♫  Make a list baby, of the things I’ll do for you…♫

Lyrics, music and recorded by Ambrosia.

STRATEGIC PLANNING IS AGAIN HIGH ON FIRMS’ AGENDAS

This is another guest post from my friend Bob Denney.  It is of particular interest since my MBA was in the area of the strategic application of technology to the practice of law.  So to see a renewed growing interest in the area of strategic planning is a gratifying one – and one that I truly endorse.

So without further ado – here are Bob’s insights into this area:

Several recently published surveys confirm that a large percentage of firms, regardless of size, have put many of the same issues high on their agendas for this year. In no particular order, these are some of them:

• The need to grow in order to survive
• Seeking a merger if they can’t grow
• Clients insistence on receiving value for their legal spend
• The need to obtain regular client feedback
• Dealing with under-performing partners
• Succession planning
• Continued lateral hiring in lieu of associate recruiting
• Decreasing leverage because of fewer associates
• Practice group organization and management
• Increased competition from online sources and alternative legal service providers
• Strategic Planning

None of these issues are surprising but the return of Strategic Planning to firms’ agendas is a healthy sign because many firms had abandoned planning during the recession, Yet, as most businesses and organizations have long recognized, it is essential. Now law firms are recognizing it is more essential than ever because of the many changes in the legal profession.

Integrated Strategic Planning, as we define it, has always been one of our largest areas of practice and now the number of these projects we are working on has increased over 300% in the past six months. For firms that have not yet put Strategic Planning on their agendas, we attach a discussion of the benefits, misconceptions and application of the process.

Robert Denney Associates Inc. provides strategic management and marketing counsel to law firms, companies and non-profit organizations throughout the United States. Previous Communiques as well as information about our services may be viewed on our web site. P.O. Box 551, Wayne, PA 19087-0551 • 610-644-7020 • fax: 610-296-8726 email: bob@robertdenney.com • web site: www.robertdenney.com

Thanks Bob for highlighting how strategic planning and its components should be high on the list of things that management should be doing in law firms!

♫ Don’t you know they change
Oh, things change
As long as this world is turning
Things are gonna change
Gonna keep on changing
Gonna change…♫

Music and lyrics by: W. Luther, A. Mayo, M. Green and C.M. Lindsey, recorded by Tim McGraw.

This is another great guest post from Beth Flynn of the Ohio State University Leadership Center. Today Beth is providing us with a 10 step process for instituting lasting change:

1. Build trust
2. Create a unified spearhead team
3. Establish a pressing need for the change to be implemented
4. Formulate a clear unifying vision
5. Build and implement a specific strategy
6. Share the vision often
7. Enable and equip all shareholders to implement change effort as top priority
8. Create and recognize improvement, big and small.
9. Deepen change, making sure all systems, policies, and training promote the change
10. Keep and create systems that foster open communication, listening, reviewing, and adjusting (Horsager, 2010 p.267)

From: Horsager, D. (2010). The trust edge: how top leaders gain faster results, deeper relationships, and a stronger bottom line. Minneapolis: Summerside Press.  The Trust Edge is available from the OSU Leadership Center. Click here to borrow this resource or any other resource. Once you are on the OSU website, click on the Spectrum icon.

Click here to learn how the Ohio State University Leadership Center is inspiring others to take a leadership role that empowers the world.

To begin receiving Beth’s Leadership Moments, please click here.

21st Century Leadership Series: These professional development opportunities are open to current and aspiring leaders interested in increasing their leadership knowledge and skills. Held on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, this leadership series is designed with relevant solutions to current leadership issues. Certificates of participation are available for individuals seeking professional development hours.

Thanks Beth for another great tip that will help us bring about change as long as this world keeps on turning!

♫  It’s all about the Apps Store and iTunes.
They continue distribution of software media.
iPad (do do do do do)
iPad (do do do do)… ♫

– Lyrics, music and recorded by Parry Gripp.

Gerry Purdy PHD, an expert on wireless technologies, has made a prediction. In the future, you will own three devices:

• a smartphone (to make calls, check on email and messages and do light web browsing);
• a tablet (to do more review of content, more serious web browsing and messaging); and
• a desktop or notebook PC device (to create original content that is read on other devices).

