This article was first published in the Law Society Gazette 23rd December 2011 and is reproduced by kind permission.

As Christmas comes but once a year, I’d like to share with you now a simple verse:

‘And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’til his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more…’

The above is a verse from my absolutely favourite piece from the Christmas movie The Grinch. You may be thinking where’s Chrissie going with this? So, here’s my take on it…

‘And the Grinch Lawyer, with his Grinch Lawyer-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? They used to come without ribbons. They came even in rags. They came with bribery packages, gift boxes and loadsa cash bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ‘til his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch Lawyer thought of something he hadn’t before. Why don’t clients, he thought, simply walk through the door anymore? What if clients, perhaps, are opting for more. And whilst scratching his puzzler to the very core, trying to figure out how to give clients much more, Grinch Lawyer began to experience a fuzzy feel, as he mumbled and grumbled… WHAT’S THE DEAL?’

As the Grinch begins to understand the true meaning of Christmas I liken it to us lawyers understanding what our clients are really all about and what the true meaning of extraordinary customer service actually is. Have you ever found yourself thinking, feeling and suffering with Grinch Lawyer Syndrome? I have…

Three years ago I was sat at my sparkly desk in Grinch Lawyer Ivory Towers R Us Lair, *hands cupping face and elbows supported on desk*, staring at the office door, glancing every now and again at my email inbox, the telephone and my mobile phone. After a while, I realised that the new legal world order had actually kicked in and things were definitely not going to return to the way they used to be. We were in a new enlightened digital consumer age. Clients weren’t simply going to walk through the door anymore.

What to do when clients are opting for more, I thought? What is more? Why do clients go somewhere else? Who do they go to? Where, when, why? What do clients really want?

Let me share with you now a secret in true Spice Girl style – I’ll tell you what they want, what they really really want. For some of us, it will come as no surprise, but for others it may be rather enlightening… I read a recent survey (research report published October 2011) by Peppermint Technology – only a couple of months ago – entitled What Clients Really Want from a Legal Service Provider. It is the first fully comprehensive research into the role of the customer experience in legal services, post the Legal Services Act.

Obviously, I cannot share with you the entire findings (copyright ‘n’ all). You will have to read the research for yourself. But, I believe I can share with you one wee part of the report, a particularly intriguing piece, no less. The survey report asked a series of questions to law firms, consumers and businesses. Here’s just one example, I think, that will help us understand what our clients would like for Christmas, and beyond.

The following question was asked to consumers and businesses (buyers) of law firms (suppliers): ‘If you were purchasing legal advice how important are these factors?’

Respondents then had to rank six factors in order of importance. One of the six factors to be ranked was ‘they have a trusted brand name’ in relation to the law firm – “Brand,Firm”.

Upshot? Businesses ranked ‘they have a trusted brand name’ LAST; consumers ranked it fourth from last.

This confirms what many people outside the legal profession (and arguably legal industry and legal market) have long since suspected, meaning, clients couldn’t give a rats about “Brand,Firm”. Law firms have zip visibility in terms of their firm brand names and have been wasting their marketing budgets for years on “Brand,Firm” activities.

The research findings also confirm what entrepreneurial lawyers of the Super Lawyer kind, whom I wrote about back in May 2010, realised (The end of lawyers? Pah! This is the time of the ‘super lawyer’), namely, that what clients really really want is “Brand,You”. How can I say this with such confidence and conviction? The number one ranking for businesses with regard to answering this particular question was it was important to ‘know and trust a lawyer that works for the firm’ and for consumers it was ‘the quality and promptness of customer service’.

Ultimately, “Brand,You” trumps “Brand,Firm” in the clients’ heart and mind.

“Brand,Firm” is an entity. It can only have personality if it has a human being (us) breathing life into it. The client is telling us that “Brand,You” is the oxygen to the lifeblood of “Brand,Firm”.

At the very heart of what the client wants is the need for us to extol our soft skills, emotional intelligence, engaging behaviour and extraordinary ‘giving’ focus on them through our “Brand,You”; the elixir for knowing, trusting, quality and promptness of customer service.

What do clients want for Christmas? Grinch Lawyer, or Super Lawyer? I’ll leave you to reflect on what I’ve shared with you here. It just may help to snuff out Grinch Lawyer Syndrome.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for getting involved in my posts throughout 2011 and I look forward to engaging with you in 2012. I wish you the most wonderful, extraordinary, super and ‘naked’ Christmas

Cx

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer, CEO EntrepreneurLawyer Limited.
Author of The Naked Lawyer: RIP to XXX – How To Market, Brand & Sell YOU!

Please do feel free to comment on this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

My tribute to Steve Jobs (1955-2011)…

Albeit the world is full of great visionaries and innovators, only a special handful of human beings through time truly touch the people of the world and become extraordinary change masters. Steve Jobs is a legend and one of such masters. His legacy, genius and brilliance will live on as we move toward singularity…

Steve Jobs: the greatest innovator of my generation, an extraordinary change master and a human being with exceptional IQ and unrivalled EQ. You will be sorely missed not only by the techy world but by the business world and the legal world too…

The iCyborg Lawyer is Near?

iCyborg lawyers: the future of artificial intelligence (for law firms, lawyers and entrepreneurs) - first published 21st September 2011, Managing Partner magazine, October 2011, Volume 14 Issue 2. Full feature article here.

Artificial intelligence (AI); nanotechnology; genetics; social networking; web 2.0 > 10.0; global economic effects; emerging economies; population time-bomb; employment time-bomb; working patterns and lifestyles; consumer sovereignty. Just a few things to consider for those of you who may wish to join me in playing ‘join the dots’.  When you do, my prediction that the iCyborg lawyer is near may not seem so ridiculous…

Universal truth?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a lawyer worth his salt must be worthy of employment for his lifetime. Do you reckon? I put it to you that no matter how fabulous a lawyer you are intellectually, you will meet your match and be superseded by iCyborg lawyer within the next two to three decades. Huh? Guffaw. Groan. Harumph.  No doubt just a few reactions to my statement.

Well, I’ve recently returned to England after delivering a couple of keynote sessions at the Australian Legal Practice Management Association in Melbourne, Australia.  As the theme of the conference was ‘Adapt, Innovate, Inspire’, I duly spent the final 30 minutes of the closing session looking at the present and future of the legal profession, industry and role of the lawyer. My intention was to encourage the delegates to think, feel and act on what I shared, hoping they would leave the event feeling inspired, eager to adapt, embrace more technology and to innovate by re-inventing themselves, their teams and their businesses in preparation for the bold new legal world.

Legal beagle booties…

However, in sharing my vision and prediction from present day up to the year 2045 I fear a number of the delegates may have departed the conference quaking in their legal beagle booties…

Why? Well, err-hum. I posed the question “is the iCyborg lawyer near?” and then proceeded to suggest that due to the ingenuity of man – supported with evidence – the answer is indeed a resounding ‘yes’.

