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Value and Values

The legal profession is going through dramatic change. What no one knows right now is whether the change is lasting or fleeting, and just how far reaching it will be, but there is no denying that it is occurring. Law firms are laying off lawyers and staff in record numbers across the country. More law school graduates cannot find jobs, or are told they must wait months or even years before reporting for work. Corporate clients' legal budgets are squeezed, prompting more of them to demand "value" and to request alternative billing arrangements. State courts are also squeezed, having to lay off personnel, close courthouses and function without law clerks. Organizations that provide legal services to the poor have lost funding, forcing them also to lay off legal and non-legal staff, just as the need for legal services has grown. More litigants are appearing in court pro se, which also places a greater strain on the court system.

In these difficult times, lawyers cannot take anything for granted. We turn to "marketing" and social media in an effort to expand our practices, and network at every opportunity. But the transformation that is taking place requires a more radical approach than simply "getting out there" more. It requires reflection on some basic questions and focus on some of the fundamentals of what we do. Here are a few of the questions lawyers should be asking themselves as they try to survive and thrive in these challenging times:

1. Am I providing maximum value to my clients?
2. Am I prepared to share in the risks of bad outcomes (and will my clients share in the rewards of success)?
3. How do my clients define "success" in the matters for which they engage me?
4. Do I understand my clients' business?
5. How can I enhance the level of service I provide to my clients?
6. Am I doing enough to hone my skills and stay current in my field?
7. Am I, or is my firm, meeting my clients' expectations in the areas of diversity, community service and pro bono? Am I demanding these commitments of myself, regardless of my clients' expectations, simply because they are the right things to do?
8. Are my marketing efforts only trumpeting my abilities and experience, or are they also providing valuable information to my clients and contacts?

The common thread in these questions is that they focus not on me, the service provider, but on the needs of the client and of others. Most clients don't care if you're on Twitter or LinkedIn, if you've written articles in your area, speak at seminars, or chair committees in bar associations. Those types of efforts certainly do have value, can enhance a lawyer's profile and can help lawyers establish relationships that may lead to business development and likely will lead to more career satisfaction. But what clients want most is to know that you are both equipped to help them and dedicated to doing so. As I said in an earlier post, quoting a highly successful businessman, "It's the client, stupid." If we train ourselves to focus every day on how we can better serve our clients, our communities and our profession, and concern ourselves less with empty self-promotion, we stand a good chance of coming out of the current downturn stronger than we went in.

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