Einstein once said, “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” This is great advice to anyone trying to develop his or her own law practice. Many people focus on milestones, such as a high salary or an expensive lifestyle, to define success. Physical milestones may mark your current success, but as many people have learned in the past few years, a six-figure salary or a new home may not last forever and is not an indicator of expertise or knowledge. In other words, success marked by physical indicators may show off your current status, but personal value is something that can’t be taken away. Learn to weather any storm and reap long-term rewards in your career by making it your goal to increase your value to others. By increasing your value to others, you will gain a competitive advantage in your career because you will be the person that clients and colleagues go to when they need an attorney who is knowledgeable, honest, reliable, creative, resourceful and innovative. What personal strengths do you already possess that make your law practice valuable? What characteristics should you be striving for in your everyday life to increase your personal value?

Last year, Total Attorneys partnered with Purse of Hope to create the Total Impact House in Uganda.  It's a shelter that provides resources for women who were caught in the human sex trade.  Recently, I traveled to Africa and visited the girls who live in the house. Seeing firsthand the start of a huge change in the girls' lives; their hope; their laughter; and their appreciation made a profound impact on my wife and me.

I've been thinking a lot about why philanthropy is so important.  As a CEO, I am best able to help the world through encouraging corporate social responsibility.  Basically, this concept means relying on corporations and businesses to do the right thing. It includes conducting business in an ethical way, as well as encouraging or even beginning philanthropic projects outside of the business.

Of course, corporate social responsibility has always been an important idea, but it's even more relevant in the 21st century.  First, technology is making things possible that were never imaginable before.  Because of technology, international connections between those who are helping and those who are being helped are possible.  This connection is incredibly powerful, makes philanthropy more meaningful, and promotes cross-cultural learning.  The girls at the Total Impact House in Uganda made this video postcard for the Total Attorneys employees in Chicago.  Everyone really enjoys getting to know the girls, and they like learning about us, too.  Second, acting socially responsible is just the right thing to do.  One of our core values at Total Attorneys is to "do the right thing."  We need more people in the world who believe in social justice.

Finally, corporate social responsibility is important in the 21st century because it lends itself to the idea of a global economy.  Countries are becoming increasingly global, in terms of economics.  Paul Collier, in his TED talk on "The Bottom Billion", says that because of the global nature of our economy, both governments and businesses have self-interest in the development of the bottom billion.  Collier says that a combination of compassion and 'enlightened self-interest' will solve the problem of global poverty.  Enlightened self-interest is realizing that the economies of other countries (including underdeveloped ones) affect our own businesses/economies.  The net of people defined as 'stakeholders' in the development of countries such as Uganda is getting wider and wider as the world gets smaller and smaller because of technological advances.

How does Collier's idea relate to corporate social responsibility?  He says that until we have a critical mass of citizens who are informed about global poverty and human rights issues, we will not be able to get serious about developing third world countries.  Change comes in many ways.  As a company, Total Attorneys bought a house in Uganda to help women in the sex trade.  A side effect of this was the education of our employees and their friends, family, and social network about aid to Africa, human trafficking and empowering women worldwide. Important issues they might not have known about before.

Businesses are in a position to help employees become global thinkers/citizens.  Acting responsibly is the first step to this.

March is finally here in Chicago; the snow is melting, the temperatures are rising, and the Cubs' season is about to start!  Spring is great because it brings both a feeling of accomplishment (we've weathered the storm!) and of excitement for the months to come (summer is almost here!).  Together, this makes spring a really enthusiastic and productive time!  People start to do their spring cleaning, making plans for the summer, and just enjoying themselves outside. 

Spring is always an energizing time at work, too.  You aren't quite in the planning phase of the new year anymore.  Spring is the beginning of the executing phase.  Momentum builds as projects get rolling and people are excited about the work ahead of them.  Recently, I cleaned out my slightly cluttered office, and I feel so much better about it now.  There's something to be said for working in an organized space.  I don't know much about feng shui, but I do know that a clean, organized office makes me more relaxed at work.

Spring cleaning--in the literal and symbolic senses--can be a healthy exercise in prioritizing and de-stressing.  What kinds of spring cleaning are you going to do this year?  How is it going to de-clutter your life?

Do you ever have trouble convincing your clients to make positive changes in their lives? Check out today’s Best Practice episode to learn how to discover what things motivate your clients and how to use those motivations to encourage clients to retain your services and take the legal actions necessary to effect changes. This week’s segment will expand on last week’s episode: Using Leading Questions to Encourage Clients to Take Action. Remember to check back next Thursday for another episode of the Total Attorneys Best Practice Series: Your Law Practice as a Business.

Last Tuesday, I hosted a show on Blog Talk Radio with featured guest, Alexis Martin Neely, and Total Attorney’s own John Mickalovski from our bankruptcy case support team. The show, Insights on Outsourcing, was one of our best shows yet. Alexis is a business and life coach who focuses on changing the way legal services are provided to families and small business owners. She has been a regular commentator for CNBC, Fox, and CNN, and she is the bestselling author of Wear Clean Underwear, a guide to legal planning for busy parents.

In 2003, she built her law firm and used virtual workers to scale down her firm’s overhead costs. Now she runs three separate businesses from her home, using virtual workers and only one on-site employee. During the show, Alexis, John and I had a great discussion on how to utilize virtual workers and legal process outsourcing to generate revenue and save money in your law firm.

