You can read my article "Aligning Your Tactics with Your Client's Objectives" on Attorney at Work. The article discusses the importance of communicating and collaborating with clients to make sure your tactics and strategies align with their goals and objectives. This includes both goals that are directly related to the case and those that may extend beyond the borders of the litigation.
I was recently involved in a Twitter conversation that arose from an article I wrote about corporate clients tracking certain performance metrics for their attorneys. One of the major points of the article is that the day of the bloated bill with redundant time entries and unnecessary expenses is largely a bygone era. Yet some of that culture remains for an older generation of lawyer. And I was gently prodded with the statement, "Efficient lawyers starve to death." I immediately knew that was going to be a blog post; I just had to ruminate on it for a couple months....
Merrilyn Tarlton's Getting Clients is not a magic carpet that will transport you effortlessly to the promised land where your future clients reside. But rather it is a map that will guide your steps, showing you the path to your coveted clients. As advertised on the cover, Getting Clients is a primer for the lawyer is who "starting out or starting over." Having been actively working on my marketing skills for a couple of years now, I found Getting Clients to be an affirmation of many of the avenues I have been pursuing, a reminder about things I should be doing, and...
Over the last two years, David Graves has been one of the most prolific trial lawyers in Alabama. I've been involved in two or three trials with David and observed him employ his natural charisma and down-home affect to relate and connect with a jury. I've seen him have to wrangle clients and combat difficult situations. So I thought this interview with David about managing clients, evaluating cases, and deciding which matters to take to trial, would be a natural follow-up to last week's voir dire series. JWR: What do you consider when determining the value of a case? DG: I determine...
I should have known better than to make an unannounced visit to his home. Truthfully though, I did know better, which is why I'd carried a gun. But I left the gun in the car. We had lost contact with our truck driver over the last few months. He wasn't responding to phone calls or letters. He wasn't working anywhere that I knew of. He certainly wasn't driving trucks anywhere any more, not after failing another drug test. This one a post-accident drug test. The wreck happened on a Wednesday, but my truck driver had done enough crystal meth over...
Every industry needs feedback from its end-users. The legal industry is no different. You need to know whether your clients are satisfied with your services. The only way to obtain that information is by asking, whether by a survey or some other form of case evaluation feedback. At the conclusion of a case, I like to communicate with the insurance adjuster I've been working with to make sure I've met her needs and expectations. More than that, I want to have exceeded her needs and expectations. But that sort of case evaluation feedback doesn't usually come about passively. I have...
Insurance companies and risk management services are becoming increasingly more savvy about performance metrics than are the attorneys and firms who are being measured against them. Many attorneys are unaware of the categories and parameters they are being evaluated against. And unless a lawyer has a particularly candid with his insurance client, he is likely in the dark as to how he compares to other panel counsel. Below are some common performance metrics categories being used to analyze attorney efficiency and effectiveness: How long are your files open? The cycle time can be an indicator of how efficiently attorneys are managing...
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