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Volume 135, 2014 • $6.95
Competitive Intelligence is an Essential Component of Better Law Firm Decision-Making
Janet Ellen Raasch Analytics: The Ally Law Firm Leaders Need
Norm LaCroix How to Increase Your Law Practice Cash Flow by Helping Your Clients Choose Their Own Fees
Alexis Neely
RISING STAR OF THE MONTH
Ben Aguilar
Focused on Families
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2014 EDITION窶年O.135
TABLE OF CONTENTS features RISING STAR OF THE MONTH
6 Ben Aguilar
Focused on Families by Karen Gorden
6
12 COMMUNITYnews ATTORNEY OF THE MONTH
16 Antonio Maldonado Cross Border Lawyer by Jennifer Hadley
COMPANY PROFILE OF THE MONTH
EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brian Topor
22 Abacus Data Systems
EDITOR Jennifer Appel
Compliance, Convenience, Compatibility by Jennifer Hadley
CREATIVE SERVICES Skidmutro Creative Partners
26 How to Increase Your Law Practice Cash Flow by Helping Your Clients Choose Their Own Fees
CIRCULATION Angela Watson PHOTOGRAPHY Bauman Photographers
by Alexis Neely
STAFF WRITERS Jennifer Hadley Lisa White Karen Gorden CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALISTS Kendra Brodin Norm LaCroix Alexis Neely Janet Ellen Raasch Carla Del Bove Brennan Christopher Walton Monty McIntyre WEBMASTER Mariusz Opalka ADVERTISING INQUIRIES info@AttorneyJournal.us
16 28 Competitive Intelligence is an Essential Component of Better Law Firm Decision-Making by Janet Ellen Raasch
30 Analytics
The Ally Law Firm Leaders Need by Norm LaCroix
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2014
Families Ben Aguilar Helps Couples Dissolving Marriages Keep Their Focus On Their Children by Karen Gorden “My parents separated when I was a teenager. I was pretty lucky that they worked hard to never expose me to the court system during their separation and eventually their divorce. As a family law attorney, I see many parents lose sight of what is really important for their children,” says Ben Aguilar, Founder of The Law Offices of Ben Aguilar in San Diego and El Centro. Yet Aguilar never intended to become an attorney. As an undergrad at UC Irvine, he indulged in his passion for art and travel. “I was initially an art history major,” he says. “During my third year in college I decided to study abroad in Barcelona, Spain, for an entire year because I wanted to travel and see all of the great works of art I had only seen in textbooks. During that year, I visited 18 countries and I saw many of my favorite art masterpieces, including The David in Florence, Italy,” Aguilar says. Yet, an experience totally outside of the realm of art history would prove to have a lasting impact, and change his career plans. “I got an email from the study abroad program director 6
Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 135, 2014
with various internship opportunities. I went down the list and noticed that the Spanish Department of Justice had 2 openings for foreign students. I started interning for the Justice Department, where I was assigned to the domestic violence/ sexual crimes department. I was exposed to horrific stories of abuse, neglect and violence. Working with victims and perpetrators was very eye-opening and sparked my interest in pursuing a legal education. Before this experience I had never considered becoming an attorney. I always knew that I wanted to do something that allowed me to have a direct impact on people’s lives—social worker, teacher, professor—but I never thought it would be as an attorney,” he says with a laugh.
ON THE RISE Aguilar consequently graduated from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2011 where he was the President of the International
© Bauman Photographers
Focused On
“MY CLIENTS GET PERSONALIZED ATTENTION FROM THE MOMENT THEY WALK IN THE DOOR.” Law Society. He took his first associate position with a personal injury/worker’s compensation firm. “It was not for me. I knew I wanted to help families,” he says. Interestingly, right around the same time, several of Aguilar’s friends from law school also found themselves wanting to venture out on their own in their preferred areas of law. “There were about 8 of us who all wanted to open our own firms, so we bounced ideas off of each other, stuck together, supported each other, and did it,” he says. Thus in November of 2012, Aguilar opened The Law Offices of Ben Aguilar. “I decided to focus on serving families because I came from a divided household and I truly wish all parents were as reasonable as mine were,” Aguilar says. His first clients came to him as the result of referrals from his network of law school friends, and as the result of Aguilar’s tireless involvement in the San Diego Legal Community. By way of example, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for Thomas Jefferson School of Law Alumni Association; New Lawyer Division of the San Diego County Bar Association; San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association and as the CFO for the Tom Homann LGBT Bar Association. Aguilar also serves on the Board of Directors for the nonprofit organization, No Silence No Violence. With a business built on referrals, Aguilar knows it is up to him to provide the service and skills that will keep referring attorneys sending clients his way. “I have always been very disciplined when it comes to my work ethic. Even though I am my own boss, I hold myself accountable, I have a work schedule and I am borderline OCD when it comes to organizing my daily planner. Other attorneys in the community make fun of me because I am ‘old-school’ and keep a paper planner instead of solely relying on my iPhone,” he laughs. But organization and discipline are just the basics, according to Aguilar. What really earns the trust and respect of his clients is his incredible attention to their needs, and his dedication to helping families to learn to cooperate during the break up of a marriage.
