Law And More

Joel Cohen on "Switching Sides" - That's an edge and a tempting one to leverage

Few professionals, including even shrewd lawyers, start their careers with the strategy of "switching sides."  As Joel Cohen explains in his special to Law.com, "switching sides" means developing a knowledge base and skill set on one side of the table and then leveraging it on the other side.  Here are Cohen's reflections. 

Although many of us don't start out with our eye on opportunities to switch sides, we gradually become aware of its extreme usefulness. For example, in the public relations industry, former Congressional aides are sought after for advocacy against as well as for issues they helped their superiors promote.  Yes, they have deep insider knowledge of what arguments are persuasive with what constituencies.

Often we don't go high profile on telling the world that we are switching sides.  Instead we simply do it.  We apply our insight about the context to seek out professional opportunities.  I might go after an assignment ghostwriting for a plaintiff lawyer by demonstrating my understanding of how corporations tend to position and package themselves on a specific matter both for the court of law and the court of public opinion. That would help the plaintiff lawyer with her own positioning and packaging. 

The raw reality is that switching sides delivers an edge for what we can sell and how we can sell it.  The ethical and personal branding implications?  Focusing on those, of course, have to be factored in when making decisions about switching sides. 

BigLaw: Is it losing its branding monopoly because of pricing?

There was a time when large corporations only entrusted their high-stakes legal matters to BigLaw.  That's changing, reports Joe Patrice in Abovethelaw.com.  Mostly that's because of the fees billed by BigLaw.  Here you can read Patrice's analysis. 

A survey by AdvancedLaw.com of 88 large companies found that 74% would go with a non-BigLaw firm in situations where the estimated fee was 30% or less.  The implications are staggering.

To begin with, BigLaw no longer has a branding monopoly.  Other firms are establishing their reputations in the marketplace.

Secondly, there is trust that other approaches in addition to those of BigLaw can be successful with legal issues.

And, three, you bet, money talks.  It is saying, "Hey, guys, let's listen to a proposal from the players at non-BigLaw. 

The Culture of Law Firms: Like Corporate America, No More Monolith

Competitive advantage in a zero-sum game can come from the organizational culture.  Corporate America, which had once been a monolith, learned that when the marketplace went global in the late 1970s.  GE's Jack Welch and Chrysler's Lee Iacocca both were pioneers in establishing idiosyncratic cultures.  

Since then every corporation slouches to find the right culture to maximize results.  The cover story in the current issue of BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK features the adversarial, volatile, fear-driven culture of Amazon.com.  Here you can read that article about what could become the most powerful company in the world.

Currently, some partners in law firms are being forced to pay attention to their culture - that is, the values and behavior which shape the attitudes and practices.  Exposes in THE NEW YORKER ("The Collapse") and THE NEW REPUBLIC "The Last Days of Big Laws") have pointed to what seem to be cultures which undermine performance, including financial.  Those kind of high-profile articles tend to send the message that there is an ideal culture.  

A model for that might be Jones Day.  Its culture encourages a monk-like dedication to law and discourages the focus on lawyers' monetary reward.  But, not so fast.  Jones Day's culture has been effective for Jones Day.  Trying to simulate it could be nothing but a force-fitting of a model on a group of professionals who could put together their own magic circle. 

The challenge with culture, including for communications boutiques such as my own, is that configuring what works usually requires trial and error.  And what we come up with might have to change with extreme success, shifting economic times, and new forms of competition.  Once I was willing to engage in that experimentation my boutique began to attract and retain a better quality client.  Now, I am charging what I believe as fair prices versus my earlier willingness to discount. 

Class-Action Lawsuits: Done, or will "Santa Clara v ARCO" restore some momentum?

Plaintiff lawyers who configured class-action lawyers were once perceived as boy scouts, out to protect consumers.  That has changed radically.  As Paul M. Barrett reports in the current issue of BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK, a number of those plaintiff lawyers such as Dickie Scruggs and Bill Lerach have gone to prison.  And their clients, including myself, feel they screwed us in the class-action lawsuits they did win or settled on our behalf.  I received about $19 from the WorldCom settlement.