I’ve written a full feature on this subject in Managing Partner magazine; available here now as featured on the cover of the October issue, first published 21st September 2011. Highlights of what I share in the article include my belief that we’re already transitioning toward ‘two faces of the law’.  Two dominant umbrella business models have come to the fore in relation to what, where, why, when and how we serve our clients:  Face to Face and Interface. Nonetheless, ‘WHO’, will be doing the serving in the future may well be rather different due to ‘machine systems’ coming into ‘their’ own. In the feature I talk about the humanization of lawyers, the impact of nanobots and brain computer interfaces and suggest that come 2045 iLawyers will transcend biology.

Utopia or road to hell?

Actually, by this time, in a utopian world (if we so choose it to be and manage not to destroy the planet in the meantime) I predict there will no longer be a need for us ‘purely human’ lawyers.  Also, from now until 2045 it will be interesting to see how powerful pulsed magnetic fields which inhibit the ability to lie will impact our legal world. Time will tell whether this will be a godsend or the road to hell. Perhaps Susskind’s suggestion in his provocative book entitled ‘The End of Lawyers?’ may actually come to pass.

Undoubtedly, with Steve Jobs passing we have lost one of the world’s greatest technological innovators of our time. When we look back over the past 35 years and marvel at the impact Steve Jobs has had on advancing technology and introducing artificial intelligence positively into our world perhaps as we look ahead to the next 35 years the iCyborg lawyer may be closer than we dare imagine?

Fact or fiction, virtual reality or reality, one thing is for sure, as we continue to join the dots our world (and its technology and artificial intelligence) will inevitably evolve at an accelerating speed for “ours is the species that inherently seeks to extend its physical and mental reach beyond current limitations” (Ray Kurzweil).

Thank-you Steve Jobs, for dedicating your life to technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, for being brave enough to think differently, bold enough to feel and believe you could change the world, and extraordinary talented and spiritually gifted to actually do it.

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer, CEO EntrepreneurLawyer Limited.
Author of The Naked Lawyer: RIP to XXX – How To Market, Brand & Sell YOU!

With the plethora of reports and blog posts of late whizzing around cyberland in relation to online legal document and service providers, legal innovation, the law firm business model and the future of the legal profession I reckon we’re transitioning toward ‘two faces of the law’.

I believe two dominant umbrella business models are coming to the fore in relation to who, what, where, why, when and how we serve our clients: Face to Face and Interface.

At a time of great change I believe a key differentiator in the success of both of these models and their adopters will be the ‘humanisation’ of lawyers. As we transit even more in the years to come, as Artificial Intelligence (AI) evolves further within legal provision and service and Singularity edges even closer, ‘humanisation’, that is, our ability to simply be human- a social creature – and naked (our authentic self with Lawyerly Intellectual Capital and empathy), will become even more important and valuable.

During August we’ve seen the following revelations:

• Rocket Lawyer has been backed by Google Ventures with a whopping $18.5million treasure chest. Rocket Lawyer, founded by a lawyer, provides legal documents for consumers. It has a network of approximately 6,000 practising lawyers in the USA on hand to review forms created by Rocket Lawyer’s documentation system. It’s not a law firm and the lawyers involved are part of a referral network; they are not employees. It plans to enter the UK legal market in 2012.
• LegalZoom, the best known legal brand in the USA, also founded by lawyers, has had $66 million pumped into the business in the last few months. Again, not a law firm, LegalZoom provides legal documents created via its documentation system and checks are made by its customer care team, who amend errors such as spelling mistakes, capitalisation and so on. It will also be entering the UK online legal market in 2012.
• Aderant acquired Client Services and CompuLaw for an undisclosed sum. Aderant, a software vendor used by law firms for billing, content management, and practice management is now the legal technology field’s largest independent software provider and its newly expanded applications catalogue is similar to that of LexisNexis, but without content and research services.
• Hewlett-Packard purchased Autonomy, which is a leading e-discovery provider, for a staggering $10 billion.
• Entrepreneur Ajaz Ahmed (the founder of Freeserve) has joined forces with Last Cawthra Feather, a UK Yorkshire law firm, to launch Legal365 (powered by Epoq Legal – desktop lawyer service already established in the UK). Legal365, an online venture providing automated document assembly where lawyers will be on hand to help fill-out fixed fee legal documents the customer has purchased plans to roll-out a UK national network of city centre law shops. Mr Ahmed hinted that Legal365 could even become a franchise.
• Slater & Gordon, a leading Australian law firm and the world’s first to list on the Stock Exchange is eyeing up the UK legal market opportunities. It’s one of its business priorities for the coming year.

Here in the UK QualitySolicitors, founded by a lawyer, is already up and running with its business model. Legal365 will be soon. Legal365 is a different model to that of QualitySolicitors (with its WHSmith Legal Access Points) by providing advice on the spot, rather than arranging appointments at another location.

So, the Americans are coming, the Aussies are coming, the techy geeks are coming, the entrepreneurs are coming… and the disruptors will be here to stay and to agitate.

The new legal marketplace

Clearly, the transformation and arguably re-invention of legal service provision is well and truly underway and, as legal commentator Jordan Furlong puts it, “we’ve begun crossing over from the old legal marketplace to the new one.”

In reading Jordan’s thought provoking ‘Goodbye to all that’ blog post, three statements struck me:

1) “the new providers and new technologies are not going to replace lawyers’… but they are going to marginalize us and ‘render law firms mostly irrelevant”.

2) “lawyers still have outstanding value to offer in certain quarters, but we need to concentrate our market offerings around that value, and we need better platforms for our services than traditional law firms provide.”

3) “lawyers are smart, knowledgeable, creative and trustworthy professionals who, unfortunately, suffer from poor business acumen, terrible management skills, wildly disproportionate aversion to risk, outsized revenue expectations, and a business model about 25 years out of date. The market won’t abandon them — they have unique and sometimes extraordinarily valuable skills and characteristics — but it will find the best use for them: expert specialists with limited influence over the larger process.”

I agree. I would add that as we lawyers become marginalized, our role and value both Face to Face and at the Interface will be in extolling our expert niche specialism with exceptional emotional intelligence whilst delivering extraordinary customer service (humanisation – naked – something AI and computers will never be… or will they?).

The franchise model

Not surprisingly, ALL of the business models mentioned above are different. But I confess, I was wondering when somebody, a non-lawyer, would come up with the idea (and act on it) of rolling out a legal franchise from scratch welcoming and supporting frustrated entrepreneurial lawyers who are looking to capitalize on this transformation, re-invent themselves and start up their own ‘business of law’ with all of the usual trappings and trimmings associated with the benefits of being a franchisee.

The franchise business model has stood the test of time in the business world. It’s a proven model which works. It could work for the new legal world, perhaps?

