LIFE AS A LAW FIRM ASSOCIATE

Since you are starting out or a few years in you may not yet get the full benefits of being a top partner but the journey is a long one and you should move as needed in anticipation of the Golden Fleece.

Here is the situation, you first have to get a job then practice some, make a decent living but once you have addressed this somewhat you have to start building skills. Skills mean things that you know how to do and that you use to help you earn a seat at the table, a kind of chit if you like.

The first one is thinking about the entire business of law differently and exposing your mind to how the law is practiced elsewhere.
Taking in the opinions and approaches outsiders suggest on how the law should be practiced.You check out other jurisdictions because they have neat ideas that work and compel you to think about your law life and you pay attention to people who are not lawyers because frequently they show insiders the next phase or direction of the law.

Next are direct skills like business development, creating new legal services, getting paid in full and on time. These skills matter to your level of success, your sanity and ability to contribute to your firm, your career and to legal.

At some point in your illustrious legal career, the earlier the better, you should turn your brain powers of thought and observation on yourself and your legal services industry. Why are there executive committees, partners, associates, equity partners, non-equity partners? Where did all these things come from and what is their meaning and value for the legal system that your firm is practicing in today?

We are aware how you don't like reading for leisure or investing for 10 years down the line, however, you need to know your history and the string of events and choices that led to the law as is practiced today. It will make sure you make better decisions and place them in the context of your society plus one day you will be in a position of leadership where you have to make decisions that will matter.

At this point being an ignorant lady or uninformed participant really will not do.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

The Magic Circle in the UK legal services marketplace has five law firms that are the Kings of the Hill and all but one used mergers as part of the strategy to get that way ergo law firm mergers apparently are really helpful in getting to the top of the hill.
Looking at business growth there are two methods we will be addressing and these two are not always mutually exclusive. The simple idea is you will do better as a law firm if you are a spoke in a wheel that is going somewhere rather than remaining a full wheel that is going nowhere and this is integrated with the paradox that eight lepers that come together do not equal a whole man.
The part of being a spoke is a bit of a potshot at the millions of solo law firms in the Nigerian legal space who in the words of Joe Gadzama in an address to the NIALS said that they were single man who firms who gave off the impression that they had more men with the words, & Company, thus they were better of merging.

The history and effects of mergers and acquisitions in recent business history seem somewhat dismal on account of the fact that the successful ones are little reported on by the business media and the failures are reported ad nauseum.
Plus Warren Buffet has rightly accused investment bankers, M&A promoters and the CEOs who go for deals as doing it largely from a lack of what to do and the excitement of the M&A business when compared with the boring work of sitting down everyday and trying to improve their core businesses.

Here in the local space, mergers of already happening firms are not too many, hell never even heard of one unless on the grapevine or on the entity web site.
If law firm mergers were compelled the same way the banks were compelled to raise 25 Billion naira during the chairmanship of Charles Soludo, how would we do?

On the side of the acquisition , methinks that you acquire entities that fit into your plans, to enhance your competitive position and to expand your reach etc however would local lawyers go for it and more to the point should they?
We suggest that if the numbers make sense and the partners can get along they will.
As to if they should, they definitely should on the premise that we need global powerhouses to compete internationally and if we do merge then the clients at that level will have local legal representation and other levels of the marketplace will have their needs meet by other service providers.
Point is, the marketplace will divide naturally when the animal ambition of the professional, the needs in the marketplace and the economic landscape mix in a Big Bang.

And just in case you got the impression that mergers are bad or we are against it, tisn't so. It is true that most mergers yield nothing and if statistics are to be believed half of them fail absolutely but there is no law that says you have to be part of the failed merger statistic.

THE BEST THING TO GENERATE BUSINESS

The Greeks of hallowed antiquity from who we have received western civilization had a way of solving a problem.
We can call it the Greek solution and the way it works is this: how can we deal with this problem so that it will never arise again? A decisive and permanent solution.
Today we can refer to this approach as going to the root of the problem, as dealing with the source of all the drama and if we can remove the source, all the drama will die out.
Have you heard the tale about the kid who had a lot of energy and the only time he was still was when he was asleep. He was a terror to the world at such a young age so out of desperation his parents took him to the doctors and they cut out sugar from his diet and he became calmer. It was like magic.
The source of the drama was the poor diet he had been on, full of excess sugar and once that was out of the meal, all was well.

