On Sept. 21, 2020, a whole new cohort of lawyers took the oath to practice law in Indiana. You have joined our profession in the strangest and least predictable year that any of us has seen. We welcome you into the bar with enthusiasm, high expectations and hope that our profession will soon return to a semblance of normal. This year more than ever you will need our support, guidance and patience as you get started.
A courageous man, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” In so many words, Dr. King was describing courage. Now, more than ever, we all need courage.
For my column this edition I have the pleasure of introducing a friend, Cordell Parvin, who is one of America’s premier lawyer career coaches. In late February, just before the pandemic, I sat down with Cordell to get his take on a number of questions that had been simmering in my mind. I share that exchange with you now.
One of the unexpected bonuses of our current circumstance is that we have the time to reflect. Indeed, few of us have lived through a time that has had any greater cause to reflect than right now.
Gov. Eric Holcomb’s stay-at-home order exempted a variety of occupations that were deemed by the governor to be “essential.” To the surprise of many lawyers, the legal profession was designated as essential. We will be allowed to continue working because the contributions we make to our communities are more necessary than ever in this time of anxiety and upheaval.
The task of teaching a new lawyer to cultivate clients should not fall solely on the shoulders of the young lawyer. Firms need to provide financial support, mentoring and a strategy for the lawyers they hire. However, it is a two-way street. Young lawyers need to step forward and be strategic themselves.
Earlier this summer, my friend Dan Kohane of Hurwitz & Fine in Buffalo, New York, embarked on a series of essays for young lawyers on how to market themselves and how to build a practice. In his final chapters Dan introduced the subject of “professional generosity.”
As I have made my own observations about the pace of change in the legal profession, and the supposed differences in generations, I have come to the realization that a career in law is a continuum, and that we all slide up and down that continuum as our life cycles change. Law never has been, nor will it ever be a “one-size-fits-all” occupation.
Almost every day I have to remind myself that I have the implicit biases and attitudes of a sixty-something white guy. In our rapidly changing legal profession, there is no shortage of change that is heading-spinning for most senior lawyers. If we don’t open our minds and embrace change, our profession will pass us by. The rise of so-called alternative legal communities is one such example.
There is simply no question that the law firms that will survive and thrive are the ones that will adopt modern business practices. If there is any aspect of management that will be demanded by the rising generation, it will be transparency.
My pitch to you this week is simple. Let’s all break out of the daily routine in which we do things the same way every day. Instead, let’s be mindful of our niche in the law and resolve to practice law better. Let’s resolve to make our profession and our communities better.
For many firms, improving profitability is as simple as engaging in some common-sense strategies that other businesses observe. Here are a few tips to get you started on improving your profitability.
One of the new tensions of moving a law firm or legal department toward more businesslike behavior is culture. Critics constantly ask, “Will our culture be ruined?” “Will our culture be changed?” “Should we even be concerned about the impact change may have on culture?” “Does culture matter?”
For busy professionals who love what they do, there is a constant challenge. They simply feel that they don’t have time to live life and stay on top of their legal careers. They constantly are asking themselves and others, “How can you do it all?” One significant question that we often overlook is “What does ‘all’ mean?”
To my friends who run law firms and businesses that employ young lawyers … invest in them! You are penny-wise and pound-foolish if you are not supporting young lawyer membership in bar associations.
A respected attorney clearly understood that a walk to the courthouse along a busy city street was a chance to bump into other lawyers, friends, clients and prospective clients. He was not going to miss out on that opportunity by taking a shortcut.
For 29 years, Bob Denney of Robert Denney Associates, Inc., has published his annual “What’s Hot and What’s Not in the Legal Profession.” Firm leaders, industry consultants and legal junkies like me have looked forward to Bob’s compilation of industry news. Alas, unless he changes his mind, the 2017 bulletin will be Bob’s last.
Despite the lack of monetary return on investment, young lawyers and their law firms gain huge returns on intangible benefits from bar association involvement.