Imagine a legal business model for the franchisee where there are NO existing solicitors firms already at ‘the coal face’ with potential conflict where uniform brand, values, quality, outdated fee structures and legacy systems, policies and governance would be an issue. Wouldn’t it be a marvellous opportunity for a franchisor, attractive for the entrepreneurial lawyer franchisee and great for the customer if uniformity of brand, values, quality and extraordinary customer service was available and achievable by combining a joined up Face to Face relationship building approach whilst embracing online document technology, at the Interface?

It appears face2face solicitors has done exactly that. It is alive and kicking right now in the UK. As the first national franchise for lawyers and/or law firms, face2face solicitors is the brainchild of a team of business experts who have provided strategic planning advice to business professionals for many years.

I’ve taken a thorough look at the face2face solicitors website and, due to my curiosity, I even picked up the phone to ask them a few probing questions.

Now, usually, I don’t as a rule make such an overt plug in favour of a particular business model (seriously, I don’t ) but I’m tempted to with this one because I can see the mega attraction for both lawyers and customers during this transitional period.

What attractions do I see? Read on…

A new concept

Law providers, both existing and start-up, operating in the alternative business structures landscape – and global legal market place for that matter – will require a different type of approach to their business: even more client-focused but with a far lower cost-base to enable them to meet the challenges and exploit the opportunities that lie ahead.

face2face solicitors appears to be a new concept in legal provision operation, designed for small-to-medium sized firms and/or frustrated entrepreneurial lawyers who want to take control of their future in the newly competitive world. It appears to have been designed specifically to counter the growing number of web and call centre based, low-cost providers of ‘face-less’ legal services.

The way I understand it, it’s pretty much a ‘law business in a box’ where franchisees will be able to start up their business without the ‘this is the way we’ve always done things around here’ mentality and the ‘baggage’. I’m a firm believer and eternal optimist that the future is bright for progressive entrepreneurial lawyers and small firms who love the law but recognise the need to deliver it in a new innovative whilst personal (human) way.

What I particularly like about this model is that the franchisees at face2face solicitors will be vetted for their drive and passion in delivering extraordinary customer service in a new way to their clients. All franchisees are fully supported and receive continual training and mentoring to help them to develop and build their own successful business in the law, an essential part of which is the development of personal brands – the ‘Brand, Me’ – something which is dear to my heart.

A cool option

As I understand it, what will be attractive for potential franchisees is as follows:

• Accessing a host of ‘best of breed’ I.T. and services – including Virtual Practices legal accounting, case and practice management from SOS;
• Compliance and Risk Management embracing latest Outcome Focused Regulations;
• Bags of help and advice for marketing – something we lawyers would definitely welcome no doubt;
• On-going Mentoring on a monthly basis – business savvy support;
• On-going CPD training in management / marketing / sales / team motivation;
• Being part of a network of likeminded people;
• Being part of a strong national brand;
• Preferential PII arrangements;
• Lower start up costs;
• Franchise financing – to be offered; and
• Creating and building value for their practice for subsequent retirement/exit.

I guess if you’re looking to be a player in the new legal market place and would prefer to straddle Face to Face and the Interface, and you’re considering grappling with the challenges of taking the best of the old and integrating the best of the new, face2face solicitors looks like a pretty cool option. I can’t see how one could put a complete legal start-up business together for anything like the alternative capital and cash-flow outlay or loss of control and reduced equity alternative, as would be the case if one chooses to go down the external funding (venture capital; business angel; listing) route when Legal Service Act 2007 takes full effect.

This franchise model is worthy of further investigation, I reckon.

Professional evolution

As for the paradigm shift and getting your head around this model and potential opportunity think of it this way. As Mike O’Hara says it:

“Even though you went to law school and have spent your career so far practicing law, the truth is, you actually run your own small business—regardless of the size of your firm. And while you may like to think of your practice as a runs-itself enterprise, your long-term success depends on your ability to think and act as an entrepreneur (in between practicing law, that is).”

You may now be questioning yourself as to whether or not you are an entrepreneur, or could become an entrepreneurial lawyer. Let me help you. I’ve just read ‘Are You an Entrepreneurial Attorney’ blog post by Mike. In the post I found the following definition of an entrepreneur and an interesting quick quiz:

An entrepreneur:

‘… an innovator who establishes a new business … strong beliefs about market opportunities … willingly accepts a high level of personal, professional and financial risk.’

Based on information from The Entrepreneurs Guild, if you take this quiz you can assess your own entrepreneurial tendencies and entrepreneurial comfort level. Albeit there will obviously be shades of grey, for the purpose of this exercise just see if you mostly ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’ with the following statements:

• I’m great at and enjoy networking
• I’m optimistic about positive, successful results
• I need to do it my way
• Results derive primarily from my own behaviour and actions
• I thrive on innovation
• The most important thing is achieving the goal
• I have a plan, and work my plan
• I’m comfortable with change, ambiguity and uncertainty
• I’m self-motivated
• I’m a risk-taker

If you mostly ‘agree’ and presently think, feel and act in a way in relation to the above statements then you’re already well on your way to becoming an entrepreneurial lawyer and the face2face solicitors legal franchise business model could be for you.

I wrote a blog post a year ago entitled ‘Frustrated Lawyers R Us. Plan ‘B’ Mutiny?’. If it resonated with you and you’re maybe feeling a little disenfranchised right now, maybe consider a franchise.

As the legal profession and our industry continues to re-invent itself, transform and transit ever more so toward two faces of the law – Face to Face and Interface – I have no doubt there will be a plethora of new business models which spring up under the two dominant umbrella models to compete feverishly in this plump, innovative, new and increasingly fragmented and diverse global legal market.

The way I see it, it’s a wonderful and exciting time of opportunity for both personal re-invention and professional evolution for us lawyers and I welcome the ‘humanisation’ of lawyers (and no doubt many customers and lawyers do too) in the face-off between Face To Face and Interface.

Whether we like it or not, agree with it or not, welcome it or not, to quote the ubiquitous ‘future’ statement by Neuromancer author William Gibson, “the future is here… it’s just not evenly distributed yet”. You bet. It probably never will be.

Accordingly, “the great excitement of the future is that we can shape it” (Charles Handy).

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer
(of the naked kind)
Author of The Naked Lawyer: RIP to XXX – How To Market, Brand & Sell YOU!

As lay-offs continue to sweep through Wall Street I got to thinking about our legal world and the movie Indecent Proposal. There’s a thought provoking and inspiring line spoken by Demi Moore at the very start of the film. She is reflecting on her (film) husband’s view that ‘A life without risk is like no life at all’.

I agree. To truly experience living, and not merely existing throughout our careers, business and life, the progressive evolutionary dynamics of our present decade (and beyond for that matter) is compelling us to get out of our comfort zones, to dare to be different and ultimately, to re-invent ourselves.

