News From the Chair
By John Chau
We would like to thank our members for their continued support. One of the goals of the Law Practice Management & Legal Administrators Section is to educate our members on the administration and management of their legal practice. We believe this applies equally to the office managing partner and the first year associate. Our education covers a wide variety of topics.
Last year we provided a workshop on Marketing in the 21st Century, hosted by Rebecca Simkins and Kathy Ossian. The workshop was held in Lansing and Ferndale and was offered for free to our members. We will continue to provide this workshop this year. The times and locations of the workshops will be announced by the end of March, 2017.
Another topic we are preparing to address this year relates to working relationships within a law firm. We all recognize and appreciate the value of teamwork and how staff and administrators can increase the efficiency of our practice. In our high-demand, timeline driven, and quality focused working environment, emotions may at times reduce our efficiencies. Sometimes, the problem is . . . the attorney. Yikes! Sometimes, the problem is a staff member. Many times, problems arise due to both staff and attorney based upon misunderstandings.
We would like to study these dynamics in a workshop to learn how to recognize different personalities and common communication failures to help maintain our working efficiencies and harmonize the working relationships so we can focus our time and attention on our clients’ needs. The proposed format is in the form of skits performed by the best unemployed attorney/actors in our legal community, followed by a Q&A. The time and location of the workshop will be announced by the end of March, 2017.
We will continue to listen to our members and the legal community as a whole to provide education which may help in the administration of your legal practice. Please do not hesitate to contact anyone of the council members to provide us a topic or issue that we can educate our members on. Feel free to contact me at john.chau@dinsmore.com. Your input is valuable to us.
Best of luck this year in your endeavors, and thank you for your support! 
John Chau, Chair 2016-2017
John is a partner at Dinsmore and Shohl, LLP and focuses on intellectual property procurement. John earned his B.S. in Control Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1998 and his Juris Doctor cum laude from Ave Maria School of Law in 2007. Following his commission as a 2nd Lt. in the United States Marine Corps, John was stationed in Camp Pendleton and deployed to the Middle East three times. In his last tour, John served as a company executive officer in Iraq for a mechanized infantry company.
Your Free Online Marketing Tool
By Robert Aicher
One of the best online marketing tools for lawyers is available for free to all members of the State Bar of Michigan—the online member directory. In less then two years after its initial launch, the directory in Michigan is averaging between 150,000 and 200,000 searches for lawyers a month from 40,000 to 50,000 unique visitors. Your basic profile has been already built for you using information provided by the State Bar of Michigan. In Michigan approximately 20% of the lawyers in private practice looking for clients have already accepted the site’s user agreement and made modifications to their online profiles. You can reach the directory through the State Bar of Michigan website or through www.zeekbeek.com.
Once you begin to explore the site you will find a dynamic online, connected legal marketplace including not only members of the State Bar of Michigan, but also of the Ohio State Bar Association and, within weeks (perhaps even occurring before this article is published) members of the State Bar Associations of Indiana and Illinois. The South Carolina Bar Association will also be participating in the network later this year and talks are ongoing with over 10 additional state bar associations to join. You will find that the system of which the Michigan directory is a part is rapidly growing into a full-scale national network.
The marketplace permits lawyers to find lawyers, potential clients to find lawyers, and law school students to network and demonstrate their skills. It is ethics focused and bar centric. It offers a robust package of basic services for free for both potential clients and lawyers, including not only a search directory and the opportunity for potential clients to meet and question lawyers, but also the ability for lawyers to link to articles, educational materials, instructional videos, conduct webinars, blog and form groups, and an online appointment scheduler.
Find out more: here and here.
How to Register
How to Edit Your Profile
General Questions
Also feel free to reach out to the Help Desk Hotline with questions at (844) 899-Zeek (9335) from M-F 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (Eastern Time).
Robert D. Aicher is currently the chief executive officer and president of CloudLaw, Inc., the owner and developer of Zeekbeek.com. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. degree in political science, and holds a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Previously Mr. Aicher practiced in finance and bankruptcy law from the time of his original licensing as a lawyer in 1976 to his retirement from Sidley Austin in 2011.
Time Keeps on Ticking into the Future
Time Management is Life Work
By Rebecca Simkins Nowak
I have the pleasure of working with two attorneys in the Detroit Mercy School of Law Incubator Program, a part of the school’s Center for Solo & Small Firm Practice. In discussing law practice management topics with these two incubator attorneys, I have noted two non-substantive topics that will be a part of their life’s work as self-employed attorneys—time management and marketing of services. This article will talk about time management.
So what is time management? Not a topic you studied in law school? Time management is:
“The analysis of how working hours are spent and the prioritization of tasks in order to maximize personal efficiency in the workplace.”
“Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, or productivity.”
Generally, time management issues arise when a person has too much work, fails to delegate or ask for help (if possible), performs tasks inefficiently, or wastes time. These issues have special significance for a lawyer since our conduct is governed by the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Michigan Rule of Professional Conduct 1.3:
Diligence: "A lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client."
