What is important?

Ask any lawyer if they are busy and without fail the answer always comes back – yes. The next question to ask, is busy with what? Are you doing what matters most to you at the right time, or are you caught up in doing tasks, making calls, dictating letters that do not advance your purpose. 

So how do you know what is important and whether you should do it or not.

Step 1 

The first step is to decide what your purpose in life. Pretty big one to start with. To put it another way, what type of lawyer do I want to be? A black letter specialist or marketing guru or somewhere in between.

 Step 2

Once you have established, that you can then look at the attributes that would make up the type of lawyer you chose. So for example, if I am going to be a black letter expert I need to keep upto date and I need to develop my reputation in my specialist area. I therefore should look at taking cases that help me move forward in the direction I have decided. It then becomes a lot easier to decide what to do and when.

Try it out for 30 days and you will be amazed.

New trainee week

All around the country this week many law firms will be receiving their intake of new trainees. I remember my first week. Full of excitement and anticipation as I attended a client meeting in London with a partner. We arrived at these swanky offices, rode the elevator to the top floor and looked out over London. I had made it.

This week the new intake of a trainees are part of a new breed of future lawyers, they have different expectations than a generation ago. Global communication and travel create expectations that some law firms find hard to keep up with. The cost these days of training a new solicitor are huges as salaries in the city reach silly levels, yet attrition rates continue unabated.

Any trainees reading this posting should think about where they want their career to go and take hold of it now. Make a plan, set some goals and be in charge. You are a highly sought after commodity.

Flexible working in law firms

It was great to read that 3/4 of the top 50 law firms are embracing the idea of flexible working, with Mills & Reeves topping the list with 38 % of their fee earners enjoying flexible working (www.thelawyer.com – 31.08.07). I wonder how many of Mills & Reeves augment this figure?

However, for some of the larger firms it was certainly a case of could do better. At least this is a move in the right direction as law firms realise that throwing money at people will not help with attrition rates and that by offering a dynamic workforce flexibility it helps increase productivity and reduces attrition rates. This is particularly the case for today’s new lawyers who are entering the profession with an expectation of a work-life balance, something that was unheard of 10 years ago. Times are changing and law firms have to adapt and lead the way.

The list in full:

1. Mills & Reeve (153)
2. Linklaters (150)
3. Eversheds (126)
4. Cobbetts (97)
5. Olswang (77)
6. Addleshaw Goddard (74)
7. DLA Piper (71)
8. Beachcroft (63)
9. Herbert Smith (54)
10. Pinsent Masons (52)

Happiness – an ideal or achieveable goal?

About a year ago the gazette published my article about lawyer happiness. It caused quite a storm as I was inundated by e-mails from lawyers who could empathise with the article’s clear message about reducing unhappiness for lawyers by focusing on people’s signature strengths.

The article went on to be published in a number of other legal journals and again I received quite a response.

The legal profession is well paid and there is no shortage of people at university waiting to become trainees. So why all the unhappiness. There is a clear inverse correlation between the amount of money you earn and how happy you are. Firms need to understand that chucking money at associates willnot stops associate attrition levels. People want to be lawyers for all sorts of reasons and I have no doubt that money plays a role. However, having a career path, being able to spend time away from the office (to spend their money) to be with their family also rank highly. Yet how many people lead a balanced life?

Hello everyone

Welcome. This is my very first blog.

My kids think its funny that their dad has a blog site. Perhaps its nearing the big 40 that makes it funny. I do not know. The idea is to convey my thoughts when I get them about stuff I find interesting and to post articles and snippets of information that don’t really belong on the website www.pricepd.co.uk.