In a climate of fear, low morale and the unknown – something we’re all (arguably) dealing with right now – I reckon we need to adapt, innovate and feel inspired by both the finger biting challenges and extraordinary opportunities staring us in the face.

But to do this we will need to take some risks.

Why? Because disruptive forces are sweeping through the entire globe; in particular, the technology world, finance world, political world, business world and legal world (law law land) right now. I also believe and agree with Robin Sharma (a leadership expert and author) that success is driven via evolution versus revolution: ‘Small daily innovations stack up into stunning results over the passage of time’ (Robin Sharma).

I tweeted this recently which attracted the following response from Professor Richard Susskind:  ‘Good quotation. I call this “incremental revolution” or “incremental transformation”,’ (@richardsusskind 11^th Aug 2011).

We need to get a grip. We actually need to take complete control of our personal destinies, make the bold choices necessary and ultimately embrace the topsy-turvy changes occurring in our crazy world. Bottom line… we need to continually innovate (more so now than ever) because the world is always innovating. We need to re-invent ourselves and thereby make the transformation required to make a lasting success of our careers, businesses and lives now and in the years to come.

IMHO Susskind’s view sits nicely with that of Whatify’s when reporting on a news source which suggests that there are only three kinds of innovation remaining (Whatify newsletter, 17 Aug 2011); a welcome revelation no doubt for those of us with bad memories or those of us who don’t have time to explore the other five.

The three kinds of innovation are as follows:

1) Incremental Innovation: that is, doing what we have to, to keep existing products up to date. Apparently, many consumer goods companies tend to spend more than half of their innovation budgets on incremental innovations simply because they lack the ability to systematically scan the market for the most attractive opportunities and develop winning ideas to capitalize on them.

Question: does the average law firm and its leaders even scan the market for opportunities and encourage their lawyers to develop ideas, never mind have an innovation budget?  Answer: moot.

2) Platform Innovation: this is about coming up with a completely new product. Coke Zero is a good example where the focus here is to grow the innovator’s market share by giving customers a reason to switch from a competitor brand. Now, this is an interesting type of innovation, particularly in the present UK legal market place where we’re seeing strong consumer brands, for example, Tesco, the Co-Operative and AA (to name a few) and new brands such as QualitySolicitors and face2face solicitors enter the legal playing field.

It’ll be interesting to see whether their propositions are compelling enough to entice customers away from their existing legal advisers and how much existing and latent market share these brands mop up.

3) Breakthrough Innovation: this is where we come up with a ‘market-changing innovation’, for example, the iPad. The test seems to be ‘…delivering new benefits to customers and creating a new market that the innovator can dominate for some time.’ Online legal document services (including legal advice) such as Epoq, Rocket Lawyer, Law Pivot and Legal Zoom spring to mind here.

I am not at all surprised that such groundbreaking innovations can attract staggering amounts of venture capital from the likes of Google Ventures (as in the case of Rocket Lawyer). Only last year Mark Zuckerburg (founder of Facebook) said that over the next 5 years or so social networking will make it possible to ‘pick any industry and rethink it’.

Question: could this mean the legal industry? Answer: it’s happening now.

There is an excellent blog post by Jordan Furlong (Canadian legal commentator and award winning blogger) who looks at these market changing innovators. Jordan suggests that from now on, lawyers’ and law firms’ profitability hinges completely on what we choose to do and how we choose to do it. I would add that the real game change at play here with regard to profitably will be WHY lawyers’ and law firms’ choose to do what and how they do it.

WHY sits at the very core of an entrepreneurial law firm’s purpose and the very soul of an entrepreneur lawyer’s raison d’etre.

Accordingly, I suspect that the new game change players will be even more discerning and passionate in their focus and drive for delivering extraordinary customer service. They know that focusing on THEM, i.e. the customer – first, last, always – by investing in their people – first, last, always – that the bottom line (profit) will naturally take care of itself.

I would argue that in law law land we’re witnessing survival of the fittest as the strong firms grow stronger and the weak firms weaker largely due to the ‘fittest’ firms adapting to the disruptive forces and competitor ‘disruptors’ by continually innovating.  Leading law firms and their innovative leaders are resetting their strategies by taking bold moves.

The key areas ripe for innovating which I believe we should consider that will be fundamental to future firm success and individual success is as follows:

Our law firm business model and umbrella strategy

I read a fascinating, brilliant and entertaining blog post recently by Professor Stephen Mayson entitled “Breaking News: Humpty Dumpty Falls Off Wall” in which Stephen suggests that the traditional law firm model is well and truly scrambled. I reckon it’s fried.

Sadly, it’s taken a global economic nose-dive off a cliff, smart liberalisation in the form of legal reforms (Legal Services Act 2007 and alternative business structures) and switched on entrepreneurial global venture competitors to prompt traditional law firms and their lawyers to start writing new messages on Humpty’s wall.

As Stephen shares with the reader his expertise on the subject it is apparent there can be a sunny-side up for those firms and individuals who are prepared to re-invent their model and strategies; which in essence, IMHO, is what the strong firms and individuals have done and will continue to do.

Our technology

This is a massive topic in and of itself so I think I will leave this for a future blog post. Suffice to say I reckon Professor Richard Susskind can smile after twenty years of preaching as he begins to witness that his beliefs, research, teachings and drive for a technologically savvy and online legal world is actually coming to fruition.

Hey-ho, we’re getting there in the end, even if some of us are frothing around in the wake whilst others are surfing ahead.

Our marketing and sales strategy

Most firms still allocate prime responsibility for winning new customers and keeping existing clients to the partners and allocate ‘marketing the firm’ as the prime responsibility of the marketing, brand, communications or business development person and/or department; an individual pumping out ‘marketing and PR messages’ about the firm behind the corporate veil. It’s neither engaging nor interesting to the recipient.

Potential and existing buyers of legal advice want to engage with individual lawyers so the lawyer being visible, available and engaging to the seeker is of paramount importance.

It’s time to turn the traditional top down triangle marketing mantra upside down to capitalise on each and every lawyer’s social capital and human capital; two of four essential pillars in a law firm’s make-up which Stephen Mayson highlighted five years ago in his book Law Firm Strategy.

Let’s encourage and support everyone in marketing the firm by re-inventing and marketing themselves. Devise a niche, create your ‘Brand, Me‘ and have EVERYONE embrace new innovative tools such as social media and social networking in order to attract and keep more customers through efficient and effective relationship marketing.

Our core purpose

It appears that at the very core of the successful firm and individual lies passion, energy and enthusiasm for their clients. Integrated Legal Holdings (ILH) and Slater & Gordon (Slaters), the only two law firms in the world that have listed on a stock exchange (to date) are testament that taking a gamble, focusing on innovation and delivering extraordinary client service and care actually pays large corporate dividends.

