holtzmanspecialreportfinal jan...
TRANSCRIPT
The Whole Truth…and Nothing But the Truth
The old legal economy is shattered and gone forever.
It’s never coming back as it was.
Some proven, reliable career fundamentals still remain important. In fact, they are even more essential than ever. But, today, these skills must be combined with new, more focused, more strategic actions aligned with the harsh realities of the New Legal Economy and the
psychology of firms and clients.
Welcome to the New Legal Economy We’ve known this was coming but most lawyers have been caught unprepared. Every day good lawyers miss out on great opportunities because they fail, or refuse, to recognize the challenges that define the New Legal Economy. Problem: The Lawyer Surplus For too long, law schools have been churning out new lawyers faster than Starbucks can brew coffee. (And a new law degree seems worth about as much as cup of joe.) The result? More lawyers competing for the same number of jobs, making nearly everyone feel squeezed into accepting lower pay, longer hours, and the roughest road to partnership the profession has ever seen. Problem: The Client Shortage From the smallest business to the largest corporations, today’s decision makers think twice before calling a lawyer. When they do place the call, their own razor-‐thin profit margins make them demand the best service for the lowest cost. Today’s clients make no secret of their comparison-‐shopping and scrutinize every billable hour. Problem: The Law Firm Crisis With so many lawyers and so much less work, today’s firms are shutting down or cutting back like never before. Firms have slashed everything from associate pay to firm retreats. Partnership offers have dried up and the cuts haven’t stopped. Every firm wants to hire rainmakers but they’re harder to find than unicorns, and almost no one has a clue how to develop them. The Harsh Realities of the New Legal Economy
• More new law students and unemployed lawyers have created a cutthroat job market.
• More lawyers and less work have put all the power in the hands of clients, and they know it.
• Today’s firms demand more work from fewer lawyers to stay afloat.
• Being smart, nice, and working hard doesn’t guarantee a partnership offer.
What do these problems have to do with you?
Choose Your Side
In moot court, you were trained to be able to argue both side of a case, whether prosecution or plaintiff, defendant or defense. No matter which side you were on, when the dust cleared you wanted to be at the winning table. The New Legal Economy also has two sides, and your career hangs in the balance. On one side are the lawyers who get what they want – proper compensation, power, prestige, partnership, promotions, and peace of mind. On the other side sit those who are stuck hoping and wishing for success that never comes because they haven’t accepted the reality that the legal landscape has changed. The scary part is that the second camp is much larger than the first, so most lawyers are likely to end up there. The time is NOW to pick the winning side.
The 80:20 Rule of The New Legal Economy
A classic economic theory called the Pareto Principle suggests that in any economy, 20% of the people enjoy success and 80% do not. In the New Legal Economy, making it into that 20% is harder than ever. You have to decide which side you are on, and you have to do it NOW. So it’s time to answer a critical question: Do you want to be part of the unfulfilled 80% or part of the happy and successful 20%? As the New Legal Economy continues to introduce new pressures to all lawyers, it’s important to know what the differences will be.
The 80 Percent
80% of lawyers just can’t seem to catch a good break in their careers. Because they haven’t embraced the realities of the New Legal Economy, they spend their careers struggling to find clients, get interesting work, keep their jobs, get along with colleagues, save money, and control their own work hours so they can have a life outside the office. They cling to an outdated model of career success and refuse (or don’t know how) to
change, which makes them feel stressed, unhappy, and even bitter. In most cases, the lawyers struggling in the 80% are good, hard-‐working people. These lawyers might survive on a daily basis, but they often don’t enjoy what they are doing and their long-‐term prospects for better compensation, partnership and promotion look grim. The future doesn’t look any better than today and there’s no guarantee that things won’t get even worse.
