone is still with you. If you’re starting to lose the crowd, stop talking, start thanking, and get off the platform. People will love you more for knowing when to stop than for all the wonderful content you brought to your topic!
• Use Q and A as an “encore.” You may think you told them stuff they needed to know, but questions often reveal the important things you left out of your content. Where this opportunity exists, use it as a tool for picking up the pieces you left dangling in your talk and warm the crowd to your candor and self-effacing graciousness.
Post #217 - Friday, July 20, 2007
New Strategy Book
I’ve been honored, this past month, to have spent time reviewing and providing input to the draft manuscript for (my First Among Equals co-author) David Maister’s next book tentatively entitled: "Strategy and the Fat Smoker."
David reports, “Old friends will recognize the title as that of the article I did in 2005, and its theme runs through the book: in both personal life and in business, we usually know what to do, why we should do it and even how to do it. But that doesn't mean we always do the things that are good for us. In fact, because of short-term temptations, we usually don't.”
David is planning to self-publishing this one and hopes to have it available some time this fall. Contact David directly to ensure that you obtain your copy.
Post #216 - Thursday, July 19, 2007
Associate Salary Wars
You will sometimes see an interesting article in some prestigious publication, but you don’t often see the specific reactions it elicits. Here’s one such comment that I came across, followed by a couple of the more vociferous reactions that were logged some time later. The acrimonious tone of these comments makes for some interesting reading . . .
Comment to Wall Street Journal:
“I think there’s something wrong with a system where first-year associates make more money than many of the judges we have out there”, says Jim Hatcher, general counsel of Cox Communications, in Atlanta. Hatcher told the WSJ that only a small portion of Cox’s outside legal work is handled by big firms—between five and 10—that took part in the recent salary increases. He says rising billing rates in recent years have led Cox to use firms with lower fees “and we’ve been happy with the result.”
Some Reactions: 
If Mr. Hatcher is really so pissed off about the salary hikes, why doesn’t he fire all the firms that hiked salaries and give those matters to those little firms that can’t afford to raise salaries? Go ahead. For all those GCs who constantly say that there’s no real difference between the $200 / hour lawyer in say Kansas vs. the $500/hour lawyer in NY / Chicago / LA, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and fire us? Have those firms take over your major transactions and litigation. Oh wait, that’s right, you won’t. You won’t because after you’re done whining to all the reporters about the salary hikes, after you’ve whined to all the other GCs you know, after you’ve filled out survey after survey about how you’re so mad . . . you know that when it really counts (like when your job might be effected), you NEED the large firms that have the ability, experience and sheer brainpower to tackle your toughest issues. Comment by Anon
There you GC guys go again. Yes, I know, you’re going to huff and puff, and blah, blah, blah. Once again, I challenge my “customers”: if you don’t like the pricing, find a different vendor, like the 3-person shop in VA. Think legal advice is a commodity? Okay, go for the low-cost provider. Find the Dollar Store of law firms and buy all you like. Believe me, I would like to work less. But most GCs are smart and understand that there is a huge difference between the large firms and the medium / small shops. Every objective metric points to the fact that corporate America has been shifting its legal work to the large firms that pay their lawyers at the top of the market and away from small and medium firms. Why is it that the separation in terms of revenue and PPP is actually increasing at the largest firms at high rates while medium shops have been imploding or stagnating? Why is that firms like Bingham, Piper & Marbury, Dechert, Greenburg Traurig, etc. have blown through their PPP from the last decade by merging and merging some more? Why are medium sized firms told over and over again: specialize or die? If large firms are so inept and oh so bad at reading our customers, why is that we’re getting more and more of their work? I’ll give you a hint. First, we don’t think legal advice and legal work is a commodity. Second, we don’t have “customers” who are here to buy a toaster. We have clients who need advice that requires brainpower. Don’t like the fact that our first years make more than judges? Fine, replace us with a local firm. C’mon, you can do it. Just go up to your CEO (and your board), look him or her in the eye and say, “Legal work is a commodity so I’m firing Big Arrogant Firm and going with low cost provider, Local Firm. It will save us a lot of money.” Let’s see how he responds. From the publicly available numbers regarding rates, revenue, PPP, revenue per lawyer, I think have a good idea on what she’s going to say. Comment by Anon
Post #215 - Lucky Friday, July 13, 2007
Client Defection Warning Signs
The results of Inside-Counsel’s (July 2007 issue) 18th Annual Survey of General Counsel shows that more than two-thirds (70.5%) of in-house counsel would score their outside firms a B for overall performance. Another 10.5% rated their firms a C or worse. That means that 81% of in-house counsel are not too impressed with their law firms these days — and those percentages have eroded each year for the past three years!
Meanwhile 62% of law firms,when asked, graded their firm a solid A. Anybody see a disconnect here?
862 in-house counsel responded to this Inside-Counsel survey. Of those, 40% were general counsel. The median law department size among respondents was 39 attorneys.
Asked about their views on convergence, almost a quarter (24%) of in-house attorneys reported they will definitely be reducing the number of law firms they currently use, while another 26% claimed that they were not sure of whether they would make reductions . . . yet. And — 33% of legal departments reported firing or planning to fire one of their firms in 2007.