Andrew Grech, managing director of Slaters, an Australian law firm that became the first law firm in the world to be listed on the Stock Exchange in May 2007 reveals his secret to success when interviewed by author Simon Tupman in Legal Eagles.Legal Eagles profiles sixteen innovative and visionary lawyers from around the globe who are changing people’s lives and making a difference in the world; they offer candid insights into their careers and share the secrets of their success. Their stories dispel many myths about the legal profession and prove that lawyers can, and do, make the world a better place.

Andrew said ‘Good lawyers care; they give a damn… to be successful, you have to be passionate about the work you are doing for your clients.’

For the financial year ending 30 June 2011, Slaters announced net profits of $27.9 million (up 40.9%).

ILH has recorded a 51 per cent increase in profit after tax for the 2011 financial year. Graeme Fowler, managing director, told Lawyers Weekly that the ‘results were realised through a combination of getting the basics right… and continued business improvement.’

As the Legal Services Act 2007 swings into full action in England in the ensuing months I believe the ambitious and innovative firms in the UK can look to these successful Australian firms for inspiration which have proven that raising external finance via a stock exchange listing (taking a bold move) and adapting their strategies to be totally client-centric does indeed come up trumps.

Even Baker & McKenzie’s – the world’s largest law firm by turnover, where average profit per equity partner rose by 7 per cent, to $1.2m – chairman Eduardo Leite says: ‘The most important metric is client recognition and that’s what we’re focusing on. Higher profits and revenue should be the consequence of better client service.’

The Lawyer recently reported (15^th August 2011) that the number of firms where partners earn more than £1m has sky-rocketed. What’s interesting and encouraging is the diversity of firms; there are magic circle firms, silver circle stalwarts, niche boutiques and all manner of firms in between.

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and SJ Berwin were the standout performers among the City firms in 2010-11. Both posted ­drastic increases in profitability. At BLP, average profit per equity partner (PEP) was up 57 per cent from £455,000 to £712,000. According to Neville Eisenberg, managing partner, the 2010-11 impressive result was down to investing during the downturn and that the majority of the firm’s increased revenue was due to improving its standing with existing clients so they give the firm more work across a more diverse range of sectors.

Question: what was the end result? Answer: no less than a big fat turbo boost to the bottom line.

If we are to question how and why BLP has been so successful in scooping up a plethora of awards over the past 11 years, including most recently, The Lawyer magazine’s ‘Law Firm of the Year 2010’, we only need to take on board Neville Eisenberg’s professional opinion that ‘Law firms are not innovative enough’ (and thereby ensuring that BLP differentiates itself from competitors by being innovative) and his personal view that ‘There is a need to keep inspired and to continually challenge yourself.’ (Legal Eagles, 2010).

The innovative moves shown by the likes of Slaters, ILH, BLP, Baker & McKenzie, Epoq, Rocket Lawyer etc (amongst others) reminds me of a telling opinion and quote by Robin Sharma: ‘Smart leaders show up on time. The best leaders show up early.’

The same rings true for innovators.

In The Naked Lawyer eBook I ask the reader to question where they would rate themselves from one to 10 on the PEE Poor Work Ethic Continuum (PEE = Passion, Energy & Enthusiasm) in relation to the PEE they have for their role, job, career, clients, people and in other respects. Where do you think you and/or your firm would sit right now?

Our mindset

I reckon some of us could do with a paradigm shift lobotomy. We need to rid ourselves of the fear of failure, our aversion to risk-taking and to change. Ideally we could do with cultivating an environment which loves idea generation. Serial innovators like Google give employees time to explore ideas, even when some of those ideas turn into massive failures, writes Tim Harford in Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure.

Why shouldn’t law firms take on board the same innovative strategy? One thing’s for sure, there’s a reason Google Ventures has backed Rocket Lawyer. Traditional law firms had better be prepared to compete with new entrants who do love to encourage, support and reward their employees in idea generation. As Robert F. Kennedy once said, ‘we need men who can dream of things that never were.” Are you that man?

Chris Marston, CEO Exemplar Law, another visionary legal eagle lawyer named in Legal Eagles feels that ‘our industry is plagued by too little push for change’.

He defies the norm and he and his Boston based law firm continually innovate to the extent that he is proud to say that ‘some lawyers seem to think offering a service guarantee is risky. In our history we have not had a single customer take us up on this’.

Personally, I came to the conclusion a few years ago that I needed to adapt, innovate and feel inspired by the wonderful opportunities in our present and future. I confess, it was largely because I did not (and do not) wish to end up Fat, Forty & Fired or Overworked and Underlaid – any combination of these for that matter; leading themes in two excellent books that I have enjoyed reading recently by author Nigel Marsh.

I re-invented myself and transformed a whole bunch of stuff in my career, business and life to ensure that I would be in control of my own destiny (arguably, mutiny) and never be tempted to accept an Indecent Proposal of the kind we find in the movie’s core theme. Those of you who have watched the movie know exactly what I mean.

With Demi Moore’s touching line ‘a life without risk is like no life at all’ in Indecent Proposal, “Breaking News: Humpty Dumpty Falls Off Wall” blog post by Stephen Mayson and Richard Susskind’s ‘incremental transformation’ tweet rattling around in my legal beagle mind I find myself inspired to aspire to become a legal eagle (as documented by author Simon Tupman in his book Legal Eagles) who is prepared to take some more risks to ensure that I live a truly fulfilling life.

Can you say the same?

If you find yourself in a place like Mick Jagger where you just ‘can’t get no satisfaction’ then may I respectfully suggest the following? Re-invent and transform yourself…  dare to adapt, innovate, feel inspired and ‘don’t wait for the light to appear at the end of the tunnel…go down there and light the bloody thing yourself!’ (Cameron de Bough – Australian Paralympian).

Warmest… and with best intentions as always…

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer
(of the naked kind)
Author of The Naked Lawyer: RIP to XXX – How To Market, Brand & Sell YOU!

PS: If you enjoyed reading this post and would like to know/share more then please:
* Feel free to comment and get involved
* Come and join me at ALPMA (Melbourne, Oz), the International Bar Association (Dubai) and Future Firm Forum (Lake Taupo, NZ).
I’d love to see you here and there!

I felt moved to write on the following issue because many prospective clients, conference delegates and colleagues constantly ask me “Chrissie, this social media and social networking thing, what’s it really all about?”.

Towit my usual response is “try it and see!”

The response nine times out of ten is often, “Yeah, but how can my firm use social media to win work?”

Hmmm. I’d like to share something with you… may I?

Social media together with social networking, when used correctly, is undoubtedly a fabulous tool to complement traditional marketing, sales, PR and business development. I say ‘used correctly’ because its real power, strength and ROI (return on investment), IMHO, lies in social capital and human capital, which means, the activity must be done by the individual lawyer, not ‘the firm’.