What is driving his prediction? For one, mobile device sales (smartphones, iPads) already exceed those of desktops/laptops. Secondly, mobile web traffic is about to exceed desk-based web use. We are a mobile, connected world and we want applications and devices that enable our lifestyle. Furthermore, iPads represent lawyers taking charge and gaining access to technology that does not involve having to deal with the law firm IT department and all their restrictive policies.

The other factor is the ease of use of the iPad as compared to traditional PC-based technology. The iPad has exceeded everyone’s expectations on these criteria. Apps which traditionally run from free to $9.99 (and in some cases more) place incredible processing power in the hands of users. Games, book readers, word processing, presentation software, business apps – there are literally hundreds of thousands from which to choose. News apps from the NYT, BBC, AP and others place you in the center of the “what’s happening now” world. TweetDeck and Facebook allow you to comment and connect with the Twitterverse about what is happening now. Wi-Fi or cellular data plans connect your iPad to the world. Inexpensive online storage is available via Dropbox, iCloud and others. Read the rest of this entry »

♫I’m searching
When I’m lost and need to find myself
Where this road will lead
no one can tell…♫

– Lyrics and music by Simon Finn and Errol Reid, recorded by China Black.

It is hard to imagine but no search engine existed for the web until 1993. Of course, when it comes to doing research on the web, the one search site that everyone knows today is Google. But Google itself didn’t become prominent until 2000. Furthermore, Google is by no means the only or perhaps even the best search engine to use in every context. Compounding the problem, a web page of search hits may not display the research results that you are seeking – simply because so many websites are using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to try to land their website within the first two pages of results. Accordingly, you need to know what other search engines are out there along with their attributes in order to carry out any real research over the Internet.

These sites vary from searching websites to travel sites to medical information, books and scholarly articles. You can search to see what people are saying or search news services. You can even search sites that will post your question to live people (gasp!) and get back real answers. You can search items for sale, either by suppliers or by individuals. You can search for specialized knowledge (such as science information), or even people.

There are websites such as FactBites [www.factbites.com] which search encyclopedias and Wikipedia to provide you with factual information (not search results based on popularity, which is what Google and Bing do). In terms of real research, this is a great starting point.

There are search engines that don’t just display lists of results but also display a “Tag Cloud” with the size of a word (search term) being larger or smaller by the number of hits relative to that term. You can see the results by “hovering” over the words in the tag cloud. Example: Quintura.

There are sites such as Biography.com that allow you to search 25,000+ biographies by name, keyword and profession. Or search LinkedIn for current information on 100 million people.

You can search for sounds on FindSounds.com and find an amazing variety, from alligators to windshield wipers and zebras.
Quotations and famous speeches can be searched, read and heard.

You can even search out search engines from other countries.

When you are searching and lost and can’t seem to find yourself, there are any number of roads that you can take… who knows where they will lead you.

This article originally appeared in the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia branch’s publication BarTalk.

♫ Every time you’re near
I get creative…♫

Lyrics and Music by: Chris Porter/Howard New/Peter Gordeno, recorded by  Leon Jackson.

This is another great guest post by Beth Flynn of the Ohio State University Leadership Center.  This time Beth is looking at Creativity (and leadership).

• Myth 1:  Creativity is only needed at the top.
• TRUTH: In today’s business environment, creativity applies to everyone.

• Myth 2:  People are creative (or not) depending on their job or role.
• TRUTH:  You role has nothing to do with your creativity.

• Myth 3:  Creativity is “born:” it can’t be developed.
• TRUTH: Yes it absolutely can.

• MYTH 4:  Creativity isn’t my responsibility.
• TRUTH:  Today, creativity is everyone’s responsibility.

• MYTH 5:  Creativity can’t be managed or harnessed.
• TRUTH: Developing creativity is the primary role you will play as a leader in the twenty-first-century business world.

• Myth 6:  My technical skills and experience are enough.
• TRUTH: Creative problem solving, original thought, and imagination have become the currency for success in the new world of business…and life (Linkner, 2011, p. 207-209).

From:  Linkner, J (2011).  Disciplined dreaming: a proven system to drive breakthrough creativity.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass. Disciplined dreaming is available from the OSU Leadership Center.  Click here to borrow this resource.

Learn how the Ohio State University Leadership Center is inspiring others to take a leadership role that empowers the world at http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu . To begin receiving Leadership Moments, or to update your information, please click here to access OSU’s Mailing List.

Thanks Beth for another great leadership post on how all of us can move past the myths in becoming more creative.  I can say ..every time you are near I get creative!

