It’s time for lawyers to get out of the business of document review. Gone are the days where you can use inexperienced associates for document review. Not only are they too expensive, they simply don’t get it right.

Document review accounts for 73% of all e-discovery costs and your clients want to reduce legal spend without decreasing the quality of their representation. Legal spend is an operational expense that hits your client’s P&L and every dollar spent comes off the bottom line. One of the easiest ways to reduce the costs of e-discovery and litigation in general, is to lessen the cost of document review. Your client has learned that using contract attorney review lowers the cost of e-discovery but does not lessen the quality of the review. In some instances, it actually increases the value of the review.

The second problem with using associates for document review is that technology is not being used to its fullest potential to minimize the document population, which drives document review costs up. Loading data into a review platform and performing linear review does not provide you with a competitive advantage over other firms vying for the same business you were just awarded.

Finally, associates are just too expensive for document review. There are dozens of outsourced services that cost a fraction of what associates do. They are more experienced and technically trained in the technology they use. This means your review is done better, faster and less expensively.

Law firms can say that their business model isn’t structured to support the use of outside services, but they do so at their peril. If you aren’t finding a more cost effective way to use third-party legal services, your clients will. And, they will find a law firm structured in a way to manage that team. The choice is yours.

What are your options? Certainly, long-term you need to find better ways to use associate time but if you partner with the right third-party resources and use your associates more strategically both you and your client will benefit in the long-term.

http://abovethelaw.com/2015/07/federal-appeals-court-says-doc-review-is-not-real-legal-work/

In 2014, the New York Times reported that a growing number of big corporate clients were demanding that their law firms take more steps to guard against online intrusions that could compromise sensitive information. However, for many years, corporations have required service providers to undergo rigorous security assessments.

This includes lengthy and time consuming questionnaires detailing cyber security measures, on-site visits, and additional insurance coverage. To this end, it was the clients that pushed service provider’s security standards to higher levels and the service provider community quickly realized if you wanted these business relationships, you would increase your data security. Of course not all security measures are created equal and due to the shear burden of this expense, some of us have taken more security measures than others.

Safeguarding our client’s corporate secrets, business strategies and intellectual property as though it is our own personal information is part of what our clients are entrusting us to do but in today’s environment, security is expensive.

With corporations and government agencies turning their attention to law firm’s data security. the newly amended regulations around HIPAA and HITECH have made significant changes to the obligations around management of personal and health information. In general, the new rules expand the obligations of physicians and other health care providers to protect patients’ protected health information (PHI), extend these obligations to a host of other individuals and companies who, as “business associates,” have access to PHI, and increase the penalties for violations of any of these obligations.

Under the new rules, law firms and e-discovery service providers are business associates and under these new definitions must comply with the new regulations or face substantial penalties from federal regulators.  Unlike PCI which is a private initiative undertaken by banks and financial institutions, liability under the new HIPAA regulations traces directly back to the federal government creating substantial risk for you and your client.

Time is our most valuable commodity and lawyers, even those that bill by the hour, need to learn how to manage their time more effectively. It is no secret that clients perceive the billable model hour as something that promotes inefficiency. The burden of proof is on you to overcome that perception. Here are three clues to clients that you aren’t making the grade.

1. Your discovery motion requests that opposing counsel produce their documents in paper form. In 2015, no matter how small the discovery, virtually every single paper document was “born” electronically and is available in electronic form. It is not only faster to produce electronically, in the long-term, it is less expensive. Think about the costs on both sides that happen when your opponent prints electronic data (printing cost) and delivers it in paper form (postage/shipping) to you, the lawyer, who then sends the documents (delivery costs) to a copy and scan center to either print duplicate copies (printing costs) or, more likely, scans the documents (fees) so that they can be reviewed electronically. This process, repeated time and again, takes up unnecessary time and promotes added costs and inefficiencies. All it takes for your client to realize this is one look at the discovery motion.
2. Failure to use the technology properly. Review technology is more sophisticated than ever and it is increasingly affordable to use. But if you aren’t making use of sophisticated data analytics to cull unwanted documents and reduce the size of your physical review, you are costing your client money in more ways than one. It’s inefficient and it exposes you to the risk of missing court ordered deadlines and incurring sanctions. There is no doubt that the technology responsibilities placed on lawyers today are incredibly high, but there are cost-effective ways to address these challenges AND deliver greater results to your clients.
3. Finally, failure to manage your technology usage properly is costing your clients money and you their business. One of the easiest ways to make your clients love you is to manage your electronic document review smart by keeping an eye on hidden charges. Two places to focus is on the number of users accessing the system and storage of unnecessary data. Most review platforms charge fees for user licensesand for data storage. Monitoring these numbers closely offers an easy win for your clients. First, make sure the logins you are paying for, are being used. Often, there are more users during early stages of the review but the number of reviewers goes down over time. Instead of paying a monthly fee for user licenses that aren’t being used, remove those accounts. This is such an easy fix and in a world where pennies matter, these charges are more than pennies. They are hard dollars.

