Greg George, Managing Partner of top security firm GTI Advisors Threat Management Practice Group has created a comprehensive due diligence report — among his many recommendations, he suggests that businesses consult a law firm  - is your law firm ready to answer that call?  SECURITY may be a lucrative future-oriented practice area awaiting your firm.

I recommend:

1)  Check out GTI Advisors Threat Management Practice Group

2)  Download (free) and read Beyond Due Diligence

3) Note the section "Qualified Legal Counsel Is Worth Every Penny" on page 18.

4) Discuss this in your firm and explore an appropriate strategy before you are left in the dust by forward thinking firms that will.

Footnote: Determine if you are the cobbler with no shoes (when it comes to security) — perhaps your law firm could use a few of the amazing ideas in this document as well.

Note:  For international clients, this piece is clearly written for American audiences but I believe the vast majority of the content will be useful regardless of your location.

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

This clever animation may reinforce Dan Pink's message from his new book Drive. 

Compensation has been the tool of choice in law firms to reward good performance, punish the absence of it and drive change.

You will not want to believe what you are about to hear and see…  ask yourself why?

If you are enlightened, gather your management team and start thinking about how to harness the learnings to create peak performance and lower turnover in your firm.

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

If your firm has offices in the Great Lakes Region (or is thinking of expanding into it) there is an unprecedented and unmatched comprehensive analysis available: “2010 Legal Market Analysis Great Lakes Region”

The report contains:

• 115 pages of detailed factual competitive intelligence
• 126 charts, graphs and illustrations
• 8 States and 10 Metropolitan Areas
• Information on 215 law offices

Cities included:

• Chicago
• Milwaukee
• Detroit
• Indianapolis
• Cincinnati
• Minneapolis
• Columbus
• Buffalo
• Cleveland
• Pittsburgh

I think this is a fantastic deal.  If your firm tried to pull this together on your own, you’d spent months and tens of thousands worth of time doing your due diligence which would include analyzing the firms, clients and economics of the region.  I expected the price would be around $7,500 but it offered at $2,995

I was also impressed by the Guarantee of Satisfaction - if your firm is disappointed (you won't be) you can pull the trigger on the guarantee.

For many leaders, the most important and imponderable question relates to the timing of the recovery — one of the elements of this report is

• “Prognosis for timing and extent of legal market economic recovery”

My enthusiasm for The “2010 Legal Market Analysis Great Lakes Region” is based on these simple premises:

1. The team that created it has many decades of law firm experience
2. The sources of data are impeccable
3. Ed Wesemann (architect of this publication) is a truly gifted analyst and law specialist

The downloadable prospectus including full Table of Contents will give you an idea as to how well organized this work is.

At the very least, this analysis is an important reality check.  Many firms have skewed views of their own markets based on prejudices or outdated data that tends to stick in the minds of firm leaders.

Here is an excerpt from the free  downloadable prospectus showing the nature of the contents of the report:

A detailed competitive analysis for each city providing:

• Comparative reputation within the specific legal market
• Detailed descriptions of competitive situations
• 2010 depth counts of lawyers in the local office and firm-wide

An accurate and up-to-date economic analysis of each metro area including:

• Projections of the growth of key drivers that affect the legal market
• Prognosis for timing and extent of legal market economic recovery
• 2010 Assessment of stability of leading industries and top employers

Assessment of demographic, businesses and market data for each state and metro area including:

• Size of legal markets
• Business friendliness, job growth, cost of doing business and other important indicators
• Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) Analysis for large firm legal practice in each metro area

Download the prospectus and see for yourself.

Note:  I know the people behind this initiative very well but want to make it clear that I have absolutely no financial interest in their venture — I am posting this based on receiving a review copy. I believe this is an extraordinary offering and far more valuable than its price would reflect.




    

   
 

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

Nicole Auerbach is one of the adventurous Big Firm refugees that founded Valorem, a genuine "Alternative Billing Arrangements" firm.  Here's a quote from Nicole's bio:

The billable hour is an antiquated, inefficient and a potentially unethical measure of value provided.

To be named one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Illinois in the 2010 edition of Illinois Super Lawyers, Nicole was evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement, including verdicts, settlements, representative clients, honors and awards, and other achievements. 

So the quality of the best alternate fee firm is unassailable and Nicole's objective recognition makes her a safe choice in addition to being a wise choice.

BRAVO Nicole - BRAVO Valorem !

Disclosure:  I proudly sit on Valorem's Advisory Board because I believe in what the firm is trying to achieve.

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

It is a proud day for all of us at Edge to add such a distinguished partner.  After law school, Jordan articled with one of Canada's leading law firms and then opted for a career in legal journalism culminating with more than 10 years as editor-in-chief of the Canadian Bar Associations distinguished well respected National magazine and executive editor of CCCA Magazine

Now Jordan joins us to offer both strategic and tactical advice to lawyers, law firms and legal organizations, centered around his very clear vision of a legal service marketplace undergoing massive and irreversible change.

Among his other accomplishments, Jordan is an award-winning blogger.  He has been writing since January 2008 at Law21: Dispatches From a Legal Profession on the Brink, where he chronicles the extraordinary changes underway in the legal profession. He is an Honourary Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and Chair of the College's InnovAction Awards, which recognize and reward creativity and innovation in legal services delivery.

Welcome aboard Jordan !  (See his biography on our Edge International site)

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

I believe in capitalism and free enterprise.  I have a business degree before law.  My practicing years were spent helping clients increase their profits… managing partner years helping my partners increase theirs.  You'll get no socialistic psychobabble from me.

I encourage you to assimilate the compelling evidence that increasing compensation in the hope of enhancing performance actually backfires.  Law firm leaders need to understand when money motivates and when it does not.   In fact, "too much" money demotivates.   Get an introduction to the science that supports this hypothesis in the Ted Talk below.

Once the basic compensation is right, there are better ways to motivate.  If not money, then what?  According to Dan Pink, the presenter in this Ted Talk, the three motivating elements for those who work with complexity, like lawyers, are:

• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose

PUNCHLINE: Investing 18 minutes and 40 seconds may start you on the path to leading your firm to legendary performance, your lawyers staff and clients to legendary satisfaction and, last but not least,  your firm to legendary profits. 

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

Source:  ABA Journal Post referencing BTI PDF from which above image was extracted.

"In a press release, Michael Rynowecer, president of BTI Consulting, calls the findings “a big ray of sunshine in what has been a very stormy environment.” He cautions, however, that some law firms won’t benefit from the increase in spending."

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

From the Sacramento Business Journal today:

Law firm confidence index drops to record low

Excerpt:

Confidence in the economy among managing partners at large law firms nationwide hit new lows in the first quarter, according to the latest research from the Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group in New York City.

I recommend three priorities to Managing Partners:

1. Bulletproof existing clients (complacency is deadly in light of the predator-like behaviour you can expect from your competitors as their revenues diminish)
2. Concentrate Business Development training and strategic assistance on your best rainmakers (Train the rest later - for now, you need results)
3. Coach all partners on how to deal with fee resistance (Your partners will be divided and conquered unless you give them the tools and confidence to effectively deal with the inevitable fee resistance that accompanies a recession.)

PUNCHLINE: There is so much more to do, but I have seen these three initiatives making an immediate palpable difference. NOW is when you need these benefits most.

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.