On Change, Planning and Professional Practice

Death, taxes and change.

Reputedly, these are among life’s inevitabilities. And while there is probably very little we can do about death and taxes, change is something we truly can manage.

A central theme of many of my Practice Tips posts has been the importance of planning for law firms and other professional practices. By occasionally stepping back from the demands of our day-to-day dealings and deadlines, we can gain the benefit of a longer view, think about objectives, and develop strategies and routines to meet our short and longer term goals.

There will be many changes along the way, from the day we first hang a shingle, through to the maturity phase of our practices, and the ultimate decision that may come sooner – or later – than we think to wind down, transition to retirement, plan for succession or otherwise expand or contract our professional horizons.

Throughout our careers, there will probably be more than a few office addresses, important collaborators or partners, key clients, irreplaceable staff members, and memorable cases and projects There will also be revolutions in technology, drastic changes to the substantive law, regular shifts in the economy and continuing evolution of our marketplace and our regulatory environment.

Not to mention, a few curveballs.

Things don’t generally remain static in professional practice. Opportunities, setbacks and new challenges will virtually always come our way.

There will be lessons learned and pages turned, if you will.

It would be naive to believe all of these changes can be planned for. Some changes will be thrown upon us, unexpected, sudden and even unwelcome. That’s life, I suppose.

Nonetheless, much of this inevitable change can be managed and directed, if not wholly controlled. And our professional paths and our career successes may well be defined by how we navigate these changes.

Obviously, the future can’t be fully predicted or controlled, but with careful planning, a professional practice can definitely be guided in the right direction more often than not.

Begin by identifying objectives, challenges and issues. Get input from others. Be concrete about goals. Break objectives down into their components and target small, readily achievable milestones. Speak regularly with your partners, associates, staff, accountants, life partners, practice management experts and any other trusted sounding boards. Make lists, check them twice. Always leave space in your calendar to regularly assess where you are and work on your practice and professional goals.

The topics of discussion will likely change through the phases and life cycle of every practice, but once established, the habit and art of planning can be a major contributor to handling change and moving our career arcs forward.

Inevitably.


(Cross Posted at Slaw Tips)

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

Leadership

What does it mean to be a leader?

And what does true leadership in a law firm context really entail?

Clearly, there is no “one size fits all” answer to these questions. Every leader’s approach and plan will necessarily vary, depending on circumstances, temperament, objectives, opportunities – and practicalities.

But behind any effective plan lies a vision of where you want to get, a framework for getting there, and a well-thought-out gameplan for implementing whatever changes that vision may drive.

I will mark the 30th anniversary of my call to the Ontario Bar in April. I will be 57 years of age in September.

At this juncture in my career, I think about developing my own professional leadership – in a small firm context – quite a bit. And I am starting to think quite differently about what that leadership role means, both to me and to the very good people I am fortunate to work with.

And frankly, one of the most difficult challenges, and perhaps the most rewarding when met with success, is simply getting out of the way, so that those talented people you work with can actually do their own jobs completely and build their own track records of personal growth and professional success.

We have talked about delegation a number of previous times here at SlawTips.

I’d like to add this simple thought to the mix: Effective delegation is one of the highest expressions of true leadership. And the corollary also holds: Any leader who fails to effectively delegate is probably no leader at all.

By delegate, I don’t mean feeding tiny scraps of grunt work down the chain to eager underlings.

I mean incrementally delegating the whole enchilada.

Delegating entire files. Key court attendances and transactions. Entire  projects and departments. And delegating real responsibility for maintaining and building key relationships.

Keeping a finger in, where and when it needs to be, of course, but primarily focusing on the “executive” tasks that maximize what you, personally, can now bring to the table.

The more able you are to do that, the more able you will be to implement the balance of your vision.

And it does start with a vision.

Are you thinking of yours?
(We might as well begin there)

...

I will continue with these thoughts in my subsequent posts. Given the  addition of so many talented, new contributors to the Practice Tips bench, you will be seeing a little less of me here, moving forward.

I will be staying with SlawTips, of course, with my own turn to post coming every two months or so. And I am apparently now an editor here, with respect to our new contributors’ posts.

The good news is you will be reading some really interestingTips articles from some exceptional, new voices.

