Expand Your Role

In the world that we live in and practice the law in, the media; free, objective, unbiased or otherwise is not in the business of telling your side, your law firm's side or your client's side of; the story, your story or any story for that matter. It is in the business of selling papers and you just happened to provide grist for the mill. This leads to the following reality: the story will be told the way the media sees it and to be frank, you are quite content during other times when they provide you with so-called objective, unbiased opinion. Now imagine your client is the current embattled governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode who is being called all sort of names. As his legal advisers you have to give a position to right the wrong as you see it to his dedication and service. What to do? The rules of engagement mean you must look at history for similar cases and what worked in those cases a d how you can apply them to the current dilemma and do remember that in his age of the free press, censoring may not always work.
The point of this example is, what is your legal advisory approach to publicity debacles other than waiting to sue and placing an ad in the paper? How can you anticipate and be on top of the situation, form solid partnerships with key stakeholders in the client account so you can funnel your value add, legal and otherwise to manage the situation. Prima facie, it does not have the appearance of litigation but you cannot fold your hands while your client gets creamed, however remote the situation is from your legal expertise, unless folding your hand is the strategy. This kind of situation will fall under your scope as a client adviser and not a mere legal expert for hire and if your law firm does okay and makes a truly valued contribution be it hand holding, offering support, ideas, general context, it most certainly will lead to you being seen as more than 'legal' and you will conceivably be part of decision level conversations with a full seat at the table and not merely receiving instructions down the pike.
In the event that this wide-level approach to practising the law seems like meddling, a word of advice, you really have to keep expanding your role, taking on responsibilities that are above your pay grade so you are well positioned as a firm for a long term profitable future with the said client. Or as it is said, I be lawyer, trouble na my work.

Say It

Wetin lawyer dey talk sef? If you are one of the learned that inspires comments as in 'what confusion are you spreading now' then read. Slowly. Communicating is really a big deal in legal. In general life, true and in legal especially. So the better you are at it the more success your law practice will be so a few ideas on it will help. Whether you call it having a command of language, being charismatic or being articulate: the ability to direct an audience like a conductor at the orchestra (think Bill Clinton ) has immense practical benefits.
Speech is a presentation of ideas so it is about expressing meaning, having an internal connection yourself with what you are thinking and want to say and presenting it in the most effective way you can. The key word here is, ideas. At the pith of your presentation what idea are you passing across. And since the effective presentation of your ideas is complex and difficult you have to be engaged in the preparation process so you put in a bit of your individuality which is what qualifies you and helps you kill it when you are speaking whether it is to one or to many. You will thus be authentic, moving and will connect to who you are talking with.

Non-legal Professionals

The practice of the law is in many ways a relationship business primarily because the service is delivered in person by a person , legal marketing is by referrals and the bedside manner of the firm's lawyers significantly affects the level of influence with the clients. It is just like the hospitality business or being a consultant, you have got to have serious social and emotional intelligence. And on that note let's look at a vital aspect of relationships: those with non-legal professionals. We're talking accountants, PR, marketing people and others who are not in the legal sandbox. The good news is that the connection between some of these guys is natural and even sanctioned by law such as accountants, then the line between legal and financial services is blurry as legal is very fluent if financial services (think UK and US law firms),as is the connect between legal and consulting and finally between legal and all sorts of business. They sometimes seem joined at the hip.
The potential to secure and generate business, influence and goodwill is there and it is major so what is your law firm about on this front? Is there a program, are you winging it or is there a mix? Recently at the NBA-SBL roundtable with the CAC, the chief official at the CAC made a telling point on the issue of planning. He said that a reason lawyers lack a consistent client base is lack of follow through, noting that after lawyers had initiated and completed company incorporation process very few ever checked back to file annual returns months later when they were due. The general laughter of derision and sullen silence from the lawyers present was a stark demonstration of this insight. But he had a point and we at IBARU-McKENZIE further venture to add that a lack of a client engagement plan and framework is why this happens. How do you plan to stay in touch, how do you plan to apologise, how do you plan to expand your share of business from the client, what investments will you make to make this happen?
And the very same thing goes for working relationships with non-legal professionals because out of sight is out of mind and these professionals are potential clients, major clients or can make referrals.
The Chinese call it Guanxi and for good or I'll while relationships are sometimes used for cronyism, they also make you aware of potential, potential problems and potential opportunities.

Talk Across Business Units

In business it is said a lot of the time that the customer is always right or that the customer is King. A soccer version could be that when the team is doing badly no one sacks the management or the team owner, it is always the team coach who gets it. What this means for your law firm is that the type of clients you have, matter. From the perspective of the level of fees they provide, their level of sophistication, their skill level, risk appetite and so on. Let's say, your law firm is young and full of cutting edge practitioners all under thirty who fast, energetic and full of push. If it so happens that you are dealing with a blue chip company your firm will learn the value of patience, due process and bureaucracy. Now compare that to another client that is as wild and feeling as your young Turks are! You will both be competing to see who stays up all night more days in the week.
The point being that unless your advice is taken, used you really will not thrive as a law firm because you are in the advice business, a global trillion dollar industry. And your client will not 'get' it, you will, so getting your client to place value on and use your advice is where your law firm is headed and this is after the 'we just offer advice, they decide whether they use it or not' phase and the box of 'we only deal with legal matters'. In point of fact the key to getting your legal advice used is demonstrating that you have value outside legal matters, that you can place issues in context with over different areas of operation because of the value you have demonstrated, that you can offer insight and mental Infrastructure to issues outside legal matters to the point where you are being asked 'are you sure you guys don't want to leave legal?'. Getting your legal expertise used is about building influence. Not political nonsense but going out of your legal sandbox to play with the other kids, to establish points of contact that mean your client reaches out to you outside of legal matters. And this idea of looking outside your sandbox doesn't just affect law land. Sir Martin Sorrell over at WPP has frequently said that one of his three pillars is getting his people within WPP to communicate with each other across different units and not remain in their silos. Marketing talks with manufacturing, R &D talks with sales etc. And let's face it most of the exciting business problems are business business problems. How to make ABC happen and not legal, litigation, litigation all the time.

The Pressure, The Pressure!

Not to flog a dead horse here over and over but this is the situation; there is quite a lot of pressure whether intense or not, it is there. Corporate clients are squeezing costs and running forensic audits on law firm fees, they are consolidating all their work with a few service providers and those that lose out get stuck with the work that no one really wants to do because it pays badly and taints your reputation. You probably have your own version of 'slides of the holy land' ; things were better in the old days, everyone just cares about money, no loyalty etc.
Now that we are done with that let's move on to a tangible solution your law firm can put into play to roll with the punches and thrive because it really is a jungle out there. Napoleon Bonaparte,the great emperor and military strategist regularly trounced armies that had more money, men and even better battle formations than he did,that is, he did very well in David vs Goliath situations and his explanation was that he was an opportunist. And this did not mean outright deception and evil at the expense of anyone and anything as is connotes today but it meant 'how can I make the most of what I have? How can I use it to better effect? This is the answer to your law firms wishes of 'if only we had more money, knew the CEO, had more time or whatever reason you can come up with. Making the most of what you have is how you will be a truly sharp and street smart firm that addresses its opportunities and generates ideas.