A Plug...for Me

In general, I don't think it is a good idea to use a blog to sell your services (at least not overtly). If you blog regularly and provide good content, readers will see that you are knowledgeable about your subject area and that you are ready, willing and able to share your wisdom. Self promotion on a blog will turn readers away.

On the other hand, an occasional plug is generally acceptable. After all, even if you are good at what you do, it doesn't mean that the world even knows what you do.

So if you are interested in learning how to market your law practice more effectively and would like to find out how coaching can help, here is a description of how it works. I've worked with several coaches myself over the years and I believe that it is an invaluable service.

Sign up for three months of coaching by June 30th and I will throw in a free month. It's a great time to position yourself for the turnaround. You probably have more time on your hands so you might as well use it productively. You can reach me by e-mail at legal@seckler.com if you have questions. Phone is fine as well (617-244-3234).

Time to Get Serious About Marketing

A marketing consultant says that in these times, lawyers should spend at least 3 hours a week on marketing activities. But what if you can't figure out how to spend those three hours most effectively? Hire a coach. That's what Jim Hassett suggests.

When hiring a coach, make sure you find someone who you feel you can work with. Do you want a drill sergeant? A cheerleader? A strategist? An individual who shares your values? For more on coaching click here.

More Law Firms Shifting Marketing Dollars to Coaching

That in today's WSJ (subscription req.).

Many lawyers can benefit from individual coaching. Firms are starting to see the value of training lawyers on how to build business relationships more effectively. Some firms are waking up to this reality by shifting dollars away from marketing and towards one on one support for individual attorneys.

Marketing is of course important. Law firms need to do things that build their reputation and their visibility in the media. But over time I've come to realize that marketing is only the back drop. If the desired end result is to have more clients calling you and referral sources sending you prospects, then writing articles, getting quoted in the press and speaking in public are probably not enough.

Coaching is a great way to bridge the skills gap for many attorneys. I've written about this on many occasions including an article I published here in MLW.

Setting Goals in the New Year

The holidays are behind us and thankfully, 2008 is over. If you are returning to your office after a nice break, it is time to set some new career and personal goals. If you are trying to decide what some of your goals should be, a senior associate at Jenner & Block, Kathryn Newman, has some very good suggestions (note: her advice is also very relevant for senior associates and partners).

Kathryn makes several good points in her article. First, she acknowledges that life events will dictate how much time we can devote to non-billable activity. She also emphasizes that pursuing interests beyond the practice of law can help you become a better lawyer (e.g. pursuing hobbies).

Of course it is difficult to focus on non-billable activities which have a long term payoff. As human beings, we are not really wired to be motivated by rewards that are far off in the future. One way to do this more effectively is to hire a coach. I use a personal trainer to keep me on target with my workout goals. I have also been coached on career issues and marketing by a number of different professionals.

One of my own goals in the New Year is to start coaching individual lawyers again. Here is an article I wrote on the subject several years ago when my coaching practice was more active. Please contact me if you think you can benefit from coaching support.

Are You Living In The Moment?

Life at the Bar linked to this interesting post by Doug Constant. I am always intrigued when I receive reminders to live in the moment as I'm always two steps ahead. This is a real problem area for me. I am ALWAYS thinking of my "to do list" or the next entry on my personal goal worksheet (which resides only in my head, but is ever-present, nonetheless).

I think it's an important lesson to slow down occasionally and just breathe. Doug says, "When you die, there will be two dates on your tombstone: the date of your birth and the date of your death. Those two dates will be separated by a DASH. It is this dash that represents your life. Are you truly Living Your DASH on purpose?"

Read on for Doug's advice on Living your DASH:

Principle 1: You are either living YOUR life or someone else’s. Our society places beliefs on who we should become, how we should act, what we should buy and even how we should dress. Once we make up our mind that we are here to live our own life and not the life our parents, friends, teachers and acquaintances then we can live our own life based on the talents, gifts and passions we know to be.

Principle 2: The people that enter your life are the right people... the good and the bad. Those troublesome people are important reminders of wrong directions, ideas and philosophies. Those few exceptional people remind us they cared enough to be a part of our life. Either situation makes them precisely the right people.

Principle 3: Whatever happens…happens. Accepting this focuses attention and appreciation on the present moment, thereby excluding all of the might-have-beens, should-have-beens and what-ifs. "What is" is the only thing present at the moment. Appreciate that!

Principle 4: Whatever happens is the right time. This is an admonition to take things as they are and when they happen. This is living in the moment and a cardinal prerequisite of Living Your Dash.

Principle 5: When it’s over it’s over. This is basically the flip side of the preceding one. Everything has a beginning, middle and end. All three must be appreciated, most particularly the end when it comes.