And you may be seeing a bit more of me now at my own flagship, Wise Law Blog. That’s not such a bad trade-off, as it turns out, and I’m quite looking forward to it.

So see you again at SlawTips in May.

And Happy Easter to all who are celebrating.

(Cross Posted at Slaw Tips)

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

When The Press Comes A'Calling

In the course of your work as a legal professional, you may receive the occasional call from the media, seeking your comments or insights on a recent legal development or issue.

Handling these enquiries with expertise and grace will always be beneficial to you and your practice.

Here are a few tips on working with the media in this context:

1. Generally speaking, media enquiries will initially come by email, with the journalist specifying the topic to be covered and asking for your availability to participate in a telephone interview.
2. If you wish to participate, don’t delay. Journalists work on very tight deadlines, so an immediate response will always be appreciated. It will also increase the odds that you will be included in the article to be written.
3. Do some research before your phone interview. Read up on the topics to be discussed, and ensure that you have the relevant statutes and caselaw at your fingertips during the interview.  The more detail and precision you can provide, the more value you will be adding to the article being written.
4. Be helpful. Most journalists appreciate it if you provide them with links to source materials by email. Remember, you have been contacted because of your expertise. If you can provide helpful background materials to the journalist, this will make  the writer’s job easier, and also make it more likely that you will be called again, next time.
5. Speak slowly and clearly during your interview, to give the writer opportunity to accurately record your comments.  Pause occasionally, to allow the journalist time to catch up.  Ask if you are going too fast, and listen to any cues your interviewer is providing about the pace and content of your comments.
6. Be yourself.  Be engaging and communicate your enthusiasm about your topic.
7. If you are logistically unable to participate in a telephone interview, but still want to contribute, consider sending a comment by email.  You never know – your short blurb could be exactly what the journalist needs.
8. Always be mindful in your dealings with the press of your duty to maintain client confidentiality.  Don’t comment on cases in which you are professionally engaged without your clients’ express permission.
9. Also be mindful of  your various ethical duties when dealing with the press, with special focus on the legal professional’s overarching duty to foster public confidence in the administration of justice.
10. When your telephone interview is finished, always ask the journalist to send you a link to the article being written, once it’s published online.
11. Ask that the online version of the article, where possible, include a link to your website.
12. If you note an error in the article, once published, don’t hesitate be in contact with the writer to request a correction. This can usually be  done expeditiously, particularly with online publications.
13. Consider sending a thank you note or follow up email to the journalist involved with feedback about the completed article, and kudos for a job well done.
14. Once published, leverage the article in your marketing efforts. Post it to your blog. Tweet and retweet it, and share liberally on social media.

(Cross-Posted at SlawTips)

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

Health Care Practitioners: Please Don't Keep Notes About Your Patients' Discussions With Their Lawyers

Today’s tip is for health care practitioners whose patients are involved in litigation.

We recognize that it might be natural, and even good practice, for medical practitioners to ask their patients how their lawsuits are going.

Particularly for those practitioners who provide counselling, these discussions may be essential to your work.

Lawsuits can weigh heavily upon the psyches of those who find themselves involved in the legal system. The litigation itself can be very foreign and stressful. The future may in a very real way hinge on the outcome of their lawsuits. There may even be stressful issues between your patients and their lawyers. All of these issues can benefit from being talked through with a qualified health care practitioner.

It can be highly problematic, however, when practitioners include details of those discussions in their chart notes.

No I’m not talking about broad information about the patient’s litigation, here. I’m talking about specific nitty-gritty details of discussions with lawyers that are disclosed by your patients that shouldn’t ever find their way into a medical chart.

By that, I mean details about offers to settle, the patient’s financial expectations and the lawyer’s stated opinions about the value of a claim. Details about tactics and strategies. Information that no patient would reasonably want an adverse party to know.

Practitioners should be aware their their entire charts may at some point be producible in their patients’ litigation. If their chart notes include details of patient’ reports as to confidential discussions with their lawyers, those too may have to be disclosed. Solicitor client privilege could thereby be breached, and your patient’s legal interests could be compromised or prejudiced.

In keeping chart notes then, practitioners should exercise caution and prudence as to the details to be included. If a practitioner intends to include precise details in medical records, they should take care to ensure the patient is aware that such notes will be taken, and that informed consent is obtained.

