Ron Freidmann recently posted a question about why lawyers and their clients avoid defining customer service. I posted a comment about ‘fear of accountability’ which got me thinking about why lawyers avoid accountability.
Too many times I have seen good, great and excellent ideas die at law firms based on the fact that they would require action and accountability by the firm’s lawyers. Many times these failures are chalked up to the “non-billable effect” since any projects that require lawyers to spend any non-billable time are doomed to failure.
Most law firm leadership has the authority to mandate such efforts and overcome the non-billable time issue. However, law firms generally avoid taking such steps. Occasionally firms do mandate certain tasks. But this is done sparingly and is usually focused on a project near and dear to the Managing Partner’s heart.
One might argue this approach makes good business sense since it minimizes lost revenue. I suggest though the reason lies a bit deeper. At a prior firm – I constantly struggled with the fact that leadership barley discussed profitability, let alone considered holding partners accountable for it. The reasoning here is that profitability will be divisive, pitting partners against each. This may be true, but how long can firms go on avoiding this necessary and basic business question?
In my (somewhat humble) opinion, I believe this inability to face accountability is the product of reputation fear. Accountability means you will be held accountable by your peers. And when you fail to meet any real or perceived goal, your reputation will suffer. If your practice comes in unprofitable, then your reputation as a firm partner will be tarnished. And the likelihood of having an unprofitable month or quarter at some point is close to 100%.
Why would reputation matter so much? Because reputation is everything to a lawyer. Their entire careers are built on their reputations as great lawyers. Risking that reputation makes no sense at all to them. So they are locked in a lose-lose situation.
The reality is there are excellent lawyers who aren’t profitable – but only because project management, or some variation of that, is not their strength. We don’t expect a brain surgeon to be great at P&L. So why does our profession require lawyers to be great at everything and not just practicing law?
I suspect it’s because for so long lawyers have held themselves above the masses. To maintain their reputation they feel the need to be perceived as “The Best” regardless of the subject. This arrogance may well become their Achilles’ heel. I do not see a clear path to solve this problem for firms, but they really need to find one.
The sad irony is that this fear and arrogance are actually harming lawyers’ reputations. Their unwillingness/inability to face pressing issues and resolve them is leading to broken trust with clients. And this trust is key to the future of their business. In time we’ll see how the jury rules on this.
(Image [cc] andrewb47)

After a solid week in hot and humid Philadelphia, it is great to be back in Houston where the weather is supposed to be hot and humid, plus we are all awaiting Tropical Storm Don’s approach in the next few days. At least it is now Thursday and that means that it is Elephant Post day and only one more day until the weekend!!

This week’s question focused on “The Great Recessions” affects on your job. Many of us could answer this with one sentence: “I have to do more, with less.” However, there are other aspects of a huge downturn that cause changes in the way you do business that actually are good changes. For example, I know that many law firms gave lip-service to Knowledge Management projects that would improve the way we conduct business for our clients before the downturn, but actually implemented some of these processes once the clients demanded they do so or lose their business.

Thanks to those that contributed this week. The Elephant Post series works because it allows us to hear from our peers’ perspectives and even from those that we might not hear otherwise. Toby Brown, Scott Preston and I gave a lunchtime presentation at the Private Law Libraries Special Interest Section’s Summit on the value that is brought from expanding your professional circles, and listening to the perspectives of others.
We’re doing this again next week, and we are actually giving you a second change at the Brass Ring. We’d like for you to go through some of the old Elephant Posts and give your perspective on a question that you “almost answer!” So, after you read through this week’s answers, scroll on down and answer that one question that still sticks in your mind. It will make all of us feel better when you do!!

Danny “The Kid” Johnson
Legal Technology

I work in the Cloud which is semi counter cyclical; thus, I’ve gotten busier during this recession. I don’t think people are doing more with less but rather doing more with new tools, e.g. cloud technology. Wall Street is validating all of this by investing heavily in cloud and social startups.