Undoubtedly, most firms have allocated social media activity as the responsibility of the marketing person or business development person; an individual pumping out ‘marketing and PR messages’ about the firm behind the corporate veil. It’s not engaging or at all of interest to the recipient.

How can I say this? Well, I’ve read enough articles, spoken to enough entrepreneurs (buyers of legal advice) and seen enough law firm website statistics to know that in some cases over 50% of the traffic to law firm websites goes directly to lawyer profile pages.  It tells me that potential buyers of legal advice are interested in the individual lawyers. The lawyer being visible, available and engaging to the seeker is extremely important. It’s why having a video clip on a lawyer’s profile is beneficial for the viewer because they feel that they can begin to relate with the lawyer before they’ve even met.

Social media is all about involvement, engagement, being human and being authentic. The recipient (follower) of one’s message is interested in the individual expert who is sharing their information, knowledge, interests and personality. An entity (a law firm) is not human; it certainly doesn’t have character or personality; but the people within it do.

It’s why the top law firms have been lambasted in the past few months in various legal media for churning out PR dross into the social media streams. Firms fail to realise that it’s not about them, the firm. It’s about THEM, the recipient, where the focus should be on the individual lawyer providing information of real interest to be useful and beneficial to the potential and/or existing client. And herein lies the greatest challenge for the profession as I see it right now…

If a leader or manager in a law firm is asking themselves “how can ‘my firm’ use social media and social networking” the answer is simply, it can’t. It’s THE LAWYERS who should be using social media and engaging in social networking; they are your best PR mouthpiece aligned with your firm wide PR strategy because social media is all about relationships. People build and engage in relationships, not entities.

I believe it’s definitely time to turn the traditional top down triangle marketing mantra upside down to capitalise on each and every lawyers’ social capital and human capital.

The question leaders and managers within the profession should be asking themselves is ‘should we be reinventing our entire marketing, sales, PR and business development approach to embrace, involve and engage all of our lawyers?’

The real challenge therefore for ‘the firm’ and every lawyer is to embrace the social media revolution for the benefit of the potential client and existing client; ultimately the firm and the individual lawyer will benefit of course. In order to do this we must adapt, innovate and defy our comfort zones.

Invariably, most of us lawyers are not comfortable marketing and selling ourselves. Fact. Take a look around any networking event, offline or online. We’re usually the ones huddled together in a corner somewhere hoping that we won’t be disturbed. But, when we are, we’re usually more than happy to engage in conversation.

Simply put, if we view social media as engagement and conversation, it shouldn’t be that challenging. We might even find that we actually enjoy it…

What’s your thoughts?

Warmest as ever

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer
(of the naked kind)

Do you realise it’s Australia Day on 26th January?

What’s the significance of this, you may well be wondering? Well, I was just contemplating the topsy-turvy time most of us have been enduring over the past 24 months whilst at the same time sympathising with my friends from ‘the land down-under’ losing the Ashes; enough on that subject, too many unsympathetic jokes still doing the rounds. Have a heart Poms

The fact that it’s Australia Day got me thinking about a theme… and about you… 

Do you feel as though your world has been turned upside down during the past couple of years? Perhaps you feel as though you can do your job standing on your head and need something ‘more’, but you’re not sure what? Or, maybe, in fact, you’re looking for a ‘better way’ in business and/or life because things just aint the way they used to be, or you thought they were going to be? If you’re anything like me, then thoughts along these lines may have popped into your head at some point.

So, if the answer is ‘yes’ to any of the above then permit me to share something with you which just may interest you and help you…

96  69  96  69  96  69  96  69  96  69  96…  69

In celebration of Australia Day (26^th January) The Naked Lawyer (the prancing, dancing, naked lawyer in law law land in the eBook) has decided that the usual dancing price for The Naked Lawyer: RIP to XXX – How to Market, Brand and Sell YOU! eBook (ALL 12 VOLUMES) needs to take a running flip….

For a limited time-frame the eBook will NOT be £96…

Yup.  You guessed it. She’s treating you to the special price of £69 (inc VAT) for The Naked Lawyer eBook from 13.00 (GMT) on 25^th January 2011 until midnight (GMT) 31^st January 2011. 

Btw – it means the eBook is actually ONLY £57.50 if you’re buying from outside the EU or if you purchase the eBook through your business (EU buyer) as you can reclaim the VAT; subject to your company being VAT registered of course. Neat, eh?

Why not make the positive choice? Take control. And change your life and career (present and future) for the better. Be bold. Be courageous.  Make your first step toward turning your world the right way up and fox trotting off in the direction you always wanted to take it…

The Naked Lawyer can help you. I have every confidence. She helped me… and many others. (The Naked Lawyer Interview)

Go on now, give her a whirl whilst she’s prepared to treat you. I guarantee she will positively make your toes curl!

Warmest as ever

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer
(of the naked kind)

Just thought I’d share a quickie post with you to tie up 2010.

I’ve been in Spain over the festive season catching up with R&R; that’s Rest & Recuperation btw, just in case you thought it was something or someone else

Inevitably some of my time has been spent slobbing in front of the television; unusual for me but heck, variety is the spice of life eh?

I don’t know about you but have you noticed how many darn adverts there are on the TV shouting about ‘BEAT THE VAT INCREASE’? Hence, it’s kind of the sellers’ way of saying ”buy our stuff now before we pass on the VAT increase to you post 4th January by raising the final cost of our goods and/or services”!

It occurred to me that for most of us we need to make every penny count when we’re considering what we spend our hard earned spondulicks on, particularly as we’ve just had a really tough couple of ‘finance stretching’ years and it’s likely to continue going forward in 2011. It got me thinking about you…

So, here’s my 3^rd and final gift from The Naked Lawyer this festive season and for 2010…

Heads up all ye readers who have kindly been in touch and expressed your interest and desire to buy The Naked Lawyer eBook over the festive season. Here’s my honest and open-hearted tip…

HOLD OFF BUYING The Naked Lawyer eBook UNTIL AT LEAST 4^th January. Use your 2011 budget!

Why? 

Because the rise in VAT means The Naked Lawyer eBook may well be cheaper for you. You’re maybe thinking, ‘huh’?

Permit me to briefly explain. As you know there is VAT on eBooks; albeit print books are zero rated. At present The Naked Lawyer RIP to XXX is £96.00 for the paperback and £96.00 including VAT for the RIP to XXX eBook version; ergo the eBook is cheaper than the paperback if you can reclaim the VAT (because you’ve bought it through your business / firm / company perhaps) or if you are a buyer from outside the EU.

In essence, the net price for The Naked Lawyer RIP to XXX eBook at present is only £81.70. You only pay the VAT (present rate@ 17.5% = £14.30) if you are a buyer from the EU (whether as an individual consumer or corporate client); hence the gross price is £96.00 for EU buyers.

