Profitability: Internal and External Faces
Lawyers should be two-faced. Certainly not deceitful and backstabbing, as is the traditional definition of two-faced. Rather, there are two faces that every lawyer has to address. The two faces are "internal" and "external."
Internally, a lawyer has to make sure that he's a team player with the management of the firm, whether this be a two-person firm or a 3,000-attorney firm. Especially in the large firm, lawyers won't get to know everybody, but they've got to connect with the people who are important to their practice area because new partners will be elevated or created by practice area. Thus, if you're a litigation person and the firm decides that there are only going to be five litigation partners, you will certainly want to be considered for one of the five positions. If there are five there already, they may not make another lawyer partner even if there is another lawyer entitled to it, even if another lawyer is good enough for it, even if another lawyer has the right metrics. This is why lawyers have to understand their environment and get the right cases forwarded to them in order to shine-some cases are mundane, and other cases give lawyers the opportunity to sparkle-and show that they are team players.
Externally, lawyers have to provide the right quality and the right service to their clients. Even lawyers who are members of the team must be responsive. The No. 1 complaint against lawyers is failure to respond. If you are responsive and return clients calls within ninety minutes or less, you're responsive. And if you can understand what the matter is and make suggestions as to how to get to the jugular with less cost to the client, so much the better.
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