But most importantly, practitioners should exercise caution and discretion.

Don’t unwittingly cause a harmful breach of solicitor-client privilege by charting details about litigation (and patients’ discussions with their lawyers) that have no genuine medical relevance.

(Cross-posted at Slaw Tips)

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

Mobilegeddon: Is Your Law Firm Website Ready to Pass Google’s New Mobile-Friendliness Test?

Some call it Mobilegeddon.

Google began to roll out a mobile-friendliness update last Tuesday, April 21, 2015.  With this latest, major algorithmic change, Google will now be boosting search rankings of mobile-friendly web pages on its mobile search results.

According to Google:

A page is eligible for the “mobile-friendly” label if it meets the following criteria as detected by Googlebot:

• Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
• Uses text that is readable without zooming
• Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
• Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tappedHow will this algorithmic change affect your law firm website’s search results?

Your website’s traffic from search results will begin to be impacted by whether it passes or fails Google’s mobile optimization requirements.  With failure, your site’s search rankings on mobile searches may take a serious hit.

While early indications are that the sky has not yet fallen, and only modest fluctuations in search results are at this point being seen, it’s important to note this update is still in its implementation phase.

The long-term impact of this change may not yet be fully apparent.

Many commentators, including Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog, forecast significant negative consequences for law firm websites that fail the mobile-friendliness test:

Those law firms who don’t act will suffer the consequences of their content being ranked well below mobile friendly content on smart phones – the result will be significant reductions in search traffic.

Google has published a mobile-friendliness test tool that allows you to easily check whether your website pages are mobile-compliant. Note that this test applies to each individual page, rather than entire websites.

If your key pages don’t pass the test, this might be a really good time to be in contact with a web developer about updating your site.

(Cross Posted at Slaw)

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

Late Lawyers (and Other Musings)

New York City’s embattled, progressive mayor, Bill de Blasio, has in rapid order acquired a bit of a reputation for failing to arrive on time. His tardy tendencies have even launched a new cottage industry in the press, the “De Blasio was Late Again” outrage-of-the-day story.

Late the for a St. Patrick’s Day mass. Late for a plane crash memorial service. Late to a police officer’s wake. Late for an event in his own home. Gosh, even late in responding to a snowstorm.

Naturally, the most civic minded among the journalistic order have taken it upon themselves to be solution-oriented. Thus, we are not surprised at the inevitable spawning of a sub-genre of well-intentioned suggestions for the Mayor, such as How Not to Be Late: A Self-Help Guide for Bill de Blasio.

There is even a Bill de Blasio “Lateness Excuse Generator” (pictured above), where technology meets tardy, and perpetually late landers can have appropriate mayoral excuses created for immediate use on virtually any occasion.

Now back home, here in the legal profession, lateness can be serious business, particularly in America.

A repeat-offending Texas lawyer was suspended this past January for being 30 minutes late in filing a death penalty stay petition. In 2008, a Los Angeles defence attorney was jailed for two days after arriving late for a sixth time at court. Sanctions and fines were the fate of a “punctuality-challenged” Bronx defence lawyer in 2007.

The Canadian attitude toward tardy lawyers is, predictably, somewhat more measured. As noted by Robert Bell and Caroline Abela in a 2009 paper for the Advocates Society, A Lawyer’s Duty to the Court:

Being late for court, although highly irritating and a waste of time, is generally not conduct that is considered egregious and neglectful of a lawyer’s obligation. However, in our view, tardiness is a breach of a lawyer’s duty to the courts because it, among other things, causes delay and disruption to the court process. Tardiness effects the administration of justice. For example, in LSUC v. Ducas, the Law Society hearing panel found, inter alia, that the lawyer had breached his duty to the court by appearing 25 minutes late for his own motion by which time the motion had been dismissed.

In fact, recent rulings in Ontario make it clear that even the bench must avoid precipitous action in the face of tardy counsel.

For example, note the 2014 case of Justice of the Peace Alfred “Bud” Johnston:

The Justices of the Peace Review Council upheld two complaints against the Old City Hall JP: that he was “arrogant and sarcastic” when courier Alexander Leaf appeared before him without a lawyer on Nov. 22, 2012 to fight a charge of driving with a handheld device; and that he abused his position by dismissing an afternoon session of 68 charges on Dec. 4, 2012 because the prosecutor was one minute and 10 seconds late.

