Targeted Personal and Practice Development for Lawyers

Improve presentation skills with storytelling

Something I have learned from being a member of my local Toastmasters speaking club is just how important stories are for any kind of presentation or speech.  So I was pleased to see that a conference on storytelling for the legal profession was held at City University, London, UK this month.   Applied Legal Storytelling

I recently attended a conference where all the speakers were either lawyers or accountants.  The audience were all lawyers apart from me and one other person.

The speakers had been chosen for their specific expertise and generally performed well.  However, the subject matter was highly technical and one speaker stood out.  How? By bringing his technical subject alive with short, pithy stories.  The stories illustrated the points he was making and made them memorable.  This was true for me and for lawyers in the audience too.  Checking at the afternoon break it was clear that the people I talked to could remember the stories far more than the drier presentations.  The question is how many of them will take their conference notes out of the filing cabinet over coming months to remind themselves of what was said by the other speakers?  It's much more likely that they will repeat the stories to colleagues or use of the information that the stories illustrated directly themselves.

As keynote speaker Patricia Fripp says "We speak to be remembered and repeated".  And I would add to have the materials or the information we have provided used or revisited.

Law Blawg Directory lists 1000+ blogs by lawyers

The American Bar Association Journal now lists 1000+ blawgs from lawyers who are specialists in their field.  In addition it list blogs under headings such as Careers, Law Schools, Paralegals etc.  It also has a weekly featured blog.

The ABA has provided an easy way to check out blogs in areas of law that you are interested in.  It's also useful to see the style and quality of the blogs.  Perhaps you'll be inspired to start one?

Law Blog Directory

Law Firm Marketing - Women Lawyers Career Change and Employer Brand (2)

The National Law Journal article mentioned in my previous post says that "law firms struggle to retain women lawyers and boost them into leadership roles".

Perhaps Big Law firms and others are missing a trick.  Research on the glass cliff at Exeter University in the UK has included reviewing the impact of appointing women directors in FTSE 100 companies.  The researchers say:

"...in a time of general financial downturn, companies that appointed a woman actually experienced a marked increase in share price after the appointment. On the other hand, those appointments that were made in less unsettled times tended to be followed by a period of share price stability."

Given that people mature into leadership roles at different rates it makes sense to keep as diverse a range of associates in the running for as long as possible.  Which in turn means greater flexibility in career development options.

Glass cliff research

Law Firm Marketing - Women Lawyers Career Change and Employer Brand

The issue of women lawyers leaving Big Law to go to smaller firms or other jobs using their legal skills was highlighted in The National Law Journal June 2007 edition. A follow up article in the Wall Street Journal law blog has created lively discussion.

There seems to me to be law firm marketing issues that haven't so far been mentioned in the comments.  Surely it can't be good for a firm's employer brand if the number of senior women is reduced?

In the UK more than half the traininee solicitors are now women.  I know a successful regional firm where the partners are concerned about the difficulty of persuading women with young children to become partners.  They are interested from an employer brand standpoint.  There is also a concern that they are reducing the pool of associates from which partners with good management as well as technical skills can be found.

Read the WSJ article and discussion here

Read the orginal article at the National Law Journal (free trial subscription)

Listen to interviews with leading US Lawyers

I recently came across live legal talk radio on the Law Business Insider website.  There are some great interviews with leading lawyers to listen to.  It seemed a good idea to spread the word.

Live legal talk radio

Survey shows lawyers want more training

This week I have been talking to a client about the firm's leadership development and training needs.  We ended up with a long discussion about the best way to bring in additional management training that will fit with attendees busy schedules.   Other topics included how to help lawyers at all levels develop their presentation skills and networking/marketing skills.   

As it happens, an article in Legal Week, dated 5 July 2007 shows how timely the conversation was.  Click on the link below to read the article.  You will see that the survey of lawyers at all levels in UK firm and UK based US law firms showed up 70 percent of respondents regarding leadership and managerial training  to be part of their professional development needs.

Interestingly 84-84 percent of both trainees and partners recognize a need for presentation skills training.  69 percent of Partners echoed the need to improve their mentoring skills.  I'm sure this will be appreciated by their staff if they follow through and get the training or coaching they need.

I thought it was interesting that only 37 percent said that formal business and economics training was "part and parcel" of their ongoing professional training.  While it is clearing necessary for commercial lawyers my own view is that most lawyer would benefit from this.  If nothing else it will help enormously with cross-selling.  When networking other people want to meet lawyers who can demonstrate their wider abilities as professional advisors with their finger on the pulse!

Legal Week - The training game

How much would you pay for personal branding advice from Paris Hilton?

The internet is flooded with reports that Paris Hilton has been offered $1 million to teach Personal branding at the Learning Annex. What does the PH brand stand for?  "Party Girl" perhaps. It's difficult to imagine what Paris would actually teach but with only three one hour classes required it sounds like too good an hourly rate to turn down. 

However it also shows that the idea of Personal Branding and the importance of your professional online identity are gaining ground.

Career Distinction

William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson's book Career Distinction: stand out by building your brand has hit the shelves. If you are interested in understanding how to create and manage your online presence this is the book for you.  Find it at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk etc. 

It gives a clear step-by-step approach to achieving online "digital distinction".  A must for any lawyer or other professional who wants to stand out in a crowded marketplace for professional services.

Martin Yates interviews William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson about Career Distinction  click here to listen.

Who's controlling your professional image?

"As HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts sees it, if you aren't managing your own professional image, others are."    She talks about the difference between your "desired professional image" and your "perceived professional image".  Two years on from publishing the article this message is even more true.  Particularly given the amount of stray information you can find out about people on the web.  If you haven't googled yourself recently you might just want to check what is there.  What picture emerges from pages 1-3 of a search on your name?  If the answer is "an inconsistent image" or "not a lot" its time for you to take charge of your professional image online!

To read the orginal article click through to Harvard Business Schools "Working Knowledge for Business Leaders"

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4860.html   

Does Law Society President need PR training?

On 26 June 2007 Fiona Woolf president of the Law Society of England and Wales was interviewed by Claire Marshall on BBC Radio 4's PM.  Asked why central London law firms lose almost twice as many staff as other professions Ms Woolf described the law as "very detailed finicky work...you have to love writing documents and almost, sort of, massaging them into shape."  The next stage is apparently "more interesting."  To focus on one aspect of the process of legal work seems a strange way to describe such a varied profession.  Is there a PR or Media Trainer brave enough to tackle this issue with the Law Society?