Whether selecting people for trainee appointments, pupillage or senior posts in the firm or chambers you need to spend time in the initial stages planning the process and getting it right. Recruiting is often seen as a chore that takes up valuable billable time so you hurry through the process just to get it over and done with. Rushing recruiting will often result in a costly mismatch of person/role which takes even longer to deal with than getting it right in the first place. Continue reading ‘Picking the right person’
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Clients still criticise the service they receive from many law firms. Tony Reiss of Sherwood suggests some tips for developing stronger client relationships. Continue reading ‘10 ways to build better client relationships’
I’m sure nobody reading this will remember the days of quill pens, but some might remember the switch from typewriters to word processors! Exciting stuff and, of course, many firms are going through a similar transition moving from analogue to digital dictation. Continue reading ‘The changing role of legal secretaries’
Sherwood occasionally asks others to contribute articles for our e-newsletter. Several of us have been inspired by the ‘mindfulness’ work done by Michael Chaskalson. Here are his thoughts on resonant leadership.
If you’ve ever worked for or under a good partner you’ll know how satisfying that can be. Good partners make work enjoyable, however demanding it is. They inspire their teams to give of their best, skilfully drawing on the talents and temperaments of their subordinates. In other words, they create “resonance”, drawing out and amplifying the qualities of those around them. Dissonant partners, by contrast, drain the enthusiasm of teams and firms, lowering morale and making those around them unhappy.
What are the qualities that separate resonant from dissonant partners, and are people simply born with these qualities or can they be learned? Continue reading ‘Resonant partners’
Many decisions are based on instinct or gut feel (this just feels right). Some are based on precedent (that’s what we did before and I can’t be sure of the consequences if we do something different) . Other decisions are based on partial analysis (I’ve looked at the figures and they stack up) . Paradoxically, important decisions about whether businesses should merge are sometimes based on whether the leaders could do business together, whilst less critical issues, such as new IT systems, can go through rigorous reviews lasting months. Continue reading ‘How to make a decision’
The new levers of profitability
Published 20 April 07 Fees , Finance , Law firm management 0 CommentsHow can you improve your firm’s profitability when you can’t charge by the hour?
Well run firms know what financial levers to pull to improve profit when they are able to charge by the hour. But where fees are fixed or capped, the financial levers are different. Firms need to stop pulling the old levers and learn to pull the new ones. Continue reading ‘The new levers of profitability’
Putting zip into your training events
Published 21 June 06 Learning and development , Training 0 CommentsThe following is a list of the tips and techniques that were brainstormed at the LETG Conference in November 2005 Continue reading ‘Putting zip into your training events’
If you handle the conversation appropriately, you can help the client realise that they have obtained good value and can appeal to their sense of fairness. Continue reading ‘Re-negotiating on fees’