The 20 Percent
At the same time that 80% of lawyers are struggling, the other 20% of legal professionals are thriving. These lawyers are bold and ambitious enough to adapt to the New Legal Economy. If you push past your fear and figure out the success formula for today’s legal marketplace, here’s what you can expect. As a member of the 20%, you will receive the best assignments, the biggest bonuses, and achieve the most career satisfaction. Even though the days of automatic partnership are gone forever, you’ll be considered a star and stand firmly at the top of the list when partnership decisions are being made. Through a combination of hard work and good strategy, you’ll eventually dominate in your firm, your market and in the profession. You will enjoy more clients, more equity and greater
satisfaction than the rest. You’ll call the shots in your career for as long as you want to practice. The Most Shocking Secret of the 80:20 Rule for The New
Legal Economy
For more than 20 years, I have been a student of success. I spent years at the top of the legal profession. Then, I combined my front-‐line legal experience with my executive coach training to create systems that any lawyer can master. My passion is showing lawyers how to break into the 20% and stay there. I’ve boiled all of the information down to a success system for attorneys that get results. My experience has shown that most attorneys, though highly intelligent and skilled in the law, have barely scratched the surface of what’s possible for their lives and careers. So, before you choose which side of the New Legal Economy you want to spend your career on, I want to give you the answer to the question that I get asked all the time, both by my private coaching clients and in the workshops that I lead:
In the New Legal Economy, what separates the 80% of lawyers who struggle from the 20% of lawyers who achieve the success that they deserve? Here’s the answer that will shock you (because no one has ever mentioned it to you before) . . . . It’s not just about working harder, working “smarter,” winning cases, making new law or being president of the bar association. The essential ingredient that successful lawyers have and the miserable ones don’t is Career Intelligence. Career Intelligence. A critical set of skills that any lawyer can (and must) learn that will help you release the brakes on your career and almost effortlessly roll full steam ahead. How can you begin to join the 20%? One thing I know for sure is that lawyers in the 20% think differently than lawyers in the 80%. They have learned how to spot the little lies that make up the “conventional wisdom” about success in the law. Here are just a few of the lies that lawyers in the 20% reject:
• The smartest law students make the most successful lawyers. • Graduating from a top tier law school is the only way to become a partner or get a decent job.
• Hard work and dedication automatically earn you a corner office and your name on the letterhead.
• To paraphrase Kevin Costner’s character in the movie Field of Dreams, if you build a law practice and wait patiently, they (the clients) will come.
• Being born with a silver spoon in your mouth or a little black book in your pocket are the only ways to become a rainmaker.
• Lawyers are unhappy and feel trapped in the profession. • Professional success equals personal misery, including a bad marriage, never seeing the kids, hating colleagues, poor health and no hobbies.
• The only happy lawyer is a former lawyer. What do all these little lies have in common? They are based on two big myths that keep most lawyers stuck. In the New Legal Economy, these two big myths are more dangerous than ever because the cutthroat job
market, rougher road to partnership, and more demanding clients have left lawyers no room for error. Any lawyer who makes career decisions based on these two big myths will experience frustrating results.
Big Myth Number One: Law School Taught You How to Be Successful (or, Book Smarts Equals Professional Success)
The Truth About Law School Back in law school, success was a matter of book smarts. Success meant studying hard and writing well. Answering the professors’ questions the right way earned you good grades and strong recommendations because your professors specialized in teaching you how to use those book smarts and think like a lawyer. If you were a law student with book smarts, you absorbed technical knowledge of the law like a sponge and may have even earned a spot on law review. Book smarts helped you pass the bar and opened the door to a promising legal career. Once inside the law firm door, however, everything shifted. Little by little, you realized that virtually every lawyer in the firm possessed book smarts (even if you thought they lacked common sense). You probably did not have a name for what was happening, but you probably noticed a real shift from law school. Suddenly, there was a whole list of skills that no one in law school had ever bothered teaching you, but were critical to know. In the hierarchy of the firm, information (the details that were so important in law school) became the responsibility of the lowest paid people on the payroll — secretaries, paralegals, and junior associates. The higher people rose in the firm, the less direct relationship they had to legal information and the book smarts that mattered so much in law school.
Maybe a harsh performance review has left you paralyzed with fear and has given you the first hint that book smarts will not be enough. Maybe the recent loss of a promotion or a bonus has clued you in to the fact that something else besides book smarts is required to advance. One way or another, you’re probably waking up to confront the sobering reality that the intellectual prowess that got you good grades and a lucrative offer may not keep you employed. In fact, staking your career exclusively on the book smarts that you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and almost 20 years acquiring may mean career suicide. At this point you may feel like slamming your fist against the desk and screaming, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Or maybe you’re feeling like calling your law school alma mater to demand a refund because you feel duped. Whatever you’re feeling, take my advice . . . . Get over it and don’t waste another moment feeling ignorant, embarrassed, or cheated. Most lawyers believe the big myth of book smarts and nearly every law school ignores Career Intelligence, so you’re not alone. Besides, every lawyer who has pulled away from the pack to join the 20% has been in the same position you’re in right now.
Just like you, they had to confront the big myths that are holding you back and keeping the success you deserve beyond your reach. So if professional success in the law is not a matter of book smarts, then what does it take to join the 20%?
The Truth About the 20%: Career Intelligence Creates Professional Success
In the real world of the legal profession, lawyers in the 20% understand that Career Intelligence is the key to career success.
Remember that attorneys with Career Intelligence win big: choice assignments, promotions, partnership, money, corner offices, and the freedom to dictate the terms of their practice. Lawyers who possess Career Intelligence receive all of the validation, opportunities, respect, and accolades they can handle. The fact is that if you plan to continue practicing law, you’ve got to acquire Career Intelligence in a hurry because the New Legal Economy demands it. Firms are getting leaner, partnership offers are getting more rare, and good clients are harder to find.
