legal sanity

In this piece, ABA President Robert J. Grey, Jr. suggests that lawyers seize the "opportunity to modernize, streamline and provide a more efficient process for resolving disputes" because such action "can only produce positive results for society and the profession." To fulfill our role as "guardians of the American justice system," he opines, lawyers need to recognize that a "trial is not always the best way to resolve a dispute" and should be able to discern "when mediation, negotiation and arbitration—or more innovative methods like summary jury trial—are the best use of resources to achieve a just solution." This call to action raises the related issue of educating consumers (including lawyers and lay people) about alternative modes of dispute resolution. It's an issue broadly addressed in this article on marketing mediation. In it, the author tries to dispel the notion that marketing and mediation are a noxious mix, asserting that "mediation practitioners have a professional obligation, an imperative, to popularize the more constructive, collaborative conflict resolution alternatives that are available to consumers in conflict." Indeed, he asserts that to be of real service to our culture, mediators need to invest their resources into positioning mediation so that it's at the top of consumers' minds when they're faced with an actual or threatened conflict. He states: "Currently, in our culture, when people perceive they are in a conflict, many immediately want to sue their opposition vengefully and punitively." Yet, "there are many choices, and blends of choices, that may stand to serve their net self interest far better than conventional adversarial litigation. If consumers can't compare the aspects of several options, they can't make choices that serve their self interest more advantageously." I agree that the legal profession and lay consumers alike would greatly benefit from a marketing campaign touting the benefits of ADR. But it will likely be a pretty tough sell unless it includes a big educational component - such as CLE and public seminars that actively engage participants in exercises designed to convey the many benefits of these dispute resolution alternatives.

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It seems that the legal sector is channeling the Ferrazzi spirit. As I previously posted, Keith Ferrazzi is the author of the new networking manifesto Never Eat Alone. He also writes a blog by the same name. According to the always informative Monica Bay of The Common Scold, Ferrazzi recently presented his rainmaking vision at a meeting of legal sales and marketing professionals "with great results." Echoing the theme of nurturing relationships to build business is this article discussing how law firm alumni programs provide golden opportunities to forge new business ties.

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I've finally gotten around to updating my blogroll. The additions are blogs and other sites from the legal and business worlds that I regularly read and draw information and inspiration from. I first discovered many of them while perusing other people's blogrolls and, in the same communal spirit, pass them along for your enjoyment.

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There's a buzz about the commencement speech that Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs recently gave at Stanford University. I read it via Fresh Inc. and found it very moving. Sharing his personal story, Jobs says much about moving through fear, uncertainty and failure at the intersection of work and life. He also conveys the importance of loving what you do for a living, stating: "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."

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I've posted on mediation basics before. This article adds to the primer with an update on the topic of mediator style and orientation. For years, mediators and others have been mired in decoding and defining the major mediation models: facilitative, evaluative and transformative (among others). When asked about their work, mediators often feel compelled to place themselves in a particular style camp even though they borrow from, and meld, different models in practice. According to the piece, this foisting of style over substance may become passé under the New Grid System proffered by esteemed dispute resolution scholar Leonard L. Riskin of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. Allowing for a natural co-mingling of mediation approaches, "Riskin's new grids [ ] focus on behaviors in the moment and over time rather than on labels that apply to the mediator throughout the mediation interaction." This allows for more fluidity and enables mediation participants to engage at "a much more sophisticated level and with more control over the process - if they wish." As a mediator who usually blends aspects of several mediation models, I welcome Riskin's break from formality. In my experience, there's no one "right way" to mediate. And there's no need to be exclusive since the different mediation styles mix very well together without losing their individual strengths. Participants only benefit from a process infused with the flexibility that this kind of versatility affords.

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I've been on the road for the last few days. I'm back home to celebrate my most important role with those most important to me. Happy father's day to all. The homemade cards and gifts I received from my three kids first thing this morning reminded me, yet again, just how important it is to find joy, meaning and contentment in my everyday endeavors.

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First there was LexThink Chicago's lawyer forum on creating the optimal professional services firm. Soon after, I posted on nurturing passionate legal consumers in our emerging experience economy. Maybe there's something in the old lawyer water well. This new Small Firm Business article echo's the call for lawyers to chart a course to success and satisfaction through improved service delivery. Describing law firms as "customer service organization[s] whose work product happens to be legal documents," the author boldly states: "I'm here to tell you that creating client satisfaction -- or better yet, joy -- is your job." To generate the right customer experience, he suggests that firms come up with a "script" and set "protocols" that cover everything from office décor to decorum. While I'm all for fostering joyful clients, I think the author misses the mark by focusing solely on staging the positive consumer experience. Staging is important, but it's only a part of the process. Relying on staging alone is tantamount to pretending that you care. Firms need to augment their stage directions by encouraging and empowering lawyers to forge human-to-human connections that show our clients that we genuinely care about moving them on to greatness.

