Search

Summary * Begin now to think about a plan transition from active practice to post-practice success. * Emphasize the importance of planning for transitions, both within the firm and in [...]

Summary * Learn about the evolution of hiring practices and their impact on firm culture and longevity. * Characteristics of effective workplace branding campaigns include defining the firm's culture, promoting [...]

Summary * This column draws parallels between the principles of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness (GNH) and effective law firm leadership. * Good governance, preservation and promotion of culture, sustainable and [...]

IN MY LAST COLUMN, I proposed that an honest, strategic pursuit of law firm family culture is a worthy endeavor. I mentioned my belief that the typical characteristics of a [...]

Summary * Document and learn from personal experiences and observations to grow wiser. * Find ways to resist the temptation to stifle innovative thought based on your own experiences. * [...]

Summary * It is the duty of lawyers to speak the truth in both our written and spoken form. * Learn what three client communication principles apply to the practice [...]

Lawyers frequently serve on nonprofit boards, which can lead to potential conflicts of interest, especially when they provide legal services to the same organizations. To mitigate risks, firms should establish clear guidelines that separate the roles of board member and legal counsel, ensure proper disclosure and consult liability insurance policies to understand coverage limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some vords seem to be overused, seemingly not having either a singular, uniform or clear definition. A word that has, over the past several years, achieved definitional confusion is "leadership." [...]

AS A CONTINUATION OF MY LAST COLUMN, I've asked Dr. Paul White, co-author of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People, back to this [...]

PRIOR TO THE PANDEMIC, our leadership team had made great strides in creating a unique family-like culture at my law firm. As firm members went into lockdown mode, I wondered [...]

OVER 10 YEARS AGO the process of creating an issue of Law Practice magazine was significantly different. At that time, I had the privilege to begin serving as columns editor, [...]

I HAVE HEARD MANY STEREOTYPES applied to the Millennial generation. I've also written about the need for my generation, and those after, to try and understand those in the younger [...]

IN THE LAST ISSUE of Law Practice, I wrote about lessons learned at the college of hard knocks. Since writing that column, I have been reminded of two additional lessons [...]

UNCLE RALPH was my godfather. Being godfather was a big deal in a 1960s Italian American family. Uncle Ralph moved away to sunny Southern California right after my birth, so [...]

I AM WRITING THIS column shortly after the 2016 presidential election. It was inspired by my observation of the way that many folks, including many of my own lawyer friends [...]

I BEGAN TO WRITE this column on a 10.5-hour flight at the end of an awesome 10-day vacation touring the Molise, Le Marche and Abruzzo regions of Italy. Over many [...]

IN THE EARLY YEARS of employment at the firm I was destined to lead, my practice consisted of day in, day out residential refinances, with numerous closings every day. I [...]

WHEN MY LAW FIRM WENT REMOTE in early March 2020, client work continued at a brisk level, prior to a period of significant reduced demand. At first, the process of [...]

"Right action is better than mere knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must first know what is right" --Charlemagne, Epistola de litteris colendis A LAWYER NEEDS [...]

AS OF THIS WRITING, it is about one year since our law firm went into COVID-19 lockdown on Friday, March 13, 2020. The necessary isolation has been difficult. At the [...]

IN MARCH 2020, gyms closed due to COVID-19, and I was forced to move my running venue to the great outdoors. When the local exclusive neighborhood where rich folks live [...]

WHEN IT COMES TO law practice topics--those about the business of the practice of law--I have two passions: strategic planning and leadership. Over the years I have studied and written [...]

RECENT EVENTS have made me think about the value of traditions--those we hold dear in families, those which we are losing due to the effects of the national crises and [...]

AS I WRITE THIS COLUMN, isolation at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak continues. Politics has taken hold of the crisis, as a U.S. presidential election nears. It certainly is hard [...]

LATELY, GROWING WEARY of the same cable news talking heads day after day at the gym, I have opted for binge watching on Amazon Prime and Netflix. One recent viewing [...]

MY REGULAR READERS know I like to travel. I generally find valuable leadership lessons everywhere I go. This past summer was no exception. A cruise on the Seine from Paris [...]

MY LAW FIRM RECENTLY LOST A PARTNER who decided to move out of the state for personal reasons, leaving a void in one of our important practice areas. Firm leadership [...]

