Why so many employed lawyers have untapped potential

My experiences over many years, in particular the last twenty five consulting to law firms, have shown me very clearly that both employers and employees have very misguided views on what employed lawyers are capable of in an average working day. They're both generally way too low.

The cost of legal services have gone up, and where there is an element of billing by the hour, hourly rates have gone up, for a long time now.

Fees targets for employees should have kept pace.

Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, the mindset of many is fixed on numbers for fees output that can be decades out of date.

When I tell either management or employee the fee budget I believe they are capable of achieving I almost inevitably encounter a form of "sticker shock".

"Sticker shock" is generally considered to be, "Disgust, shock or fright upon learning the price of an item offered for sale". Wiktionary.

The right management response is to use a KMSWorkPlan to logically determine what each individual is capable of if they are organised to have  a healthy backlog of client work.

This almost always gets through to employees that their personal paradigms about fee expectations are way out of whack with present reality.

Far too often though, when an employee comes to understand what a proper fee budget is, their immediate reaction is to seek a pay rise related to their new fee budget. It is important to resist the temptation to "fold" at this point.

A smart firm will insist that the employee focus on being paid a proper market salary, and of course a firm that does not want to do that has deep-seated problems.

To reiterate, these days smart firms do not pay employees one-third of the professional fees they bill and collect...and truly smart employees understand  they are not entitled to such a remuneration structure.

One poor "management" response to the conundrum of working out what an employed lawyer should produce is to decide that the way to get the "most" out of an employed lawyer is to provide them with an incentive based on a formula.

All too often such a formula is something like a shares of collected fees after a threshold level of fees is reached.

The threshold level is quite often three times the employee's base remuneration.

In my view what tends to happen with these unsophisticated arrangements is that they reward the employee with far more remuneration than they would be entitled to in the marketplace, and rob the firm of much of the profit it needs to remain financially healthy.

In effect, such arrangements share profits with employees who in most cases would be perfectly capable of working a full day for a proper remuneration without additional incentive...and this sensible WorkPlan-based approach is how the majority of my client law firms operate.

Readers may also be interested in a post I did on 19 March 2012 entitled Employed Lawyer Remuneration...The Right Formula...

The blog format lists my most popular posts automatically near the top of the Home Page, and level of readership has kept this particular post right up there all the time since it was written.

Why Practical Marketing Is Now More Important Than Ever In Small-Medium Law Firms…

KMS Australian Workshops CPD…

The pace of change in the marketplace for small-medium law firms continues to pick up. The gap between the firms that are profitable and growing, and those that are marginal and/or shrinking, is widening every day.

The good news is that the problems in most firms are no longer about the Global Financial Crisis, and other factors outside their control…but about fundamentals they can control…

Of course there are a lot of factors at play, but my work with law firms all over Australasia demonstrates to me that a failure to get their Marketing right is having a huge impact on the firms that are heading in the wrong direction…

In this new series of marketing workshops I’ll help you to:

Understand why it’s so vital to your practice’s financial health…

Understand what many of your competitor law firms are doing successfully…

Understand how to go about Marketing cost-effectively…

Understand how to get started, to cut through the clutter with a simple plan…

I’ll lead all the discussions, and there will be ample time for full involvement by all participants, and detailed answers to all your questions…and as usual I back it all up with a 100% guarantee for you…more details below…

Who should attend?

Principals, Managing Principals, CEO’s, CFO’s, Practice Managers, Marketing Managers, Office Managers, Associates, and any employed lawyer interested in understanding how to make themselves more valuable to the firm and progress their career…

When and Where?

Melbourne CBD…Wednesday November 28^th 2012…as usual, CBD venue to be confirmed.

Brisbane CBD…Thursday November 29^th 2012…as usual, CBD venue to be confirmed.

Sydney CBD…Thursday December 6^th 2012…as usual, CBD venue to be confirmed.

Times:            1pm-5.30pm… all venues…

Your investment in the workshop comes with the usual KMS unconditional money-back guarantee...

It will be powerful and beneficial for you...as usual, as for the last 25 years, I fully guarantee it!

If you aren’t delighted you attended the workshop…just e-mail me before the end of the next business day and give me an opportunity to understand why…if I can’t fix things totally for you promptly I will refund your entire investment immediately…so you have absolutely nothing to lose…and lots of extra disposable income and peace of mind to gain from the workshop...key elements in your satisfaction levels for the rest of your practising career!

