Chuck Newton

Michael Buble - "It Had Better Be Tonight"

Listening to Michael Buble at the worldwide home office today.  Enjoy.

Ice Cream Trucks Are Still Magical

There is something about ice cream trucks.  One ran buy my home while I was working in the home office and I had to restrain myself from running outside with my wallet.  I guess when I had little kids at home I could mask my desires by rushing my kids to the curb.  Otherwise, I would have felt silly being the only adult without children out there at the ice cream truck the other day.

 

Let The Free Market Determine The Best Way To Destroy Money

I just love The Onion.  They really take these arguments of our public and politician and put them in the stupid light they deserve.  I love this one about the money hole.

Tuition Is Way Out Of Hand

I have two children in college and one in the JD/MBA program at the University of Houston.  I still have one child at home anxious to start college.  I feel my wife and I sacrifice hard to to get our children through without the need to bankrupt them.  UH, like many other Texas university has increased both tuition and fees about 52% since my children started school.  Often times the final tuition and fees are not determined until the last minute making it hard for anybody to plan effectively.  It is so disrespectful.  Universities like UH say that it is a result of increased costs, but this argument does not make sense.  The cost of education, in and of itself, has not increased 52% in a few short years.  It is the increase in competition and U.S. News rankings that is the biggest portion of the problems.  It is really too much.  I tell people that I suffer from mal-tuition.

It is for this reason that I very much appreciate this editorial cartoon that appeared in the Houston Chronicle by Nick Anderson today.  It represents my opinion and state of mind on the subject exactly.

Marketing Plans

Ok.  Ok.  Ok.  I know that I am not much on formal marketing plans.  Maybe it is because my group of lawyers is small, with no staff, and we can communicate between ourselves what the objective should be.  But, I understand that some people get a since of motivation writing things down in an organized fasion.  I too often get a headache.  Further, I often do not get around to it, and then I feel bad.

For these people, unlike me, I refer you to a recent post on The Practice Manager by Debra Bruce.  She outlines the map a good marketing plan should take as:

Step 1 – Analyze your existing business.
Step 2 – Describe your ideal client.
Step 3 – Identify your client’s need or desire.
Step 4 – Identify what sets you apart from your competition.
Step 5 – Develop your marketing answer to “What do you do?”
Step 6 – Identify where to come into contact with people in your niche market.
Step 7 – Identify where to come in contact with referral sources.
Step 8 – Identify the most comfortable/enjoyable marketing activities for you that will put you in touch with potential clients and referral sources.

All good ideas.  All-in-all a good road map that many people want to follow and will follow.  For me, if you must, let me give you my own map.

Step 1 - Identify the people, groups and organizations that can refer to you an ideal client.
Step 2 - Act upon this information and go out and meet and greet these people, groups and organizations.
Step 3 - Follow up, follow up, and follow up.

This is nothing against Debra Bruce's advice.  It is more detailed, but my three informal steps work for me.  They might work for you.  If not, that is alright.  You need follow the more formal approach.

Command And Control

Do you think of yourself as a worrier for justice, or some such thing?

Many times when we think about terms like command and control we think about it in a military context.  But, such terms have really been co-opted by the military.

Have you ever thought why some law firms seem to perform so well and some law firms seem to languish or seem to be putting out one fire after another?  It is probably (or at least partly) for the reason that some lawyers are good at command and control, and many lawyers are not.

As for me?  I am probably mediocre at command and control at best.  Do not get me wrong, when I ran a large firm I did not mind playing the part of the jerk, but in reality I am a pushover in a lot of ways concerning those with which I work.  I am fairly good at knowing my strengths and limitations and I have found that I am better at running a firm that is more fluid, that has disbursed lawyers collaborating with me, and in working for or against opposing counsel.  I work better collaborating that in lording over a paid staff.  In short, I can keep my eye on the ball, and I can explain to others why we need to keep our eyes on the objective, but I am not so good and forcing others to do so.

And, this is okay as far as I am concerned.  In military circles they like to quote Frederick the Great on command and control techniques as he stated, "Soldiers should fear their officers more than all the dangers to which they are exposed ... Good will can never induce the common soldier to stand up to such dangers; he will only do so through fear."

Command and control for the military and others is too often the idea that people do what you tell then to do, and if they do not then you will yell at them and admonish them and punish them until they do.

That is not me.  That is not most attorneys.  I guess, that is what I felt like I needed to do in a large firm environment, and that is what made me so mediocre.  Not being to live up to this aspect of command and control is what leads me to enjoy the Third Wave practice of law.

This said, do not believe for a moment that you can succeed either in Big Law or in the Third Wave or collaborative practice of law without sufficient command or control.  You have to have a vision and you have to implement that vision.  You have to know that you are up to it because it means the difference in success or failure, even if you are the only person in your firm.

I am talking about the command and control aspect that is defined as the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander in the accomplishment of a mission.  After all, what is the growth of a law practice or law firm, or the increasing in earnings and profit, or a case or client other than a mission.