PRACTICE PRINCIPLES “My clients get personalized attention from the moment they walk in the door. I share with my clients a bit about my background and why I do what I do every day. It really helps them to open up and trust me. My typical client is in high distress when he/she comes to me because there has been a separation or an event that has triggered the need to file for divorce, child custody, or requires a temporary restraining order,” he says. Continuing, he adds, “I work with families to try to come to an agreement out of court instead of litigating a case for months or years. I believe in a cooperative approach. At the end of the day, these are the happiest clients. Unfortunately, many parents forget
about what is in the best interest of their children and put their own personal vendettas ahead of their own children’s welfare.” That’s precisely why Aguilar keeps a copy of his favorite book, The Little Prince by Antoine Saint Exupery on his desk. “I keep it for those difficult days and as a reminder that things happen for a reason. One of my favorite quotes from the book is ‘Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.’” Aguilar says, “I see all the time in divorces, grownups really do not understand the emotional and psychological needs of their children, so I try to help with that.” Though a full 80% of Aguilar’s caseload involves divorces and child custody issues, he does take selected immigration law cases, wherein he can serve as an advocate to bring families together. “I don’t do a lot of immigration law, but I will take on cases where a family has a chance of being united. I like bringing families together, so I’ll handle spouse petitions, or international LGBT couples cases that can proceed now that Prop 8 was defeated, and key parts of DOMA were struck down” he says. “I work with so many families that are breaking up, it’s nice to offset that with bringing people together,” he adds. As far as the future is concerned for Aguilar, his star has frankly only just begun to shine. But he considers himself incredibly fortunate for the success he’s already experienced. “I work hard and sleep little but I love everything I do. I always tell friends and family that I am the luckiest person alive because I have been blessed with incredible role models, fantastic mentors and very inspiring professors. I am in private practice, but I am very active in the community and try to find ways to give back,” he says. “I’m fortunate to have been able to go to law school and hold a professional license that can change lives in a very significant way. I do believe it is possible for broken families to move forward in a respectful and dignified way,” he says. As for moving forward personally, Aguilar is planning to open additional offices in Orange County and Riverside in the coming years, but only so long as he can continue to provide compassionate, expert advocacy and mediation skills. “I want my business to continue growing, but I will remain committed to what brought me to this profession—I want to continue doing good for others.” n Contact: Ben Aguilar The Law Offices of Ben Aguilar www.benaguilarlaw.com info@BenAguilarLaw.com 619-752-0125 707 Broadway, Suite 700 San Diego, CA 92101 Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 135, 2014
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Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 135, 2014
COMMUNITY news nButterfield Schechter & Van Clief LLP is pleased to announce that Rob Butterfield was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2015 in the field of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law (Copyright 2013 by Woodward/ White, Inc., of Aiken, SC). Rob was previously included in 1991-2000, 2005-2011, 2013 and 2014. Rob is a nationally recognized ROB BUTTERFIELD expert on ERISA and pension plans. He is the co-founder of Butterfield Schechter & Van Clief LLP with a practice emphasis on employee benefits, executive compensation, ERISA, estate planning and corporate planning. He has practiced employee benefit, tax and corporate law since 1977. Rob is a co-founder of Promises 2 Kids (formerly known as the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation of San Diego County) and serves as an “emeritus” member of its Board of Directors. He is a current member and former president of the Western Pension and Employee Benefits Conference—San Diego Chapter. nAngela Jae Chun, an attorney with San Diego-based CaseyGerry, has been elected president of the Korean American Bar Association of San Diego (KABA-SD), an organization established to help advance Korean American attorneys and law students in the legal profession. In her role as president, Jae Chun ANGELA JAE CHUN will spearhead the organization’s board of directors and work to help further the goals of KABA-SD by promoting Korean Americans in the legal profession and the community. She will serve a one-year term, ending in September 2015. Founded in 2007, KABA-SD provides events and workshops, as well as legal, educational, political, charitable and other services to the Korean American community. For more information, visit kabasd.org.