Similarly, work with your legal services partner to manage the data being hosted. Oftentimes after the initial review, native files can be archived, preserving the data without having to pay unnecessary hosting fees. There are lots of ways to do this. The important thing is to create a system where you are monitoring. Just think that you could pay that associate you don’t need for review to manage your case efficiently and demonstrate to your client cost savings over the life of the project.

This is the third of a series of posts on law firm business development from the perspective of in-house counsel. Josh is an associate general counsel and serves as an adviser to Law Leaders Lab, leading our 5 Coffee Challenge initiative. 

[I]ncremental changes, taken together, can be extraordinary…

Relationships are good for their own sake, and any opportunities that might come out of relationships can take years. It’s important to truly embrace this upfront. Expectations of immediate gain are not compatible with lasting relationships.

Meeting Scott Heiferman, co-founder of Meetup.com in 2001, did not itself put Jason Fried on the Groupon board in 2009. In fact, his timeline omits one very important, overarching activity that made most of the events post-1999 possible: he co-founded 37Signals, which has become a very successful company, and he leveraged that success into writing several books and for other publications.  Clearly, the relationships he formed played a part in building that success. As the co-founder of a successful company with this meaningful relationship built over many years, Fried was both capable of handling the Groupon opportunity and he was actually presented with it, instead of another, highly qualified person. Breakout opportunities are available to highly qualified people with the relationships that make them available.

Most relationships will not lead to breakout opportunities. If they did, the opportunities wouldn’t be so extraordinary. However, relationships often do lead to incremental changes over time, whether it’s more information, a better perspective, or additional relationships you build through the first one. Those incremental changes, taken together, can be extraordinary too. And let’s not forget that meeting interesting people is fun – you get to spend time with and learn from people you admire and, especially if you’re meeting people in jobs different from yours, you can learn more about how other people see business issues from different perspectives. Just remember that it has nothing to do with looking for a client, a job or a side project now. Instead, you’re learning, meeting excellent people, and laying the groundwork to find extraordinary, interesting opportunities along the way.

This concept of building relationships with people over time is at the foundation of the 5 Coffee Challenge, an online business development training program that focuses on the basics – how to meet and create meaningful relationships with interesting people. We like to think of it as basic training for relationship development. Learn more here.

This is the second of a series of posts on law firm business development from the perspective of in-house counsel. Josh is an associate general counsel and serves as an adviser to Law Leaders Lab, leading our 5 Coffee Challenge initiative. 

Learning to give first can be tough, and learning to give without expectation of it ever coming back takes much longer.

Relationships are built out of generosity. A true relationship, not a networking opportunity, exists to learn about and give to other people. I believe that meeting interesting people and listening will benefit every person who reads this article. This means that we need to stop talking about ourselves and listen: learn to the person’s story, work, problems and needs. It’s not important to think about whether the person is a “potential client,” a “potential collaborator” or a “potential boss.” Everyone you think is interesting is in some way one or more of these. But when you think about what a collaboration can look like before spending time together, you’re jumping ahead.

How do you identify and meet interesting people? It’s actually a lot easier than you think. Think industry, not profession. What companies or people are working on projects that are genuinely interesting to you? Be careful not to limit your list to people who do what you do. For example, if you’re a lawyer, it’s ok to include other lawyers but ensure at least half of the people on the list are non-lawyers. Get out of your professional echo chamber.  If you’re having trouble identifying people,email me and I will help you.