For that and a laundry list of other reasons, notes Barrett in his article headlined "The End of the Class-Action Carnival," the class-action lawsuit is considered over.  Some plaintiff lawyers are even reluctant to accept them when groups who perceive themselves wrong pitch them.  And, as we all remember, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed "Dukes v WalMart."

Barrett's take may be accurate.  However, if any of the 5 defendants in "Santa Clara V ARCO" are convicted in that bench trial, class action as a legal tool could have a second wind.  Other counties in California could adapt the model to sue former lead paint companies for creating a public nuisance.  Municipalities in other states could do likewise.  If the plaintiffs win, plaintiff lawyers could re-think working with class actions.  

The ruling on "Santa Clara" is due before Christmas.

Legal Costs Sink JPMorgan Q3 Earnings: Could boom times return to BigLaw?

Let the good times roll (again) in BigLaw.  There are signs that large brandname law firms will be in demand for the kinds of high-stakes litigation which characterized tobacco and asbestos and is still a factor for the former lead paint industry ("Santa Clara v ARCO"). The probability of getting the results clients want will trump pricing.  

JPMorgan, THE NEW YORK TIMES reports, had a Q3 loss. That was primarily due to its legal costs associated with its alleged past mortgage practices.  TIMES quotes JPMorgan's chief financial officer Marianne Lake.  She says that those legal expenses turned out to be:

"significantly larger than even we could have anticipated even a short while ago."

With Dodd-Frank unfolding and a liberal Hillary Clinton possibly as U.S. President in 2017, large companies as well as wealthy boutiques such as hedge funds likely will need lots of legal assistance.  They will not play cute about the intensity of that need or what they are willing to pay.  Law firms with track records in those niches and a roster of brandname partners have access to extreme success.  Sure, they will have to compete for the business.  But, by now, they should have acquired that know-how. 

Meanwhile, the ruling in the bench trial of "Santa Clara v ARCO" is due before Christmas. If any or all of the defendants are found guilty of causing a public nuisance they probably will purchase a lot more legal help.  The model of that class action lawsuit could be adapted for other municipalities in California and throughout the nation.  More to the point of a new golden age in BigLaw, other industries, such as utilities, could freak that they will be the "Next Lead Paint," which becomes the "Next Tobacco."

 

Love of the Law: Don't let that deep-six your ability to make a (good) living

Those in law school or lawyers trying to make a living who "love the law" are doomed to under-earning. Or not even being able to make a living practicing law.  Love distorts.  That's ironic since the career meme is to pursue our passion.

Success in professional life often comes down to something binary. That's: This makes me money or the odds are high that it will.  Or, this does not make me money and the odds are not high that it will in the near future.  Regarding the latter, a global economy disrupted by digital is too volatile to invest too heavily in any long term tactics for professional success.

In pursuing knowledge and experience in law school, students have to figure out what they can trade in exchange for money.  They can't fall in love with criminal law or a certain professor if those aren't going to lead to making a living.  A more pragmatic approach is needed. 

Newbie associates also have to follow the money.  That includes everything from the assignments they go after and pull out all stops doing to the partners and clients they cultivate. 

Leveraging Legal Background: You might have to trudge on to Plan D, E, or F

Believe me, a legal background can be leveraged to make a good living.  The trick is being imaginative and damn persistent in searching for how to position and package that background and the target markets to sell it to.  

The proverbial Plan B might get you nowhere.  Instead you have to become infinitely creative and try out Plans C, D, and even F. 

I advised a ghostwriter like myself who picked up a law degree to get out there and experiment.  He was in his early 50s and had gone after the degree before the Crash of 2007.  Although he did get some interviews with law firms for associate jobs, nothing panned out.  Therefore, it was time to move on to Plan B.  