Have a Press Release you would like to submit for our Community News? Email it to PR@AttorneyJournal.us
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Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 135, 2014
nFish & Richardson is pleased to announce that the firm has received the Artistic License Award from the California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA). The award recognizes Fish’s pro bono work protecting intellectual property on behalf of low-income artists, inventors and entrepreneurs in California. CLA presented Fish with the Artistic License Award at a KATIE NIEJADLIK reception in Los Angeles, where the firm also received recognition from the City of Los Angeles, the California State Senate and the California State Assembly. Other honorees of the award included the Actor’s Gang and California Assembly Speaker Emeritus John A. Pérez. “We are honored to receive the Artistic License Award in recognition of our dedication to the arts and to pro bono service,” said Katie Niejadlik, pro bono manager of Fish. “The goal of any law firm pro bono program is to identify meaningful opportunities that use the unique skills of your attorneys on behalf of clients who otherwise would not have access to our justice system.” Since the creation of the California Inventors Assistance Program in early 2013, Fish attorneys have devoted over 1800 hours, worth more than $750,000, on 49 pro bono matters for 37 clients. nThe Law Office of Henry Ahrens, is proud to announce they have joined the global anti-poverty organization Soles4Souls Inc. as a San Diego official drop-off location. The Law Office of Henry Ahrens is collecting new or gently worn shoes at their office located at 4379 30th Street, Suite 3, San Diego, California 92104. Henry Ahrens, Esquire will collect HENRY AHRENS shoes all year long to help Soles4Souls monetize used shoes and clothing to create sustainable jobs and fund direct relief efforts, as well as distribute new shoes and clothing. After practicing law for over twenty-five years in New York, Mr. Ahrens made the leap to San Diego, California, two and a half years ago, continuing his practice which focuses on immigration and bankruptcy law. “Collecting for Soles4Souls is something I am proud to be doing for the community. Soles4Souls helps people in need all over the United States and abroad,” said Attorney Henry Ahrens. “Offering a drop-off location also allows for my neighbors in the community to join me in giving back.” Founded in 2007, Soles4Souls has distributed more than 25 million shoes in well over 100 countries.
COMMUNITY news nHiggs Fletcher & Mack, has announced that Donald Sheppard was named to San Diego Metro Magazine’s “40 under 40” list. With more than 13 years of experience in immigration and nationality law, Sheppard was recognized for his professional accomplishments and for devoting a significant amount of time to various charities. Mr. Sheppard is also a certified specialist DONALD SHEPPARD in immigration and nationality law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. In addition to this honor, Sheppard was named a Top Attorney for Immigration by San Diego Metro Magazine and recognized by Super Lawyers in 2013 and 2014. He currently serves many additional roles, including Chair of the Immigration and Nationality Law Advisory Commission for the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, board member for the California Board of Legal Specialization for the State Bar, and active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. In addition, he’s a board member with The Professional Alliance for Children, an all-volunteer organization comprised of local attorneys and financial professionals who donate thousands of hours of free legal and financial advice to families caring for a sick or injured child. nSan Diego law office Jassim & Associates has added attorney Nathan G. Batterman. Batterman graduated from California Western School of Law in 2011, and received his undergraduate degree from The University of Wisconsin— Madison. Batterman formerly worked for local firms the Levinson NATHAN G. BATTERMAN Law Group, Campbell Law Offices and Gallagher Krich. In his new position, Batterman expands his practice areas to include family law, contract law, and legal and medical malpractice. Lead attorney Pajman Jassim brought Batterman to Jassim & Associates to better serve a growing client roster. “Nathan is enthusiastic, energetic, hard-working and dedicated to his clients,” Jassim said. “Nathan’s experience and dedication to difficult cases manifests itself in the results he’s achieved—often beyond what is expected.”