A common mistake some lawyers make is to assume that they can apply the book smarts formula to Career Intelligence. You can’t acquire Career Intelligence in the same way you acquired book smarts. Even if you had another several hundred thousand dollars to invest, you don’t have 20 more years to wait. Besides, as you now know, law schools don’t teach Career Intelligence. It’s not part of the curriculum and probably never will be. That’s not your fault, but doing something about it is your responsibility. Right now you’re champing at the bit to develop Career Intelligence and join the 20% of lawyers on the winning side, but before you get your hands on Career Intelligence, there’s just one more big myth I have to expose.
Big Myth Number Two: Law Firms Teach Career Intelligence
Now that you know the truth about book smarts, it’s time to destroy another illusion that could cost you the career you’ve paid so dearly to create. Your law firm will not teach you what you need to know. Traditionally, lawyers have always learned about the real-‐life practice of law through the apprenticeship model. You learned at the knee of a senior lawyer who acted as a mentor and showed you the ropes. In the New Legal Economy, senior lawyers don’t have the time or inclination to teach you what you need to know. Law firms are not in the teaching business. They are not designed to teach you Career Intelligence. Law firms are in business to serve their clients, make a profit and divide those profits among the partners. Period. Go ahead and test the argument for yourself. Take a moment and go online to your firms’ website and find the line in the firm’s mission statement that describes teaching lawyers Career Intelligence as a key part of their mission. Find the workshop entitled, “Career Intelligence.” Can’t find it? How about “How to Make Partner” or “Lawyer Skills for Career Success?” I didn’t think so. You won’t find them because they’re not there. Even if your law firm does provide in-‐house continuing legal education, it is likely to fall into the category of
technical skills, such as “Recent Developments in Environmental Law” or “Health Care Privacy and Security.” Like law school, it’s designed to get you more information, not more Career Intelligence. Even asking a more senior attorney for Career Intelligence advice is not likely to get you what you need. Lawyers who have made it to the top are often unable to articulate how and why they made it in sufficient detail to be helpful. They may have done many things right, but can’t be objective enough to help you with your unique situation. Some of them, unfortunately, will not be willing to give away their finely tuned Career Intelligence secrets on the theory that “Well, I had to figure it out without any help, so the younger lawyers will just have to do the same.” Even the kind-‐hearted ones are usually too busy practicing law, bringing in more business or enjoying the spoils of their success to help you create your own. So, if developing Career Intelligence is the key to professional success, and firms don’t teach it, how can you get it and who can help you?
The Truth: You Are Solely Responsible for Your Own Career Intelligence
Before you break out into a cold sweat, take a deep breath and keep reading because I have some really great news for you. Sure, your responsibility for your own Career Intelligence may feel like a heavy burden and a reason to panic at first glance, but look a little bit deeper. Especially in the New Legal Economy, having the responsibility for developing your own Career Intelligence actually presents you with a huge opportunity. You don’t have to sit around hoping and praying someone else will “let” you be successful. You can create your own success, which means you can have exactly what you want. By reaching this point in my free special report, you’ve already taken the first steps toward joining the 20% of lawyers who are happy and successful. Now you know the two biggest myths that keep lawyers stuck. You don’t have to waste any more time or energy running into the same brick walls over and over again. With the two big myths out of the way, you have cleared the path to acquiring Career Intelligence.
In the remainder of this report, I want to share the first and perhaps most critical step to developing Career Intelligence and joining the 20% of privileged, happy lawyers.