As you know, as of 4^th January 2011 in England the VAT rate increases to 20%. Meaning, the net price for The Naked Lawyer RIP to XXX will reduce to £80.00 for ALL buyers. Remember, you only pay the VAT (which will be @20% = £16.00 on 4^th January) if you are a buyer from the EU; gross price will therefore remain £96.00 for EU buyers.

Now, if you purchase The Naked Lawyer RIP to XXX eBook through your company then you do of course reclaim the VAT you’ve paid. Albeit your firm will have paid out £96.00 for each eBook it will reclaim £16.00 every time meaning the cost of the RIP to XXX eBook is actually only £80.00. The saving is £1.70 by buying on 4^th January rather than pre 4^th January. It will soon tot up where multiple purchases are involved.  Some of you, I know, have expressed an interest to purchase in excess of 20 copies for your ambitious lawyers and leaders of tomorrow within your firm / practice / company, (to benefit from the CPD hours also) therefore I respectfully leave you to work out the total sum saving, the benefit to your cash-flow and your overall CPD budget.

Albeit the gross price of The Naked Lawyer RIP to XXX eBook will not change, all in all, it will be cheaper for you to wait to buy the eBook if:

• you are not subject to VAT because you’re buying from outside the EU – it will be £80.00 as of 4^th January (presently £81.70); or
• you are subject to VAT because you are a buyer from within the EU and you can therefore reclaim the VAT (which will be £16.00 on 4^th January 2011 rising from £14.30 pre 4^th January 2011) if your company / firm is prepared to buy it on your behalf.

In true Meerkat advert style… Simples.

It goes without saying that 2011 is going to be yet another tough year on the purse-strings and corporate coffers for most of us; whether we’re buying for business or pleasure! Accordingly, I reckon when every penny counts, let’s make it count…

For most things in life, timing (and time) is everything…

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” (Carl Sandburg).

I’m urging you NOT to spend on The Naked Lawyer eBook as an individual or as a decision-maker within your firm until January 4^th 2011 onwards, at which point ‘time’ (and the VAT man!) will be on your side.

Hear hear! Ring in 2011 by keeping more jingle in your purse.

It’s my pleasure that I can gift you this saving; genuinely, I don’t mind standing the VAT for you (as obviously the actual monies that I receive from each sale of The Naked Lawyer eBook will reduce as of 4th January) for I know that YOU will benefit greatly from the content within The Naked Lawyer when you buy it, read it and action it – it’s a message and blueprint that will both touch and benefit  you, those whom you care about and your firm, a great deal - AND you will actually receive the benefit from a TAX increase…

It’s not often we can say that now, can we?

Enjoy!

Warmest as ever

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer
(of the naked kind)

Guest blog post by Andrew Neligan, Informed Choice Ltd.

What will make you happy and fulfilled? Getting your training contract or pupillage? Making partner? Being head of Chambers? Sitting as a judge? Perhaps, leaving the profession either by retiring (early?) or seeking a new path? Or, is your career simply a route to the attainment of personal goals and ambitions that will offer true fulfilment?

In Chrissie Lightfoot’s must read autobiographical rainmaking/client relationship manual for anyone in the legal profession she candidly explains how through her career, initially outside the law and then within it, she has made conscious choices that ensure that she would be, in Jack Welch’s words, “master of her own destiny”.

It was this philosophy that led her to establish EntrepreneurLawyer and decide to use her experiences to help those within the legal profession achieve their personal goals and ambitions by making themselves more valuable to their clients and firms. (“The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.” Jim Rohn). And, by being more valuable you acquire the earnings to enable you to achieve in life whatever matters most to you.

Understanding what it is that you want, what it is that will make you more fulfilled; being self actualised in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, will put you in the right direction to achieving your goals. It may be that your real motivation is to progress through the legal profession but for the majority of us success in our careers is the conduit to achieving our personal goals. Such goals are many and wide ranging; from the financial security for our family to having the financial freedom to allow us to work when and where we want. Or, it may be either from the acquisition of material possessions to giving (time and money) to the world’s poor and vulnerable.

Chrissie’s book will provide you with the blue print and the skills to make yourself more valuable to your clients but how do you ensure that, when you are harvesting the fruits of your labour, you will have the financial freedom to achieve your personal financial goals? This is where a comprehensive Financial Plan fits in.

Financial Planning is simply having a strategy that will allow you to achieve your financial goals and ambitions. It:

• Ensures financial security for you and your family.
• Allows you to live the life you wish (realistically; we’re not alchemists).
• Ensures you never run out of money.
• Helps you make more astute financial decisions.

Financial Planning achieves this by:

• Helping you to define your goals and when they must be achieved by (SMART objectives).
• Comparing your income to your expenditure and your assets to your liabilities to determine whether your goals are achievable if you continue what you are doing.
• Providing steps that can be taken to make your goals achievable if they are not going to be, based on your current financial position. This may be a target income to achieve each year, better use of your savings and investments or adjustments that need to be made to your annual expenditure.
• Answering the ‘what if?’ questions you may have: ‘What if I lose my job?’ ‘What if I can’t work due to sickness or disability?’, ‘What if I die? Will my family be OK?’, ‘What if I retire early? Will I run out of money?’, ‘What if my children go to private school? Will I be able to afford it each year?’

Financial Planning therefore should be the first step everyone should take when making financial decisions.

Too many people have no plan for their money and make ad-hoc financial decisions without understanding the impact of their decisions on their future lifestyle. For example, if you have established a pension plan or set up an ISA do you know whether the amount you are contributing is enough? Is the risk you are taking in your portfolios too much or too little? Are you paying more in charges than is necessary? Is inflation the biggest threat to you living the life you wish?

If you have savings and investments you should regularly review them to make sure they are consistent with your personal goals so that you can achieve your hopes and avoid your fears. If you have no plan for your money or haven’t reviewed it regularly you should speak to a Financial Planning expert before you make costly mistakes.

Andrew Neligan is a Chartered & Certified Financial Planner who helps legal professionals achieve their financial goals by establishing bespoke Financial Planning strategies.  Contact him today to understand how Financial Planning can help you by clicking here.

In Volume 7 of The Naked Lawyer I talk about nurturing fuzz to get more buzz. Simply put, it’s all about relationships… and friendship. I don’t know about you but I feel truly blessed due to all of the wonderful people who have come into my life, particularly this year – YOU.

As I reflect back on 2010 I can only smile when I think about all of you… the new people in my life who have brought me much happiness… as well as challenges. But you know I love it!

My 2^nd gift to you this festive season is an excerpt from The Naked Lawyer: RIP to XXX which just may touch you in a special way. It goes something like this…

“I’d like to leave you with something to think about until we dance again…

Every person with whom I come into contact with, in either a professional or personal capacity, I ask of myself the following.

‘Have you come into my life for a reason, a season or a lifetime’?

Why?

