Leftfoot - Legal Business Development

This month the LeftFoot Podcast features https://www.law.miami.edu/faculty/michele-destefano (Michele DeStefano); her recent book Legal Upheaval provides the backdrop for a conversation focused on innovation in today’s legal environment. Through her work and research for her book, Michele confirmed that clients are looking for a new type of collaborative service disguised in their request for innovation. Along with lawyers that know their practice area, can guide and have a point of view; using business language to convey it; clients want lawyers that express the behaviors of innovators – asking different questions, listening and applying a different approach to problem finding and problem resolution. Let’s look at an example.  A bank was struggling to show they had complied with a consumer-facing compliance request.  In this circumstance, an advisor would typically help the bank show and communicate that they’re in compliance.  The alternative response included talking with and hearing from consumer

Capitalizing on Incremental Improvements   On Episode 121 we talk with LexisNexis, VP and Chief Product Officer, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffpfeifer/ (Jeff Pfeifer).  Jeff is responsible for product strategy having established his organization as a leader in legal analytics and data-driven law. Jeff begins our discussion by noting that access to big data and incremental tech development is resolving legacy problems within the legal industry.  That in-house counsel is increasingly forward-thinking, using data to inform their responses, and looking to firms to use data in their recommendations.  This data is validating a path forward and supporting what is likely to happen. An additional challenge brought on by the proliferation of data is the need for a different skill set to access the data and make data-based recommendations.  Helping organizations be change ready is where the opportunity lies. There’s a real need to build in-house teams in support of these initiatives including identifying team member

Diversity Embraced It’s 2019 and the https://www.diversitylab.com/ (Diversity Lab )remains front and center in the conversation on Law Firm and In-house Legal department diversity.  Late last summer we sat down with On-Ramp Fellowship Managing Director, https://www.diversitylab.com/team_members/jennifer-winslow/ (Jennifer Winslow )and the Mansfield Rule initiative leader, Director, https://www.diversitylab.com/team_members/lisa-kirby/ (Lisa Kirby).  The Mansfield rule supports the diversification of law firm leadership, and the OnRamp Fellowship is the largest re-entry platform for female lawyers and other professionals. An outcome of Diversity Lab’s 2016, Women in Law Hackathon, the Mansfield Rule has been moving the needle increasing awareness around diverse candidates for leadership and the transparency on who should be considered for leadership.  For Mansfield Rule 2.0 the program has expanded to include LGBTQ+ leadership candidates as well as measurement of inclusion and engagement in formal pitches.  

Enabling Collaboration Through Tools On episode 119 we talk with Mo Zain Ajaz, the 2018 Legal 500 Individual of the Year for Legal Operations.    Mo is accountable for operational excellence across National Grid’s Global Legal Function. Having understood what is important to its business (including a 25% efficiency goal), the legal operations team at National Grid helped build a 3-year strategic program. They started by gaining visibility to their external spends. The introduction of an e-billing system and a new panel of outside counsel provided an opportunity for improved scoping of work, matter budgeting and stronger alignment with firms.  To manage risk and drive efficiency, National Grid prioritizes and right sources legal work; matter profile and risk thresholds underpin decisions specifically what should be done in-house and what should be outsourced with the goal being to drive value and reduce cost without increasing risk. With the addition of data and standards for outside engagement, the next st

Move Beyond Being Risk-Averse As part of our Executing Change series, focusing on in-house legal award winners and the changes they’ve implemented within their departments, we welcome back Alan Bryan, Wal-Mart’s Senior Associate General Counsel.  Alan was also a guest on LeftFoot Episode 68. Walmart had an opportunity to change; to centralize, to change firm engagement, and increase legal dollar spend value through leverage – and it worked.  Walmart saw immediate value through the implementation of uniform engagement letters with uniform terms and rates; eliminating tens of thousands of agreements including agreements with different terms and rates with the same firm. Uniform engagement letters set the stage for what was next.  In a legal department where the majority of matters are litigation; Walmart turned to data; matter-by-matter RFPs and reverse auctions to create fixed fee and phased fee proposals.  Dashboards and access to data remain critical parts of the program today, a process that began w