♫ You can count on me
I’m gonna get it done, get it done…♫

Lyrics, music and recorded by Sandwich.

Over on Small Firm Innovation, Gwynne Monahan has posed the following challenge:

Write a post that  describes what quick, uncomplicated, untechnological habits or practices make all the difference to your practice, in 100 words or less.

OK…nothing like a challenge. So here goes:

Stop procrastinating.  Now.  Or as Nike says, “Just Do It!”.  Deadlines and to-do’s and such don’t get better with age.  Enter them in your Outlook calendar with associated alarms, flags and ‘Due Dates’.  Use ‘Categories’ to classify them as “Limitation Dates” and such.  Follow up  on them regularly or even better, use shared calendars and have one person in the firm designated to review all important dates weekly and ensure that they are all met.

Turn yourself around from a procrastinator to a doer.  Let people know that they can count on you.

♫ There’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand
There’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand… ♫

Words, music and lyrics by Leonard Cohen.

Lawrence Lessig wrote a very famous book called Code is Law (now in version 2 simply called Code v2).  In these books, Lawrence (and here I am guilty of oversimplification but at least I can claim that this is Lawrence’s own oversimplification from his web site describing the books):

“More than any other social space, cyberspace would be controlled or not depending upon the architecture, or “code,” of that space. And that meant regulators, and those seeking to protect cyberspace from at least some forms of regulation, needed to focus not just upon the work of legislators, but also the work of technologists.”

I have been thinking of Lawrence’s ideas in a slightly different and I have to admit, less lofty context.  It has to do with the fact that legislators, when they consider regulations and laws, need to focus not just on the law but also on how that legislation will be implemented into code.  In other words, Law is Code.

Bill Gates once famously said:

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

Passing laws that enable existing ‘things and processes’ – such as efiling, billing etc to be done electronically may only end up magnifying the inefficiency of the existing analogue process if thought isn’t put in as to how that law will be implemented as Code.

Take billing for example.  We are quite accustomed to receiving a paper bill and paying that bill by mailing a paper cheque.  Now consider if you allow bills to be paid electronically – the paper bill comes to your door and instead of writing a cheque, you pay the bill by transferring funds online.  So far, so good.

Now ..what if you allow a vendor (in this case a lawyer) to bill electronically?  Well, most lawyers will simply email out a PDF version of a paper bill. You haven’t really improved the underlying process.  What if you went the next step and allowed a vendor to issue bills in true electronic form that can be read directly by a purchaser’s accounting system (machine readable)?  Now that is an improvement that utilizes the efficiency of the technology and truly changes the workflow.

Problem is – that most laws require lawyers to sign invoices.  How do you sign a truly electronic invoice?  You could apply a digital signature – but most accounting systems are not set up to either apply – or read – such signatures. What happens, at least in BC, is that the lawyer sends out a signed letter stating that they are submitting the electronic invoice (and keeping a signed copy of the pre-bill indicating that they approved the bill in human-readable form before it was sent).

In this case I submit what is required is a change in the law that reflects that legal billing may be capable of being implemented as Code in a truly electronic process.

A second example is filing documents in the Land Title Office.  Now today, virtually all basic land registrations in BC can be done electronically (and in fact in most cases must be done so).  The requisite electronic documents are prepared using various applications, typically cloud-based.  They are submitted into the Land Title Office using digital signatures (in BC at least).

The problem is..the forms have not yet caught up with the fact that lawyers and law offices are automating (ie applying digital workflows) to the land title filing process. For example, if the information to be inserted into a particular form field is too long, then it has to be placed into a Schedule.  The e-forms have been set up as if someone human is filling them in and determining if the text is too long.  Problem is that law firms with large practices would like to set up the document assembly process so that the text is inserted into the forms without the need for the paralegal to stop the process if necessary and then complete the schedule as required when the text exceeds the form field length.  In this case, the law which allows for e-filing (indeed, requires it) needs corresponding Code that fully implements the electronic filing process.

Law makers of all stripes now need to think in terms of systems and consult with technologists in terms of not only formulating the law but in considering how the law will be implemented.   Where there is a law, that law should be given a hand by technologists in terms of how it will be coded  so that it comes to terms with the (increasingly) digital world in which we all work.

♫ Be prepared for indecision
It might make me disappear
But then again, my addiction
To indecision keeps me here…♫

Lyrics  and music by: Stephen Duffy and Steven Page, recorded by Stephen Page.