Are you in danger of having one of your key clients defect? My research and work with client teams indicates that these are some of the more illuminating warning signs (I put these roughly in order of severity):
• Your billable rates suddenly become a subject of continued discussion.
• Your overall volume of business (the number of matters being sent to your firm) is flat or slowly being reduced.
• Approvals for informal proposals get continually postponed.
• Your communications with this client become far more formal and there is less open discussion about the client’s needs.
• Calls to the client are not being returned as promptly.
• When you send out invitations to social or business functions, the invitees don’t attend your functions.
• You find that ease of access to key decision-makers starts to decrease.
• The well of constructive feedback dries up.
• You receive an unexpected RFP from the client.
Post #214 - Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Edge Award Winners
Beginning back in 1998, together with the editorial group of the American Bar Association’s section publication: Law Practice Magazine, I have coordinated the awarding of three awards provided to the authors of the best articles during the year.
 To review, vote and determine these awards I have each year, brought together a group of seven managing partners, practice leaders and practitioners to form an "Articles Review Board." This Board reviews the articles in each of eight issues to determine the best two feature articles and the best column. The Board members judge these articles based on their contribution to either advancing the knowledge base of managing a professional services firm and/or to advancing an individual attorneys practical methods for effectively conducting their practice.
This year, the tribe has spoken and this past week determined our award winners for 2006 – 2007:
Best Feature Article:
Rainmaking: Rewriting The Rules by Steven T. Taylor
(October - November 2006)
Silver Feature Article:
Seeking Out New Markets: Tapping into Client Trends for New Business and Bigger Profits by Peter Darling
(September 2006)
Best Column:
I’m Not Here Right Now, Please Leave a Message by Dan Pinnington
(April - May 2007)
A special thank you to the members of this year’s Board: Susan G. Duffy, Office Managing Partner, DAVIS WRIGHT; Catherine Alman MacDonagh, Director of Business Development, DAY, BERRY & HOWARD; David H. Field, Office Managing Partner, FASKEN MARTINEAU; Stephen D. Good, Managing Partner, GARDERE WYNEE; Wells Lyman, Attorney; Gary M. Wingens, Partner, LOWENSTEIN SANDLER; and David H. Maister, author and consultant extraordinaire.
Together with my partner, Michael Anderson, we are now in the process of discussing with the ABA, the editing and creating of a published book compiling the award winning articles over the past ten years. I’ll keep you posted . . .
Post #213 - Monday, July 9, 2007
A Resource-Eating Dragon
On a brief holiday a week ago I was driving through Oregon on my way from Napa Valley to Seattle when I encountered this huge billboard with a picture of Uncle Sam prominently on the front. The copy stated: If you are looking for a really good American job, move to China!
 It got me to thinking and to doing a bit of research . . . Last year, developing Asian economies jumped 8.3% - more than double America's growth. The Asian Development Bank expects a 7.6% jump this year . . . and 7.7% in 2008, outstripping the US by a wide margin. Meanwhile, since 1990, the amount of goods coming from Asia to the United States has soared from $400 billion to $548 billion - a 36% jump. The US has only sent $26 billion in return . . . and have lost 3.1 million manufacturing jobs, to boot.
Ouch!
But while Asians may work cheaper than Americans, they consider themselves well paid. In fact, according to the World Bank, - about 150 million people [in South Asia] have been lifted out of poverty in the last 10-15 years. That means 150 million people no longer have to worry about the bare necessities and can start striving for the good things in life. Now, here's where things get VERY interesting. Making cheap goods takes more than just a willing work force. You also need raw materials to keep the factories running. Meanwhile, the workers are able to afford things we've long taken for granted: good food, better living conditions, dependable power. But those things also require natural resources.
Asia is rushing to keep up with its growing population of wealthy workers. One of the top priorities is providing places for its people to live and work. In China and Hong Kong, 626 skyscrapers are set to go up in 2007. Japan has proposals to build 309 behemoth structures in the coming months. Thailand is set to build 78 high-rises. India is already slated to build 72. In all, the 11 largest countries in Southeast Asia combined are in the process of building 1,322 skyscrapers. In fact, Bloomberg reported that growing Asian countries have "led to global shortages and record prices for raw materials from iron ore to copper."
Then there's food. The Chinese alone are set to gobble up 34 million tons of corn this year - up nearly 25% from last year. If the trend continues, the country might become a net importer of corn by 2010. Where will that corn come from? And how will ethanol production affect the dynamic?
And don't forget about oil. Asia's consumption has grown an average of 15% a year for the past five years. By 2015, the continent could account for one-fourth of all demand. In fact, last year, for the first time ever, Asians consumed more oil than North Americans. The United Arab Emirates' minister of economy recently told the Gulf Cooperation Council that Arab countries need to strengthen their ties with Asia. And CNN reports that "The first contracts with major oil firms from Iraq's new government are likely to go not to U.S. companies, but rather to companies from China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia."
Stay tuned, I'm sure that there is much more to come.
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