2012 will no doubt bring a raft of changes to the legal profession
change will be thick in the air
but change from what?
A change of Mindset?
A change of brand?
A change of identity?
A change of personnel?
A change of technology?
A change of sector?
Take your pick.
No area of your practice will be immune from some level of change.
But stop, focus and take a long, hard look at the landscape.
Has much has really changed?
People are still people
My advice:
FOCUS ON THE BASICS
Get the advice right – predictably right.
Delight your clients with your service every single day. Bring some eye sparkle to your practice!
Be polite.
Be thoughtful and practice decencies of the small but important type (try saying “Thank You” and “What do you think” more often).
Stop taking things for granted.
Practice servant leadership (see Robert Greenleaf’s excellent book of the same name).
Listening as Tom Peters says should be considered of strategic importance.
Expanding your network shouldn’t take priority to staying true to those that have been loyal clients, even though they may not always fit your model.
Staying in touch should be second nature. Not the sort of contrived “if I must” but rather the one where you show genuine concern.
Be transparent in everything that you do.
Marketing is just as much your responsibility as the department with the label above the door.
Those who say they lead, should start practising it more often and avoid the game-playing modus operandi. It’s a serious business.
Treat everyone as part of the same team. Forget the them (support staff) and us (fee earners) which connotes inferiority.
Start each day with a welcoming smile and a belief that you can make a difference.
And if you have bought these already, then, at the very least, you should staple the following three words close to your computer or place you regularly sit at.
Passion.
Commitment.
Perseverance.
Remember the sagely words of Calvin Coolidge:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
Make 2012 the best year ever. Of course it won’t be anything like the halcyon days of 2005 etc but in ‘these’ times we learn more about ourselves and need to remember what is truly meaningful and important.