You can check out the archived show by visiting our Blog Talk Radio page, but here are a few highlights from the show:

• There is a big difference between working with employees versus independent contractors: It’s harder to manage employees and keep them happy without an HR department. Using virtual workers and outsourced services helps you minimize some of the headaches created by managing large on-site staffs because you do not have to worry about things such as employee benefits, insurance or office space.
• Almost anything that can be delegated to an employee or paralegal can be outsourced, including scheduling meetings, managing phones, performing client intake, managing cases and delivering messages after office hours.
• By hiring a virtual receptionist to answer the phones with a standard, cheerful greeting that is welcoming for prospects, you can free up time for you and your in-house staff for other important tasks, like providing customer service to your current clients or focusing on legal work.
• By utilizing legal process outsourcing, you can increase the value of your time. If your billable rate is $150 an hour, why waste time filling out form documents that can be done at a fraction of the cost? Instead, try sending some of this work to an off-site service provider and use that free time to increase productivity for your billable hours.
• Is it hard to get started with a virtual worker? Not if you take baby steps. Try hiring someone to do just one task, such as answering the phone. After that, take some time to communicate your needs and requirements up front with your outsourced service provider. In the long-run, the time and costs that you take to carefully choose a virtual worker and set up a working relationship with that service provider will be minimal compared to the amount of time and costs that you will save by using a virtual worker.
• Is outsourcing ethical for lawyers? Yes, as long as you supervise the employees you outsource, review work before filing and perform your due diligence to make sure that the virtual worker our outsourced service provider maintains the security and confidentiality of your client files. For more info, check out ABA Formal Opinion 08-451.

Join us on April 20 at noon on Blog Talk Radio when our featured guest, Kevin Houchin, discusses work/life balance and how to become the kind of lawyer you want to be, both in the office and out.

A prospective client just called or came into your office, or you want one of your current clients to take a certain action. Are you prepared to convert that prospect into a new client? Do you know how to get your client on board with your plan of action for their case? Check out this video, where Kevin Chern talks to you about asking the right questions to encourage prospective and current clients to take action. Come back next week for the sixth segment of the Total Attorneys Best Practice Series: The Art of Asking Empowering Questions.

Join Total Attorneys on Blog Talk Radio this Tuesday, March 2, for a new show hosted by Kevin Chern featuring guests Alexis Martin Neely and Max Gardner—Insights on Outsourcing.  Listen in or call while this group of law practice management experts discusses ways to use virtual workers and legal process outsourcing to cut overhead expenses in your law firm.  The show starts at 11 a.m. Central time, and you can get answers to your questions by listening in here or calling in at (347) 857-1419 during the show.  If you can’t listen in during the show, be sure to check out the Total Attorneys Blog Talk Radio page for more information about upcoming shows and recorded archives and mp3 downloads of our past shows.

Last week, Kevin Chern told you how to track staff conversion rates and talked about the importance of strategically staffing your firm to attract clients. This week, Kevin will discuss the importance of staying in touch with prospective and former clients and building long-term relationships that will result in future opportunities for your practice. Check back next Thursday for segment five of the Best Practice Series: Utilizing Empowering Questions to Convert Prospects into Clients.

Yesterday, I came across a blog post that suggested that attorneys should forego email when they need to communicate bad news or delicate messages to a client because it may be difficult to convey the message properly without facial expressions and voice tone.   But is this really true?

While some people may feel that a phone call or an in-person visit might be the best way to deal with bad news or a touchy matter, some of the most important and delicate moments in history were delivered in writing—the Declaration of Independence, the New York Sun’s letter to 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon about the existence of Santa Claus, and the countless number of Twitter updates that directed aid in Haiti last month, just to name a few.

While I agree that it may be difficult to convey some messages via a text message or casual communication, a well-written email or online message can be as effective if not more effective than spoken communication.  Here are a few reasons why:

• Written communication allows you to edit your thoughts before you communicate the message.  While you may prepare for a meeting or a phone call, you may accidentally say something that you didn’t want to say, but if you write it down, you can read and rewrite your message until is succinctly represents exactly what you want to communicate to your client.

• Written communication forces the client to read everything you wanted your client to know before he or she interrupts you with questions that you had already planned to answer.  This can save a lot of time, anxiety and frustration.

• There is no time limit on writing a letter.  Have you ever tried to call someone only to get his or her voicemail or find that person heading out the door in a rush? Sometimes a 30-second message is not enough, but if you write your message down, your client will have time to read the message when it is most convenient.  That means that your client will be able to get the message, process it and respond to it on his or her own time without being put on the spot with shocking news or a disappointing phone call.

• Letters, email and online communication provide a communication trail.  If you have a virtual law office, you can make sure that all written communication is saved in an organized format, by date, topic, case file or some other labeling system.  This can be useful when you or your client need to recall previous discussions or when you need to relate a pressing matter back to the events and communications that came before it.

• Finally, take a look at almost any well-written novel, article and public announcement.  Authors have been able to pen tone and emotion into their writing since the beginning of print, and many of those authors were attorneys.  As attorneys, we spent four years of college and three years of law school learning how to communicate effectively in writing.  Many attorneys spend more hours creating contracts, briefs, motions and other written documents on a daily basis than they spend speaking.  In other words, as an attorney, you probably qualify as an expert in written communication.  So, before you pick up the phone to call your client or set up a last-minute meeting, ask yourself whether your message would be more effectively communicated through writing.  Many times, an email, online message or a letter will get the job done in a more polite and professional manner.

Welcome back for Week 3 of the Total Attorneys Best Practice Series! This week, Kevin Chern will talk to you about tracking staff members and positioning them in your firm to turn more prospects into clients. In case you missed last week’s episode, we covered Tracking Your Marketing Efforts. And join us next week for more quick tips on generating prospects, getting new clients and getting the most out of your marketing and client communications.