Similarly, in 2012, Ontario Court Justice Howard Chisvin was reprimanded by an Ontario Judicial Council panel for summarily dismissing 33 charges for “want of prosecution” after a Crown was briefly late in returning from a recess:

The prosecutor, Brian McCallion, had been preparing for one of the cases by reading a psychiatric report on one of the accused people and didn’t hear several pages for him.

Court records show that after court had reconvened, the judge waited all of one minute and 27 seconds before throwing out the entire docket.

Now, to be clear, your faithful writer has perhaps also had the “occasional” tardy moment. This is by no means a point of pride. It might, however, inform the interest with which I view these developments in mayoral, lawyerly and judicial timeliness.

For late-at-heart lawyers, I am glad to note there remains hope when confronted with the challenge of improving time management in an era of of Too Little Time. Via Good Housekeeping writer Frances Lefkowitz: 

WHY YOU’RE IN THIS FIX: “There are so many misconceptions about lateness,” says time-management consultant [Diana] DeLonzor. Top false assumptions: People who are late are inconsiderate, selfish, controlling, lazy, or looking for attention. In fact, many people who run late have trouble accurately judging time and thus underestimate how long things will take. Psychologists call this the planning fallacy — and it’s part of being human. “We have an idealized version of how things go,” explains Steel, “and we edit out how much time things actually require.” Chronically late people fall prey to the planning fallacy in spades, misjudging the time needed even for things they do regularly, like fixing breakfast or driving to work. Call her optimistic, idealistic, or unrealistic, but if a person who tends to run late once got to work in 19 minutes — on a good traffic morning, catching all green lights — she assumes she can bank on this swift journey every day. “Late people time things exactly, according to the best-case scenario — but of course the world doesn’t work that way,” says DeLonzor… 

SIMPLE WAYS OUT: First, confront your magical thinking with cold, hard facts: Spend a week timing your daily tasks — what DeLonzor calls “relearning to tell time.” Once you know how long it really takes to shower, get the kids dressed, and feed the dog, you can adjust your schedule accordingly. Second, always plan to arrive early, factoring 15 extra minutes into every trip. Chances are you’ll end up on time; in the worst-case scenario, you’ll have a few minutes to relax, get a drink of water, and fix your hair. Like Hall, late people often view time spent waiting as time wasted. But if you carry a book, knitting, or your cell phone, you can use a few extra minutes productively. Finally, have a strategy for each day. “A lot of people with time-management issues don’t have a clear sense of how their day is going to pan out,” says DeLonzor. So make a list, with your revamped time estimates written next to each item. Then you’ll be able to tell if you’ve scheduled 30 hours’ worth of activity into a 24-hour day.

Today’s tip logically follows. Address any tendencies toward lateness by taking a hard look at your time management.  In particular, assess the accuracy of your estimates about the time required to complete tasks and to get from point A to B.

That is worth thinking about.

As they say, better late than never.

(Cross Posted at Slaw-Tips)

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

Thursday's Practice Tip: Communications with Clients

In our column this week at SlawTips, David Bilinsky and I offer practical solutions to the oft-cited challenge of maintaining good communications with our clients:

Once a practice has matured, no lawyer can do it alone. The solution to the communications conundrum is probably as simple as this – develop good communications systems for your firm and recruit excellent staff to implement those systems.

...Clients who are in the loop are likely to be happy with their professional advisors. Those who feel excluded from their own cases or files are much less likely to feel friendly.

So set up systems that prioritize communications, and train your staff and colleagues to implement them religiously.

See: Solving the Communications Problem 

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

Dialogue with the "Law Society Guy"

My discussion with B.C. Law Society lawyer and practice management guru, David Bilinsky, continues today with this week's installment at SlawTips.  

See Perspectives on Practice Management: The Regulator and the Practitioner.

Here's a snippet:

Perhaps our regulators would do well to recognize – and dare I say learn from – the degree of dedication and determination so many of us have to getting it right, just as we must recognize how discouraging it must be for our Law Societies to so constantly confront situations where individuals in our profession fall short or are perceived by the public to fall short in delivering the most basic of client services.