This is another guest post from Beth Flynn of the  Ohio State University Leadership Center.

To be a successful leader-manager, you have to be decisive. Probably the most frustrating thing to employees is working for a leader who can’t make a decision. The phrase “don’t be a definite maybe” is well known. The problem is that no one believes he or she is a definite maybe. The term itself is demeaning by what it implies. We all think we make decisions in a prompt or decisive manner, but I wonder if that is true and if it is what our employees think. I found that most leaders could make decisions about things quite easily. It’s making decisions about people that is difficult. In many cases, middle managers can’t make people decisions, or they will vacillate over them. When it becomes apparent to people in the organization that they are working for a definite maybe, they begin to lose confidence in that person’s leadership completely (Monastero, 2010, p. 75).

From: Monastero, S. (2010). Winning at leadership: how to become an effective leader. Bloomington, IN: IUNIVERSE, Inc. Winning at Leadership is available from the OSU Leadership Center.  Click here to borrow this resource.

Learn how the Ohio State University Leadership Center is inspiring others to take a leadership role that empowers the world at http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu 

To begin receiving Leadership Moments, or to update your information, please click on Join Our Mailing List.

Thanks Beth for another great leadership post on how all of us can move towards being a better leader by leaving our addiction to indecision behind!

♫ Boy, the way Glen Miller played.
Songs that made the Hit Parade.
Guys like us, we had it made.
Those were the days!…♫

– Music and Lyrics by Charles Stouce and Lee Adams
and recorded by Archie Bunker.

One of the big changes in the legal profession has been the switch to the lawyer as collaborator: with their colleagues, with their staff and not the least, with their clients. Part of this is due to the work of Thomas Friedman and his “The World is Flat” philosophy. Part of it is due to the fact that the world has changed and clients have insisted on becoming equals with their advisors. Not only do clients want to be kept advised on what is happening with their cases, they want to be involved with the details of their cases – discussing strategy, options and not the least, potential cost-impacts.

Collaboration places new demands on lawyers. In my view, this goes beyond just seeking instructions – which is the most basic level of collaboration. When you seek instructions, you and the client are speaking from each person’s separate goals and values…in order to reach a common path of how to proceed. But there are much more rewarding, and deeper, ways to collaborate. In a true collaborative environment, there is a deep, continued and shared dialogue over proposed outcomes, options and impacts. In such an environment, each party seeks to build and enhance meaningful and beneficial long-term relationships. Each party has a commitment to common and shared goals that strive to go beyond the current engagement. There is also shared leadership, a sense of community, a commitment of resources and an understanding of each party’s overarching goals. There are shared responsibilities and the development of an environment of underlying mutual understanding and trust. Needless to say, all parties have to view collaboration as being to their mutual benefit. Since lawyers have not been traditionally viewed as being high on the trustworthy scale compared to other professions (rightly or not), I believe we have much to gain by adopting a collaborative perspective. Read the rest of this entry »

♬ Na je nun ta sa ro un in gan jo gin yo ja 
Ko pi han ja ne yo yu rul a neun pum gyo gi nun yo ja 
Ba mi o myon shim ja ngi tu go wo ji nun yo ja 
Gu ron ban jon i nun yo ja 
…
Oppan Gangnam Style 
Gangnam Style 
Op op op op oppan Gangnam Style 
Gangnam Style 
Op op op op oppan Gangnam Style…♬

Lyrics and Music by: Jai Sang Park and Keon Hyung Yoo, recorded by Psy.

My good friend, lawyer and entrepreneur John Treddinck has done it again.  John is the CEO and founder of Catalyst Repository Systems.  Catalyst is no ordinary company – it has been inducted into the Smithsonian Institute as a recipient of the prestigious Computerworld/Smithsonian Innovator Medal (not bad for a legal technology startup!). It has been repeatedly named a top e-discovery provider by Socha-Gelbmann, and its products have won multiple awards for innovation. John has been named a top 100 global technology leader and one of the law’s leading innovators.

Catalyst is now expanding to South Korea.  Now most companies would do a simple press release.  Not Catalyst. Not John.  Not *their* kind of marketing!!

John turned to JibJab and Catalyst did their announcement in Gangham style.

Clever, humorous and  catchy.

Here it is  (turn up your speakers! …and read John’s translation of Psy’s lyrics…):

That’s it John..do it Gangham Style!