  We chat with Matt Galvin of Anheuser-Busch   Over the last three years, Matt Galvin has executed change and embraced the use of data in decision making as the Global Vice President for Ethics and Compliance at Anheuser-Busch InBev.  Following a significant global acquisition, Matt talks with us about both the volume of compliance matters and the risk factors associated with the newly combined organization. To fulfill their compliance mission, Matt and his team created a living-breathing model to access risk quickly and educate the business about future risk.  Focusing on the data associated with potential compliance risk and the risk of the relationships present as the most efficient way to deal with the hundreds of millions of transactions of the combined organization. Their initiative started with a pilot where they looked at data in terms of sets and systems and determined where the data sets were that represented the most risk.  They would then focus in and filter up and down in search of other

  Creating an In-house Legal Department of Value Cameron Findlay is the SVP General Counsel and Secretary at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the largest food processor in the world.  The legal department Cam leads has been recognized as one of ‘Corporate Counsel’s 2018 Best’ for executing change; notably firm convergence, upgraded matter management and insourcing. Wanting the legal department to be a value center for ADM, Cam and his team set out to preserve and affect value where they could.   At the outset current spend and therefore savings goals weren’t clear, but ADM knew they needed to spend less and put better controls in place. Their efforts were less about innovation and more about executing change, applying ideas that had been used elsewhere. When they looked at spend, a key factor was a total spend of which 85% was being spent on outside firms, and 15% was being spent on in-house work.  The iceberg effect was in full force, ADM’s time and effort were being spent managing the 15% above the sur

Adjectives that Describe You, Like You Describe You Today’s guest a deep understanding of nonverbal communication and the perception of leadership presence. She’s worked extensively with lawyers and legal professionals, as they look to project the image of how they’d like to be perceived while remaining authentic. Today’s guest http://www.thecredibilitycode.com/learn/info/author.htmlhttp://www.thecredibilitycode.com/learn/info/author.html (Cara Hale Alter )has a deep understanding of nonverbal communication and the perception of leadership presence. She’s worked extensively with lawyers and legal professionals, as they look to project the image of how they’d like to be perceived while remaining authentic. Behaviors can lead to very predictable responses from others and lead others to your preferred assessment.   For lawyers and legal professionals, the behaviors that convey strength and leadership include strong posture, a strong voice with optimal volume, and eye contact.  Similar to other professionals,

Technology Investment Pressure Will Continue EVP, General Counsel and Secretary of DXC Technology, http://www.dxc.technology/investor_relations/ds/32534/32617-bill_deckelman_biography (Bill Deckelman )is one of the most innovative General Counsels in the market today, we’re excited to feature him as our first GC in our Executing Change Series. Bill Deckelman had a clear understanding of both the mission and execution that lead to the well-publicized rebadging of 225 of DXCs 525 lawyers.  Redundancy brought on by the merger that created DXC and the need to reduce legal spend sent Bill and his team searching for a solution that also met long-term goals of improving speed to market and compiling data to improve performance. Once outlined there were many compelling reasons for DXC and the individuals directly affected to embrace the impending change. The legal industry and business are changing and the rebadged team saw this as an opportunity to work for an organization continually investing in technology and t

  Newsjacking With Style Out of the gate, our conversation with Mitch Jackson focused on the use of social media to enhance human-to-human behavior.  Connecting with 100s if not 1000s of people to create relationships and move your referral base beyond local to global.  We’re all in media publishing, and how you use social media makes a difference. The market is moving fast to video and storytelling, and today’s news is the most relevant to the social media viewer.  Newsjackingallows you to capitalize on breaking news by sharing comments and offering a unique perspective or fact.  Mitch’s strategy is 70% listening, providing tips and giving back to the community; and 30% creating and publishing content that helps others solve problems and make improvements. A few tips? Social media content lives into the future but doesn’t have to be perfect. Be engaging, humanize your brand, and find the unique intersection of timing, trust, and need.  Last point? When you combine social media and traditional m

