Paths to Success in 2014

Published December 31, 2013

As we begin a new year, a question on many minds is what defines success? I submit that the answer lies, not in earning more money or racking up more billable hours, but in moving your professional life down as many of these paths as possible.

  • Do what you love. Passionate, satisfied attorneys perform better, deliver higher quality legal services and get better results for their clients. They feel better about their career and themselves. Attorneys who are not happy need to refocus.

  • Put the client first. In any successful business, the customer is number one. For lawyers, this means treating every client like your only client. Grateful and appreciative clients will always be there when this attitude is genuinely felt.

  • Be a problem-solver. Instead of just reacting, look ahead for solutions. Too many good attorneys are so busy with immediate concerns that they cannot look forward for ways to solve future problems.

  • Never stop learning. Successful attorneys always continue their education and take more than the minimum CLE requirements. It is impossible to know everything in any one field of endeavor, but you should continue to learn new trends and update old thinking.

  • Develop business competency. It’s important to speak the language of business clients, not offer just shallow chit-chat about the family or golf. Advice from a lawyer who knows the client’s business and industry builds the client’s trust and confidence.

  • Treat colleagues as clients and integrate your practice with others in the firm. An outstanding and underused source of new business is your own colleagues and the variety of relationships that they have with the outside world. The more people who have a stake in your success, the greater it will be.

  • Make yourself invaluable by going the extra mile and providing a service that clients feel they must have. Know your clients’ business and anticipate their future problems. Suggest articles or webinars on new business trends and don’t charge for it. When you become truly invaluable to a client, you will always compete successfully for their business.

  • Treat everyone – clients, colleagues and contacts alike – with the same respect you wish to receive. The truly successful person never has to worry about the comments made by others when out of earshot.

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Audience type: Administrators, Associates, Large Law Firms, Small Law Firms, Sole Practitioners