Presentation Materials from the Good to Outstanding, it's all about your people" conference in Hong Kong

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To download presentation materials, click on the relevant presentation.

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

According to NYT journalist, Catherine Rampell, in her May 23, 2011 story: At Well-Paying Law Firms, a Low-Paid Corner,   Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe,  WilmerHale and McDermott Will & Emery are "creating a second tier of workers, stripping pay and prestige from one of the most coveted jobs in the business world".

Catherine goes on to comment on the increased challenge of debt repayment: Lower salaries make it even more difficult for newly minted lawyers to pay off their law school debt — like the $150,000 in loans that David Perry accumulated upon graduation from Northwestern University School of Law in 2009.

My Opinion:  I understand completely why these and other firms need to cut costs in order to meet the demand from clients to reduce fees.  In a way, this is eminently sensible — move the commodity end of the practice of law to lawyers well-equipped for the task at lower salaries.  In my view, this is not nearly enough.  Law firms must rethink how they do their work and must re-engineer their work in harmony with their clients.  My Edge International partner, Pam Woldow, is working at an unprecedented level of sophistication with top corporate law departments (including some of Fortune's Top 10) and AMLAW 100 law firms to help them learn Legal Project Management and how to set (genuine) Alternative Fees .  If the Partners think they can sit back and sustain their historic incomes indefinitely by lowering junior lawyer salaries or creating new classes they are sadly mistaken.  They need to create sustainable new models that change how we think about the practice of law.

Read the full NYT article  "At Well-Paying Law Firms, a Low-Paid Corner" here.

Visit Pam's Blog: "At The Intersection" here.

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

All of the Managing Partners with whom I work are devoured by their "multitasking work environments".  "Recovering from information overload" (McKinsey Quarterly, January 2011) authors Derek Dean and Caroline Webb have succinctly laid out their take on the problems and solutions:

Problems (multitasking):

slows us down,

hampers creativity and

makes us anxious and it’s addictive)

Solutions (Coping with the deluge):

Focus,

Filter and

Forget

Perhaps the most valuable part of the article lies in an exploration of how to hit the "reset button".

If you are the Managing Partner (or have any leadership responsibilities in your firm) I suggest you read this article twice, once to assimilate it and next to make your action plan for the parts or pieces you want to implement.  Download the PDF or read online.

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

Most of the top law firms I deal with have armies of lawyers who negotiate all the time whether on deals or resolving disputes.  So when I ask for a show of hands from anyone who has taken a course or read a book on negotiating, the responses suggest that fewer than 5% of lawyers have done so.  Why?  Are we that confident or has the idea simply been off our radar.

You might want to sign up for a two day course at Harvard but if you are too busy for that right now, here's a blog post that may whet your appetite for the topic:

27 simple ways to become a better negotiator

Bottom Line:  enhancing negotiating skills would provide immediate competitive advantage by helping you prevail on behalf of your client and even increase your client's satisfaction level.

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

I am honoured to be in the esteemed company of the publishers and advisors of Attorney at Work that promises “One Really Good Idea Every Day”

There is no cost to subscribe and the ideas will flow starting in January.

I recommend that you subscribe now

Congratulations in particular to my long time friend, Merrilyn Tarlton who conceived this idea with Joan and Mark Feldman

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

Download by clicking on image or HERE  Registered participants were provided with Password in session.

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

Sorry for offering the punchline in the title… but Yoda would be so proud (of Seth Godin)

Extract from Seth Godin's blogpost: Won't get fooled again 

If you catch yourself making a promise that's been made before, stop. Don't spend a lot of time and effort building credibility with this sort of promising, because it doesn't pay off.

Make different promises, or even better, do, don't say.

Law firm leaders, if you don't know who Seth Godin is, subscribe to his blog and/or read his books. He offers a perspective that you won't get at bar association meetings.

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

Download by clicking on image or HERE  Registered participants were provided with Password in session.

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

Top 10 recipients of associates' seal of approval:

1.    Ropes & Gray
2.    Williams & Connolly
3.    Morrison & Foerster       
4.    Fitzpatrick
5.    Shook, Hardy & Bacon
6.    Hughes Hubbard & Reed          
7.    Jones Day
8.    Davis Polk
9.    Paul, Weiss
10.  Skadden, Arps

View the entire 2011 Vault Law Firm Quality of Life Rankings.

ROPES & GRAY REPEATS AS BEST LAW FIRM TO WORK FOR; LAW ASSOCIATES AT WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY MOST SATISFIED

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/.