What do your peers say about KMS seminars and workshops?

Testimonials…

Dear Rob…

Many thanks again for the workshop yesterday afternoon in Brisbane. I wish I had met you before I sold my practice! Nevertheless, as I am on an incentive-based remuneration arrangement I look forward to working with you...I will make an appointment to use some of that free consulting time, much appreciated! Cheers, Consultant practitioner, September 2012.

Dear Rob,

Thank you for an informative and effective seminar yesterday. I appreciated your straight talking and no B.S. approach. I will be applying much of what was covered in my practice.

“Good morning Rob…Many thanks for yesterday afternoon. I was delegated to attend by my partners to see if you had any new answers to our old problems and you certainly do! I made copious notes and will be in touch after I discuss them with my partners. Thanks again…best wishes.”

Hi Rob...I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday’s seminar and I am looking forward to implementing the key points you highlighted... Auckland Practitioner

Hi Rob... I was very pleased with the return on our ‘investment’ in your seminar and heard much that was helpful and relevant to our firm – all delivered in a clear and straightforward manner. Thank you...Auckland Practitioner

Hi Rob, It was great to meet you at the Auckland seminar yesterday and of course to spend some more time over lunch. We have agreed that we should immediately subscribe to your newsletter and I have done that already via the website. We have both talked briefly to the staff solicitors in our team regarding various aspects and will put in place as many of the tips as we can over the next few days.

Dear Sir, Many thanks for your very insightful and informative seminar yesterday.

It was a pleasure to attend. Regards T.  Brisbane Seminar

“I wanted to send you a quick note to say how much I enjoyed the seminar yesterday! Sydney practitioner

 Hi Rob, Thank you for an excellent presentation.  As a result of attending your seminar yesterday we have already put together a draft action plan incorporating many of the ideas and systems that you have suggested.  We realise that transforming our firm will be a "work in progress" and look forward to working with you in the future. Please forward a copy of your presentation notes. Thanks and Regards.  Queensland practitioner

“Thank you for an informative seminar yesterday.  Plenty of good ideas for our fee earners to put into practice. I would be grateful if you could email me a copy of the seminar notes.  ”  Melbourne lawyer.

  

 “Hi Rob…I was at Tuesday’s seminar and it was excellent… Sydney practitioner

Many thanks for a very interesting morning.  Bill has already started to get rid of the time wasters and 'dogs' - something I have been trying to get him to do for the last six and half years.

Cheers       Melbourne Seminar

Dear Mr. Knowsley, I enjoyed your seminar today as I mentioned to you at its conclusion.

Could you please forward the notes through to my office. I will contact you shortly to arrange a meeting, possibly down in Sydney.

Kind Regards     Managing Partner Gold Coast

 “Thank you for your terrific seminar in Melbourne on Thursday morning. I am quite excited about some of the concepts that we discussed, Melbourne practitioner.

Dear Rob... I am working on my priorities, honed from yesterday’s worthwhile seminar.  A few were actioned yesterday! Sydney practitioner.

Your Investment... AUD $335 per person...plus GST...two people $630…plus GST…three people $895…plus GST…more than three per firm, please email for a tailored quote…

   

Your Early-Bird Reward… All Registrations paid by 6pm AEDT on Friday 16^th November 2012 save you $75 plus GST!!

Your free two hours consulting time per firm (in excess of $1200 value) included…Your investment also covers up to two hours free consulting time for you and your firm with me on the telephone/by email over the ensuing six months...or if I am to be in your region with consulting work I will arrange to meet with you at your office or other location convenient to you…

Your IMPORTANT CPD Points...The long-lasting benefits you will obtain from the workshop will make CPD points pale into insignificance, but CPD points are a fact of life, and if as an additional benefit you want to earn CPD points for this workshop, and the free one-on-one consulting, your State Rules should allow you to claim 4 points for the workshop, and 2 points for the ensuing 2 hours consulting training in practice management…

The workshop and training usually falls under the heading of Practice Management and Business Skills…depending on the details of your State Continuing Education Scheme.

I trust this workshop on the key strategic issue of marketing and how it heavily impacts the profitability of small-medium law firms is of deep interest to you, and look forward to seeing you there...