When David so kindly invited me to join him for this ThursdaySlawTips adventure, I confess I was both flattered and extremely interested in seeing where this conversation between the practitioner and the “Law Society guy” might lead.  

And while we will get to the answers to the practice management questions above soon (I promise), my Practice Tip for the day is a simple one:  When regulators and practitioners dialogue, only good things are bound to happen.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

Slaw-tered

To Slaw or not to Slaw....

It took nearly eight years of blogging this blog, but I must acknowledge I have finally succumbed to the Slaw bug.

I will be joining my friend, David Bilinsky, for a weekly Thursday collaboration at SlawTips.

David introduced me to his loyal readers last Thursday.   My first piece, on collaboration, should appear tomorrow.

As a note, Arianna Simon seems to think my arrival might cause the "mischief level in the tips to rise."

He is a very smart man.

But I will bide my time...

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Office website: www.wiselaw.net

Prutschi on Jurors and Facebook

Slaw's Edward Prutschi, on the increasing prevalence of Facebook abuse by jurors around the globe:

Now I’ve felt somewhat humbled by having to make life-altering submissions before a panel of twelve of my client’s peers, but pleading my case to the entire internet? That’s an audience that could overwhelm even the savviest advocate.

Nicely said.

Read the whole post: Will Facebook Be the Downfall of the Jury System?

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

TORONTO EMPLOYMENT LAW • TORONTO CIVIL LITIGATION & ESTATE LITIGATION • TORONTO FAMILY LAW & DIVORCE

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG • SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

Correction re: Court of Appeal on Twitter

Our report yesterday on the appearance of Twitter feeds for the Court of Appeal for Ontario and Supreme Court of Canada erred in crediting the fine folks at CanLii for these pages.

Via Twitter, we learned today that:

CanCourtsSCC  

The CanCourts/ tweets are provided by @slaw_dot_ca and @fodden They make use of RSS feeds from CanLII.

Congratulations, Professor Simon Fodden on yet another excellent innovation.

We stand gladly corrected.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

EMPLOYMENT LAW • CIVIL LITIGATION • WILLS AND ESTATES • FAMILY LAW & DIVORCE

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG • SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

Thoughts on the Facebook "Like" Button (And Rats)

I described my first take on the Facebook "Like" button, which we installed at Wise Law Blog last weekend, in a discussion over coffee this week with Omar Ha-Redeye.*

Lo and behold, as if to echo my very words, Slaw's Simon Fodden (in a wholly different context) has paraphased my conclusions far better than I ever could have:

[T]agging is the practice that some people have of making their distinctive mark on public objects — a pathetic human version, perhaps, of a pet’s urge to pee on lampposts and the like.

Ultimately, Facebook "Like's" primary innovation may be that it has - at long last - enabled humans to leave our digital pee trails online - wherever our hearts (and presumably, our primal, inner wagging tails) may desire.

Now that's progress!

There are many who argue that leveraging this new, "Like" technology will be a key component in law firm SEO strategies for the future, and they may well be right.

Time will tell. But, what's the point of it all?

To address that question, we might want to consider the behavioural traits of yet another mammal, often studied in modern science's quest to understand we homo sapiens**:

Urine marking -- the deposit of small drops or smears of urine on the ground, objects, and other rats -- is a form of chemical communication. One rat generates the chemical signal (a drop of urine), and another rat identifies, integrates, and responds to that signal either behaviorally or physiologically.

Urine contains a lot of information about the rat who produced it: its species, sex, age, reproductive status, sexual availability, social status, individual identity, and current stress level, as well as the age of the scent mark itself.

And wouldn't access to that kind of information be a social media marketing strategist's dream come true?

Welcome to the Facebook "Like" universe.

.....

Notes:

* Congratulations are in order for Omar, Canada's foremost law student blawger, on the completion of his J.D. studies. And by the way, Editions 1 and 2 of OMG! Law Talk, featuring Omar, Michael Carabash and I, are posted on our sidebar, so have a look.

** Did you know that homo sapiens translates from Latin as "wise man?"

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

EMPLOYMENT LAW • CIVIL LITIGATION • WILLS AND ESTATES • FAMILY LAW & DIVORCE

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG • SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG