♬Gonna keep on tryin
Till I reach the highest ground..♬

Words, music and recorded by Stevie Wonder.

I was delighted to learn on New Year’s Eve that Thoughtful Legal Management has received a 2007 CLawBie (tied with Jordan Furlong’s Law21 blog) in the Practice Management Award category.  Jordan’s excellent blog has also taken top Canadian blog award, for which he should be justly proud!

I am humbled by the quality and skill of all the other winners and nominees - and I wish to extend my congratulations to all winners and nominees alike.  Please check out all the blogs that Steve Matthews has listed on www.clawbies.ca. and add them to your RSS feeder!

I would also like to thank those who put forward thoughtfullaw.com for nomination. My thanks goes out to all the readers, for which, truly, this blog would not otherwise exist.

The Canadian blog community is being recognized not just nationally but internationally for its high standards, its collegiality and great work. For example, www.slaw.ca has been selected as one of the Top 100 Legal Blogs by the ABA Journal. I know that this ensures that everyone is working to world class standards!

I also wanted to say thanks to Steve Matthews - for creating these awards, for keeping them going and knowing that he is ineligible for any of them since he administers them! His blogs and his work on the web ranks shoulder to shoulder with the best of them - indeed I would say he stands in a class all his own - and these awards are another example of his contribution to this community. I can only hope that I can follow his lead and, in turn, ‘pay it forward’ in some small fashion.

Of course this all provides further motivation to keep trying to meet everyone’s expectations in 2009 - gonna keep on trying until I reach the highest ground!  Thanks again all!

♫ Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way…♫

Words and music by James Lord Pierpont.

At this time of the year I would like to wish each and everyone the Best of the Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.  This upcoming year will be a challenging one and as such I hope for Peace, Hope and Happiness for all.

As has become my tradition, at this time as my gift to you I offer a few minutes of reflection.  I hope this slide show and music (please turn your speakers on!) brings to you a time of calm and joy.  The music is of course, Jingle Bells by James Lord Pierpont and is performed by the Argyle Alumni Choir, Argyle Senior Secondary School, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Frances Roberts, Director.  Used with permission.

This is also a bit of an experiment in hosted slide shows. You can select two different versions - one is on SlideShare  - the other is on YouTube.

I find the images much sharper on SlideShare - but the music/picture synchronization is a bit jerky and odd.  YouTube doesn’t have the sync problem, but the images are much less sharp.

2008 Xmas Slide Show2

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: bilinsky roberts)

Best wishes for a safe holiday filled with warmth, comfort and good cheer!

(Thanks to Steve Matthews for technical assistance in hosting the slide show).

♫ Hey honey-you’ve got lots of cash
Bring us round a bottle
And we’ll have some laughs
Gin’s what I’m drinking
I was raised on robbery…♫

Written and performed by Joni Mitchell.

The ABA  Journal website per Martha Neil reported on Dec. 11, 2008 that New York City attorney Marc Dreier has allegedly stolen $380 million dollars from hedge funds and investors (it looks like the amount in question keeps going up…).

In an earlier article this week, (How Marc Dreier Allegedly Sold Worthless Forged Paper) Martha Neil stated:

“Federal prosecutors and securities regulators contend that Dreier has stolen $113 million since October by falsely claiming that a real estate developer—apparently former client Solow Realty, in at least one attempted transaction, according to the New York Times—wanted to sell debt at a deep discount. Then he allegedly closed the fraudulent deals by charming his way into the offices and conference rooms of unwitting accounting, pension fund and real estate offices linked to the transactions by faked documents, recounts the newspaper’s DealBook blog.”

There is a Canadian connection to this story:

“People familiar with the matter say Mr. Dreier attempted to secure money from Fortress, a New York asset-management firm, by impersonating an Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan attorney. When Fortress wanted to meet with Ontario Teachers’ representatives in person, Mr. Dreier flew to Canada, the people say, and posed as an in-house counsel for Ontario Teachers’ in a meeting with a Fortress executive.”

Of course there is the usual hallmark of a fraud: he is reported to have had ‘a lavish lifestyle’ and spent substantial sums as well on his New York City-based firm’s Park Avenue headquarters.

Now compare and contrast this to the sub-prime mortgage crises. Wikipedia states:

“The New York State Comptroller’s Office has said that in 2006, Wall Street executives took home bonuses totaling $23.9 billion. “Wall Street traders were thinking of the bonus at the end of the year, not the long-term health of their firm. The whole system—from mortgage brokers to Wall Street risk managers—seemed tilted toward taking short-term risks while ignoring long-term obligations. The most damning evidence is that most of the people at the top of the banks didn’t really understand how those [investments] worked.”^[38]

In both the sub-prime crises and in the Dreier case, innocent people ended up losing money on worthless paper. Could it be that the major distinction is that certain people at the banks didn’t understand - or care - how their investments worked (willful blindness?) but Mr. Dreier did (intention?)