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Mentoring has become a big part of my professional life and, as I've stated before, I think it's key to building our skills, success and satisfaction in the law. I very much enjoyed this new ABA article on the subject for its first-person accounts of the many benefits of mentoring relationships. People turn to mentors for different reasons. And, like any relationship, it takes candor, communication and common ground to keep the union going. As the article states: "A lot of people see mentoring as some sort of skipping through the daisies, Karate Kid sort of thing, and it's not." But, as the piece also captures, when mentoring partnerships work, "you [both] are enriched." As an aside for those of you familiar with his terrific blog and business, I believe I spotted Kevin O'Keefe of lexBlog and Real Lawyers Have Blogs among the mentoring enthusiasts profiled in the article. So, real lawyers need blogs and mentors!

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I'm off to the Rhode Island Bar Association's Annual Meeting where I'm speaking on optimizing the attorney-client relationship and lawyering in balance. Although I've given many talks and programs for lawyers and business people over the years, this event stands out since it heralds the launch of my new training and development business. In creating this new venture, I've thought a lot about the law, the successful solo practice I've built and what I really want to do with my life. If you're contemplating similar questions, take a look at Bill Jensen's latest book What Is Your Life's Work? Reviewed from multiple perspectives here, the book contains candid and moving letters from people asked to write to a loved one about what really matters at work. What would you write?

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I've talked about the interplay of lawyering and emotions a few times. This article deals with a related topic: how emotions play a leading role in business mediations. The author states that disputes between business partners often resist mediated outcomes for "four common reasons" related to "very recognizable human emotions and perceptions." Specifically, defying logic and practicality, one or both disputants may hold out for litigation because they: (1) fear making a mistake; (2) face bankruptcy and are willing to gamble on a slim chance of winning big; (3) fear that a "spouse or valued relationship will be angry or upset with [] a settlement;" and (4) "highly value negative emotions such as revenge or retribution." The article goes on to detail ways of clearing these emotional roadblocks to successful mediation. However, the salient point that the piece underscores is that dispute resolution of any sort is an exercise in human emotions and human relations. Whatever hat we're wearing (mediator, negotiator or lawyer), we can't expect to be effective or efficient conflict managers unless we're willing to address the human side of the matter at the outset. People come to the table with more than a dry set of facts and damage calculations. They bring their stories, and histories, of relationships gone bad - with all the fear, sadness and anger that naturally attend such dissolutions.

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It's been one year since I started this blog. I've really enjoyed watching it grow and change to address different perspectives on rethinking and revitalizing our lives in the law. The blog has drawn a large readership and I thank you for all your constructive comments and input along the way. According to Albert Einstein, insanity can be defined as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." This bit of wisdom goes to the heart of what I've been trying to relate about legal sanity. Charting a path to professional sanity has required me to step outside my zone of comfort and safety to create new and different business models, services and products that afford me and my clients genuine success and satisfaction. Blogging has been a great outlet for expressing and sharing my ideas, thoughts and concerns as I've moved into my zone of doing things differently. In the coming months, this blog will continue its natural growth process to complement my career trajectory and to provide readers with fresh and interesting material to consider. Thank you, again, for being part of legal sanity.

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I recently posted about my coaching work helping others optimize their life in the law. Ed Poll of LawBiz Blog has written a great primer on lawyer coaching for the current edition of Law Practice Today. Ed defines coaching as "a professional and personal developmental technique" in the "form of action-oriented consulting that helps you set and reach your goals." He aptly points out that coaches "do not have all the answers." But, they do add tremendous value by providing a convenient and regular "sounding board for your problems, questions, and ideas" concerning business development, human relations, work-life integration and more. The article includes a nice explanation of how coaching differs from other helping modalities, like business consulting, mentoring and therapy. As I've said before, coaching has helped me set and realign my professional goals as I've grown and changed my business over the years. I've also coached others through pivotal moments in their legal careers. Like Ed, I have no doubt that it's so much easier (and far less daunting) "to achieve your goals with someone at your side, supporting, advising, and pushing you along."

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I recently posted on the absence of passion in America's workforce. This article proposes that the legal profession can redress this problem by adopting a new business model that radically departs from the "leverage" and billable hour approach widely used today. Under this new paradigm, instead of downplaying professional fulfillment, firms will strive to create "an environment where lawyers are physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond immediate self-interest." The piece rightly stresses that this change effort will be "long and complex," requiring law firms to cultivate "an adequate supply of qualified leaders." The New Leadership and the lawyers it nurtures will stress performance markers like "work ethic, emotional intelligence, dedication to fulfilling commitments and values." Firms will come to understand and embrace the new golden rule: "when professional fulfillment suffers, performance and, consequently, profitability suffer, too."

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