Toby Brown
AFA

My job and duties changed dramatically as a result of the downturn since AFA job functions didn’t really exist prior to that.  Additionally my job as an “AFA Guy” changes almost weekly.    Fortunately these changes all worked in my favor.  Before I was managing known projects using established technology.  Now I am being thrown new and interesting challenges everyday, scrambling for the right tools and resources – which is kind of fun.

Pat Orr
Law Firm Librarian

I’ve added accounts-payable wizard to my resume, because we lost our full time acquisitions clerk. We share a clerk with Professional Support, which is better than having to do all the invoice payment tasks.  Preparing and analyzing database use reports is something I do more frequently; monthly rather than quarterly.  I think these changes have become status quo; we’ve adapted.  I suspect there will be more to come.

Bail Bondsman in Las Vegas
Bail Bonds Agent

I’m still working as both a real estate agent and bail bondsman, but I can tell you for certain that I’ve changed my buying habits.  I nitpick every grocery store item (i.e. price per oz, etc.) and I put in extra hours at work to save for the “just in case” moments in this economically anemic environment.  I don’t use credit in business or pleasure.  If it’s not cash on hand or in the bank, I don’t spend period.  I’ve had to be humbled somewhat in the past 4 years, so I’m going old school 1940’s frugal up in here.

Corinne Tampas
Attorney

Yes. I believe that this is actually a time of opportunity. In my case, I have made two big changes.   The first change concerns additional training in mediation and arbitration as courtrooms are being closed almost everywhere because of budget constraints. Civil matters will be pushed back even further and whether ADR is ordered or not, litigants are going to want to resolve disputes sooner rather than later. Moreover, it is more cost effective.  The second change concerns reading just about everything on LPM ever written. In a previous life, I was a building contractor (with an MBA), so I understand scheduling. The same principles can be used in litigation, especially in the discovery process. Frankly, I do not know where I am going with this, but it is going to be hot. I just know it.  Regardless, clients are changing what they expect from lawyers, they want more bang for the buck, and I want to help them get it.

Next Week’s Elephant Post:

What Elephant Post Question Did You Almost Answer?

A week does not go by where I don’t hear from someone that says “aww man, I almost answered last week’s Elephant Post question.” So, for those of you that have ever said this, here’s your chance for redemption. Go skim a few of the old Elephant Post questions and find one (or three or four…) that you would like another chance to answer.


A new conundrum past my plate today.

Do you place an apostrophe to create a possessive after a trademarked name?
I’m sure a few of you are thinking, “who the heck gives a crud about this kind of stuff?”
This is one of the few instances when intellectual property attorneys and marketers share common ground.
IP lawyers say that trademarked names act as adjectives to a product and, therefore, cannot be made possessive. If a trademarked name is treated as a noun, the trademark could be rendered useless.
Branding aficionados and writers agree: don’t dilute the brand. And putting an apostrophe after a registration mark or trademark just looks weird.
So don’t write:
“LinkedIn®’s professional networking site is outpacing other job board sites.”
Instead write:
“Professional networking site LinkedIn® is outpacing other job board sites.”
No, this isn’t the beginning of a bad lawyer joke. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship with Texas’s many bar associations.
Thanks to our Facebook relationship, I had the opportunity to share the stage at the Texas Bar Leaders Conference with the Texas State Bar’s social media whiz, John Sirman.
He’s a lawyer/webbie, just like me! It is always great to talk to someone who knows the angst of covering all of the web fronts of large institution. And we gave away a few of our social media secrets to Texas Bar leaders.
It was a great opportunity to meet lawyers from all across Texas and come up with easier, faster ways to share ideas between bar associations and replicate successes across the state.
We talked a lot about hash tags and how important it is to make them early and use them through out an entire campaign’s life.
It was a privilege to present to the group and I really enjoyed meeting some great folks from all of the bar associations across Texas.
If anyone has any questions about my presentation, feel free to reach out to me.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the differences between information and knowledge and the categorical mistake that even many KMers make by conflating the two. However, knowledge is often further sub-categorized into two realms, tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. These can also get kind of confusing. Tacit knowledge exists only in the minds of the knowledgeable. It includes memories, ideas, concepts, and understandings. Explicit knowledge gets tricky because it is also a type of information. It’s a record of tacit knowledge which can be stored and retrieved just like any other type of information. Confusing, right? I’ll illustrate my point with the following scenario: You’ve racked up a large set of expenses on a recent business trip and you want to be reimbursed by your company. So you call Ted, the Accounting Manager at your firm, and ask him what steps you need to take to be reimbursed by the firm. Ted, explains that you need to fill out a reimbursement form, get it signed by a manager, and send the form, along with a copy of your receipts to the accounting department to be processed. You should receive your check in 4 to 6 weeks. “Oh, and by the way,” Ted says, “you can always go to http://reimburseme.myfirm.com to see these steps again.” You thank Ted, fill out your form and in 8 weeks you get your check. In this anecdote we have clear examples of tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, and information.

