Targeted Personal and Practice Development for Lawyers

Could job interviews for Lawyers go online?

An article in the New York Post 20 June 2007describes how companies are beginning to use the virtual community Second Life to interview for jobs.  Candidates create an atavar (computer-generated persona) to represent themselves and communicate with instant messaging.  It sounds more than a little wacky but maybe its a way to check out someones technical legal skills before taking up time with a full interview.   It would identify people who are playing computer games and spending time in virtual worlds often enough to be able to handle the technology!

Click here to read the article

Are your Powerpoint Presentations getting results?

As we know presentations are an important route to communicate your expertise to potential and existing clients.  But how effective are they?  Following a review of material from leading law firms Powerpoint guru Dave Paradi gives his analysis of 5 problems and their solutions to make legal presentations far more effective:  www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/articles/legalpresns.htm

Ready to jump on the blogging bandwagon? Miss out at your peril?

“Legal experts focus their blawgs on their area of expertise but lawyers in Britain have been slow to recognise their potential, and if they don’t jump on the blogging bandwagon soon, they will lose out to other experts who get in first.”  So says legal marketing expert Andy Haven quoted in an article in The Times.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27969-2102948,00.html

Not everyone quoted in this article by Nicola Laver is equally smitten with the potential of blogging.  But blogs are an easy to use vehicle for speedy publishing and enhancing your online reputation.  If you want to be found on the web its worth remembering that blogs are search engine friendly.  Because of this they can play a very useful part in your marketing stategy.

Is your website holding visitors’ attention?

Or are they taking one look and moving on?  Recent research found that visitors make up their minds about the quality of a website in a twentieth of a second of viewing.

"The judgements were being formed almost as quickly as the eye can take in information."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4616700.stm

I recently spoke to a lawyer whose firm has only had a website for a few months.  He was surprised by the number of new clients who'd read his website before contacting him. The clients were looking for a lawyer based near where they lived. Their review of local firms’ websites led them to email or call him rather than his competitors. Does your website hold people's attention for long enough to get the same results?

Differentiating individual lawyers and attorneys

We all know we should be doing more business development as individual professionals.  Every lawyer and attorney has a personal brand which can be developed successfully.  Differentiation from peer and competitors is crucial in a competive marketplace.  Using an individual marketing planning form can be a good place to start.  For a useful template word document see:

http://www.morepartnerincome.com/blog/_archives/2005/9/20/1232661.html

Does your brand image reflect your law firm as it is today?

An article in today’s New York Times describes the way a firm changed its stodgy image to one which accurately reflects their current way of working.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/business/16law.html

With so much going on it’s easy for your brand image, web identity and marketing materials to become outdated.  Attracting the right clients and potential employees, and differentiating yourself from your competitors is what it's all about.  So monitoring and managing your law firm’s image particularly in the fast moving world of the internet is key.  Just another thing to keep on your to-do list!

Get to the top of the search engine heap

“Pick an area of law -- trademark, employment, appellate, whatever -- tack "lawyer" onto it, and search the phrase on Google. Odds are, a legal blog will be among the top-ranking results -- often at the top of the list…many law firms are missing an often more sure-fire route to the top of the search-engine heap -- blogging.” So days Robert J. Ambrogi, a lawyer in Rockport, Mass, Legal Tech Newsletter May 5 2005. Read his article Blogging and the Bottom Line at

http://www.law.com/jsp/ltn/pubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1115197516491

Are Blogs or Blawgs for Lawyers?

I listened to a great interview, by William Arruda, with Debbie Weil the blog expert a few days ago (http://www.wordbiz.com). This set me thinking about how effective blogs, which are essentially online diaries, could be for the legal profession.

Searching Debbie's site I found her saying "If you find the right person in your organisation to blog about your products or services you'll brand your company as authentic and knowledgeable."

A quick blog search directed me to the webside of an AM50 law firm Reed Smith LLP.  In an article entitled 'Blogging for Law Firms: Not Why but When and How'  I found the same quote from Debbie.  The article suggests that blogs can be a useful way to build your presence on the web easily.  This is particularly true if there is little information on the web in your specialist niche area.  If you post regularly to your blog you'll be found in search engines. "You'll gain notoriety and fame in a good way that you'd never have gotten any other way." (http://www.reedsmith.com/newsroom/newsView.cfm?itemid=49210&catid=6)

One great advantage of blogs is that you can add to them and edit them in a few minutes.  Very different to making changes to your website.

Have you Googled yourself recently?

I was reminded by an article in the Financial Times on 15 April that 23% of people search on the internet for the names of business contacts before they meet them.  This is according to a recent Harris Interactive poll.  I am one of the 23%.

What would your clients or business contacts find if they Googled you?

Will they find you at all?

If they do find you will you be happy with the information they get?

You may currently be anonymous on the web like many lawyers.

One quick way to raise you visibility is to become a power networker with a profile on www.ecademy.com. The high ranking of this website means you will become easy to find.  And you can update the information whenever you want.

In addition you will have the opportunity to network with a range of business professionals.

SAVVY© Goals

“All our knowledge is, ourselves to know.”

Alexander Pope, poet and essayist

At the heart of all good coaching and personal branding is an emphasis on knowing yourself. Honest self-appraisal and knowledge of your individual strengths are essential if you are to achieve personally fulfilling outcomes or goals. If you are involved with staff appraisals or performance management programmes, you will doubtless be familiar with SMART goals. It makes sense to have goals and objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-framed. It makes even more sense if your goals are SMART and SAVVY.

Stretching – Giving you a self-generated, personal challenge

Aligned - Going in the same direction and fitting coherently with other goals

Value-Driven - Gaining velocity by being based on something important to you

Verifiable - Providing a way of knowing for yourself when you’ve achieved your goal

You - Relating directly to your personal strengths and working with the grain. You and others will know the goal is a natural fit for you

If your goal is SAVVY, you are far more likely to achieve it and enjoy the process of doing so. Often in a work context, we are given goals or feel we “ought” to achieve certain objectives. Accepting a few goals like this may be inevitable, it seems worthwhile to discover if you can frame them so they are SAVVY.  You will be creating value for the organisation in a way that will make you feel most energised. And maximise your personal development and satisfaction.

Interestingly the UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development published a major study in 2004 on performance management. It confirms that performance management is no longer an add-on for companies and firms - it is seen as the key to harmonising individuals’ objectives with those of the organisation.