When Plan B, which was to approach lobbying firms, didn't pan out, he became discouraged.  Somehow, despite the two recessions in the 21st century, there are those who do expect an alternate plan to be the magic bullet.  Emotionally and strategically, they are not prepared to throw all the pieces in the air and put them together in different ways.  He has not moved on to a Plan C.  Meanwhile his corporate ghostwriting position has been eliminated.

For me it took not only imagination and non-stop push to finally make money off my knowledge of law.  I also had to create for myself the persona of the deferential vendor.  That finally opened the doors to the decent-paying work.  In addition, the Plan F involved killing myself researching the legal material I had to reconstitute as marketing tools.  Now, the persona and the willingness to work hard have become habit.

To get where I am now, that is with regular clients who purchase my communications skills dealing with legal, I had to be willing to change everything.  With the checks rolling in, now that seems a tiny price to pay. 

Joe Patrice of Abovethelaw: Follow his tips for how JDs can pitch for non-legal employment

When I was down-and-out in 2003 and applying for a $11.50-an-hour job as a security guard, I knew this: Leave off the master's degree and having attended Harvard Law School.  Download Geezerguts.  I got the job.  On it I comported myself like the traditional blue-collar worker and was encouraged to move into management.   

Desperation gets us over-educated smart fast.  Or so one would assume.  

On Abovethelaw.com (ATL), Joe Patrice reprints the cover letter of an unemployed JD.  The issue is no longer, of course, that a newbie JD is applying for opportunities outside the legal sector. And that those positions probably pay just a bit more than minimum wage.  

The issue is how a reasonable human being can do that in such a crazy way.

As Patrice points out, the JD should not have, in first sentence pitching for a part-time deli job, indicated that he recently received a law degree from Hofstra University.  Next, Patrice questions why in the world the JD further deep-sixes his chance for a job by noting that he has taken the bar and is looking for a full-time law job.  Only later in the cover letter does the applicant describe experience with food. By that paragraph, everyone in the deli is likely laughing about "that insane lawyer." 

Of course, no organization is going to hire and train anyone who has no intention to hang around.  Also, the more savvy organizations would wonder what ever possessed any person who seems to need work to position and package himself in such a self-defeating manner. 

The entrepreneurial can launch a niche business assisting newbie JDs in their search for any kind of job.  The Gang of Four at ATL might carve that out as a profit center.  

Part-time Legal Marketing, San Francisco Bay Area: Mostly telecommuting, $40-50 hourly

For those who have a little marketing experience under their belt, this part-time assignment could be a plum job.  The pay is $40-50 an hour and, although you have to be based in the San Francisco Bay area, you can do some telecommuting.  

This could be the beginning of something big.  Law firms need fresh ideas in marketing and if you have successes, you could make a lot of money as a consultant or as a full time employee in the legal sector.  

Here are the details and how to apply.

Lawyers & Marketing: Try tactics out on small scale

Some search engine optimization (SEO) self-proclaimed experts tell lawyers to use these keywords in this density this often.  Lawyers invest a bundle doing that.  No sales.  

That zero Return on Investment (ROI) doesn't only occur with SEO.  It can also happen with paying for an advertising campaign, hiring a public relations agency to place interviews with media, and sponsoring special events.

The big mistake is not test marketing the tactic.  For example, try out different combinations of keywords, embedded in different kinds of content, and posted according to a variety of scheduling.  Soon enough it will be obvious what is working, at least at the time. Everything changes.

I re-learned this lesson about test marketing when I brought into my life five-year-old Lee K.  As the adoption from the Animal Haven, North Haven, Connecticut was being made final, I got ready for the big day.  That was Saturday.  I ran out and filled the house with dog toys, rubber and furry.  

Yes, a neighbor had warned me to try a few out and see which ones Lee K. took to.  No no no.  Mommy knew best.   Despite my most aggressive efforts to foist the toys on Lee K., he ignores them.  His favorite amusement is climbing into the pillow case on the bed, hanging out for a while, then climbing out.  Fortunately there are a lot of dogs in this complex I can give the toys to. I can't return them because, in my fit of certitude, I took off of the labels and threw out the receipts.