legal sanity

The ABA Journal online tipped me to a great article in which lawyer-author Richard Susskind explores how and why the legal profession is on the brink of fundamental change. The article is the first in a series of excerpts from Susskind’s forthcoming book, The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services.

Like other forward-minded thinkers, Susskind challenges us to “introspect” and honestly consider the skills, talents and capabilities we possess that can’t “be replaced by advanced systems or by less costly workers supported by technology or standard processes, or by lay people armed with online self-help tools.” One of Susskind’s aims is to help us see and understand the natural evolution of our chosen profession and to embrace those changes as opportunities to take on new lawyering roles “which may be highly rewarding, even if very different from those of today.”

It’s a common refrain about the transformation of legal services – the times they are a-changin'. As always, the lingering question is how practitioners and law firms will change with the times.

That question is addressed from a number of different perspectives in the latest issue of The Complete Lawyer, which focuses on Viewing The Law In 2020. I particularly enjoyed consultant Bill Cobb’s article that asks: Are You Ready For The Revolution In Legal Services?

Cobb identifies client power and reliance on alternative providers as two of the key change drivers in the practice and business of law. He goes on to depict the changes attributable to increased client power, such as “fixed fees and lower rates.” Cobb also discusses how the Internet gives people access to a bounty of “quasi-legal service” providers, ending “the monopoly that lawyers have had on providing legal services.”

Although it’s not on all fours with the topic of the legal profession’s future; my latest article for TCL – titled For Associates, Relationship Building Skills Are Essential – provides some practical tips and exercises for young associates looking to optimize their future success and happiness in the law.

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Back in May, I wrote about Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession, a group composed of top-tier law students who have joined forces to propel profession-wide reform. Law.com, by way of Legal Times, recently profiled the group’s mission and goals in an article titled Students Seek a More Reasonable Law Firm Life.

The other day, I received an e-mail from the group announcing its release of “a series of reports ranking large law firms in New York and other major legal markets on gender composition, diversity, billable hours, and pro bono participation.” The reports aim to help law students make more informed – or, perhaps, more reasonable -- choices in deciding where to work. You’ll find links to the reported firm rankings, by geographic location, on the sidebar of the group’s blog.

Fostering a healthier legal profession is also the focus of a November 4-5, 2007 conference on Law as a Healing Profession. The two-day event takes place at the Touro Law Center in Islip, New York. I’m participating as a presenter and panelist. Panel topics include:

• The Lawyer as Therapeutic Agent Practice

• Resolving Civil Disputes

• Practice, Spirituality & Religion

• Cultivating Cross-Cultural Competence

• Wellness and Well-being

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Work and life have kept me out of the blogging groove of late. Vetting the feeds and alerts I use to keep pace in the blogosphere, I found several great posts and articles revolving around the theme of the workplace.

Here’s a roundup of my favorites:

Addressing the popular topics of employee attrition and retention, a CareerJournal.com article offers Six Reasons Top Performers Seek Out Greener Pastures. The first reason cited is a lack of rewards for good behavior. This is not about some childish need. People – mature, intelligent, responsible adult people – want to be visible and acknowledged for their efforts; especially when those efforts “promote the success of the whole company.” As the article suggests, giving monetary rewards like bonuses are just one of a number of ways that firms can recognize and honor their stellar performers.

As much as some top performers need to be honored, others need to be reeled in or shown the door. That’s the message conveyed in this lawjobs.com piece about firms with strict no-jerks rules. Recognizing the deleterious effect that bullies and abusive egomaniacs can have on the work environment, some law firms are “reforming their hiring and firing policies to follow one simple guiding tenet: no jerks allowed.” Notably, rule breakers aren’t excused because they bill a lot of hours or generate substantial business. The damage they do to morale and their firm’s business bottom line far outweighs any of their personal contributions to the practice.

If given the choice, most of us would prefer to work in a jerk-free environment. According to a survey profiled in another CareerJournal.com piece, we’d also like to have creative outlets on the job. Although 88% of the survey participants responded that they have creative personalities, only 63% deemed their job a creative position. Tacitly acknowledging this “creativity gap,” 22% of the respondents said that they would leave their job for more creative, but lower-paying work. According to one quoted source, the kind of workplace creativity people likely have in mind is “an aspect of the job that allows [them] to express their personalities or challenge their intellects.”

Our drive for creative outlet in the workplace mirrors larger cultural and economic movements towards valuing creativity . These trends have been chronicled by economist Richard Florida in his seminal book, The Rise of the Creative Class, and in writer Dan Pink’s excellent book, A Whole New Mind.

On a final and more personal note, Curt Rosengren profiles my e-book on cultivating work-life synergy at his new blog, The M.A.P. Maker. Curt offers insights and commentary on creating a life of meaning, abundance and passion (hence, M.A.P.). I encourage you to add his blog to your feeds. Thanks, Curt, for the acknowledgement and another thanks to Judy Martin for bringing my work to Curt’s attention.

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Here’s an interesting and, perhaps, daunting question for law firm leaders: If you lost your title, position and power tomorrow, would others still support you and want to work with you?

Executive coach Donna Karlin frames this inquiry in a FC Expert Blog post on defining leadership. Her question - with the commentary she offers around it - suggests that leadership is best assessed and defined by the people being led. This is the thought behind the 360-degree review process that’s become commonplace in the corporate world and is trickling in to law firms.

This point reverberates in an article from the Stanford Graduate School of Business titled It’s Not About You (tipped at Be Excellent). Reflecting on the leadership insights of former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, the piece states: “The minute you move from being a task-oriented professional to being a manager of people, it stops being about your individual talents, your successes, and starts being all about coaching, motivating, teaching, supporting, removing roadblocks, and finding resources for your employees. [ ] Too many people today think leading is exclusively about their own performance.”

For more on defining business leadership, take a look at Lisa Haneberg’s post detailing What we Want from Managers.

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