  • Ted’s knowledge of the necessary steps to get reimbursed constitute tacit knowledge. It exists only in Ted’s memory and it is only retrievable by speaking directly with Ted. (Or someone else with the same tacit knowledge.)
  • Ted’s tacit knowledge has been transformed into explicit knowledge by recording the steps on the website. That explicit knowledge is information that is available and retrievable by anyone in the firm at any time.
  • The filled-out reimbursement form that you send along to accounting is not itself knowledge, it doesn’t describe a process and isn’t in any way actionable, it is simply information.

In my earlier post I described the DMS and Enterprise Search as primarily information management tools. They allow you to store and retrieve information across the firm. Since explicit knowledge can take the form of recorded information, it can also be stored in the DMS or on a webpage and can be retrieved with Enterprise Search tools. No one questions the business value of a document management system and most firms have some form of enterprise search in place to find information and explicit knowledge. But the vast majority of the knowledge that exists in any firm, is tacit . It’s only in the minds of your knowledgeable employees. Often, they don’t have time, nor the inclination, nor the incentive to transform their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and consequently that knowledge is only available to themselves and to their immediate circle of coworkers. Enter Social Networking tools. SN tools turn tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge that is storable, retrievable, and searchable. If Ted in Accounting is keeping a blog of the goings-on in his department, then a simple search can indicate to Alice in HR that accounting has dealt with an issue similar to the one currently vexing her department. The ESN tools have made knowledge, that would have otherwise remained tacit, explicit. Alice talks to Ted, learns from his experience, and solves her problem faster. Time, money, and resources saved. Bigger bonuses for everybody. But here is what I believe to be the definitive business case for ESN. These tools not only constitute a modern communications infrastructure, and near-magically turn tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, they are also the equivalent of direct enterprise search for tacit knowledge locked in the minds of your employees. An in-house micro-blogging solution with moderate participation allows employees to mine the tacit knowledge of their co-workers across the enterprise. Even if Ted in Accounting isn’t keeping a blog record of his department’s activities, the micro-blog allows Alice in HR to find Ted’s tacit knowledge by asking simple questions: “Has anyone had a problem like this? How did you deal with it?” Even if Ted hasn’t jumped on the micro-blog bandwagon, someone in his circle of co-workers may see Alice’s question and point her to Ted. Alice has in effect searched the tacit knowledge of the firm and by doing so has created a bit of explicit knowledge that Ted in accounting is knowledgeable on a particular subject. If Ted jumps on board and answers Alice’s inquiry on the micro-blog network, or writes a full blog entry, or creates a wiki-page, then Ted’s tacit knowledge is now explicit and available to the entire firm. The ability to search the tacit knowledge of your staff and to simultaneously turn that tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge for future use. How’s that for a business case?

After my fourth straight day of non-stop AALL conference running around, I’m running on fumes and having a blast talking with my colleagues. I’ve talked about blogging… I’ve talked about law firm management… I’ve talked about my new projects… and I’ve shared my opinion while listening to the opinions of others. As with most of the conferences you go to, it isn’t the programming that makes a lasting impression, it is usually the people you meet that sets the stage for the years to come.