The connection between the Greek solution and legal is that the amount and quality of legal work a law firm can get or generate in its country of operation is heavily influenced by the country's rule of law dynamic.

A country with a strong belief and account of the law with policy makers and administrators who are very active as well as a rich tradition and practice of the law being enforced will generate more business for the law firm. This means that if people on the streets know that the law will get you whoever you are and wherever you hide, they will place their trust in the law. This naturally translates to higher visits to the High priests (lawyers).
Thus a strong rule of law dynamic like this promotes an environment where the lawyer has a large role to play, an environment to participate in and contribute to.
The environment in which your law firm practices, the attitudes of the people, the culture of enforcement affects how much they think upon the services of the law firm for non-vital issues which if the rule of law dynamic were really poor or nonexistent they would handle on their own.

Instances abound where such a dynamic can be enforced on the groundlevel: from civilian-armed forces interactions to employer-employee relations to government official or political appointee-business entity e.t.c.

The best thing to generate business for the legal services industry is to create an environment where there are laws, the laws are known by all and the laws are enforced with the indifference of rain.

THE HEAD FAKE

If you play or watch basketball you'll know about the Head Fake. Michael Jordan used it quite often and quite well to mislead his opponents into thinking he was going to pass the ball in a certain direction when he was going in another direction. It looks something like this: you bounce the ball along and follow your team mate on your right looking intently as if you are going to give him the ball the moment the opportunity it arises but meanwhile there is another teammate who is somewhere to your left and behind an opponent. You've seen this guy on the left out of the corner of your eye and as soon as the guy on the right is free and everyone watching expects you to pass the ball to the guy on the right who you've intently focused on all along, you suddenly throw the ball with such force and speed, to the guy on your left. Everybody goes with the guy on the right and your team mate on the left is free to make magic happen.

In the practice of law, the Head Fake works pretty much the same but you usually find it where courage is wanting or heads may be required to roll and especially when you have to put your money where your mouth is.
For example, everyone apparently believes in speaking, sharing ideas and writing articles as part of legal work at the seminar or management meeting but the moment time is tight these activities are dumped or some guy wangles a presentation at a state government meeting and uses that as cover.
The Head Fake is, I agree with what you are saying but I most definitely will not allow my behaviour or actions to show this. I will just wait until I see where the wind is blowing or if there are immediate benefits in any form and most especially if I can get away with professing good intentions.

The moral of this story is that you get what you measure and pay attention to NOT what you talk about or verbally agree to.
You are going back to check if what you agreed to is being put in play and what the current state of progress is and finally what corrections you need to make.
Another word for all of this is accountability.

LIPSERVICE

The concept of lipservice happens to the best so do not let it get you down or slow down your efforts at building the great law firm that you currently run. Just don't.

Here's what we mean. You set yourself a truly high goal such as having associates run lead on important transactions Once a month or on one out of Five deals.
You are innovative and encourage the associate cadre but after a few mishaps by associates or some uncomfortable conversations with a major client you dump the plan and resort to having run of the mill associates instead of the Supernovas you set out to create.
You just paid lipservice.

You now pick yourselves up and have another crack at it with the necessary modifications. This part is very important so if the first attempt was a bit watery make it thicker.
Delve into material and information that can support such an ambitious associate development plan and this is not just to convince the parties that need convincing. It is to build a well of conviction in your own bowels to push the program with the necessary drive and energy to make it successful.
And remember almost any plan and program can be implemented successfully if the right levels of energy, drive and motivation are in place, how else was Rommell driven out of Africa during the war by Monty?

A challenge you need to be aware of with lipserve is that you may be tempted to get the leadership capital, positive reviews or feelings from your audience by just making announcements or proclamations but the problem is that if you do not absolutely and certainly deliver you just made a Political Statement and the next time your people have the choice between believing your lofty announcements and covering their behinds in case of failures...

Don't just repeat the same actions and hope. Or even worse, pass the buck to the subordinate who hasn't the responsibility for setting or running the plan as she needs it to be to succeed.

