High
Performance
Leadership Tools |
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High
Impact Retreats
Retreats can be the catalyst for uncovering
millions of dollars of new business. For ideas on
maximizing the effectiveness of retreats, click
here to view a New York Law Journal Article on
this subject.
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Outcome
Focused Leadership
Developing effective leaders is one
of the most important strategic activities a firm
can engage in. The challenge is that firms rarely
give this important task sufficient attention, and
when they do, it usually is not focused on achieving
specific strategic outcomes.
To learn more about David Freeman Consulting Group’s
approach to developing effective leaders, click
here
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High
Revenue Laterals
Laterals are presented with a unique
set of challenges and opportunities when they join
a new firm. Click
here to learn more about how David Freeman Consulting
Group can help maximize their potential.
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The "Great" Law
Firm
Most firms are good at what they do,
but can they become better? Jim Collins, in his book Good
to Great, showed us how good companies became
great companies. To read an article on how these
principles can be translated and applied to law firms, click
here.
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Business
Development for Individual Lawyers
Effective business development for
individual lawyers requires a process, an effective
mix of short-term sales activities and longer-term
marketing initiatives. Through the use of training,
sales and marketing skills-building, personal planning,
and ongoing telephone coaching, David Freeman Consulting
Group helps lawyers develop the proper habits that
will result in a thriving practice. To learn more
about David Freeman Consulting Group’s approach to
business development training for individual lawyers, click
here.
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Strategic
Planning
Effective strategic planning is a
critically important, but delicate process. To understand
how to navigate the potential landmines, click
here to read an LMA article on avoiding the pitfalls
that face most law firm planning initiatives.
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Upcoming
Leadership Conferences
NorthStar Conferences invites you to
join today’s savviest thought leaders as they share
insights on day-to-day firm management and overall
firm strategy at the next Law Firm Leadership Institute,
to be held in Chicago on May 19-20, 2005 at the Drake
Hotel. There will also be a pre-conference workshop
on May 18, 2005.
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David
Freeman's Upcoming Speaking Engagements
• March
18 - LMA Orlando Chapter
• March 22 - LMA Birmingham Chapter
• March 23 - LMA Nashville Chapter
• March 24 - LMA Atlanta Chapter
• June 13 - RainDance Conference, Boston
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David
Freeman Consulting Group Welcomes Michelle Birnbaum
David Freeman Consulting Group is proud
to announce an affiliation with Michelle Birnbaum,
former Marketing Director at Caplin & Drysdale in Washington,
DC. Michelle provides invaluable marketing and client
service support and also contributes to the design
of customized new services.
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Feedback
I wholeheartedly welcome your feedback
on this publication, ideas for future content and
articles, and best practices that can be shared with
our community of leaders. I can be reached via email. |
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Best
Practices in Leadership:
Outcome-Focused Leadership
by David
Freeman, J.D., CEO, David Freeman Consulting Group,
LLC
There
is no shortage of approaches for becoming a successful
leader. A quick search on Amazon.com for books with
leadership in the title yields a mind-boggling 16,782
entries! Given the volume of available information,
the question our time-starved law firm leaders must
ask is, “What approach should we take that would yield
the best results in the least amount of time?”
One path is to identify the characteristics that define
effective leaders. Authorities like Stephen Covey provide
some guidance in Principle-Centered Leadership,
while Jim Collins show us the value of being a selfless “Level
5” leader in his book, Good to Great. Endless
other books, articles, tapes and seminars reveal behaviors
and values great leaders should possess. Unfortunately,
our law firm leaders rarely have time to truly absorb
this material. What they need is a methodology that gets
straight to the point, one that focuses on very specific
goals. Instead of focusing on what they should BECOME,
they need to determine what to DO. For that reason, an
outcome-focused approach would best serve them.
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Best
Practice in Business Development Strategy:
Question: “How have you built relationships with targeted
clients?”
Submitted
by Bob Gero, Chief Marketing Officer, ShawPittman
LLP
In
one situation, one of my former firms was looking to
increase our presence and build relationships with
potential targeted clients in a specific practice area.
Our goal was to establish credibility, to be differentiated
from our competitors, and to find a forum where we
could meet and interact with decision makers. We found
that opportunity in the form of a group that organizes
conferences for this particular audience. We became
an exclusive sponsor and host for a local event that
brought 110 targeted clients into our offices. The
real coup, however, was an exclusive breakfast we arranged
for 35 top prospects. Based on the relationships formed
at this smaller gathering, we sent out several engagement
letters.
We learned that we must always look for opportunities
to get our lawyers together with targeted clients in
more intimate settings. The larger conference was a tool
to make this happen, but in itself it cannot be the end
game. We also wanted to stay top-of-mind after we established
the initial relationship. To that end, we engaged in
a follow up email campaign to all attendees, as well
as others on the mailing list that did not attend. The
program organizer managed the communication, sent to
their list (as well as ours) and absorbed the costs.
It only cost us a few thousand dollars to sponsor and
host each event, and all the players are happy with the
outcome.
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Best
Practices in Client Service:
General Counsel: How Their Demands Are Changing and
How to Prepare
Third
Annual Law Firm Chief Marketing
Officers’ Forum, NorthStar Conferences
Panelists: Timothy
B. Corcoran,
LexisNexis
Martindale-Hubbell
Kathleen Chagnon, Former SVP, General Counsel, Constellation
Group
Dawn Haghighi, VP and Illinois Division Counsel, Charter
One Bank, NA
Barbara Kolsun, SVP and General Counsel, Kate Spade
LLC
On December 9, 2004, NorthStar Conferences held a two
day event for Chief Marketing Officers in Washington
DC. The first session was a panel discussion comprised
of three general counsel, moderated by Tim Corcoran of
LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbard, which yielded the following
insights regarding how to build stronger relationships
with in-house counsel:
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Best
Practices in Leadership:
Stop the Bleeding: How Leaders Can Improve Associate
Retention
By Michelle
Birnbaum and David Freeman
This article was adapted from
a speech by Michael Greco, President-Elect
of the American Bar Association,
given at the ABA Women in Law
Leadership Conference in March
2004. The authors wish to thank
Mr. Greco for his permission
to share his insights with our
readers.
The
Attrition Problem
Much has been written about the tremendous costs to law
firms caused by associate attrition. Indeed, each year
various organizations survey law firms and publish results
that carefully detail attrition trends across geographic
areas, gender lines and other population categories.
For example, one recent study confirms that the overall
attrition rate for fifth year associates is almost 60%.
For fifth year minority women, that rate jumps to 74%,
and after eight years 100% leave the firms they initially
joined. Another study found that women attorneys account
for over 43% of associates or staff/senior attorneys
and yet only 16.81% of partners in law firms are women.
So what is it about law firm employment that turns off
so many excellent lawyers? According to both the National
Association for Law Placement and “The Lateral Lawyer:
Why They Leave And What Will Make Them Stay,” some of
the most important factors that compel associates to
leave their firms are professional development and mentoring;
practice areas; financial incentives; workplace environment
and work/life balance. Most importantly, the study showed
that professional development was the single most important
factor to associates.
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 David
H. Freeman, J.D., founder and CEO of David
Freeman Consulting Group LLC, applies over twenty years
of experience working with top law firms and corporations
to help law firms, practice groups, and individual
lawyers maximize their revenues. He is a former attorney
from New York who has worked with thousands of lawyers
throughout North America as a leadership trainer and
consultant, retreat designer and facilitator, and business
development trainer and coach.
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