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    February 19th, 2014

    ♫ Only made me more focused, only wrote more potent..♫

    Lyrics and music by Kanye WestAldrin Davis, recorded by Kanye West.

    milt zwicker

    Milton Wedman Zwicker or just “Milt” as he liked to be known, was the retired managing partner of Zwicker Evans & Lewis, an Ontario law firm. His law practice was restricted to business and commercial law and estate planning. He was the author of many articles and books on the subject of law firm management, and he was a past member of the editorial board of Law Practice Management magazine (as it then was known) published by the American Bar Association.  His full obituary can be found here.

    His books included “Successful Client Newsletters” published in 1998 by the American Bar Association.

    In a book review Dave Freedman states:

    This book is largely outstanding. The author is a lawyer and has written extensively on law practice management, but anyone who markets a professional service firm of any kind would benefit from this book.

    In the introduction Zwicker says, “The most important thing to keep in mind when you are designing and writing your newsletter is the very thing most law firms forget — the newsletter is for your clients and prospects. Be sure the result is a publication that meets their needs, not just yours.”

    I first became acquainted with Milt by reading his regular column in the Canadian Bar Association’s publication “The National” back when it was printed on newspaper and had a tabloid like format.  These were the days before the Internet and Milt was one of the earliest voices on Law Firm Management that included other luminaries such as J. Harris Morgan, Sam Smith, Jay Foonberg, Jimmy Brill and many others that were active in the Section of Economics of Law Practice as the present Law Practice Division of the ABA was then known.

    Milt had one strong message that always came thru his writings and presentations.  It is a lesson that is just as important today as it was when Milt first started writing about law practice management.  His message was always to make your practice ‘client focused’.   This was his measure.  If there was a system, a procedure, a policy in  your office that wasn’t aimed at meeting client needs, then Milt would quickly say, get rid of it or change it in order that you keep your practice focused and on track.

    According to Simon Chester, a mutual friend of Milt, “The extraordinary thing about Milt was that this pioneer sprang from Orillia – small town Ontario. His originality and exuberant enthusiasm were utterly unique.”  He had an international reputation that was based on his writings and he was a trailblazer in terms of applying business management principles to the practice of law.

    On my invitation, back in the 80’s Milt came to Vancouver to speak to the Law Practice Management section of the BC branch of the Canadian Bar Association back when I was the chair.  After his terrific presentation we went for dinner at a sushi restaurant and that is where I started to get to know Milt as a person.  Our friendship continued and I was fortunate to be invited to be part of his group in 1997 going to China to put on a week long course on Law Practice Management for the All China Lawyers Association that had only been formed in 1986 together with the Shanghai Bar Association.  The legal profession had been reinstated in China after being dismantled by the People’s Republic of China for decades and accordingly we spoke to a group composed of either very young lawyers or very much older lawyers who were now allowed to resume their practice of law.

    Milt largely disappeared from public life following his cancer diagnosis and he left his firm to practice from his home, but he continued to write on law practice management.  He published “How to Use Marketing to Build and Sustain a Vibrant Law Practice” in 2013.

    Milt was a friend, a mentor and a visionary.  His writings on law practice management were always a wonderful read and highly informative.   He inspired many of us to dig deeper and strive to meet his ideals.   I know he inspired me to be more focused, to write more potent.  Rest in peace Milt. You will be missed.

    This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 19th, 2014 at 11:02 am and is filed under Adding Value, Business Development, Change Management, Firm Governance, Issues facing Law Firms, Law Firm Strategy, Leadership and Strategic Planning, personal focus and renewal, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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