Your law firm’s success in 2012 may require considerable ingenuity under extreme pressure just as it did from the crew of Apollo 13 for their safe return to Earth.

Apollo 13 was the third mission in the American Apollo space program intended to land on the Moon. The number 2 oxygen tank in the Service Module exploded en route to the Moon, approximately 200,000 miles (320,000 km) from Earth.  The developing drama was shown on television and depicted in the Apollo 13 movie based on the mission.

If you saw the movie, you may recall that the head of Mission Control assembled a team in a conference room and requested that the materials available to the astronauts in the Service Module be brought to the room because they had but a few hours to learn how to make oxygen to save the astronauts’ lives.

By contrast, when the senior leadership team in most law firms meets to explore strategy, there is no sense of urgency. Worse, after extraordinarily bright people come up with some amazing plans, in most firms they are doomed to atrophy due to a lack of execution.

As you consider 2012, I recommend that you:
 

• Take off the rose colored glasses… the apparent good economic news is at best an exercise in extreme optimism and at worst the willful concealment of the truth

• Clients have tasted economic power in the lawyer/client relationship and they are not going to give it up. In fact, if you are not exploring legal process management (LPM) in harmony with some of your most important clients, your firm is headed for rough seas.

• Make your plans as if they were a matter of life and death because they very well may be. In today’s perilous times, your firm’s fate may be as precarious as that of the 3 astronauts when the oxygen tank exploded.

I confess that I have framed this in a slightly melodramatic way in order to be provocative. The serious lesson I ask you to take from this is that your plans need a deadline and they must be executed as if life itself dependent upon them. That is why in Edge, we make no apology for being obsessed with action.

Your comments would be appreciated as usual.

(Thanks to Wikipedia for the image and details)

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/.

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/.

Patrick Lamb is synonymous with Valorem Law Group which is a driving force in changing how legal services are valued and acquired. After learning that Jordan Furlong was joining us, here's (an excerpt from) what he posted:

It's like adding Wayne Gretzky in his prime to the team that already was the best team in the league, or adding an all-star to a team of all-stars.  Great move, my friends.

Read the complete post here: WOW! Jordan Furlong joins Edge International!

If you lead a law firm and do not yet subscribe to Patrick's blog, In Search of Perfect Client Service, then go now and take care of that oversight.

If you want to learn more about Patrick, choose one if his bios:

In his own words

Pat's formal (boring) bio

Now as for Jordan Furlong, Jordan thanks again for joining us,  You are more like Gretzky than even Patrick may know.

I was practicing law in Edmonton during the Oiler dynasty and saw Gretzky informally as well as on the ice.   He was a young man of values and integrity… a great contributor to the community… and always selfless… ego-less… always doing his best… and his best, we all know in hindsight, was truly awesome. 

Having known Jordan Furlong personally and professionaly for many years, I can attest to the attributes that Patrick Lamb affords him and add that he is the kind of dream teammate we so much appreciate at Edge International.  In fact Jordan inhales and exhales integrity - it's the core of his DNA.  (Heck - he even comes from Ontario, Canada and brings endorsements - thanks to Patrick).

Jordan, (blame this on Patrick Lamb), I now pronounce your Edge International nickname to be "Gretz" from this day forward.   Welcome aboard, Gretz !

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