nRenowned leadership expert and management consultant Jeff Wolf announced the release of Seven Disciplines of a Leader, available November 24, 2014. The step-bystep guide to adopting key disciplines necessary for effective leadership is Wolf ’s second book and poised to resonate with professionals looking for guidance in an ever-challenging business landscape. Pre-order today for delivery before the holiday season. Wolf penned the book after more than 14 years of experience in the C-suite and management training for large national and multinational corporations. He brings direct experience and solutions to his clients at the helm of Wolf Management Consulting, LLC. Wolf will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to three non-profit organizations working to improve the quality of lives for wounded service men and women. Wolf sees giving back to those who serve and protect our country as an essential and part of ‘walking the talk’ of leadership. Read more by visitingsevendisciplinesofaleader.com. nWilson Turner Kosmo LLP is pleased to announce that Vickie Turner has been elected Chair of the National Bar Association (NBA) Commercial Law Section and a member of the NBA Board of Governors. Turner was recently elected to both positions during the association’s 89th Annual Convention in Atlanta. The NBA VICKIE TURNER is the oldest and largest association of African American lawyers and judges. The Commercial Law Section is one of twenty-three sections of the NBA and is committed to bringing its members together with in-house counsel at major corporations who seek to increase the diversity of their outside counsel ranks. As Chair of the Commercial Law Section, Turner will lead an Executive Committee of 20 lawyers from law firms and corporations across the United States. Her program year theme is “Raising the Bar” as she leads the Commercial Counsel Conference on February 26-28, 2015, in Naples, Florida. The Conference attracts over three hundred in-house and outside counsel attendees with transactional and litigation practices. As a member of the Board of Governors, Turner will help formulate and carry out the association’s policies and procedures.
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CROSS BORDER
LAWYER Antonio Maldonado’s Specialization in US-Mexico Cross Border Business, Transaction and Probate Disputes Puts Maldonado Law Group in a Class By Itself by Jennifer Hadley
T
here are few lawyers who can say they’ve been to law school twice, in two different countries. There are also very few who are licensed to practice in two countries. Of those who do have offices in two countries, almost none practice law in cross-border business and probate disputes and transactions. Antonio Maldonado, founder of the six-attorney firm Maldonado Law Group, is that rare attorney who can say that he has done all of the above. More importantly, to hear him tell it, it is precisely the unique and exquisitely complex nature of his work in USMexico cross-border disputes, cross-border probate disputes, and cross-border transactions that keeps him interested in his work, and makes his job so rewarding. “I’m dealing with two very different legal systems. Sometimes they have similarities, but just as the US has Federal and State Laws, Mexico also has Federal and State Laws. In addition to the differences in substantive and procedural rules, the practice of law is different. It is challenging, but fascinating to be a part of how two different legal systems work,” Maldonado says.
DEVELOPING DUAL LOVE OF LAW “While I was in high school in San Diego, I spent two summers working for my uncle, Jose Roman Leyva-Mortera, who is a notary public in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Notary publics in Mexico are attorneys who have been appointed by the state government to not only attest as people who appear before them are, but to prepare and approve public deeds in which legal transactions such as real estate conveyances and corporate charters are memorialized. I was usually very busy working alongside close to twenty staff members including four staff attorneys. It was my 16
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experience during those summers that made me realize that I wanted to become a lawyer,” Maldonado recalls. Maldonado set about to earn his legal degree not once, but twice. “I went to law school first in Mexico to the Tec of Monterrey (Instituto Tecnologicio y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey), where I graduated in 2000. And then I went to law school again in the US to American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington D. C., where I graduated in 2002,” Maldonado says. By 2003, in addition to being licensed to practice law in Mexico, he was licensed in New York. He briefly took a position with an immigration law firm in Washington D.C., before opening a solo practice in Tijuana. However by 2004, he was ready to return to San Diego. Upon being licensed by the State of California in 2005, Maldonado opened a firm in San Diego with William Markham. “Bill Markham and I founded Maldonado & Markham LLP in 2005, which grew from a two-attorney firm to have seven attorneys in two offices, one in San Diego and another in Tijuana, at one point we had a third office in Los Angeles,” Maldonado says. After seven years, however, Maldonado says that he kept coming across similar issues, which weren’t the focus of his firm. “I kept facing the same cross-border issues over and over in my practice. This helped me realize that the focus of my law firm should not be on typical disputes or transactions where there are no cross-border aspects involved, but rather that I should focus on those matters where we can deliver truly exceptional value and results to our clients,” he says. At that time, Maldonado made the decision to use his unique position as an attorney licensed in both countries, towards very specific, in-demand practice areas. “When I started focusing on cross-border litigation matters, cross-border probate matters and cross-border transactional
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matters, my business began to flourish,” he says. It was his desire to devote the law firm to cross-border matters, as opposed to just working on matters in either the US or Mexico, which caused the amicable dissolution of his then law firm Maldonado & Markham LLP. By 2012, Maldonado had launched Maldonado Law Group PC, which was dedicated to representing and counseling clients in US-Mexico cross-border business litigation and arbitration; US-Mexico cross-border business transactions; US-Mexico cross-border probate litigation; and US-Mexico cross-border real estate transactions.