Mr. Dreier has been charged with wire and security fraud and is facing civil litigation suits.

One could speculate that perhaps Joni Mitchell’s lyrics were taken a little too much to heart?

♫ Do the right thing baby do the right thing
Go with your heart and do the right thing..♫

Words and music by Jim Lauderdale, Gary Nicholson, performed by George Strait.

The Oct/Nov 2008 issue of Law Practice Magazine is now out and the Profitability column that I co-write with my colleague and fellow Practice Management Advisor Laura Calloway is  now on the web:

Business guru Peter Drucker offered this brilliantly succinct description of the difference between managing and leading: Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Makes sense—but can you measure the cost-benefit tradeoff of one against the other in a law firm, in both qualitative and quantitative ways?

The authors have dealt with hundreds of lawyers and law firms in our years as practice management advisors. When asked to perform confidential evaluations, it becomes apparent fairly quickly when we’re working with a firm that falls into one of four areas in terms of leadership and management. We fancy those four areas as being like elements of the cosmos, so indulge us while we spin that metaphor to explore leadership in qualitative terms. Then, we’ll pitch some benchmarking data for a more quantitative perspective.

A Law Firm Cosmology in Four Parts

In the universe of law firms, management and leadership—be they strong or weak—intersect to produce the following types of firms.

To read the rest of the article, go here: http://www.abanet.org/lpm/magazine/articles/v34/is7/pg50.shtml.

♫  We’re in the money, we’re in the money;
We’ve got a lot of what it takes to get along!
We’re in the money, that sky is sunny,
Old Man Depression you are through, you done us wrong…♫

Lyrics by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren, from the film Gold Diggers of 1933.

The signs are clear. The world is definitely in a recession even if the tsunami has not yet washed over B.C.’s shores. Forestry, high tech, manufacturing – all will be affected as the waves crash through B.C. law firms.

So what can law firms do – now – to prepare for the hard times? Here is a list of steps that you can take: (you can read the rest of the article that was published in the December 2008 issue of BarTalk here.)

♬ Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on.. ♬

Written and recorded by John Lennon.

I have decided from here on in to cross-reference my posts to www.slaw.ca on this blog.  Slaw.ca is a cooperative Canadian blog developed, nurtured and maintained by Simon Foster, Professor Emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. Slaw.ca has distinguished itself as being named one of the “100 best Web sites by lawyers, for lawyers, as chosen by the editors of the ABA Journal“.

So - today - I posted on Dalton McGuinty and how he has been impacted by the power of web 2.0.  You can read the complete post here.  I hope you, humble reader, will also follow all the bright minds at Slaw.ca - I think (notwithstanding that your humble scribe is a contributor) that they are right on!

♬ Three is a magic number
Ya it is, it’s a magic number
Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity
You’ll get three
As a magic number…♬

Written and performed by Bob Dorough

Steve Matthews, the creator of the Canadian Legal Blog Awards, has just announced the 2008 Clawbie Nomination process.  True to Steve’s creative and delightfully quirky mind, rather than just submitting a nomination, he has invited people to nominate three Canadian Legal blogs via a blog post.

Never being one to turn down a creative challenge, here are my three choices to kick things off:

1.  Slaw.ca: Hardly day goes by where I don’t look at Slaw and see what is on people’s minds.  The cooperative weblog idea is a powerful one - here we see web 2.0 concepts in action  - and the resulting dialogue between posts and comments makes the blog totally fresh and intriguing. The points of view come from all across Canada.  The topics are driven by what the Slaw community feels is important.  It is like being part of a great big respectful conversation that never stops - and never stops being interesting.  This is my nomination for Simon Fodden and the rest of the crew for crafting, nurturing and growing this ever so Canadian social legal blog.

2.   Twitter.  OK, now I know Steve will say this isn’t a blog per se.  Nor is it a Canadian blog per se. But it is a micro-blog - and there is a community of Canadians twittering - and tweating and listening to each other and to others - on Twitter.  I think these Canadians have crafted their own collective micro-blog on Twitter - and it is fascinating! Where Slaw is about a big, deep,  thoughtful community, Twitter is about being part of a different, dynamic, ‘flow of consciousness’ community.  The Canadians in the Twitter community know who they are - but that doesn’t get in the way of anything. This is really about having a dialogue with people. Kevin O’Keefe (an American, if that matters)  just posted to Twitter on the Clawbies while I was writing this. Twitter is everything about breaking legal and technology news and being involved - or part - of the story at the same time.  So my nomination is for all the Canadians who are on Twitter and crafting their own micro-blogging community within a community!

3.   law21.ca: Jordan Furlong is doing great things on his blog that deals with what my old mathematics professors would call inflection points.  These are points where a function changes curve and interesting things are happening.  Jordan is extraordinarily skilled in picking up on those inflection points in the legal community’s function and providing insightful commentary thereon.  Well thought, well done and well received.  Keep up the good work Jordan - my third nomination.

