Category Archives: Leadership

The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs – just one more thing: PART FOUR (final)

By Sean Larkan on May 28, 2012 Posted in Brand, Culture, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Personal Effectiveness, Thought Leader, Trust & Respect, Values

So far we have considered some 18 leadership lessons from Steve Jobs from Parts ONE, TWO and THREE of this series and how they may be relevant for legal leaders – all based on the Walter Isaacson article it the HBR. There are some things however I wouldn’t recommned for legal leaders. So what are… Continue Reading

Why law firm support service groups don’t add value, and how to fix this

By Sean Larkan on May 21, 2012 Posted in Brand, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Strategy, Trust & Respect, Uncategorized

Many support service groups in law firms do a fair job of delivering their services and work hard at doing it, but beyond that, do not ‘add value’. That is a fairly common observation we have when we undertake firm reviews for clients and my own experience having run large law firms in three jurisdictions…. Continue Reading

The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs – for legal leaders – PART THREE

By Sean Larkan on May 15, 2012 Posted in Culture, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Strategy, Vision

As highlighted in PART ONE and PART TWO of this series, there are real leadership lessons for legal leaders from the career, achievements and life of the late Steve Jobs – who in just two stints of 9 and 14 years, founded and then transformed Apple Computer into the world’s most valuable company. These were the lessons… Continue Reading

Get to know your clients – or someone else will!

By Sean Larkan on May 7, 2012 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Professional Service Firms (PSFs)

Reviewing client service is part art part science - it is worth having someone independent of the firm tackling this important task

Yes, get to know your clients, or someone else will! Law firms that fail to obtain regular feedback from their clients run the risk of: not keeping pace with their clients’ needs and expectations – and losing their work. not knowing when a client is unhappy – and losing their work. missing out on lucrative… Continue Reading

You gotta feel sorry for those angry, difficult partners!

By Sean Larkan on April 30, 2012 Posted in Culture, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Professional Service Firms (PSFs), Trust & Respect, Values

The harsh reality is that you have to deal with truly difficult partners - otherwise they are a lighted fuse waiting to go off in small bursts or maybe, at some stage in a loud and damaging implosion.

It does seem like we have been laying into angry or difficult partners lately – so much so, you (almost) gotta feel sorry for them! (not really, we all know how difficult they can really be and how much time and positive energy they eat up) – 3 recent posts attest to this: Difficult partners… Continue Reading

The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs – for legal leaders – PART TWO

By Sean Larkan on April 30, 2012 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Vision

Last week I posted PART ONE of a short four-part series on the real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs, based in part on an HBR article (subscription required) of a similar title by Walter Isaacson, author of the Steve Jobs autobiography. We continue the theme today! A number (but not all) of these provide great leadership and management… Continue Reading

The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs – for legal leaders – PART ONE

By Sean Larkan on April 23, 2012 Posted in Culture, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Strategy, Vision

Steve Jobs leadership tips for legal leaders

Walter Isaacson, author of the Steve Jobs autobiography, commented in an April 2012 Harvard Business Review article ‘The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs‘ (subscription required), that following the publication of his book many writers have tried to draw management lessons from Steve Jobs, however, most of them, incorrectly, became fixated rather on the “rough… Continue Reading

Difficult partners and angry babies have a lot in common – some EQ tips

By Sean Larkan on March 26, 2012 Posted in Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, People Strategy, Personal Effectiveness

Difficult partners, like angry babies can be impossible at times. You need to be geared up to deal with them and not avoid the issue.

What to do and what not to do with difficult partners was the subject of two recent posts (Leadership Frame #8 & #9). Coincidentally I came across a recent article from Travis Bradberry at Talent Smart (the EQ/emotional intelligence people) and he offered some more tips from an EQ perspective which I thought would be… Continue Reading

Leadership Frame #9: what to do with the difficult cogs in a partnership

By Sean Larkan on March 11, 2012 Posted in Culture, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, People Strategy, Values

Difficult partners are tough cogs to fit into the system. Sometimes exit is not an option, particularly where they are highly respected for their work, client management or contributions in other ways. This calls for thoughtful leadership and management.

