Bad Advice You May Have Heard in Law School

There's alot of good advice we heard in law school.  Butthere's one bit of really bad advice most of us heard too.  Andit's sucking the fun and profits out of way-too-many law firms.

NOT a Rhetorical Question:

What would you say if someone told you that "Owning" a law firm is a costly myth?

Please click the link ABOVE to let me know YOUR thoughts.  

Here's What I Think:

'lladmit it took me a long time to figure this out too. 

So in themeantime while you're pondering  the implications of what I have just saidabove, on this rainy Friday morning in Miami, I'll go first:

"Partnership"is held-out like a carrot to get alot of extra work out of alot oflawyers who were never taught and have been kept intentionally in thedark about the business side of "owning" a law firm.

Lawyer goes to work for a growing law firm.  Is told if you work hard and bill enough hours, someday you'll be "made" partner.

Butwhat if the associates didn't WANT to be made partner?  Then how wouldmost law firms "motivate"  those associates to Bill More Hours?

Theroot of the problem for "owners" of law firms all over the world, whoare trying to wrestle with this problem, is in how they're framing it.

Becausewhen the goal of a law firm is to Bill More Hours as opposed togenerate more profit, all kinds of things get screwed-up.  Beginningwith the value of the lawyers  who work for the firm.

In the old days, the "profit" of a law firm was a function of value being delivered to clients. 

It wasn't measured by the number of hours. 

Becausehow long something takes to do, is usually in inverse proportion to theresulting value to the client.  Do you want your dinner to arrive in 5minutes or in an hour?  Which has more value to you? 

Unless you're adefendant trying to stall the system, typically, the longer somethingtakes, the LESS it should cost.  At least from the client'sperspective. 

And since attorney clients are the ones paying the legal service bill they DO get a voteon this.

Loss of Love & Profit From The Practice Of Law

What happens is that when a law firm is focused on billable hours, and then holds business partnershipout as a carrot to motivate the production of more hours, theend-result is a loss of love for the practice of law. 

Andthe only lawyers who THINK they want that, are the lawyers who don'tunderstand the business-side of the law firm well-enough tofully-appreciate what they're getting themselves into when they acceptthis equation.

Ifyou've been reading my ezines and watching my videos for any time atall you already know that, sadly, MOST lawyers don't really understandthe business-side of the legal industry very well. 

And it's not their fault! 

Becauseafter-all, what did they teach any of us in law school about thebusiness-side of "owning" a law firm?  Nothing!  Actually it's worsethan nothing. 

Most lawyers actually get very BAD advice in law schoolabout the business side of a law firm.

Thebad advice most of us recieved may have ranged from the merelymis-guided: "just do your work and someone else will take care of that"all the way to the downright DESTRUCTIVE "this is a noble profession andso you shouldn't concern yourself with making a profit at it."

Shouldn't concern yourself with making a profit at it?  But profit is a function of value!

Soif a lawyer isn't waking up every day with his or her mind on how togenerate a profit for the law firm it's our clients who are sufferingisn't it? 

Because they don't care about "buying" hours.  They wantsolutions!  And all things being equal, our clients want their solutionsdelivered to them sooner rather than later.

And here's where it gets REALLY UGLY...

Whenyou're NOT thinking about making a profit, you're typically notthinking about the things that lead to making a profit either. 

And one ofthose things that has a direct-connection to how profitable our lawfirms are is how our IOLTA client property trust accounts are set-up andmanaged.

Ofcourse, if no-one ever told you that your law firm should beprofitable, and the more the better because profit is a function ofvalue to clients;

That is to say ifall you ever heard about was billing hours...

Then chances are no-onelikely ever taught you how and why your law firm's IOLTA client propertytrust account can and SHOULD be used as a PROFITABLE law firm management tool. 

And that far from beingsomething that intimidates us, our IOLTA Client Property Trust Accountsshould be tools of empowerment that contribute to your being the bestlawyer you can be.  And having the most fun at the practice of law anddeliveringthe most VALUE to your clients and yes, all of that is very profitabletoo. This will keep you away from the harmful law school advice.

If you have not already done so...

 Please register to watch a completely complimentary series of videos I'm able to give to my fellow lawyers and the legal industry at-large but only for a short time.  It's entitled "A Simple System For Managing A Law Firm Client Property Trust Account That WON'T Make You Feel Like A Schmuck."

In the videosyou'll hear about how I felt like such a schmuck when I first startedmy own law firm; Because, despite all the warnings about WHY not toscrew it up, I realized no-one had ever actually bothered to teach methe HOW TO manage my trust account!

Anyway there's absolutely no cost to watch these videos.  And for reasons you'll understand if you click the link &read some of the comments & questions in the discussion forum I canonly keep this resource out there for a limited time.

Enjoy,

RJON

p.s.  Even if you don'tnormally forward blog posts to other lawyers, please forward this one.Because none of us should ever have to worry about how to manage ourIOLTA Client Property Trust Accounts.  And none of us has been taughthow to properly use them the way these videos do!

This Will Make You Feel Good About Your Law Firm!