Once you’ve identified who you want to meet, think about what you want to learn from them and if you can, how you can make their lives better. How can you help? Hint: It’s not by asking them to be your client so you can bill them for your time. You can make introductions, you might know something interesting about a subject you have in common, or you might recommend a good restaurant for an upcoming trip. It’s hard to pin down what that value will be, since it’s necessarily unique to the other person. Your goal should be to listen, learn about what the other person is up to and try to find ways to be valuable to them.

The book Give and Take, by Adam Grant, is a great primer on this. As Grant explains, people generally approach relationships in one of three ways: givers, matchers or takers. Essentially, “givers” contribute to others without expecting anything in return; “matchers” tend to see things as a quid pro quo; and “takers” are looking for primarily personal benefit. Ideally, you should approach every potential interaction with a new relationship with a “giver” mentality – you’re here to learn and help without expectation of any of that help “coming back around.” This isn’t easy to start; you may find yourself, at best, with a matcher mentality. That’s ok. Try it anyway. Learning to give first can be tough, and learning to give without expectation of it ever coming back takes much longer.

I’m often asked by junior lawyers and recent grads what they can possibly provide to someone senior to them. Here’s my answer: if a more experienced professional takes time to talk with you, they want you to follow up. They want to know that they helped you. The follow up is the value you add, at least initially. Over time, you may be able to do more.

Contacting interesting people you don’t know is easier than ever before, whether by email, interacting on their blog comments, LinkedIn or Twitter (which is quickly becoming my favorite). New York Times bestselling author, Ramit Sethi, details his system for contacting people in this post, although as long as your approach is brief, genuine, and thoughtful, you should get some response.

This concept of building relationships without expectation is at the foundation of the 5 Coffee Challenge, an online business development training program that focuses on the basics – how to meet and create meaningful relationships with interesting people. We like to think of it as basic training for relationship development. Learn more here.

This is the first of a series of posts on law firm business development from the perspective of in-house counsel. Josh is an associate general counsel and serves as an adviser to Law Leaders Lab, leading our 5 Coffee Challenge initiative. 

After The New York Times asked him to write an op-ed, entrepreneur and author Jason Fried took a minute to think back on the chain of events that brought him to that milestone. He follows a winding chain as far back as he remembers, nearly 20 years of seemingly unrelated events. Reaching the end of his memory (but not the chain), he notes:

“…when you look back on events, it’s pretty incredible how things come together.Nothing happens independently. Everything is tied to something before it.Sometimes the links are more obvious than others, but it’s healthy to take a few moments to reflect on how many things – and people – had to come together in order for another thing to happen. You just never know.”

Fried’s milestones, big and small, leading to the opportunity to write for the Times – how he met his co-founders at 37Signals, how he ended up on Groupon’s board, etc. – show two clear things: first, a relationship underlies the core of each event, and second, at the time he formed these relationships, he probably had no idea how it would benefit him going forward. Each progression is built on some connection Fried built over time, often many years, before being asked to write for the Times.

Jason Fried’s example underlines an important point for all of us: in business (including the business of law), we need to build relationships with interesting people without expecting anything in return. Experiences resulting from those relationships can lead over time to extraordinary opportunities that will not otherwise exist for you, no matter your qualifications. Although this advice is especially helpful early in your career, it applies at every stage.  Finding and meeting interesting people is always good, and interesting people are more accessible than ever. I started emailing and meeting interesting people for coffee or by phone in earnest shortly after I went in-house from Big Law. I should have done it 10 years earlier. It has changed everything about my professional life.

This concept of building relationships with interesting people is at the foundation of the 5 Coffee Challenge, an online business development training program that focuses on the basics – how to meet and create meaningful relationships with interesting people. We like to think of it as basic training for relationship development. Learn more here.

The premise of the program is simple: Most lawyers understand the importance of building relationships but aren’t able to commit to doing so in a consistent and meaningful way because they don’t have the time, lack the confidence, or want to do it but just don’t know where to start. Over six-weeks, the program guides attorneys through the basics of identifying, meeting and following-up with new contacts who can help them expand their network of potential referral sources. We provide practical advice, tools and templates to make outreach easy, and a system that keeps them focused and on track.