More recently firm leadership has recognized that, though there is still a need for these exclusive social interactions, there is also great benefit in full firm activities. Examples include: full firm social at a minor league baseball game; annual holiday party; during COVID, Zoom social events; special occasion full firm lunches; annual firm baking competition with proceeds going to a local charity; firm public service projects benefiting the community, with time off to participate; and an annual firm March Madness using a dual basketball goal that the firm purchased, which is akin to what might be seen at an amusement park. A lawyer friend once told me his former firm tried a family culture, which all the firm members enjoyed until the firm folded due to a lack of profitability. [Extracted from the article]

One of the most basic and important laws in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by leadership guru John Maxwell, is the Law of Legacy: "A leader's lasting value is [...]

I THOUGHT WE HAD FINALLY MADE IT, that we were that unique 21st-century midsized law firm where boundaries had been broken and where results achieved for those we serve steadily [...]

THIS MONTH LAW PRACTICE IS INTERVIEWING TOM BOLT, managing attorney of BoltNagi PC, a full-service business law firm on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Tom is vice chair of the [...]

IN 2001 I BECAME managing shareholder of my law firm. At that time we were 14 lawyers. For many years the firm had hired based on perceived temporary need and [...]

THIS PAST APRIL I had the opportunity to tour an area of France just west of Breisach, Germany, known as the Colmar Pocket. It was the scene of a brutal [...]

IN THE MARCH/APRIL 2018 ISSUE of this column, I interviewed an expert on emotional intelligence, casually referred to as EQ. Our guest expert told us what EQ is and why [...]

THE DAY THAT I completed and submitted this column for publication is the same day that marked my 30th anniversary as a member of my law firm, McGuire, Wood & [...]

Prior to discovering that my father was the first of seven siblings to graduate from college, I asked Uncle Ralph what college he attended. Though I have read books and attended conferences teaching about the importance of personal integrity and self-leadership in influencing others, only through experience did I gain a complete understanding. Uncle Ralph was my godfather. [Extracted from the article]

WHILE ATTENDING AN ABA Law Practice Division (LP) national meeting this past spring, I heard that A.P. Carlton, past president of the ABA, had passed away unexpectedly. He was someone [...]

A FEW MONTHS AGO A LAW FIRM with a long Asheville, North Carolina, tradition decided to dissolve. Older members retired and put the building in which the firm was located [...]

IN RECENT YEARS LAWYERS have been forced to respond to changes in the economy by shifting their substantive work to new, different and often innovative areas of practice. Some had [...]

IT HAS BEEN FOUR YEARS since I stepped down as managing partner of my law firm. Since then I have certainly continued my education in leadership and management and have [...]

MY BELIEF IS that leadership is, at its core, simply defined as influence. If you have influence, people are following. If you don't, people aren't, and you're either out for [...]

Dom Portwood: So, uh, Milton has been let go? Bob Slydell: Well, just a second there, professor. We, uh, we fixed the glitch--so he won't be receiving a paycheck anymore, [...]

IT WAS ABOUT 10 years ago, when I was about halfway through my tenure as managing partner (and before the recognized start of the Great Recession), when a larger law [...]

ENGLISH AUTHOR AND POET G. K. Chesterton once said, "I searched all of the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees." Even so, lawyers constantly meet. [...]

REGULAR READERS of this column know that lawyer leadership and firm management are two of my passions. Even though that is what I usually write about, I thought I would [...]

MOST LEADERSHIP EXPERTS agree that management and leadership differ. At the ABA Lead Law conference held last October--a lawyer leadership event exclusively for the legal profession--this was one of the [...]

I'VE HAD MANY MENTORS in my life, some of whom I have known personally and some of whom I haven't. My father, who recently passed away, is one I obviously [...]

The article offers information on the law firm leadership succession planning and the U.S. political system. It further discusses "The Italians" book by Luigi Barzini, describes the qualities of leadership advancement in Italy in a most sordid manner; role o law firm in the "top" being a group of voting partners using a form of popular election; and showing compassion without being manipulated by others.

The article discusses Measuring Engagement: Team Member Surveys, which includes the first principle is that the survey itself needs to serve a legitimate purpose, and that should be obvious within the content of the questions posed. The message firm leadership should send is that those who lead and manage desire to know how they are doing to achieve firm mission and vision, and whether they have been successful in promoting an understanding of desired culture.