legal sanity

This post from John Moore of Brand Autopsy discusses the business application of the Broken Windows Theory. As noted in this commentary and this one, it's a theory of community demise holding that "disorder in urban neighborhoods leads people to be disorderly.” Metaphorically speaking, if you don’t fix broken windows quickly, people will get the message that nobody cares and more vandalism and decay will follow. In his new book, Michael Levine applies this theory to the business world, opining that companies should place a premium on identifying and quickly repairing their broken windows – those aspects of their operation that signal an indifference to consumer satisfaction and that ward off customers. Given the escalating levels of client discontent and defection it’s experiencing today, the legal profession would also benefit from employing this theory within its ranks. The attorney-client relationship window is broken. The question remains: How do we fix it? This is a topic I’ve addressed before here, here, here and here (to give you a sampling). As this article by blogger Ed Poll suggests, the window’s disrepair results from a system-wide breakdown. And the fix requires a collaborative and comprehensive approach that starts in law school and continues in our law firms and professional organizations.