Articles in the current issue of Law Practice Today on law firm HR management

Tom Mighell (Inter Alia) points out the current edition of the ABA Law Practice Management Section's webzine, Law Practice Today. Tom specifically mentioned the technology-centric articles. I want to note some of the articles that focus more on management of the human aspects of the firm.

David Freeman bases his article, Developing the “Great” Law Firm, on principles discussed in Jim Collins's book Good to Great (which I haven't read). Applying those principles to law firms, Mr. Freeman observes that often, law firms have the wrong people in leadership positions, or their efforts to lead are consumed in dysfunctional dynamics.

Alas, a short article can't really provide enough information or inspire enough reflection to make a change, and to me Mr. Freeman's article reads a bit more like a promotion for his consulting services than anything else. Still, he raises questions worth asking, especially in any mid-sized or larger organization: Are our leaders in leadership positions because of sheer seniority or because of real leadership skills? Are we hiring and grooming people with leadership skills, people who have a "mix of personal humility and a strong desire to help the organization succeed. … who have strong ambition, not for themselves, but for the organization"?

Stewart Levine's article, Courageous Conversations, encourages introspection and reflection both on the individual level and the business level. He remarks, "Though it might seem surprising, what we do to earn our keep as part of an organization is engage in conversations with others." He proceeds to ask,

• What is the conversation you are not having with your unknown future?
• What is the conversation you are not having with your customers?
• What is the conversation you are not having with other divisions of your organization?
• What is the conversation you are not having with your work group and the people you phone, e-mail, and speak with everyday?
• And most important: What is the conversation that you are not having in your own heart and mind, with your partner and loved ones?

Mr. Levine acknowledges that some of those conversations pose daunting prospects, that sometimes we'd emotionally prefer to have our heads in the sand. But he proposes that by having certain conversations, we can be both better lawyers and more successful humans.

Neither of these articles really carries their ideas especially far, but one can't expect much more from webzine articles.

I know some lawyers who bear disdain for such "touchy-feely" contemplations about law practice and management. Although my initial suspicion is that such disdain predominates, I am not at all sure that suspicion is justified. I hope it's not, because the kinds of questions the articles discuss seem to be worth asking.

I'm working on some questions of my own about how law firms envision, identify, and draw upon the strengths of their personnel. Those questions aren't yet well enough conceived to pose here.

(I'll also note Roger Hayes's article, The Aligned Law Firm and Partner Compensation, but say no more because I must confess that partner compensation isn't a topic to which I've yet given serious contemplation.)