January 14, 2009
Social Media For Lawyers Breakfast Seminar - LMA Vancouver January 21, 2009
For Vancouver area lawyers and legal marketers interested in the exploding world of Social Media/Social Networking and wondering what all the fuss is about, I will be presenting a breakfast session next Wednesday, January 21st at downtown law firm Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy. Any and all interested parties welcome from committed luddites to the merely curious to hardcore techgeeks who will undoubtedly be able to teach me a thing or three along the way.
Details and registration information are available on the Legal Marketing Association Vancouver Chapter website.
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June 03, 2008
LMA Vancouver celebrates 2008 HELM Award Winners
The Legal Marketing Association's Vancouver Chapter held their 2008 HELM Awards (Honouring Excellence in Legal Marketing) earlier today at a sold out event at the Four Seasons' Hotel in Vancouver.
The awards recognize achievement of British Columbia lawyers and law firms in five categories: corporate social responsibility, young lawyer, managing partner, firm/marketer of the year and lifetime achievement, and are judged by an independent panel of judges drawn from the legal, corporate and marketing sectors. This is the second year for HELM, and in that time it really has done a terrific job of showcasing some of the great work being done in the BC legal market. Without further ado, this year's winners are:
Corporate Social Responsibility: Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP
Young Lawyer Award: Norm Streu, Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP
Managing Partner Award: Tim Sehmer, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Firm/Marketer of the Year Award: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Lifetime Achievement Award: Martin D. Donner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Congratulations to all.
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February 15, 2008
Farris' Regional Strategy Gets Gold Star
Kudos to the folks at Vancouver law firm Farris, Vaughn, Wills & Murphy LLP for entering the Kelowna market by joining forces with Kelowna law firm Petratoia Langford.
I really like this move from a strategic perspective. Farris is nationally recognized as one of Vancouver's powerhouses. Expanding regionally instead of nationally distinguishes them from their primary competitors and Kelowna's explosive growth makes it an important emerging market. Tying in with an existing firm is also a much faster route to local credibility than building an outpost from scratch. No matter how you slice it, this move looks good to me.
Posted by dougjasinski at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 22, 2007
The "War for Talent" in US law firms brings the perks raining down
I came across an interesting law firm retention strategies article in the New York Times this morning about the general ramp-up in perks, benefits, bonuses, and what-have-you that law firms in the U.S. market are resorting to in order to attract and retain top legal talent. The list of incentives in play is an interesting one - random acts of kindness from the happiness committee at Perkins Coie, cash bonuses on top of year-end bonuses at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, a $2000 bonus for employees who buy a hybrid car at DLA Piper, to in-house meals, on-site daycare, concierge and personal valet services elsewhere.
While one lawyer quoted in the article expressed disdain at some of the more exotic perks (pet insurance, concierge services) as an "appalling" attempt to "set up people's lives", my view is that Marina Sirras, who runs a legal recruitment firm in New York, is bang on with her assessment that "money is not the only thing that drives these lawyers right now - they want to be able to have a family and enjoy their family. This has never been as hot an issue". The article touches upon the fact that child-care is often a critical issue in this context, and cites a handful of firms that have experimented with on-site daycare and emergency nanny services. My money says the first big Canadian firm that gets behind child care in a serious way is going to have a significant competitive advantage in the market when it comes to attracting and retaining the associate generation.
Posted by dougjasinski at 11:42 AM | Permalink
October 30, 2007
American law students make diversity a recruiting priority
It seems that law firm practice management advisor David Bilinsky has scooped the New York Times on this story. Recently David posted on his blog about an initiative of some law students in the United States that had set up a blog with a diversity scorecard for law firms. The project, dubbed "Building a Better Legal Profession" uses data provided by the firms themselves. As David so aptly summarized it - "These students are hitting law firms in the numbers."
Lo and behold, yesterday there was a New York Times article on the project, which, needless to say, is the kind of PR that makes an impact.
Jumping to the Canadian context, there is no question in my mind that law students in this country are - as a cohort - equally supportive of workplace diversity, and that the associate recruiting wars here are scaling up to a level where it is going to be incumbent upon leading Canadian firms to examine their own diversity initiatives in the context of both student and client demand.