CULTIVATING A NICHE: CROSS-BORDER LAW “It is interesting how the legal systems in the US and Mexico work. In some cases Mexico law says one thing, whereas US law says another,” says Maldonado. To that end, often one of the biggest initial determinations Maldonado must make is whether it is more beneficial to his clients to handle the matter in the US or Mexico, if that is an option. For example, he explains “Tort law is more developed in the United States than in Mexico, so tort cases, generally speaking and if the circumstances allow it, should preferably be filed in California, whether in State or Federal Court, instead of filing them in Mexico. That is not necessarily so in breach of contract cases,” he says. The fact that Maldonado is licensed to practice law in both countries is just the first reason his firm has built a thriving business, with more than 75% of his cases coming from referrals from other attorneys. In addition, Maldonado’s firm also employs a team-based approach to each case. “Most of our work is the result of collaboration between the lawyers within our firm and on occasion, with outside lawyers 18
Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 135, 2014
© Bauman Photographers
From left to right: Graciela Escobedo, Mauricio A. Garcia, Gloria Hernandez, Antonio Maldonado, Alexis J. Meraz, Homero Castañeda
that bring us into a matter, or those that we bring into a matter when expertise in another practice area is needed or local counsel is hired,” he says. With such a team-based approach, Maldonado’s firm is able to “deliver value to our clients by being creative, efficient and effective on both sides of the USMexico border,” he says. In particular, Maldonado is predominantly skilled in three major areas of cross-border practice. “I primarily focus on cross-border business disputes. I also have expertise in crossborder business and real estate transactions and in a crossborder probate,” he says. “I am not involved in cross-border tax, cross-border family law or cross-border criminal defense.” Cross-border disputes that Maldonado sees regularly include those that involve the application of the substantive law of the other country; those over the choice of law between US or Mexico law; disputes over the jurisdiction by the court in which the case was filed; disputes regarding the convenience of a court in which a case was filed; the service of process of defendants located in the other country; discovery of evidence that is located or originated in the other country; the admissibility and authentication of evidence that originated from the other country; and the enforcement of a judgment from the other country. Examples of these types of disputes include helping a US bank to have its US court judgment recognized and enforced in Mexico, upon the Mexico real estate assets of a US judgmentdebtor who had fled to Mexico. In this case, Maldonado successfully represented the plaintiff, and the judgment-debtor’s real estate in Mexico was sold though judgment enforcement proceedings to pay the US judgment. Maldonado has also helped a client’s trial counsel prevail in a California court over what the law should be used in the case involving a contract that was entered into in Mexico.
Maldonado also has extensive experience in cross-border probate matters. “I represent clients that involve wills which are prepared in the US or where the probate was initially filed in the U.S., but the real estate is located in Mexico. We have also assisted US-based probate attorneys as co-counsel in matters in which the will was prepared in Mexico, or where the original probate occurred in Mexico. We have also represented US-based estates in connection with the collection of personal assets located in Mexico for which an ancillary probate in Mexico is not possible.” For example, in one case Maldonado represented the administrator of a California-based probate, to request the proper letter of request from the California court, so that the courts in Mexico could then order a Mexico-based bank to open a safe deposit box and turn over its content to the executor. That safe deposit box contained personal property belonging to the estate, and Maldonado represented the administrator before the California court as well as the Mexico court in connection with the requests and orders needed to get the safe deposit box to be opened. Maldonado Law Group also handles business and real estate transactions that involve parties in both the US and Mexico, and usually have issues involving the laws of both countries. “We’ve represented many US-based sellers and buyers of real estate located in Mexico, especially in the Baja California peninsula. We also have a lot of experience representing US-based lenders in connection with securing loans for real estate located in Mexico.”