The comments to MRPC 1.3 go to the heart of the matter.
"Perhaps no professional shortcoming is more widely resented than procrastination. A client's interests often can be adversely affected by the passage of time or the change of conditions; in extreme instances, as when a lawyer overlooks a statute of limitations, the client's legal position may be destroyed. Even when the client's interests are not affected in substance, however, unreasonable delay can cause a client needless anxiety and undermine confidence in the lawyer's trustworthiness management."
The lack of an attorney’s diligence (and possible procrastination) causes needless anxiety for a client and the lawyer. The legal profession has high levels of stress, depression, and addiction and in some ways that is because so much of what happens in the legal profession may be outside of the lawyer’s control. As one new lawyer recently said, “The lawyer TV shows sure don’t depict the reality of all time, hard work, and frustration behind every transaction and court proceeding.”
Many attorneys struggle with time management and suffer from the anxiety that comes with not managing and timely completing work. Time is a precious commodity. It can pass too quickly due to too much work, inefficiency, distraction, and lack of organization. If you are having time management issues—you must identify the reason and take action to learn the skills necessary to manage your time. Impending deadlines, mad dashes to the courthouse, late night e-filings, no time to return client calls resulting in complaint calls, late night trial preparation, all-nighters, operating exclusively in ASAP mode, and so on. This is a stressful way to practice law, work at any job, or live. It will not improve without diligent effort.
Whatever the case, our profession is a demanding and ethically mandated one so time management is critical. Asking for help is essential when there is too much work. If there are resources in your firm or organization available to help—ask for it. Perhaps there is a paralegal or legal assistant to delegate non-lawyer tasks to. Sometimes new lawyers are afraid to ask for help and it can be tricky depending upon whether you are self-employed or work for someone else. But if you wait until the 11th hour—it may be more difficult to get help. Either way it is within your control and professional mandate to learn to manage your most precious resource—your time.
Some work environments may be so intense and over-bearing that time management will always be a struggle. Supervising lawyers or management may or may not understand the scope and effort of what is required to do the job and may or may not seek to understand or care about what is involved. Instead, the sole focus is to get the work done even if that means working nights and weekends. Whether an attorney should stay in that sort of work environment is a topic for another article, but whatever the situation, each professional has the choice to learn new skills and improve.
A lot of time is also wasted due to distractions. Maybe you took a quick stroll to social media, made some personal phone calls, did some online shopping, and then starting reading about the electric car that you are thinking of buying. Then a co-worker or neighboring business owner dropped by and you spent an hour talking about the warm weather over the February weekend. While what is distracting may be more fun and interesting, this can eat up half the work day and cost you revenue.
If time management is an issue—the first step is to identify the problem and write down everything you do each day for one week and see how much time you stray.
The multi-tasking, electronically communicating world in which we live makes time management a challenge. I view this as a life learning topic and devote 30 minutes a week to reading and practicing different tips about how to manage time and be more efficient.
Stephen Covey’s Habit #3, “Put First Things First” is my go-to directive for time management. I find that these four words keep me focused on managing my time right so that I can get the work done, get it done right, and enjoy my free time.
I look to Covey to guide me from straying—when I read:
“I do the things that I have to do before I do the things that I want to do.”
“I stay focused on what I’m doing. I try to minimize distractions and regroup if I get off task. “
“I spend my time on the things that are most important.”
I practice Habit #3 by writing down the 3-5 tasks that must be completed in a day and work toward completion. It feels good to cross tasks off of the list.
I recently met a lawyer who just turned over his litigation practice to his niece, a recent law school graduate. He had too much work, lacked technical skills, could not afford to hire a secretary or paralegal so he was doing all the work, and he found that because he had so much to do—he couldn’t do anything. His office was so disorganized that he spent at least an hour a day looking for papers. He had an overwhelming feeling of doom. His niece, a new lawyer with boundless energy, did not have the resources to hire help to clean up the mess. So she recruited her most loyal fans, her mother and sister, and together they organized the files and office and set up litigation management systems with technology.
Time management skills are developed through an honest assessment of how time is being used and also through the use of technology, goal setting, prioritization, self-awareness, self-motivation, focus, planning, communicating, delegating, coping and stress management, collaborating, and good record keeping. The 
development and constant honing of these skills is essential to a successful, satisfying, and ethically compliant legal career.
The sage wisdom of Steven Covey is my go-to for managing my time and professional career. Put first things first.
Rebecca Simkins Nowak is the immediate past chair of the Law Practice Management & Legal Administrators Section. She is the clinical program coordinator at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
Can Small Law Firms Compete?
By David J. Vigna
Sure they can.
In fact, I would say now is their time, more than ever, since the days of the small town lawyer.
Paul Biegler & Atticus Finch
Think of Paul Biegler in Anatomy of a Murder—based on the case handled by real life lawyer and later Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker—who spent his time in roughly equal parts fishing, drinking, and trying cases.
Or Atticus Finch, the fictional character in To Kill a Mockingbird, based on the character of Amasa Coleman Lee, a small town Alabama lawyer.
You get the idea.
And the idea being that there was once a time when lawyers loved their practices, and their clients, and often knew them well, because they were neighbors in small towns and villages.
And what those lawyers provided, more than anything . . . more than forms for wills or business organization . . . more than routine consumer or business transaction documents, was . . .
. . . judgment. And wisdom. And courage.
Those lawyers applied their legal training, study, and life experiences to solve a problem, and were faced with one decision after another as to how best to move forward.
With no guaranty of success, and no one to tell them whether they were heading in the right direction, they thought through their problems, came to strategic decisions, and took action. The consequences of those decisions could be enormous. And life changing.
Isn't that what we still do today? Isn't that what we're really paid for? Our value? No one but another lawyer can understand this lonesome obligation. We can consult our fellow lawyers, certainly, and it helps. But in the end, the advice given to the client is the lawyer's, and the lawyer's alone. It is either right or it is not. It either works or it doesn't.
And that is what has been the unique province of lawyers for centuries.
The Rise of BigLaw
Gradually, the small town lawyer gave way to the business of law, where lawyers aggregated into larger firms to meet the demands of larger, more lucrative clients.
Why larger firms? Because larger clients with larger problems required more lawyer hours to handle their cases. And clients would seek out larger firms because only they, at that time, could handle the myriad of issues facing a large organization.
And of course, some part of this became a marketing game where corporate legal spend officers were courted by legal rainmakers with big marketing budgets for sports and golf outings, etc.
Unable to compete with those marketing budgets, and too short handed to handle major work even if they got it, smalls retreated to smaller clients, with smaller legal spend budgets.
And as market pressure forced BigLaw to shed lawyers to compete, the number of smalls grew.
Until eventually there were more smalls than work.
And some of that work became commoditized.
Which is where we are today.
Stripping Away the Gravy
Technology has decimated the work of lawyers whose value was limited to filling out forms. As Seth Godin says, when the ability to fill out those forms was scarce, lawyers who knew how to do it would profit. But we are no longer living in an age of scarcity, and lawyers who think they will continue to make a living filling out forms are going to be left behind. And he's right. And by the way, you should listen to Seth's interview on the subject of the future of law. My blog post "Seth Godin is Right About the Future of Law Practice" has my summary and a link to it.
But replace judgment and wisdom? Not a chance. Filling out a form is one thing. Knowing which form to use, whether it should be used at all, whether it should be modified or rewritten altogether, or whether you're even asking the right question, is another matter entirely.
Hello Technology. Hello NewLaw.
(And Welcome Back, Paul & Atticus)
And technology has changed the dynamic in terms of the ability to do the real work of the lawyer (analysis and judgment), and the ability to reach clients.
So today, a solo or small firm with a firm grasp on technology (this doesn't mean you have to be a techie, believe me) and a network of lawyers he or she can trust, can punch well above their weight and compete toe to toe with BigLaw in many cases, as long as their practices are focused on the real value of judgment, wisdom, and courage.
There are two primary cohorts in smalls today (firms with 1-5 lawyers).
The first is comprised of middle aged, experienced lawyers (49-years old on average).
The second is comprised of newer lawyers.
Both cohorts can thrive in the NewLaw. The seniors, through harnessing the ability to spread their unique expertise, wisdom, and judgment.
And the juniors, through their comparatively superior command of those same communication channels, to fill in the experience gap through mentoring, or teaming with seniors on legal projects.
And they can do it all from a (virtual) small town office.
Too Many Lawyers?
Is there enough real legal work for all lawyers?
I’m not sure, but lawyers are not immune to market forces, and it will shake out, as does all value-related work.
To the extent there is not enough work, lawyers are still uniquely trained to use their skill sets in many other endeavors. For this reason, whatever they do will put them at an advantage over their competition.
Or maybe just go fishing. Is it possible we've gotten a little caught up in materialism, with the concomitant necessity to max out on the hourly rate, or the number of billable hours?
I've read some of John Volker's books on fly-fishing for trout. For all his success as a lawyer and justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, he spent a lot of time driving around in a stinky pickup truck, happily looking for trout ponds.
Maybe we should dial it back a bit. And think deeper about what we have to offer that will be useful.
Is this an exciting time to have a legal background, whether for a "small" law practice, business, causes, etc?
I believe it is.
And if what you want to do is practice law in a solo or small firm atmosphere (even though your reach could be global!), I say go for it. Thanks to technology and the connection economy, you should have a real shot at success.
And keep it all in perspective.
David J. Vigna is a lawyer/writer and legal counsel to business, copywriter, and marketing content consultant for professional service firms.