The one law is a strange one. It is called The Law of Two Feet. Stated succinctly, if at anytime you find yourself in a situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet. Go somewhere else. Do something useful. Live Your Dash. Stay in the moment and don’t get stuck in the moment.

Living in the moment means leaving behind a life of societal status quo, which by definition is the accepted way of doing things. The path of least resistance can be attractive. But by living in the moment you do precisely what you have been gifted to do…take action and therefore Live Your Dash.

The Secret Behind All the Secrets to Success

There are many secrets to success. They are as plentiful and as numerous as the sands under the sea. Some are easily discovered through diligence and creativity, some by meeting with others we consider more successful than ourselves, some by paying to see specialists, and some by scaling lofty mountains and seeking our gurus. But I can tell you that all these secrets are subordinate to the one, glorious secret within all such secrets.

Best of all, it will cost you nothing, requires no discipline, will not cause you to sweat, does not involve unending self-absorption, is not fattening, and, boot, will make you happier.

And that is: desire. I do not mean mere 'wanting', I mean an all-encompassing passion directed toward a particular state or goal or need. The point is not that you must have goals-goals are too superficial. What you need is to unlock the floodgates before the ocean of your passions. Don't laugh. It is the natural and unassailable state of all men and women that they have massive storehouses of passion walled up inside them. The trick is to let them out. And it is not hard to do so. In fact, it is merely the knowing, the realization, that such a storehouse really does exist, that starts the waters to boiling.

Thus, now that I have you starting to think about that well of passion, you need but allow that truth to sink in a little, and the inexorable drive of your well-honed mind (you ARE a lawyer, right?) will bring to you the point where that passion will find an outlet. Once that begins to happen, the only challenge will be to channel the force of the waters that flow out from your creative and competent mind.

On a lighter note, it is sort of like "cooties"-it is easily passed on-tag! And now that I have planted this tiniest of seeds in your mind, it will have no choice but to germinate. In those with high intellect and fortitude (you automatically qualify by virtue of getting through law school and passing the bar), those seeds will of necessity fall on fertile ground. Just you wait, even the tiniest of realizations can become an unstoppable force. It has happened to me; it has happened to many of my candidates. It can happen to you.

If you want to learn more about your own unlocked potential as a lawyer, as a person, as a professional, surf over to www.bcgsearch.com/pete_smith.html.

The Challenge of Making Change

Just before the New Year, Ellen Ostrow had a great piece on change. She discusses some of the barriers we all have to making change and talks about the importance of confronting our resistance to change.

When you choose to “not rock the boat” you stop growing personally. Inaction leads to stagnation. Your internal voice tells you that something needs to change but the risks of doing so loom too largely to allow you to see what you risk by staying tied to your established patterns.

(I delayed linking to it because until recently, it was not on her website.) Several years ago, I also wrote a piece about change and discussed the role that ambivalence plays in helping us to avoid change. While the New Year is already a month old, many of us are already working on the changes we pledged to ourselves; but it's not too late to may your Groundhog Day resolutions. There are still 2 more days to go!

Hire a Coach in the New Year?

As the New Year approaches and we begin to think about our goals for 2007, some of us may want to think about hiring a professional to help us reach those goals. Julie Flemming Brown (Life at the Bar) links to a good article in the Texas Bar Journal. Several years ago, I wrote a similar article (back when I was actively working as a coach.)

How Coaching Can Help With Balance

Ellen Ostrow offers her thoughts on how working with a coach can help lawyers achieve better work/life balance. Her interview appears on the website www.lawyerswithalife.com .

Lawyers and Risk Taking

Are lawyers risk averse by nature or through conditioning? Maybe a little of both. If you spend your day identifying risks for clients, it is only natural that you might become somewhat risk averse yourself. By the same token, risk averse individuals may be more likely to choose law as a profession (or at least be the ones who seem well suited to a legal career.)

A professional coach argues that in life, we feel most alive when we take risks. A good coach can help you with this if you are having difficulty taking risks in order to get yourself to the next career stage.

Arnold & Porter Embrace Coaching

My colleague, Dan Binstock, writes about use of coaching at Arnold & Porter in D.C. Clearly, we have a national trend here. I agree with Dan. Firms that take this approach seriously will be rewarded with better associate retention and more success in the lateral hiring market place.

Coaching Continues to Thrive in Law Firms

California reports that a growing number of law firms are turning to both internal and external coaches to help lawyers learn business development skills, client relations skills and management skills.

The article leaves out a parallel trend (i.e. that some lawyers do not want their firms to know they are working with a coach and are hiring coaches directly.) Also, while the firm sometimes pays for the coach and the individual pays at other times, there are also blended models (kind of like insurance co-pays to make sure that the end user is personally invested in the activity.)