And the Tools we Use Each Day  In Episode 112 we talk with Ivy Grey, lawyer, Legal Tech Designer and Legal Tech author. For Ivy, the transition from lawyer to legal tech designer wasn’t difficult; growing up in Silicon Valley she naturally uses technology for efficiency.    Similarly, she’s embraced writing about technology with the goal of making the duty of technology competence accessible to all lawyers by focusing on the technology lawyers use every day; tools like Microsoft Word and the Microsoft suite of products.   Implementing legal technology shouldn’t be total upheaval; it’s about palatable changes that allow technology to impact how we work. Ivy looks at changing market conditions as having forced the wall down between lawyer and client.  Clients today expect their lawyers to care about efficiency and outcomes.  For Ivy, that means understanding the whole situation not just the legal and risk components.  By following what’s going on, how we got here and working to correct the cause of the i

In Today’s Legal Market On Episode 111 Brooks Brown of Goodwin Procter talks about the initiative and energy required for consistent business development success; that building relationships that lead to new clients and additional work with current clients should be part of each day. Reviewing a single page business development strategy document weekly and prioritizing tactical business development objectives is an important and enjoyable part of legal work and a priority within his practice. For Brooks, repeat success comes from understanding the goals of his clients and their organizations.  Asking early what success looks like, beyond the facts then collaborating with them to meet their business objectives.  His success story reflects on educating firm relationship partners on a specific area of risk, and it’s associated litigation. Explaining a complex legal concept concisely using business terms that lawyers could remember and convey to others. Brooks advise to those starting out?   Be focu

A Mindset of Curiosity and Empathy Today’s guest is Cat Moon a practicing lawyer, educator and business leader with more than 20 years of experience in human-centered design, agile project management, strategic communication, and the practice of law. Human-centered design is a process, a set of tools, a mindset of curiosity and empathy.  It’s putting you in the shoes of the client; asking excellent questions and listening intently before offering solutions. Human-centered design is reorienting how you work and delivery service by putting the client in the center. Along with human-centered design, Cat and her colleagues at Vanderbilt University Law School are teaching and practicing collaborative skills with cognitively diverse teams. Cognitively diverse teams are both efficient and effective in solving today’s business problems, serving client more broadly and with stronger conclusions than non-diverse teams. Reflecting on her own experience as a practicing lawyer, Cat’s advice to others includes going abo

Building client Trust and Confidence A partner since 2007, Sarah Cave kicks off our conversation talking about digging in on tough problems, being highly organized, and listening to understand a client’s wants and concerns.  She then shares her three-pronged growth strategy: Show Up: be thoughtful about determining events and situations to participate in that allow you to meet potential clients and make connections with people who are good to know Put Up: keeps your skills toned and ready to assist clients and potential clients Shut Up: focus on listening, observing, and being keenly aware of the needs of your clients and their desired outcomes Sarah reflects on her positive experiences getting involved and showing up for events with both her local Bar and the International Bar Association.  She conveys a success story that came out of meeting a lawyer at an International Bar Association event.   She also talks about seeing clients as people and ensuring you’re aware of the goals of the person and not j

Today’s episode features Perkins Coie intellectual property practice leader, Judy Jennison, in addition to her time in private practice, she spent 8 years as an in-house lawyer with Microsoft in intellectual property, product development, and antitrust compliance roles.  https://www.perkinscoie.com/en/professionals/judy-jennison.html (Judy Jennison Bio) As a former in-house lawyer within a big organization, Judy understands the path to success requires an understanding of the client’s culture and the goals of their legal department for the next several years.  With this understanding, she focuses her efforts on projects that align with both the long-term strategy of her firm and the strategic plans of her clients.  Key to this plan is creating a happy, productive environment – a joyous experience – on both sides of the table, enhancing client and outside lawyer communication expanding the opportunity to present ideas and resolve issues. A focus of our episode was Judy’s success story where she h