THIS IS WHAT GREATNESS LOOKS LIKE

Here are general directions on what your great law firm can run with and before you scream 'this is impossible!' first consider them a guide to help you form your own rules and NOT commandments you need to obey.
There are after all many byways to get to the market.
Oh. And please actually think them through and not just go ' we do this and this and this already and we know this and that'.

Here goes...

1. We will serve our clients to the level that the next 7 out of 10 clients will be gotten through referrals from existing clients. This forces you to measure your work and to look and treat your current clients with the deliberate intention and detail necessary for them to be your sincerest cheerleaders.

2. In everything we do we put the clients' interest first, the firm comes second and the individual comes last. We fire anyone who doesn't get on the same page with this programme. There is a lot of talk and a lot of hot air over how much you love your clients and at the end of the day if you do not feel uncomfortable, under pressure or lose a few clients you are probably not doing enough.

3. We fire anyone who puts his personal agenda over that of the firm.

4. Managers will be assessed on the performance of their groups and practice areas and NOT on individual performance. So if you do well and your group does badly you will still get paid what your badly performing team gets paid.

5. Everyone is required to learn new skills and the firm must help you do so.

6. 30% of the firm's time and resources will be used on things that will yield results in the next 10 years. With a pipeline of products, services and talent, businesses know in what shape they will face the days ahead and this 30% is your pipeline. Again, it must feel uncomfortable. You must be unable to go to Europe for the summer or get that new Saab or worry about the rent. Where do you think the resources to invest will come from?

7. Nepotism, dictatorships, abusing employees, playing favourites and ducking responsibilities will be severely punished.

8. For each of these behaviours everyone at the firm knows what the consequences are for infractions and these infractions are punished when they occur.

Want some more?

Each month every one presents a new challenge or opportunity she has actively pursued.

The firm maintains levels of investment in people and ideas and projects when business is going badly or well. The R and D budget is the last thing to go in downturns.

Managers who cannot create energy, enthusiasm, commitment and a feeling of specialness in the firms people are let go.

The firm measures itself by the level of effort and challenge it had to exert and not by what other law firms get by with. And when they clash, the firm picks the higher standard.

The firm looks at the general law firm standards and implements three specific activities that shows it has put itself higher than the regular standard.

As stated earlier, just think deeply about all of this.

PRACTISING LAW INSTITUTE

In the developing world the outrage over the low and falling standards of education have largely become background noise and institutions have decided to employ the strongest candidates available and created courses or training programmes to make sure new hires are competent enough to do the work the business does.

These courses and training programmes are salutary and have thus created a channel that can serve another purpose. That of building deep levels of talent, well above the requirements of the market place.

Law firms that set up their own in-house school that produces courses for their needs, that sets standards for hundred years of greatness and that spreads the institutional knowledge across the entire firm have borrowed a leaf from similarly situated businesses.
Even if the education system was perfect, the law firm that is seeking to be around in robust health for a while would evolve to the position where it has Olympic Gold Medal level processes set up in its in-house training capabilities.
It is seeking to stretch the standards it holds itself up to on an institutional level so that whoever passes through its employ would already have a deep tradition of performance behaviours to guide his native intelligence and experience in the work he does for the firm. His contributions will also be preserved by the in-house training system thus increasing and deepening the competitive advantage the firm has, going forward.

The thinking represented by this in-house training process as a permanent feature of the law firm is similar to the training academies of football clubs, of basket ball teams and Canadian hockey teams.
The more your law firm deals with talent on an institutional level the better you are at managing it and directing it.

Welcome to the Adult table.

COST CONSCIOUSNESS

Spending your clients money as if it is your own is regular-speak for 'cost consciousness'.
What is largely dwelt on here is law firms trying to avoid looking at the transaction for its clients as an all-it-can-eat buffet where every indulgence that can be legitimately passed off as relevant to the work, is.
Cost consciousness is done by using behaviours such as providing reliable figures for what legal services will cost, providing low cost or fixed process for clients on limited budgets, providing training to your people on how to explain the value, providing for the firms profit, enhance the perception that fees are equal to value and justification of the fees for the work that you do and keeping clients clearly updated on the progress or lack thereof on their matters.
All with the intent that there will be no surprises of an unpleasant nature for the client after a successful achievement of the client goals.