Let us talk a moment about obtaining referrals, or settling a difficult case, or satisfying a demanding client.  Each of these matters requires a sense of authority.  Authority represents power in that it represents the ability to achieve certain ends.  Authority refers to a claim of legitimacy.  Content and your perceived control over the subject matter is what always helps.  That is the reason that blogging, often times, is so important.  It takes time to build authority (power), but you have to be mindful along the way not to diminish it with stupid or outrageous conduct and statements.

Then, or course, there is direction.  We are not necessarily talking about geometry or geography in this regard.  Call it writing direction, stage direction, film direction or statutory direction.  Call it what you want, but you have to know where you want to take yourself, your firm, your family.  This always has to be on top of your mind so it can referred to every decision you feel you need to make.  What does that decision or action do in regard to the direction in which the firm is headed?

In this day and age, and especially in the Third Wave practice of law, there is no command and control center, no command and control wing or squadron or ship or post.  That is all contained eternally in you, the lawyer.

Today, as lawyers, we are only helped by command and control technologies.  These are mission critical solutions.  The Internet, legal research sites, practice management software, time keeping and billing software, and telephony are great examples.  It depends more on how we chose to employ these.

So, whether there is only one of you or many in a firm, you are only going to achieve if you excert reasonable command and control elements and decisions, chief among these being a sense of authority, helped on by mission critical software and support.  As you try to find a sense of what you need to do among all of the interest competing for your attention, you need to always gauge these things through your command and control prism.

"The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All The Lawyers"

We are all too familiar with this line form Shakespeare's King Henry VI, are we not?  But, what is interesting is that Shakespeare did not mean this line as a cut or dig against lawyers, but a dig against commercial life and government.  The point in the play is that the surest way to chaos and tyranny is to remove the guardians of independent thinking -- the lawyers.  Today people use this quote out of context as in doing so would restore some kind of sanity to commercial life, but to Shakespeare it was an attempt to underscore the important role that lawyers, like you and I, play in society.  It was not meant in the sense of a contemplated revolution, that some would like to see.

Yet, despite the gripes and the whining about lawyers in general, in this day and age we do not have to look far as to the excesses in commercial life by the elimination of lawyers.  You severely restrict shareholder litigation and the ability to pursue bad things, and you get Enron, Worldcom and the like.  Today we have the financial world falling apart because of greed and lies and deceptions because we have so greatly reduced the role of law and lawyers in this arena for everyone except the giant commercial outfits themselves.

But, the mantra like a constant drumbeat continues with some, blaming lawyers for all of the ills of this  world.  It is really pitiful.

The newest entry into this area is Life Without Lawyers by Philip K. Howard.  Someone else that cannot seem to read Shakespeare in proper context.

Mr. Howard is also author of the best seller The Death of Common Sense:  How Law is Suffocating America.  You can read them if you wish.

From the book jacket on Life Without Lawyers: "Americans are losing the freedom to make sense of daily choices -- teachers can't maintain order in the classroom, managers are trained to avoid candor, schools ban the game of tag, and companies plaster inane warnings on everything: 'Remove Baby Before Folding Stroller.' ... Today we are flooded with rules and legal threats that prevent us from taking responsibility and using our common sense."

Of course there are those that try to scare us with high exaggeration.  We like to believe are school systems have failed, but we all like our teachers.  The truth of the matter is that teachers by and large maintain order in their classrooms and this is an insidious remark.  The law by and large attempts to punish managers for lack of candor.  Kids today rarely want to play tag as that is so last century.

Take the laws, whether you agree with them or not, concerning drunk driving and the civil penalties that follow them.  These laws are enforced by lawyers.  As with most laws, these do not discourage people from taking responsibility or using their common sense.  Most of these storm warnings that the law encourages act as just the opposite.  They bolster people to think and employ common sense.

There are lots of conflicts in this world, and the law and lawyers are an effective exercise in how to resolve these many issues in a peaceful and capitalistic way.

There are those in business that want to be the independent arbiters of what is right and wrong.  It falls in along the lines of "who died and made you king".  The problem with this is that these people want to make that decision based upon what makes them the most money.  The health, happiness or morality of of others be damned.  This book appeals to these people.

Sometimes I think we forget that some husbands beat their wives, some companies put some terribly bad thought out equipment on our play grounds, that businesses want to deceive and unduly profit, some doctors make horrific mistakes, some shareholders are taken to the cleaners by management, and not all of us are the best drivers.  Who stands up for these people?  They are victims.  Not Mr. Howard.

If lawyers are guilty of anything it is that they sometimes do over think disclosures to the extent a company warns parents to take babies out of a stroller before folding it up.  That is unnecessary.  But, such disclosures do not impinge on common sense.  People with a good dose of common sense already know such things, affirm their thinking and move on in light of such warnings.  Otherwise it is nothing more than fodder for late night comedians.

What I think evades common sense are books such as these.  Does suggesting that we need a world without lawyers even suggest good sense?  I do not think so.

Ain't It The Truth Most Days

Maybe You Should Stop Fighting Instant Messaging In Your Law Practice

Many lawyers like to IM on a personal basis or with some friends and colleagues, but they fight it when it comes to using it professionally in their law practices, and especially with clients.  Everyone fears even great disruption.