Participants then put these concepts into action, by having participants get out from behind their desk and put the training into action by taking part in five coffee meetings over the 30-day program.

The 5 Coffee Challenge program is led by Law Leaders Adviser Josh Beser, a former “Big Law” attorney who is now an associate in-house counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in New Jersey. Beser has not only sat in the shoes of the participants but he represents the voice of the client. Having sat on both sides of the table, his personal experience is something to which participants can relate.

“Training programs are great, but if you are too busy to practice what you have learned, it often ends up being a waste of time,” said Debra Baker, Law Leaders Lab founder and president. “Through this program, attorneys are able to put the tools into practice and begin developing the habits they must have to successfully build business throughout their careers.”

The program is designed to be implemented as a stand-alone program or to run concurrently with existing in-house programs. More information can be found here.

About Law Leaders Lab

Law Leaders Lab is built on the premise that the traditional law firm business model is broken. We help lawyers rethink the way they create, deliver and communicate value to clients so they can build sustainable practices, stronger businesses and more satisfying careers. Our services combine strategy with program implementation to help lawyers put innovative approaches to the practice of law into action. Visit us at www.lawleaderslab.com

The last year has been a whirlwind. In addition to rebranding the company, we introduced the Law Leaders Lab Value Creation Framework and launched several new offerings, including:

• Practice Innovation Lab: A workshop that applies lean startup principles to five tested models for redesigning legal services to differentiate law firms from others offering similar services.
• Lateral Integration Optimization:  Business planning for lawyers who want to capitalize on the opportunity their new firms offer them to strengthen their market positions.
• 5 Coffee Challenge: A training program that offers step-by-step guidance from an in-house attorney and customizable tools that gets less experienced business developers out from behind their desks and creating new relationships in 30-days.

Embracing change is a trust fall. It is not easy for anyone but is particularly challenging for those educated and trained to make decisions based on precedent. Thank you for your confidence and trust in the work we do.

]]> https://lawleaderslab.com/big-data-and-value-creation-putting-client-feedback-into-action/ Tue, 11 Nov 2014 08:10:10 +0000 https://lawleaderslab.com/?p=1310 Read More →

In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said he couldn’t define pornography but “knew what it was when he saw it.” Something similar can be said today about the concept of value in legal services.

Ask lawyers how they define the value of what they do and most will struggle with a tangible definition. Concepts like client service, responsiveness, efficiency or just plain “good lawyering” may come up, but few can specifically define these terms.

But buyers of legal services are moving beyond the Justice Steward, “I know it when I see it,” definition of value, and law firms must prepare to respond.

While the anecdotes shared over the last few weeks only scratch the surface, the five indicators identified provide a value framework lawyers can use to create internal conversations around defining and measuring value.

This framework applies a new definition to a traditional business acronym, ROI, and provides comparative metrics that can help focus in on tangible opportunities to provide more value.

1. Value tied to outcome clarity: Lawyers need to shift the focus of value away from the work they do, the purely legal solution and the rate they charge. Instead they need to better define how what they will do will help their clients’ business goals.
2. Value tied to budget allocation: By understanding the way clients budget for the work they do, lawyers can get insight into the way clients perceive their role. Looking at whether the work is an opportunity to create income, minimize risk or as an operational cost will help assess price sensitivity.
3. Value tied to relationship strength: Not every attorney-client relationship gives rise to the opportunity for the attorney to be a “Trusted Advisor”. Lawyers need to understand the way their role is perceived and respect that role.
4. Comparative value: Lawyers v. Lawyers – With the competition for legal services at an all-time high, lawyers must be able to differentiate themselves, not just from firms who look like them but also from firms cross every law firm tier from solos to global powerhouses.
5. Comparative value: Law firms v. Other services providers – Competition for a share of a company’s legal spend is not limited to law firms alone. As such, lawyers must be able to define their value proposition in ways that limits their risk of losing work to technology providers, non-law firm consultants or hiring someone in house.

Law Leaders Lab is committed to helping lawyer rethinking the way lawyers create, deliver and communicate value to clients. We invite you to join the conversation and engage with the law firm leaders of tomorrow at www.lawleaderslab.com