What to Do When You’re Going to Be Late

Having just emerged from a very brief stint at jury duty (where, apparently, rather than settling the night before, the parties waited until prospective jurors had hauled themselves to the state courthouse before getting serious about settlement), I didn’t have a lot of empathy for the lawyer who showed up late for jury selection only to be jailed by the judge overseeing the case. Martha Neil, Judge jails lawyer and client over tardy arrival for jury selection, ABA Journal (May 7, 2013).

How exactly the lawyer missed the mark by 50 minutes is a bit unclear from the piece. Citing personal problems the evening before and a lax hotel receptionist apparently wasn’t sufficient reason to evade punishment.

One can only wonder about how thrilled the client was by his attorney’s behavior.

Some suggestions should this happen again in the future:

• First, really and truly, learn to use the alarm function on your cellphone. There’s no need ever for any of us to need a wakeup call from the front desk of a hotel given the technology we’re all packing. Other measures to take if you really worry about getting up on time: leave the lights on, the curtains open, the television on. Lights and noise are pretty good a summoning those who’ve lapsed into too deep a sleep. Worst-case scenario: Have someone from your office call, or have a significant other, or your mom, or whomever.
• Second, take that 16-second shower. When I’m running late, I can be showered with hair and makeup done and out the door in less than 10 minutes.
• If you really are going to be late for a court appearance, call the court and let the judge know.

—Lori Tripoli

The Future of Law: Challenges and Opportunities

Had a great time moderating a Law Day webinar on the Future of Law: Challenges and Opportunities last evening. Here's the recording for those who couldn't make it. http://lnkd.in/eeR5qM

—Lori Tripoli

Join me on Law Day!

I'm looking forward to moderating a Law Day webinar on The Future of Law: Challenges and Opportunities. Please join me! http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/c/tag/hBRcWaCBvPz9lB8yFamAAAAAAoz/doc.html?t_params=FNAME%3DSubscriber

Is Steve Jobs Really the Legal Industry’s Super Hero?

Attending a continuing legal education conference on the legal business last week, I was surprised by how many panelists and audience members were citing Steve Jobs reverentially. The co-founder of Apple (and a nonlawyer) famously said that “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” See Chunka Mui, Five Dangerous Lessons to Learn From Steve Jobs, Forbes.com (Oct. 17, 2011), http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2011/10/17/five-dangerous-lessons-to-learn-from-steve-jobs/. Apparently, a number of lawyers are enamored with the notion that sellers have to figure out a way to sell legal services to clients who don’t even know that they need them. But are iPads and product liability defense work really comparable? Or iPhones and bankruptcy filings?

As heartened as I was to see major law firms embracing business practices, I thought the mention of Jobs in this context demonstrated some callousness toward legal clients. I wish I’d heard more discussion of the other side of Jobs, the brilliant thinker, the rejecting market-research Jobs, the one who managed to come up with incredible products that many of us couldn’t possibly imagine that we would someday need. And yet, today, we have them.

At the legal business conference I attended, though, I sensed more desperation: that in a challenging time for major firms, some lawyers are scrambling to sell you everything, anything, the coffee pot in the conference room if need be, as a means simply to stay viable. I’d be more than wary if I were a major corporate client of what my lawyers were now trying to push. Sadly, I didn’t hear much talk of innovation or of developing an incredible product or service that would change the legal world and the way that clients consume legal services. Perhaps the big-law representatives attending the conference have selected the right train, but they just might be on the wrong track.

­—Lori Tripoli

A Few Good Things about that “Churn, Baby, Churn” Firm

If I were queen at megafirm DLA Piper, I’m not sure I would boast about a film about fraudulent conduct made in-house on my home page, especially if it were titled At What Cost? But I don’t work at DLA Piper, let alone run the place, so I can’t really account for the firm’s tin ear here. Pundits are already wondering why the firm would ever pursue $700 grand in unpaid legal bills from a bankrupt client when there were damning emails in its own ether stating—explicitly—that the firm was in “standard ‘churn that bill,’ baby!” mode.  

Observers can’t help but be curious about why the firm would move forward in that pursuit even after the firm had been disqualified from representing the corporate client in its bankruptcy action thanks to a conflict of interest. That the firm would think that now’s a super-great time to mention that it won an award for making a training video about corruption involving management called At What Cost? is just beyond the beyond.

But let’s not pile on DLA Piper’s very bad week. A few good things about what is no doubt a basically very capable firm have emerged from the mess:

• Maybe no one really noticed that bit about the firm churning bills since it’s spring break/Easter week/Passover.
• The oft-boasted-about “firm collegiality” actually seems to exist at DLA Piper as evidenced by the string of emails from various lawyers supporting the churning guy (Hence, “Yeah Team Tim!”) and email rounds planning an outing after the firm ‘withdrew’ because of its conflict of interest (“Well,the Judge just fired us . . . . Drinks anyone?”).
• The training video looks like it might be pretty good. The teaser is on Youtube. Take a look! You might even leave a comment. Maybe DLA Piper will just dismiss it as another “inexcusable effort at humor.”

Even if DLA Piper recovers its fees, ya just gotta wonder, at what cost?

—Lori Tripoli

 

Should Law Firms Proactively Cut their Fees?

I have to marvel at how some businesses do a phenomenal job measuring their performance, and how some business leaders then seem to hold endless meetings to figure out why their numbers keep going down. Have fewer customers quarter after quarter since, say, 2008? Do all other things remain the same—except there’s a glut of businesses like yours and of workers like those you hire and a lot of your work can be outsourced? Why wouldn’t a leader look to the recession as a likely cause?

I’m not surprised that a recent survey of legal departments by Robert Half Legal lists as one of the top challenges in 2013 controlling outside legal costs. Press Release, Robert Half Legal, Robert Half Legal Research Reveals Top Challenges Facing Legal Departments In Year Ahead (March 13, 2013). What I would like to see is a survey of outside firms indicating how they’re going to help corporate clients do just that. What excess will be trimmed? Will low-level associates be billed out at more reasonable rates? Will overall rates drop? Or will firms just wait until the corporate client looks elsewhere?