MULTINATIONAL EXPERTISE
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“The best advice that I was given as a young attorney was to communicate with clients as often as possible and always be
upfront as to what is happening in a case. This builds trust and is invaluable in the attorney-client relationship, which is the foundation upon which all else is built,” Maldonado says. As such, he built his firm upon those principles. Focusing on hiring and developing the best staff possible, while focusing on core competencies, Maldonado is proud of the success of his firm since its inception in 2012. Today, Maldonado Law Group has built its reputation on their commitment to a client’s success, taking into account and seamlessly overcoming differences in laws as well as procedures, language, culture and the legal environment in which its attorneys practice. In addition to the majority of the firm’s business stemming from referrals from all over the United States, the Maldonado Law Group has worked as co-counsel in countless cases. “We work with other lawyers and law firms, when we are retained for our core expertise, or when we are hired by clients directly to work with their existing attorneys in connection with crossborder issues that come up in their matters. We also bring in other attorneys or firms for issues that are outside our core competencies or to serve as our local counsel in litigation matters.” Maldonado admits that his practice is very busy these days, and as such the firm is fortunate to be able to be selective on the cases it takes on. However, he is more than happy to be flexible when it comes to billing clients. “Several years ago we started to move away from only billing clients on an hourly fee basis over to alternative fee arrangements,” he says. “Although many of our cases are billed on an hourly fee basis, we often propose and have clients accept alternative fee arrangements such as flat fees, structured flat fees, milestone flat fees, hybrid flat fees plus reduced hourly fees, hybrid flat fees plus hourly fees
FISHING, FATHERHOOD & THE FUTURE As far as the future is concerned, Maldonado is happy with the practice he’s built over the last decade. With a 10.0 superb rating from Avvo, and inclusion amongst San Diego’s best attorneys in international law, Maldonado has every reason to be proud of what he has accomplished. But he’s not just a busy, binational attorney. He’s also a husband and father of three. “I met my wife Karla in Monterrey, Mexico. She has been a great support, both when I was preparing for the bar exam for New York and California, as well as in the formative years of my own practice. No one else could have been as patient, loving and supportive through that very difficult time, when I was working 70 hours/week. That still happens occasionally, but not as often,” he says. When Maldonado does have free time, he enjoys spending it with his wife and their three children. “We like to take family vacations several times a year. I also like to fish. The week before Hurricane Odile hit Los Cabos in September 2014, I was there for a court appearance and to fish. It was my 10-year-old son’s first fishing trip in Los Cabos. Although we didn’t catch any billfish off of Cabo San Lucas, we did catch many yellow fin tuna east of San Jose on our second day,” he says proudly. In regards to the future of Maldonado Law Group, Maldonado expects his firm to grow by one or two more associates who fit specific criteria. They must have lived in both the US and Mexico so they understand cultural differences, and they must be fluent in both English and Spanish. If they aren’t licensed in both countries, they must have a strong interest in cross-border law. Maldonado’s criteria for new hires is based upon his own philosophy of success, which he will continue to live by into the future. “I believe in becoming the best at what you do. The rest will follow.” Contact: Antonio Maldonado www.maldonado-law-group.com Am@maldonado-law-group.com 1 (866) 414-7627 US 550 West C Street, Suite 2040 San Diego, California 92101 Mexico Gob. Lugo 3, Piso 3, Col. Dávila Tijuana, Baja California 22046 20
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© Bauman Photographers
EXPERIENCE
after a cap, contingency fees, reverse contingency fees, reduced contingency plus reduced hourly fees, and reduced hourly fees plus milestone fees,” he adds. The reason for being so flexible is simple: “We believe that our law firm’s interest should always be driven by our client’s best interest.” In addition, the firm is typically handling a couple of pro-bono cases at a time, for clients including nonprofit organizations, or those involved in probate cases in Mexico who cannot afford an attorney.
•
» EDUCATION • The American University, Washington College of Law Washington, D.C., 08/2002 Master of Laws (LL.M.), Concentration in International Business Law • Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey - Monterrey, N.L., México, 06/2001 - Certificate in Constitutional Law • Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey - Monterrey, N.L., México, 12/2000 - Certificate in Tax Law • Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey - Monterrey, N.L., México, 12/2000 - Licenciatura en Derecho (LL.B.)