Some partners are downright difficult. This makes them awkward cogs to fit into the firm set-up, particularly where they are top producers, run important clients or contribute in other meaningful ways. And let’s face it, all too often they are and do. It is important therefore to work out an approach you can use for… Continue Reading

Leadership Frame #8: difficult partners – what not to do

By Sean Larkan on March 3, 2012 Posted in Culture, Leadership, Legal Profession, People Strategy, Personal Effectiveness, Values

Difficult partners come in all shapes and forms. It is important that you don't default to bowing to their pressure or avoid them. Try to find the balance and keep the lines of communication open, no matter what.

Difficult partners are tough work. As a professional services firm leader or senior manager, at some stage you are going to be faced with the unenviable task of dealing with one or more. As I am sure you will confirm, they can be gnarly, hard nuts to handle. ‘Difficult’ comes in various shapes and forms…. Continue Reading

Leadership Frame #7: the next challenge – align your various strategies

By Sean Larkan on February 28, 2012 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, People Strategy, Strategy, Uncategorized

Strategies which have been developed by professional service firms for areas such as finance, people, marketing, brand or innovation must align with and support a firm’s overall strategy. This alignment is important for both internal (partner and staff) and external (client and other stakeholder) consumption. Small firms might say this is only for the larger… Continue Reading

Leadership Frame #6: Challenge your vision and strategy

By Sean Larkan on February 20, 2012 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Professional Service Firms (PSFs), Strategy, Vision

Stress test your strategy during formulation, prior to finalisation and regularly during the implementation phase, with semi-formal and formal reviews at designated times

Challenging one’s vision and strategy somehow seems counter-intuitive, especially when so much time, effort and thought has gone into putting it together. But strategy is about achieving a competitive, and ideally a dominant positioning, and challenge it you must. Professional Service Firms (PSFs) find determining and reviewing vision and strategy a real bind. A necessary… Continue Reading

Leadership Frame #5: Soft Power leadership for professional service firms

By Sean Larkan on February 12, 2012 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Professional Service Firms (PSFs)

Soft Power - a style of leadership which relies on influencing others based on ones set of values, personal attributes and style rather than traditional bases for power

Soft Power leadership may provide a helpful framework of understanding and application for leaders or senior managers of professional service firms (PSF), particularly law firms. Undertaking a leadership role in a PSF has always presented some unique challenges around power and leadership styles. The reason is that the traditional sources and trappings of power and… Continue Reading

Volatile future will demand law firms bring more to the party

By Sean Larkan on February 6, 2012 Posted in Australasia, Change, Culture, Leadership, Legal Profession, Strategy, Uncategorized

Whether it be service offerings, fee levels, management of fee-related activities or developing individual brands and thought leadership around industry sector knowledge, law firms will need to think very carefully about what they bring to the client table in future

The challenging future legal and business environment which is widely anticipated will demand a lot more from law firms than providing quality legal advice. This is the view of Ian Robertson, long-standing managing partner of Holding Redlich’s Sydney office, writing in The Australian (apologies; link requires subscription or log-in) recently. This advice backs up on the… Continue Reading

Slater & Gordon and Russell Jones & Walker tie up confirms law firms as business-savvy innovators, not ‘merge or die’ desperadoes

By Sean Larkan on January 31, 2012 Posted in Australasia, Brand, Business Models, Leadership, Legal Profession, Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategy, Uncategorized, Values

The world’s first listed legal practice, Australia’s Slater & Gordon (S&G), announced its agreement to buy national UK firm Russell Jones & Walker (RJW) for £53.8 million on the 30 January 2012. My UK-based Edge International Partner Chris Bull joins me in this post as we consider some of the implications of this transaction and how the respective markets… Continue Reading

Wall Street Journal’s ‘law firms must merge or die’ revisited

By Sean Larkan on January 30, 2012 Posted in Australasia, Culture, Leadership, Legal Profession, Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategy

Merger is not a panacea for reacting to economic, client or competitive pressures. It should be one option considered as part of a carefully thought through vision and strategy and more particularly, the implementation of that (graphic adapted from FT graphic)