3 Essential Questions You Must Ask Yourself About Partnership
The first step to developing Career Intelligence is to ask your self three essential questions about making partner. Because whether you realize it or not, the partnership question is THE question for lawyers, even if you are not currently working for a private law firm. Think about it: The question of partnership is the most critical question any lawyer can answer in his or her career and it’s the question everyone has to confront. The sooner you define your relationship to the Partnership Question and the more tools you have to help you develop clarity about the issue, the better off you will be. If, like many lawyers, you think the question will answer itself (in other words, you’re waiting around for someone else to decide whether you are worthy of making partner), you’re making a critical mistake. Even worse, if you wait until somewhere between your 7th and 10th year of practice to think about it, you’re fooling yourself. You have to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to your professional future. Once you define your relationship to
partnership (to be or not to be), it will be time to develop the Career Intelligence you need to get you where you want to go. Do I really want to make partner? Because law firm partnership has always been the holy grail of attorney success, many lawyers plod along blindly, hoping to make partner but either not really thinking about what their lives will look like if they do make partner or making common (and sometimes incorrect) assumptions about how perfect their lives will be if it happens. Acquiring Career Intelligence requires that you know (as precisely as reasonably possible) what law firm partnership will look like at your firm or any other you are considering. Knowing the reality, rather than the conventional wisdom, about law firm partnership will help you make an informed decision about what you really want. What does compensation look like? How much business (and what kind) will you be expected to generate? What administrative responsibilities will you have, and how will that impact your ability to accumulate billable hours and find time for business development? What are the potential liabilities you are taking on as a partner? What is the culture at the firm and what will your lifestyle (i.e., hours) look like? It is also incumbent on you to ask yourself whether you are prepared to assume ultimate responsibility for your cases or transactions. When you are a partner, you are expected to make decisions and recommendations. You are expected to have the answers. You are expected to lead. Are you ready to sit first chair at trial or a complex negotiation? In other words, does the job description sound like something you really want to be doing every day? If you’re not ready just yet because you don’t have the requisite experience, ask yourself whether you will ever have the stomach for law firm leadership. It’s okay if it’s not for you, but you must face the question, and the sooner the better. Finally, consider your motivations for wanting to make partner and hold that up against the reality of what your life will look like if you do make it. If your primary motivation is making someone else happy or making someone else proud of you, consider this: it may feel great to be able to say you made partner, but do you really want to be a partner? Do you
really want to do the job that partners do? Make sure you know why you want to make partner (and that they are the right reasons) before you put in the hard work. And if it turns out you don’t want to be a partner, knowing that will enable you to move forward in acquiring the Career Intelligence you need for the job you really do want. Whether or not law firm partnership is for you, it’s critical to develop Career Intelligence so that the next steps you take are the right steps. Do I know what it takes to make partner? How clear are you on what you need to do in order to make partner at your firm (or what you’ll need to bring to the table to be a partner at another firm)? If you’re like most lawyers, you have a vague sense that you need to be smart, work hard, and perhaps generate some original business. A shell-‐shocked and disappointed lawyer with 10 years’ practice under her belt recently told me “I really thought that if I put in the hours and did good work, they would make me a partner.” Unfortunately, many lawyers still think that partners are being made based on the old apprenticeship model: if you work hard and show loyalty to the firm, you will be rewarded with partnership. It just doesn’t work that way anymore (and hasn’t for a long time). In the New Legal Economy, you need a clear picture of what it takes to make partner both generally and at your particular firm. You need Career Intelligence. What will my career look like if I don’t make partner? Whether or not you want to make partner, this question can seem like the 800-‐pound gorilla in the room. Many lawyers subscribe to a foreboding feeling that if you are at a law firm and don’t make partner, your career is essentially dead. As a result, many attorneys don’t want to think about it, and don’t consider their options until they are backed into a corner and take the first in-‐house job that comes along. The truth is, if you plan right, “life-‐after-‐you-‐don’t-‐make-‐partner” doesn’t have to be a scary question and is not a catastrophe at all. People assume this is a life or death question because no one has taught them the right way to think about this issue.
There are numerous options out there, so don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that if you don’t make partner, you are destined to wind up in a dead-‐end job as someone else’s gopher. Stop swallowing the doom and gloom predictions that are popular in tabloid legal blogs and set yourself apart by developing the Career Intelligence that will enable you to have myriad opportunities that other lawyers, without Career Intelligence, will miss entirely.
Your Next Step In this brief report, you’ve acquired information that few lawyers possess:
• You’ve learned the facts of The New Legal Economy and why it’s critical that you choose your side now.
• You’ve learned why 80% of lawyers struggle and 20% do not. • You’ve learned the two big lies that keep the 80% of lawyers stuck.
• You now understand why book smarts is not a career strategy and can’t deliver professional success.
• You’ve learned the key to professional success and understand why so many lawyers struggle unnecessarily.
• You’ve learned that your firm is not in the teaching business and what that means for you.
• You’ve also learned the 3 essential questions you must ask yourself about partnership before you take the steps required to get you the professional future you want and deserve.
Now that your eyes have been opened to the truth of the New Legal Economy and the real key to joining the 20% of lawyers who are destined for success, it’s time to jumpstart (or revive) your law career. You can join the 20% of lawyers who will win big in the New Legal Economy, and I have designed a powerful tool to help lawyers who are dead serious about taking the next step. In the next couple of days, I’ll tell you about my high-‐level coaching programs. If you’re interested in learning how to take your career to the next level in the shortest amount of time possible, this might be what you’re looking for. In case you can’t wait, the details are available here at TheLawyersEdge.com/coaching. Here’s To Your Success!
Elise Holtzman, Esq., ACC The Lawyer’s Success Coach [email protected] www.TheLawyersEdge.com