» LICENSURE/BAR ADMISSIONS • Supreme Court of the State of California - Admitted 05/2005 • Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York - Admitted 06/2003, 3rd Judicial Department Country of Mexico - Admitted 12/2000
» AWARDS • Recommended Attorney, business law, Our City: San Diego magazine, 2009, 2010 and 2011 • San Diego’s best attorneys, international law, San Diego Metropolitan magazine, 2011 and 2012 • Avvo.com rating 10/10 “Superb”
IS YOUR LAW FIRM MAKING THE BEST IMPRESSION? It might be time to freshen things up if… • You can’t remember the last time you updated your website • Your website is hard to use on mobile devices • Your business cards and brochures are outdated • You don’t have a real logo or brand established • You’re not doing any email marketing • Facebook and Twitter? Oh, I should be on there?
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COMPLIANCE, CONVENIENCE, COMPATIBILITY
JOURNAL
FEATURED
COMPANY PROFILE OF THE MONTH
2014
With new offices, a new CEO, new services and the first ever Private Cloud Exclusively for Law Firms of all Sizes, Abacus Removes IT Burdens, While Safeguarding Privacy by Jennifer Hadley
A
ny attorney will attest to the fact that at some point in time, you just wish you had your desktop computer with you. It has all of your preferred programs. It has your notes. It holds the answers to any question a client, colleague, or opposing counsel could ask. You know how to use it, and you know how to access the information you need. The only problem of course, is that you don’t have it with you. So you’ll have to call the office, try to explain to a colleague how to access it, all the while wondering if you’re breaking any rules of professional conduct in having her do so. When you finally receive the information needed, the file format is incompatible with your older Mac Book or laptop, anyway. Of course, you would have had what you needed with you if you’d remembered to back everything up on your zip drive and bring it home, but alas you were in depositions all day, so the last back up was several days ago. What you really need is to be in front of your computer, and then everything would be fine. But you can’t get to your computer. This scenario paints a portrait of exactly the type of problem that Alessandra Lezama was determined to solve for attorneys when she took the reigns as CEO of Abacus Data Systems (Abacus) in September of 2013. “Legal professionals are undeniably facing increasing pressure to not only adopt technology but to keep up with the rapid changing legal landscape in order to remain competitive,” Lezama says. If remaining competitive in a 24/7 work week wasn’t burden enough, the American Bar Association added additional pressure. “The ABA has mandated that it is now a
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“Piecemealed technology is no longer sufficient to remain competitive in today’s ever-changing legal landscape.” matter of professional competency for legal professionals to apply technology per Model Rule 1.1 of Professional Responsibility,” she adds. Finally, she explains, there are issues of compliance and security of sensitive data being thrust on attorneys, whether solo practitioners, or managing partners of international firms. As such, Lezama spent her first full year as CEO focusing on expanding Abacus’s portfolio of products and services, adding a third office in San Diego (home to Abacus since 1983), and finally unveiling the industry’s first turn-key Private Cloud solution, Abacus Private Cloud™, in the fall of 2014.
CONVENIENCE: SERVICE EXPANSION In order to better serve Abacus’s more than 250,000 clients around the globe, the homegrown company recently expanded into another 5,300 square feet of office space in La Jolla. “The expansion came as the direct result of the recent growth fueled by our launch of a brand new fully integrated suite of local and virtual office solutions,” says Lezama. With 50 new work stations, this brings the total number of offices in the area to three. “Over the past 31 years, we’ve learned that it takes much more than a software application to run and grow a successful law practice,” Lezama explains. To that end, although Abacus has been known for its own software application, AbacusLaw, and has won numerous awards for the product, Lezama saw that this alone didn’t meet the ever-changing challenges that the legal industry demands of attorneys. As such, the new products rolled out in addition to AbacusLaw (case management time, billing and account software) include Abacus Balance, a bookkeeping service; Abacus Billing, a billing and collection service, and Professional Services which
include data import/migration, workflow analysis and process improvement, dynamic data capture, custom reports, workflows, firm branding, coaching, business development and more. Yet Lezama wasn’t about to burden attorneys and law firms with complicated a la carte charges for each service provided. Instead, her first order of business was to roll out the subscription plan which gives Abacus users all upgrades, technical support and online training at a better value than ever before. That way, they would no longer have to make the decision to upgrade or purchase support each year. Though Abacus Data Systems’ new portfolio was poised in and of itself to make the lives of attorneys easier, Lezama knew that in order to truly partner with clients to enable their success and secure their future, they would have to raise the bar for support of their clients’ most frustrating needs. They did just that by removing the burdens of IT management, the expense of IT support and the up-front capital expenses for hardware, installation and management, with the launch of Abacus Private Cloud, the first Private Cloud for the legal industry.