One of the best things that I like about the conferences is when someone comes up to you and says something like “I heard you say ____, and I have to say that I disagree with what you said.” Maybe some people get offended, or throw up their shields and get defensive at hearing those words, but I have to say that I see them as an opportunity to have a great discussion with someone, as well as a reassurance that at least one person was actually listening to me when I was talking – sometimes you just aren’t sure if they are simply checking email and zoning you out.

When someone takes the time to come up and debate you on something you’ve said, or maybe even something you’ve written over the past year, it gives you a chance to further the discussion. Perhaps you just need to clarify your thinking behind the topic, or perhaps you need to explain some additional facts that the person may have missed, or facts you forgot to place into evidence at the time. However, that may simply end the topic if there is just a misunderstanding. What I really like is when someone comes up to you and really shows that you’ve made a major mistake, or there is a flaw in your argument, or better yet, that they have a completely different perspective than you and it may turn out that both of you are right… or maybe both of you are wrong. Either way, it helps continue the topic and allows you to really see something from a perspective you may otherwise have never thought of.

So, if you see me walking around the AALL floor in Philly over the next couple of days, don’t be afraid to come up and point out something that you think I got wrong. I’ll at least have fun talking with you about it, even if it turns out I wasn’t wrong… but simply mistaken.

Can’t make it to Philly, or decided that the 102 degree heat is too much to attend the AALL conference? You can still get a taste of the conference through the Association’s webcasts. I suggest that everyone that is interested with the vendor relations tune in on Monday for the CRIV & Vendor Colloquium discussion (I’ll be on that panel!) If you are going, make sure you track me down and say “Hi!”

Here are the instructions.
AALL kicks off its 104th Annual Meeting and Conference in Philadelphia this weekend, and even if you can’t be there in person, you can get a sample of each day’s offerings. The following programs will be webcast live (please note that all times are Eastern Daylight Time):

In addition to these educational programs, we will webcast live the Committee on Relations with Information Vendors (CRIV) Vendor Roundtable: Putting ACTION into the Vendor Colloquium Action Plan on Monday, July 25, at 12-1:15 p.m. (EDT). Join a CRIV roundtable discussion on the action plan and shared principles developed as a result of AALL’s Vendor Colloquium, “Creating, Disseminating, Using, and Preserving Legal Information in Challenging Times.” Member input is critical to the success of the plan. Be a part of what should be a lively discussion on AALL and vendor relations.

You can access the webcasts via the links above or by finding the programs on AALL2go, your online center for professional development. If you can’t watch the programs live, archived webcasts of the programs will be available free to members after the conference. Follow the buzz on Twitter at #aall11, too! Whether you’re attending our conference in Philly or tending to your job back at the office, you can be part of the audience.
[Image (cc) cedartree_13]

As I sit here in a hotel room editing this post, and going over my notes for the four presentations I am giving at AALL this year, I realized that I’m taking to heart some of the perspectives we gather on this week’s Elephant Post. There were many good suggestions on not just the logistics of getting prepared for a public speaking engagement, but also on how you psychologically prepare to give the presentations. Thanks to everyone that contributed, and don’t forget that we do this every week, so skip on down below this week’s perspectives and see if you can physically and psychologically answer next week’s question on how things have changed in your job since the onset of The Great Recession.

Sarah Glassmeyer
Academic Law Librarian

It depends on what sort of presentation I’m doing…if it’s a straight, “60 Tools in 60 minutes” type presentation where I’m demonstrating a service or explaining how to use something (and when I teach), I generally try to have that information down cold and write a script beforehand.  It starts with the slide preparation…I write out exactly what I want to say with each slide – including my lame jokes that sound off the cuff – and practice, practice, practice until I can go into autopilot with it.  That allows me – I hope, anyway – to then concentrate on the presentation style when I am speaking so that it’s interesting for the audience.  On the other hand, if it’s more a “discussion” like a podcast or panel – basically me spouting my opinions about something – then I write a rough outline of the points I want to hit, but how I get from point A to point B I leave up to the last minute and ad lib it.   I think of it like playing jazz, in a way.   I don’t mind speaking publicly, but I always try to coffee up so I have a little more bounce and personality.  Unfortunately, this has the negative result of me speaking 1000 words per minute (and I’m a pretty fast talker anyway.)  So I constantly have to remind myself to slow down and enunciate.