A year ago I wrote an article in the Lawyer's Weekly on diversity issues, and pointed to pressure from the junior ranks as well as from larger corporate clients that are ahead of the firms themselves as being the drivers of change in this arena. At that time, I suggested five actions law firms concerned about this issue might consider for the year ahead. A year later, they still seem relevant and so I will repeat them here:
1. implement commitments to specific diversity goals and create tracking systems to measure progress;
2. prepare an up-to-date diversity statement for inclusion in RFP responses;
3. make diversity an element of your firm’s student and associate recruitment platform;
4. add a diversity profile to your firm’s Martindale listing; and
5. create a diversity section on your firm website.
Posted by dougjasinski at 11:19 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
August 08, 2007
New legal management blog - Thoughtful Law
For those of you who haven't picked up on it yet, I would like to pass along a note regarding a new blog Skunkworks recently developed for David J. Bilinsky: www.thoughtfullaw.com.
Many readers will know Dave as the Practice Management Advisor and staff lawyer for the Law Society of British Columbia. Dave is also the Editor-in-Chief of Law Practice Magazine, published by the American Bar Association, and founder and chair of the Pacific Legal Technology Conference, to name just a few of his many hats.
Dave is a prolific writer on law firm management, lawyer compensation, legal ethics and a host of other topics and is uniquely situated to provide real insight on these issues, and I'm confident his blog will quickly become essential reading for many of you. Enjoy.
Posted by dougjasinski at 02:20 PM | Permalink
December 04, 2006
Canadian lawyers and work life balance - Catalyst Study
The non-profit Catalyst
Read the Catalyst report executive summary
Read the full Catalyst report
The survey finds that although large numbers of lawyers are using or have used flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, flex time and reduced billable hour budgets in exchange for reduced compensation, most believe such arrangements amount to a career-limiting move, and a majority didn't believe a lawyer who used such arrangements could ever become partner.
That is a very sobering finding in my view, and underscores why law firms are still seeing such huge rates of attrition from female associates in the early part of their careers. I have a theory that if any firm can ever successfully "solve" the work-life balance issue they will be sitting on a gold-mine of legal talent that is currently continuing to move away from private practice in droves.
Posted by dougjasinski at 10:00 AM | Permalink
November 01, 2006
The rise of the non-lawyer professional class in law firms
There is an interesting article in the November 1, 2006 edition of the National Post on the growing role within law firms of professionals in disciplines such as human resources, I.T., marketing and professional development. The article quotes David Garner, Managing Partner of Skunkworks client Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP extensively on the growth of this professional class within that firm. Garner notes that having a team of professionals in place allows him to move away from micro-managing and to focus on the larger issues of law firm strategy and direction. According to the article he also sees sales professionals as the next growth area for many firms, pointing to the experience in the accounting sector as evidence.
Posted by dougjasinski at 01:48 PM | Permalink
October 15, 2006
Associate recruitment and retention - two perspectives
Late September saw the launch of the Legal Marketing Association's Vancouver Chapter 2006-2007 programming schedule with a seminar on law firm associate recruitment and retention. Blane Prescott of Hildebrandt International, and Adam Pekarsky, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP's Director of Professional Development and Recruiting for Western Canada gave two very different but complementary perspectives on the challenges law firms face in the care and feeding of associates.
Associate recruitment and retention takeaways from Blane Prescott:
1. The people you pay are more important over time than the people who pay you;
2. Some firm tracking studies following departing associates suggest as many as 80% of departees go to in-house positions;
3. The break-even point for most law firms on associate hours is at least 1500 and the average is 1700 hours (i.e. most firms don't start making money on their associates until they reach the 1700 hour mark). Almost everyone in law firm management assumes the break even number is much lower than that.
4. Money is not as key a factor in associate churn as most firms think.
5. The availability of challenging, complex, INTERESTING work is the top factor affecting associate retention.
Associate recruitment and retention takeaways from Adam Pekarsky:
1. Brutally honest evaluations are a key element in associate satisfaction both for those who stay and those who leave;
2. Helping place departing associates into in-house positions can be a very strategic win-win for both the firm and the departing lawyer; and
3. Paying recruiting bounties when your associates help bring lateral talent into the firm can also be an effective tactic.
This is a topic that is big and getting bigger as associate salaries continue to climb and associate churn rates also remain high, and those firms that are focusing their attentions on these questions by developing coordinated strategies with heavy involvement from both the HR and marketing departments are going to have a leg up on their competition.
Posted by dougjasinski at 04:13 PM | Permalink