APC: COMPATIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE With the goal of freeing law firms from the headaches and stress of IT management, including updates, additional hardware and software, and network infrastructure, under Lezama’s guidance, Abacus developed and launched Abacus Private Cloud™ (APC) in September 2014. That way, firms of all sizes could focus on scaling up their practices, taking on more cases and consistently delivering best possible outcomes for their clients. “Abacus Private Cloud addresses todays’ ever-changing threat landscape with robust security and compliance policies,
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including two-factor authentication, five tiers of physical network and data security, information handling and data privacy protocols in accordance with NIST standards and geographically redundant, SSAE 16-compliant, SOC 1-, 2data centers. Piecemealed technology is no longer sufficient to remain competitive. APC can take any local IT infrastructure, desktop software application and data and weave it into a fully integrated, virtual workplace which is accessible remotely from a device supported 24 by 7 for a predictable and affordable monthly service fee,” Lezama explains. To put it another way: attorneys can virtualize their desktop or servers and then access it from any device, from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. Furthermore, APC is compatible with any existing software a firm may use. Whether Mac or PC based, attorneys using competing case management software such as Clio, Amicus Attorney, Rocket Matter, or others, will find their programs work just perfectly within Abacus Private Cloud. Other popular programs including QuickBooks, Xero, Adobe Acrobat and research tools from LexisNexis and WestLaw also run perfectly within APC. The reasons for creating Abacus Private Cloud were many, according to Lezama. “The legal industry is currently navigating the most transformative shift ever. The pressing issues keeping legal professionals up at night are ethics and compliance, regulatory changes and information privacy. Legal entities create huge volumes of electronically stored information every day. While they struggle with how to preserve, manage and use that information effectively, the pressure to reduce spending continues to increase,” she says. “Driven by the ABA’s recent mandates and amplified by the information explosion we are currently experiencing, legal technology is no longer an option, but a matter of professional competency. Not a single legal practitioner or organization is immune to this sweeping change and as such, legal entities of all sizes are faced with a similar array of challenges as it relates to implementing and managing legal technology,” Lezama says. Continuing, she adds, “APC is designed to help lawyers accelerate their journey to the cloud and mitigate the risks posed 24
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by Public Cloud and SaaS applications. APC allows attorneys to offload technology burdens, including migrating existing data and applications to the cloud. This enables them to focus on taking on new cases, and delivering best possible outcomes for clients, instead of trying to solve frustrating IT issues.” Calling Abacus Private Cloud a turnkey solution frankly underscores the vast capabilities, protections, redundancies and privacy safeguards it provides. APC includes managed antivirus and malware protection, firewall and intrusion prevention, 24/7 server monitoring, and complete IT support and management. Furthermore, this is all done within Abacus’s San Diego location, and its secondary location in Houston, TX. “When data is uploaded to a public cloud, it may be found and stored anywhere across the globe where U.S. privacy laws may not apply,” says Julie Feller, Director of Marketing for Abacus. “All of our data centers are located within the United States so our clients will always know where their data lives and will never have to worry about a breach of compliance.” To that end, APC is fully HIPPA and PCI compliant. Similarly, within Abacus Private Cloud, as opposed to a Public Cloud such as Drop Box, attorneys retain 100% ownership of their data. By contrast, fine print in public cloud storage’s legal disclaimers often make clear that data stored becomes their property. APC clients retain 100% ownership of their data and have full read/write access at all times. Data stored in APC can be designated confidential for a single attorney’s access only, or stored in a corporate drive, where all verified users may conveniently access all of the data from anywhere, and from any device. Abacus also accounted for the need for routine backing up of data. Consequently, all data in APC is automatically backed up nightly, and housed for redundancy in both San Diego, and Houston. In addition, the data centers in San Diego and Houston are both fully SOC2/SSAE16 certified with five tiers of security including network security, facility security, human security, fire suppression and detection systems. Moreover, Abacus has ventured outside of convention by “breaking out the different server roles to enhance efficiency and performance,” says Lezama. “All APC solutions run Windows Server 2012
R2, the equivalent of Windows 8.1 Professional, and use 100% solid state disks for enhanced speed reliability, performance and efficiency,” she adds. