My friend and colleague, Suzanne Rose, hits a home run in her latest article in Law Practice Today. She succinctly identifies certain cultures and behaviors in law firms that can lead to malpractice claims. She pinpoints cultural factors in firms including:
- Taking the short-term view
- Loosely affiliated office sharers acting as a firm
- Poor fiscal responsibility
- Poor environment of integrity and trust
- Eat-What-You-Kill Philosophy predominates
I think she would also agree that law firms with such cultures are also on the superhighway to disciplinary complaints and, potentially, financial ruin.
Unfortunately, too few lawyers and firms stop to consider the symptoms Suzanne has so clearly describes. These lawyers focus their efforts on client legal work to the exclusion of effective law firm management. They are too concerned with their clients’ matters or with their own short-term income needs to focus on the bigger (non-billable) picture.
It often requires a nuclear event to get these firm leaders to wake up, such as the defection of a profitable practice group, loss of one or more key partners, a disciplinary inquiry, or a malpractice complaint. To me, the big question is how to get firm leaders to take notice of their cultures and behaviors before the Big Bang happens.
Unfortunately, no easy answers come to mind.
Law schools leave many graduates unaware of the need for management skills in the “real” world. A few leaders in our profession continue to press law firm management as a crucial component of professionalism. A small number of bar associations have made strides to better prepare their members for the business of practicing law. And some lawyers self-identify the need for management and solve the matter through continuing legal education and self-study. As Suzanne noted, these efforts continue to fall short.
It will take a more concerted effort within the organized bar to raise lawyer awareness of the need for greater management skills, planning, and implementation. This should include CLE credit for law practice management courses; making such courses a requirement for all lawyers; greater emphasis of management concepts within the Rules of Professional Conduct; increased prominence of practice issues in bar communications with members; and greater availability of practice management resources for bar members.
Market forces will still weed out certain firms that fail to meet minimal business standards. I’m all for that. However, lawyers are professionals, not just businesspersons. We owe it to our profession and the communities we serve to take greater steps to improve the professionalism of all our members.