 I’m a peer, not a ‘snowflake’ In this week’s episode, we talk with Lisa Konie, Senior Director of Legal Operations at Adobe Systems, and a CLOC board member. Legal Operations and Efficiency When defining legal operations it’s helpful to look at all the things that naturally fall on the shoulders of lawyers but don’t have anything to do with the delivery of advice. Legal Operations is focused on making in-house legal and their relationships with outside counsel and other legal services organizations more efficient.   Outside Counsel relationships and partnerships are built on a foundation of trust and satisfaction, legal operations make them better, faster, stronger, and ensures high quality.  Similarly by effectively implementing AI and other efficiency technology lawyers can focus on more strategic activities.  Legal departments today don’t want lawyers doing operational work; they want them doing what their uniquely capable of doing; work that requires legal advice. Legal Operations Drives Value When

The Essence of Vision In this week’s episode, we talk with James Libson, Executive Partner at Mishcon de Reya, about his practice and setting up the Mishcon Academy to help lawyers develop the skills needed in today’s modern legal environment. Reflecting on his career; his success as a firm leader; and cultivating business, James talks about continuously servicing clients, guarding their interests while constantly being on the hunt for new clients; many of which will come through good service in the form of referrals.  He encourages his legal team to take advantage of both the institutional business development efforts available through the firm while also seeing business development as building their own business.   This encouragement along with the addition of business and commercial training available through the Mishcon Academy has shown accelerated results; and is now part of the formal training program for Mishcon team members. When asked about growth strategy, it’s evident this is an area were the M

Delivering Solutions to Clients with Javier Fernandez-Samaniego     The following highlights points from our discussion with Javier Fernandez-Samaniego, the Managing Director of Samaniego Law; an alternative Iberoamerican law firm. Firms as Aggregators Alternative firms offer a different structure for the delivery of legal solutions focusing on delivery as an aggregator of solutions.  This includes specialties not typically part of a traditional firm; non-legal services, technology, and outsourced solutions.  Offering overall consultancy and technology solutions within a firm often appeals to the General Counsel who doesn’t trust the disparate pieces but trusts the judgment of the alternative firm to provide a combination of services to assist in the resolution of business problems or facilitating business improvements. Offering clients the coordination of and collaborative solutions is the way of the future.  Lawyers who think broadly and provide business solutions to clients, build trust and foster long

Innovation By Press Release On episode 104 we talk with Travers Smith, Managing Partner, David Patient.  David is clear on the approach he’s personally employed while growing Travers Smith in Europe.  Noting the importance of being front-of-mind with clients, the tireless pursuit of targets, and thinking about clients even when they may not be thinking about you. Personal service and developing relationships – knowing as many people as possible – is important, and when given the opportunity to work with clients deliver the best service possible.   The practice of law is about people, and the people you’ll meet during your legal career.   By listening to what clients want, and what’s happening in the market, you and your practice will grow. Be brave, be tactical; persevere.  When rebuffed don’t take it personally there may be a real reason you’ve been turned away, try again another day.  It’s a long career. It builds.  Maintain your network of peers and look for people who need your advice on a regular

Let’s Not ‘Do’ Lunch In episode 103 we featured Lisa Howlett, General Counsel, SVP and Secretary of Hunter Roberts Construction Group.  Lisa ensures her organization has effective advice and representation working on legal issues related to construction, contracts, corporate transactions, real estate, labor/employment law as well as strategic business consulting and intellectual property matters.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-kathryn-howlett-745a1ab/ (Lisa Howlett on LinkedIn) Lisa learned early that the two key skills of in-house and outside counsel are listening and being responsive to the businessperson you’re assisting; learning what they’re trying to accomplish.  Today, she hires outside counsel that cares and understands the personal and professional risk in-house attorneys are taking by bringing in outside counsel in with the hope they’ll provide valuable assistance that fulfills a business need. Establishing trust with outside counsel is important, and as matters change and organizations grow yo