In the recent WSJ article “Stark choice for lawyers – firms must merge or die“ author Jennifer Smith reasons that due to client and competitive pressures law firms have a ‘stark choice: to ‘merge or die’. As a result, she says, there has been a ‘flurry’ of merger deals. The author’s conclusions are hard to reconcile… Continue Reading

Food for thought on a most valuable marketing ally: thought leadership

By Sean Larkan on January 25, 2012 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Personal Brand, Personal Effectiveness, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership

In a recently published article in the Australasian Law Management Journal (ALMJ) on thought leadership as a most valuable marketing ally, I emphasized the importance of: recognising and taking advantage of valuable, untapped stores of thought leadership assets clarifying what we mean by thought leadership understanding its benefit to lawyers and their firms appreciating where… Continue Reading

Thought Leadership ideas for leaders – Part Three

By Sean Larkan on January 20, 2012 Posted in Brand, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Personal Brand, Strategy, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership

This is the final in a three-part series on Thought Leadership (click to see Part One or Two) based around an interview with Think Write Grow author Grant Butler. Himself a thought leader in his field he has provided some invaluable insights – these can be borne in mind as you ponder how to incorporate thought… Continue Reading

Thought Leadership tips for leaders – interview with Think Write Grow author Grant Butler: Part Two

By Sean Larkan on January 14, 2012 Posted in Brand, Leadership, Legal Profession, People Strategy, Personal Brand, Personal Effectiveness, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership

Last week in Part One of this series Think Write Grow author Grant Butler defined thought leadership, talked about making thought leadership happen in practice and confirmed that just about anyone can become a thought leader. In this Part Two interview we cover thought leadership and personal brand, building trust as a benefit of thought… Continue Reading

Thought Leadership – Think, Write Grow author Grant Butler provides some insights for law firm leaders: Part One

By Sean Larkan on January 8, 2012 Posted in Brand, Leadership, Legal Profession, Personal Brand, Personal Effectiveness, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership

Thought Leadership is an important part of developing one’s personal brand, of contributing to the marketing and business development activities and successes of a firm, and to contributing to building the capital fabric of a firm. As professionals, it is ideally something all of us would aspire to do and be, a thought leader in… Continue Reading

Beyond rituals – personal effectiveness (PE) from 2012

By Sean Larkan on January 3, 2012 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Personal Effectiveness

Last year I posted a Leadership Frame on the usefulness of daily rituals (based in large measure on a post by Tony Schwartz). As most leaders will be starting to think about their personal and professional priorities for the coming year and how they are going to get everything done (rather than get caught up in the… Continue Reading

Thought leadership, pricing, knowledge management and challenges for lawyers – Q&A

By Sean Larkan on November 4, 2011 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Management, Strategy, Uncategorized, Vision

Questions on thought leadership, pricing, knowledge management & future challenges for lawyers were put to fellows of the College of Law Practice Management for the COLPM Futures Conference in Chicago recently and published in a special issue of InsideLegal’s Thought Leaders Digest last week – below are the questions & my responses: Q1 – Thought leadership… Continue Reading

Leadership Frame #3 – leaders must understand the strategic implications of Social Media

By Sean Larkan on October 29, 2011 Posted in Leadership, Legal Profession, Strategy, Vision

At first blush social media would not seem to be the domain of leadership. It is however important that leaders understand enough about such developments, particularly where growth has been explosive and the impact wide-ranging, to appreciate potential strategic implications for their firms. In this third Leadership Frame (introduced a few posts ago), I talk to… Continue Reading

Family Law practice – can it be leveraged and geographically distributed?

By Sean Larkan on October 17, 2011 Posted in Australasia, Business Models, Leadership, Legal Profession, Management

A Family Law practice, traditionally regarded as requiring face-time from partners, can be leveraged - if you have the right calibre people and excellent support systems

I had always assumed a practice area like family law, by its nature, required direct partner intervention at every level – particularly ‘face-time’. It was also a practice that could not be commoditised. Nor could it be spread geographically. Also, unlike some other practice areas, there didn’t seem to be scope for a para-legal to… Continue Reading