Steven B. Levy
Author of Legal Project Management
Author, speaker, consultant

First I get as clear as I can on what I want to communicate, what combination of information, mindset, and action plans I want the audience to come away with, based on the organizers’ goals. Next I try and understand where the audience is coming from, their starting points and likely biases.* Now I can put together an outline sketching how to get from B to A, based on what I’ve learned and what I’m capable of doing effectively. That outline may be on a whiteboard, in OneNote, in PowerPoint, or in some combination of the three.   From that outline, I can build my slides (which are usually graphics/images that bolster the points I’m making, with few or no words), while at the same time visualizing the presentation as if there were no slides. Over time, I refine, practice (often aloud), and modify until I have something I think will be coherent, entertaining, and achieve both my goals and the organizers’ goals.  ——- *In an ideal world I’d figure out the audience’s starting point first. The reality is that I often don’t have sufficient information on that starting point early enough in the process. I speak regularly — e.g., keynotes — and I believe I owe it to audiences and hosts to prepare thoroughly and well in advance.

John Gillies
KM lawyer

I try to do three things. First, I constantly ask myself whether what I’ll be talking will actually be useful (however much I might be tempted to tell “fascinating” war stories that really are only of interest to me). Second (and it’s related), I focus on paring away the extraneous content.  Last, I try only to do visual presentations that are useful. I hate PowerPoint presentations that are really nothing more than a formal paper converted to bullet points. I recently used Prezi (http://prezi.com/) and found that it offered an interesting alternative because it allows you to move back and forth and around your content (after coping with the learning curve on another new tool, of course!)

Lihsa
Online Marketing

I read a lot. Every day, I have tons of newsletters. Whenever I see anything interesting, I save it in a folder system that is based on topics. This is especially helpful when I need examples or stats.  Then, if I am partnering with someone, we usually meet at least once to set up the outline. Usually, one of us has made a first pass. Then we fill it out and start breaking out assigned speakers, understanding that we can jump into each other’s topic at any time. But this way, we have a clear road map during the presentation and no one person is hogging the floor (I won’t mention any names here 😉 )  Lastly, for the powerpoint presentation, I like to spend a lot of time on this. But I like pretty pictures and decorating. I don’t use the powerpoint to give a blow-by-blow guideline of my speech. Instead, I treat them as backdrops to highlight my point. I love creative, beautiful art so I treat to bring that into my presentations.  Then, I relax and enjoy myself. I know I gotta sing for my supper so I better be, at the least, mildly entertaining!

Ayelette Robinson
Knowledge Management

Much of my process is similar to what others have noted above, so I won’t repeat those aspects.  What I’ll add, or elaborate on, is how I figure out how to frame my presentation in the first place. This is usually the most difficult part for me because once I have the framework, the content almost completes itself. So identifying and setting that framework is both the most challenging, but also the most useful, part of the preparation process for me.  My first step (and I’m echoing Steve here) is to try to figure out what the audience will hope to get from the session. Since I can’t poll the audience ahead of time, I look at how the session is being marketed and imagine: (1) who would be attracted to attend this session? and (2) what kind of content would I be happy to walk away with if I were attending?  Once I have the answers to those questions, I take a hard look at my experience — mentally walking through projects, interactions, my own professional aha moments, and the like — and pick out those pieces that match the session’s topic. Once I have those points and moments selected, I weed through them to make sure I’m not repeating points that I’ve heard many times before (and therefore can assume the audience has too), and I try to take a fresh look at them to see what might be a new perspective I can add.  This self-reflection can definitely be a challenging and time-consuming process, but my hope is that it makes my presentations better.

Next Elephant Post Question:

How Did “The Great Recession” Change the Way You Do Your Job?

I’m sure that many initial reactions will contain the phrase “do more with less,” but I’m sure there are other ways that you’ve changed the way you conduct work because of the changes that occurred after the markets collapsed in 2008. Share your perspective of some of the ways your job or profession has changed, and if you think that the changes are permanent or temporary. As always we try to make this easy on you, so just go ahead and fill out the embedded form below!

The Association has no purpose. The Association is being sneaky. What has the Association done for me? Why should I be a member in the Association? There’s a litany of woe (is me) posts/emails burning up the internet regarding AALL.
With the AALL Annual Meeting close at hand (and the Antitrust Policy floating around), I think this is an excellent opportunity for us to catch our collective breath and think some deep thoughts. First, in with the good air, out with the bad. Repeat. Now, isn’t that better?
Now, what is an association? No, I’m not being silly. Most of the communication I have seen indicates that people seem to have lost sight of this basic concept. Simply put, associations provide an opportunity for like-minded people to meet, share ideas, advocate their principles in the halls of government and provide a face to the world at large to explain just who they are. What value do these functions have? Well, let’s focus on AALL.
In the 10+ years that I have been a member, AALL has been an unrelenting advocate for open government. The potential closing of the EPA libraries and making federal filings available to county law libraries are just a couple of examples of the fine work our Association has done in this area. I can’t think of a law librarian who wouldn’t need to access a government document at some point in their career. These documents and resources remain accessible due to the hard work of the association and its members.
The connections I have made have been worth the price of membership. Need a document from a court in Cook County? I just called a Librarian I met in St Louis and got it in minutes. Looking to start a support group for librarians doing CI? Spoke to a friend who introduced me to the PLL Chair who set it up with Headquarters. We had the CI group up and running in no time. Did I mention my co-founders were from Minneapolis and St Louis, not to mention the members of our Caucus are from all over the US? How else would I have made these connections if it weren’t for the association?
Vendor relations have never been the responsibility of the Association other than to pair vendors with customers. Vendor sponsorships just allow the vendors to sell their products to the Association’s members. There is no obligation, duty or any other requirement for the Association to do more than that. In fact, there are good legal reasons for the Association or members not to collude to affect prices. Just as it would be harmful to consumers for Wolters Kluwer, BNA, ThomsonReuters and Lexis to share information about our contracts with each other, the members of the Association as well as the Association as a whole are precluded from sharing that same information. References to the Association as a sweetheart who has done you wrong by not standing up for you miss this crucial point.
It is the responsibility of every librarian to do what’s best for their organization (i.e., Firm, Company, School or Government Library) when it comes to vendor relations. If you don’t like something the vendor does, tell them. If they don’t do anything about it, take your business elsewhere. It is up to the librarian to make sure their organization is aware of the negotiations and their options going in. Let’s face it, this is why they hire us. It’s up to us as individuals to create and maintain a beneficial partnership/relationship with our vendors. The Association cannot act as a substitute for us or a surrogate in our dealings with our vendors.
So let’s take a deep breath and consider the value the Association provides and not focus on “What has it done for me lately?” Take it, Ms. Jackson…

After attending a 4-hour grammar class–yes, I know, I am a geek–I was heartened to witness that there are those still out there who are positively impassioned about punctuation.
The class erupted in a thirty-minute discussion on–get this–how many spaces should follow a period.
Good grief.
You would have thought we were talking about which soda as better: Pepsi or Coke. No fewer than thirty-five people weighed in on the matter. These were their thoughts:
  1. If you are typing on a typewriter (and, really, who does this?), it is two spaces.
  2. If you are tweeting, it is one space–if you have even written a complete sentence, that is.
  3. If it is a legal document, it is two spaces.
  4. If it is a mobile device, most phones automatically make it a period followed by one space, if you enter two spaces.
  5. If it is web copy, it is one space.
Finally, after nearly coming to fisticuffs, the consensus was to use one space after a period.
Geez. You woulda thought it was the Grammargeddon.