And so I encourage you to visit www.clawbies.ca and read the nominations and nominate a blog or two yourself! Oh - and Vote too!  That makes three - nominate, read and vote - an ancient magical trinity!

♫ Vote, baby vote
Vote, baby vote…♫

Words, music and recorded by Deee-Lite.

The ABA Journal’s editors has selected the 100 Best Web Sites by lawyers, for lawyers. I am delighted that www.slaw.ca, a Canadian co-operative blog started and nurtured by Simon Fodden, Professor Emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University and which includes many notable Canadian bloggers (Simon Chester,  Connie Crosby, Steve Matthews, Dan Pinnington and many others (to which, ahem, your humble scribe is also a core contributor) has been listed in the Top 100!

Readers can go to the ABA Journal site and vote for the best blawg in each category. www.slaw.ca is in the Technology category. You can vote for your choice by visiting: http://www.abajournal.com/blawgs/blawg100_2008/technology. (note that you don’t have to be an ABA member to vote!).

Voting ends Jan. 2, 2009.  Either way, this list is a great resource of some of the best legal blogs out there! It would be dee-lightful if you would come out and vote baby, vote!

♫  If you got talent baby let it shine
Give it to the world
And let them see what’s inside
You’re like a treasure and you have the key
Every minute of the day is what it takes to be
The best of the best
So give it all you got
…
It’s the passion inside
And your dreams come alive…♫

Words, music and recorded by: MC Magic (Marco Cardenas)

My friend and colleague Steve Matthews just blogged about Jeff Richardson - The iPhone lawyer and turned it into a wonderful marketing blog post. His post resonated - deeply - with me (*thanks Steve!*).

I have met with hundreds of lawyers who wanted to leave their present firm and go out on their own and who have come to me for advice on setting up their new office. Inevitably I sit them down and one of the first questions I ask them is: “What are you passionate about?”  They usually give me a strange look - they were expecting advice on technology and business systems (which I do get to!) but first I want to get them taking about what really drives them on the inside.

Following the sage advice of the late Dr. Hans Selye, a notable Hungarian-Canadian researcher on stress, I try to encourage them to build a law practice around what they have a passion for  in their lives.  I have met and known lawyers who were passionate about horses (they launched a law practice with a focus on the needs of horse breeders and trainers), about the arts (they launched into entertainment law and the governance of non-profit arts organizations) and sports (they launched a practice on the needs of operators of ski hills, wilderness high-adventure sports and the like). Now they just didn’t have an instant practice in these areas..but they had a goal and a vision and they did what they had to do - every day - to take themselves closer to their goal.

Dr. Selye’s advice was simple:  Make your avocation your vocation.  If you do what you love, then you will love what you do. Work will not be a chore or a rut (and how many lawyers are caught doing what they do only for the money and can’t seem to find a way out…).

Steve said it best when talking about Jeff Richardson and his iPhone blog:

 ”Think about that for a minute. His firm which has 10 offices and looks to have hundreds of lawyers, will be surpassed by the indirect efforts of just one single lawyer. All because Jeff took the time to blog about a topic he’s passionate about.

A hobby? Sure. But his clients and potential clients also get to see his personality, his level-headed nature, and a love for the topic. That kind of insight does come into play when hiring a lawyer, and yes, personality counts.”

It’s the passion inside that is coming forth - and Jeff is seeing his dreams come alive…

♬ But its gonna take money
A whole lotta spending money
Its gonna take plenty of money
To do it right…♬

Words and Music by Rudy Clark, recorded by George Harrison.

The FP Legal Post on Nov.21, 2008 in an article by Julius Melnitzer entitled: “DLA Piper seeks millions in capital from partners” reported that the largest law firm in the USA has asked 275 income partners to contribute up to $150,000 US each (which could top out at $41, 250,000) to bolster the firm’s finances.

The ABA Journal in a similar article on Nov. 19, 2008 by Martha Neil entitled: “DLA Piper asks 275 Non-Equity Partner to Ante Up, Goes to 1-Tier Structure” quoted Crain’s Chicago Business in stating:

“By raising funds from a new crop of equity partners and compensating them with a share of the profits, DLA would eliminate income partner salaries and trim payroll costs and borrowing needs,” the business publication explains. It would also likely put more pressure on the new equity partners to bring in business, and put associates into an “up or out” model that requires them to generate clients or find another job as they become seasoned attorneys, legal recruiters say.”

It seems that by eliminating non-equity partners, the firm ensures that all partners ‘have some skin in the game’.  Furthermore, it ensures that the firm does not have to go to banks looking for debt to finance their business.  Such a move also ensures that all partners become strongly focused on client and business development.

I rather suspect that this will not be an isolated incident as firms seek to reduce their debt/equity ratio.  So long as this infusion of capital is subsequently used to finance operating activities that lead to greater income generation, the entire firm should be better off.  However, as we all know, its gonna take a whole lotta spending money to do it right…