A tale by Gustavo Rocha (lawyer and consultant in management, IT and quality for law firms. He’s the author of Gestão.Adv.br - content in Portuguese only), based upon real events from his clients before hiring services:

Once upon a time there was a lawyer. He read and heard about the changes the legal practice was going through, IT and all, still he thought that his business was going pretty well as it was and so he kept it.

Time went by and his office procedures were the same as always.

Relentless, there came upon his door the technology snags.

At first the lawyer tried to appeal the Supreme Court by writing. No way. Faxing, not allowed. The appeal only could be submitted electronically, which requires a digital certificate. Not knowing at all bout any of this, our lawyer only found about it at 4 PM on the last day for the appeal to be presented…  their was no way he could ever get a digital certificate on time. So, once upon a time there was an appeal deadline…

After this setback, he contacted his Bar Association and got the most needed digital certificate. “That solves it” and back to his office he went. There, he gave it to an intern: “Here you go. Now it is all up to you”, he said, confortably from behind his marble top desk…

While stuck in a traffic jam, another reality struck him: the car he was driving, his hardly earned car, that had cost him many sleepless nights, was now in someone else’s hands. He, of all people, had given his digital certificate and password to an intern, who had just transfered part of the lawyer estate to a sleazeball…

Once upon a time, there was the estate…

The lawyer took legal action against that and got his belongings back. Then, he got himself a new digital certificate and decided that him and him alone would use it…

Still he was not free from arm.

As a law professional, he had overlooked his office management, its procedures systematization on matters and the bussiness itself. That meant that he was tied up by electronic procedures and digital certification… Then he took the decision of hiring the services of consulting agency for updating procedures, implementing IT, legal marketing, etc… they need 12 months for the whole deal, though. “That’s an absurd! 12 months?? I can do it myself in 12 months! Less than that.” Poor devil… 12 months came and went and not much was changed…

Moral of this tale: Once upon a time, there was a lawyer…

Do not allow your business to sink this low. There is a way out if you have will enough, perseverence, love for what you do and hard work, lots of it. If you think you can not do it on your own, look for help from someone who is an expert on that field.

Don’t let yourself be stuck on “once upon a time, there was a lawyer”…

IT and management do really make the difference.

Today’s post takes its title from a 1984 movie: 2010 - The year we make contact the sequel of 2001- A space odissey.

Looking back on 2009, I find it a fruitful year regarding the legal and entrepreneurial areas. We had a lot of technological developments, more lawyers are facing their practices as companies, more management, technology and quality are embedding the judicial minds. This was a year of big legal marketing, social networks and strategic alliances.

And what has 2010 in store for us? Dreams, longings, wishes and mostly work.

Yes, I wish you dream a lot, for dreams feed our hope and bring happiness from the smallest thing, from the minimum acomplishment, from what is palpable.

May your wishes come true. Hope for good things and they will come true.

May the yearning fill your life. Hope for happiness, love, friendship, endearment and after dreaming, thinking and whishing, do the main thing: work. May work guide your path in 2010. Not just in the professional acomplishment sense. Work as a verb of construction. Work as a will to change. Work as a new way to see the world.

I think that the movie predicted legal practice and entrepreneurship in 2010.The legalpractice and its marketing, as well as entrepeneurs are totally interconnectd through this word: contacts. This is how networks emerge, be they virtual or face-to-face. This is how people trust each other. This is the way to hire a professional.

Everything is contacts! Not the contact per se, but the display of trust, i.e. forwarding. Learn that forwarding is as important and should be as criterious as establishing contacts is. When you forward a contact, you commit your name, your good name and you give credibility.

Learning to deal with social networks is key for 2010. It is not enough to be connected and have thousands of followers on twitter, facebook or plaxo. Be connected and interact with this audience.

2010 will be the year we will make contact.

If you were to analyze your firm in depth, how would you see it? Good, excellent, top-notch, the mother of all firms regarding its efficiency, swiftness and success?

It is always important to bear in mind our strongest issues, but the weakest ones are also key for our development and growth in a sustainable manner.

Pay close attention to this: who’s better prepared to jugde your performance than your client? Not just any client, for sure.

Try this self-appraisal exercise:

Pick three of your closest and best clients.

Ask  them three or more questions aiming these goals:

• In a zero to ten scale, how does the client rate your firm?
• Once the client has rated your firm, what is the firm going to do to raise that grade?
• Are you aware of other issues, approaches or debates from other firms?

Let’s consider a client’s answer to these three questions:

The client, for instance, graded your firm with a 7 mark answering the first question, adding that he spends to much time at your reception desk waiting for your people to see him; he can’t ever get a coffe while waiting, his matter is taking too long to come to a closure and to third question he says that another firm has called him on a new approach on a diverse subject while your firm never called, ever.

Those who deal with clients know that this portrays a daily and typical answer. Thinking this through, it might look as if the client is on the verge of dismissing completely your services; the truth is that the client wants to keep on dealing with you, up to pointing out the problems with your firm!

He made his complaints, he’s not satisfied how he is being delt with, your firm does not keep him properly updated, there’s no coffee and nobody refills it. Concluding, there’s a lot to be considered and solved.

And the third question? If there is a new approach, go through it in your firm and then take it to your clients.
If you already thought of that new approach, then you’re not taking it to the clients, though you could. The third question is itself a real opportunity!

Ask today those three questions to your most special clients, then answer this: What has  changed about your self-appraisal?

These three words are part of any law firm consultant’s everyday life.

I find lots of professionals generating data, very few with information and almost none with action.

What is the difference among these terms?

• Data is any piece of information that is stored and collected later on;
• Information is the use of that data in a useful way;
• Action is the reasoning that happens based on that information.

These three elements are key to a steady and relevant growth of any law firm.

A practical example: a law firm logs into a registry or a spreadsheet all new clients within a week period. These are data. If from these data they can conclude how many clients actually closed deals with the firm and how many didn´t come through, then data turns into information. Now, if before this information a firm’s partner decides to invest in marketing, to reform the firm procedures or any other decision, we are facing action, meaning reacting against former procedures, i.e. evolution.

This idea is quite similar to PDCA.

In as much as PDCA, data, information and action lead us to the same goal: to analyse the present status and think of new ideas, changes and better procedures.

The fact that we never had problems or that things have always been done the way they are now, is no reson to stand passive .

There is always room for improvement and to evolve. Just take no less than that.

Standardize data, extract information and come out with actions to update your practice. That is the key to success.