I’m curious. I’m hungry to know. I desire to continually learn…

And I enjoy building relationships, for however short or long they may last.

I engage in relationships, not knowing the answer to the above question, but I go about developing the relationship trying to figure out whether it is for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When I do figure out which one it is, I know what to do for each person, and realise what they have done for me… and for that, I am grateful.

‘Are you a reason, a season, or a lifetime’ is a poem of unknown origin. Here it is:

When someone comes into your life for a REASON… it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realise is that our need has been met, our desires fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered. And now it is time to move on.

Then people come into your life for a SEASON. Because your turn has come to share, grow and learn. They bring you an experience of peace, or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

Lifetime relationships teach you lifetime lessons: things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

For those of you who are in my life (past and present), THANK-YOU. You can probably hear my cogs turning!”

And so, I shall now leave you to figure out your own reason, season, lifetime conundrum; or is it enigma?

One final thing. In true Naked Lawyer style, I wish you the most fun, outrageous and sexily serendipitous Christmas ever… with a dash of karma, of course. Enjoy!

Warmest festive wishes… with whistles and jingle bells…
 

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer
(of the naked kind)

It is I, your host. Scarletta Pimpanellous. Apologies that I haven’t been blogging a great deal of late. I’ve had writer’s cramp (sort of). Please permit me to explain…

But first of all I wish to thank you for being patient with me… and for being in my life, whether it was/is for a reason, a season or a life-time…

NOW…STEP OUT OF THE RAT RACE… PLEASE… GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK and just sit back, chill out and allow yourself to share a few personal minutes with me. I would be delighted and feel truly honoured if you would. Also, it just might bring some (more) positive things into your life…

I wish to be one of the first people to wish you a wonderful holiday season; and for my American friends, I truly hope you’ve just enjoyed a splendid Thanksgiving.

* GREETINGS *

The run up to Christmas is upon us. Freezing temperatures, the smattering of snowfall, ice and subsequently things (as per usual) grinding to a halt as a result of such force majeure here in the UK may have something to do with this feeling of course. I can feel it. Can you?

Over the Christmas and New Year period I tend to reflect on the year gone by and the year yet to come. I look at what I’d like to see improve, what I could do better, what I could do with ‘more’ of (or ‘less’ of), what I could give more of, and what will make me feel more fulfilled in my business, career and life. Not just with myself in mind, but for those whom I care about too (in business and life). Do you?

If so…I just might have something that may help you and those who are special to you…

Some of you may be aware that I’ve been holed up in a cave beavering away to bring The Naked Lawyer: RIP to XXX – How to Market, Brand and Sell YOU! to life. OK, so it’s taken me much longer than I had anticipated. I had Shakespeare in mind when he wrote “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.”  I don’t enjoy crashing to the ground with a SPLAT. Do you? 

And so, I’ve been scribing away carefully, gently, thoughtfully and diligently… with passion, energy and enthusiasm, driven by a vision and a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)…

For, what I desired to produce was something that would be of real VALUE to all my friends and acquaintances and those whom I and they care about too. Namely, YOU and YOURS.

Drum roll… tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt… at last, The Naked Lawyer is alive and ready to dance to YOUR tune.  

The Naked Lawyer is my REAL-LIFE STORY, a SALES BLUEPRINT, a LIFE MANUAL and a WORKSHOP all wrapped up into one delightful little package… for YOU. Fast paced and provocative, it provides a NEW, idiosyncratic, exhilarating and memorable approach to
‘how to get more clients, sales, referrals, income, value, growth and success.’

Simply put, it’s a red hot sales blueprint laid bare for bottom line impact in YOUR business, YOUR career and YOUR LIFE. If you’d simply like to try a refreshingly NEW way of marketing, branding and selling yourself so you get more CHOICE, CHANGE and CONTROL in your career and life, then The Naked Lawyer is a must read for YOU and those who YOU care a lot for.

Albeit it’s written by a lawyer and an entrepreneur (yours truly) it doesn’t matter whether you’re a lawyer or not, or an entrepreneur or not, for this eBook to be of real VALUE to you. Literally, The Naked Lawyer is for everyone. Certainly, it will be if you are interested in any or all of these:

Sales, marketing, branding, social media and social networking, ethics, emotional intelligence, communication and behaviour, customer service excellence, CRM, business development, innovation, work-life balance and creating a strategy and mindset for success, whether you’re a seasoned lawyer, a lawyer2B, if you’ve had dealings with the legal profession, or if you are a consultant / advisor / educator within the profession or beyond, and you simply desire to achieve a successful career/business and fulfilling life.

It’s an easy read.  The eBook is 369 pages (12 Volumes) of timely information, pure fun, a proven sales model and true value for money, which YOU can work through at your own pace. Work it Volume by Volume. You can do this all on your own. No one even has to know about it. Try it. Just in time for the holidays.

If you’re still not convinced RIP to XXX is worthy of a peek and your hard earned spondulicks then why not try the first Volume for FREE ?  

I’d also like to share with you what a handful of readers already have to say about RIP to XXX:

“Whether a lawyer or not this book is timely. In truth, it is long overdue. For those who get “it” you will not read this once. It will be well worn because it will be a constant reference for you”

“…simple, novel and cutting edge”

“…practical, funny, inspirational and down-to-earth”

“I’m just going to say that the author of a book about sales and marketing who compels you to read it as strongly as the naked lawyer does clearly knows a thing or two about rainmaking.”

“It’s fun. It’s informative. It’s entertaining. It’s inspiring. It’s motivational. It’s sexy!”

“This well written and important work will change our lives for the better. It has already improved and touched mine”

For that something ‘more’ in 2011 and beyond for YOU and YOURS, be bold. Try out RIP to XXX…

I GUARANTEE you it will touch you like no other BOOK and WORKSHOP and the investment in yourself and/or those you wish to help and/or care for will be more than justified.

Make sure you add it to your Christmas reading list to start 2011 with a BIG BANG if you want to do some wonderful things next year for you, your family, your friends and your colleagues.

Oh, and when you do take the plunge and dive into The Naked Lawyer, you will find me there to greet you… and dance with you… and guide you throughout your course and journey…

Just a thought: feel free to share the news about The Naked Lawyer with those who you feel will benefit in KNOWING. They will thank-you for bringing some (more) sunshine, smiles, inspiration, positivity, choice, control and even change for the better into their life.

Just another thought: If you wish to purchase multiple copies of the eBook for your team / department / company then feel free to contact me direct. I’d be happy to discuss a (generous) DISCOUNT.

A final thought:  The Naked Lawyer is available in both eBook and paperback. 

Hope to see you there soon! Do come and join me !!

Warmest of regards (whilst shivering in this UK weather) with sprinklings of the season’s joy and sparkle in advance…

Chrissie Lightfoot
The Entrepreneur Lawyer
(of the naked kind)