Maybe they should not.

An article by Michael Hinman, republished in the Austin Business Journal, reported on one professor at Ohio State University that studied the IMing issue and concluded that people that use IMing are actually interrupted less often.  You can read the actual article by CLICKING HERE.

The finding essentially was one of speed, in that workers questioned stated they would have frequent but shorter conversations, which allowed them to better manage their time.  IM could be shut off to avoid interruptions when necessary, but otherwise people could get quick answers to questions instead of depending on longer interactions.

And, this would appear true when you stop and think about it.  Whether it is a co-worker or a client or a referral source, the interruptions do not end.  They do, however, take some other form time.  They take on a more time consuming form.  Even if it is an email, you still have to open it, you still have to read it (it is probably more formal and requires more explanation), and you have to respond in like fashion.  It is better than a phone call (or God help us, a fax), but it still take more time for is often a quick matter.

Have You Ever Thought Of A PEO For Yourself?

This is a professional employer organization (PEO).  You might have also heard it called co-employment, employee leasing or staff leasing.  To me, in the past, it represented more than outsourcing of HR services, although it does that.  But, to us Third Wavers it can possibly make the thought of private practice bearable.

There are about 700 PEOs operating in the United States and they currently cover 2 to 3 million workers.  They operate in all 50 states, and there are individual PEOs that cover all 50 states.

The way the system works, generally, is that you enter into a co-employment contract with a PEO of your choice, and the PEO becomes the employer of record for tax and insurance purposes, as well as other HR services and compliance issues.  They take care of withholding, escrowing and paying income taxes, Medicare, social security, insurance coverages and contributions to 401(k) accounts.

From my experience, PEOs charge about 3% of total payroll paid through the organization.  I can also tell you that the PEO will save you more than this fee in taxes and insurance coverages alone.  After all, many of these PEOs are purchasing insurance and other services for tens of thousands of workers at a time.

The way it works, generally, is that you set up an account from where the PEO withdraws money weekly, every two weeks, twice monthly, or monthly depending on how often everyone is paid.  Then they do all of the appropriate withholding and direct deposit your check, and that of any employees, in the appropriate bank accounts.  You, any employees, any co-workers, associates, of counsel or those sharing in the group are now treated as W-2 employees.  This has some benefits.

These are really more than staffing firms and you should be careful not to confuse a staff firm with a PEO.

What you might not realize is that you do not have to be incorporated or a formal partnership or the most formal of groups to be part of a PEO.  And, even if you have no other employees, you are able to lease yourself back to yourself.

Why would any solo, small law firm or Third Waver do such a thing?

Well, it actually has a lot of practical benefits.  I cannot cover all of them here, but let me list a few.

First, and probably the most important, is insurance coverages.  And, not just health insurance coverage.  The biggest problem for solos and small firms in particular is the acquisition of appropriate amounts and the quality of insurance coverages.  Many of the larger PEOs offer group insurance coverages that they administer.  Group insurance is expensive but it offers a lot of benefits.  For example, you cannot necessarily be denied coverage if you have some pre-conditions, and in most states group insurance providers cannot cancel health coverages or increase premiums too greatly because someone has an extraordinary medical expense.  There is also life insurance, disability insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, and worker's comp insurance coverages.  Some solos and firms maybe low risk, but they need these coverages.  It is possible, for example, for a lawyer to get hurt on the job.  Like all insurance it is expensive, but PEOs often have cafeteria plans that allow good tax savings to offset part of this expense.  If you chose higher deductible insurance plans, they can help establish health savings accounts and even personal spending accounts, which deal with pre-tax dollars.

Second, are retirement accounts.  Sure you can set up a SEP or other specialized accounts, but these costs money to properly administer.  Many PEOs offer a properly authorized and complaint 401(k) account to which you will have access after a short period of time.  Contributions can come out of your paycheck. 

Third, if for some reason something goes wrong and you cannot hold your law practice of firm together, you are entitled to unemployment insurance because you are a W-2 employee.

Fourth, they maintain all of the bookkeeping for all of this.  You do not have to.

Fifth, many PEOs are associated with credit unions in which you will have membership.  This allows you access to low interest loans, higher interest savings accounts, and buying services.

Sixth, if you actually have employees and things are not working out, you do not necessarily have to fire them.  The PEO will do it.  But, that is just being crass.

Seventh, because you are required to pay in enough money to cover all of your tax, Medicare, social security and insurance issues, it breaks you from playing around with your tax money.  You pay it in each pay period, it is paid over to the IRS immediately afterward, and at the end of the year you get file a tax return based upon you employee status.

Many PEOs have minimum requirement in regard to the numbers of people in a group in order to join.  Some are as little a 3 or 4.  If you do not have three or four people in your firm, then you can form a group with other like minded attorneys and their staff to meet this requirement.

For attorneys, at least in Texas, you are required to sign a statement that the PEO will in no way be involved in the management of the law firm, no information will be disclosed about legal clients to the PEO, and that the attorney, as a leased employee, will make all decision as to legal matters.

So, even if nobody else but you, it might be best to investigate and consider a PEO for you and your closest friends or colleagues.