Cost is what the client pays and value is what the client gets so it is always relevant that value be equal to or more than costs for the client to see the fees as justified.
This is all based on the premise that the client and the law firm both receive value for the investments made. The clients work is done at a price point that makes sense and the law firm processes the business for a profit.

Being aware of the implications of the costs of a transaction to the client and to the law firm is another crucial part of the cost consciousness idea. While it would be nice to offer low prices to the client, it usually does not make economic sense.
The law firm loses money and has to reduce the quality of the services it provides and the client gets inadequate legal representation.
Nobody is happy with this situation and so the law firm steps up to the plate and manages the expectation of the client as to what legal services cost and what they can factually achieve for the client.
And the client is clearly informed that cost consciousness is not fee reduction or a discount.

WHICH WAY IS THE WIND BLOWING?

Look up from your law tomes and case law to talk to your clients and their businesses. Ask them what problems they are facing and what they expect in the future. Note that for this to work you should have knowledge about the industry so you know what kind of questions to ask and what to make of the things you hear.

It doesn't have to be the Spanish Inquisition or a fill the form kind of thing. People like to talk about what matters to them and you just have to make yourself available to listen as deeply as you can.
They may use actual words or certain behaviours to put across certain opinions and thus you have food for thought to come up with nifty ideas and adjustments and new ways to assist, to earn your value as a firm.

Paying close attention to your environment is part of being a successful law firm. The trends and currents in the business and regulatory environment are usually always gradually shifting. The word here is, gradually, so whenever a new business trend suddenly pops out and everyone is suddenly stampeding in that direction you can rest assured that there had been signs of it in the air.
It did not just happen and catch the law firms flatfooted.
Perhaps they were watching, perhaps they were not but what matters is whether you have built your ark for the flood or you have positioned yourself to move with the flow of what is going on on the streets. Instead of permanently reacting to actions initiated by others higher and lower on the food chain.

If your law practice groups are in impregnable positions and have been for years or are industry leaders then a fundamental shift is what will sweep you off your perch so you have the resources to ignore a few light skirmishes.
But the fundamental shifts do not send advance parties and the certain thing we all know is that no one can predict the future no matter how hard we try.
The next best thing then, is to play future games by monitoring the environment and looking up from our own internal law firm matters to look at the environment with fresh eyes.
Then we act accordingly. We set the new plan in place, put in some belt tightening measures in place and take the hits we need to take to get ahead.
In the end of it, your law firm is only on solid ground if it actively studies the clients, the environment of its clients and the industries it wants to participate in, the competition and all the things that materially affect them and then uses all this to form a detailed plan of action that addresses these issues.
And it puts this plan into play every single day.

WHAT IS YOUR LAW FIRMS JOB

Hanging out at some lawyer meet/schmooze fest I got the idea that these chaps do not know how to solve a problem without referring to a law. The solution must always involve the law, if we have the right law in place, all will be well. If we place the right legal framework in place, all will be well.

So one gets to thinking what exactly is the work of the legal professional.

The primary or popular one is going to war. When there is drama or conflict you pick an army of lawyers or the formidable law firm and you sally forth to crush the competition and retrieve your prize, booty, damsel e.t.c.

There is guidance. You want to put your ideas into play and you reach out to legal to let you know the lie of the land and how to get from point A to point B. You avoid all the mines that are strewn across the terrain and the pitfalls and potholes so at the end of it all we avoid stories that touch the heart. You also come out of it all smelling as sweet as roses.

Then there is protection. After doing your hardwork you may discover that the world can be rather harsh so you can work hard on your stuff and some fellow tries to steal it from you. With legal you are given preventive medicine on how to keep bad things from happening to you and if that doesn't work then legal brings in the heavy artillery, heads will roll and you get to actually keep what was yours in the first place.

So the work of the law firm is not legal and no it is not reading massive tomes and rendering expert legal analysis.
It is knowing your clients business and advising in the context of this knowledge.
Sounds simple right?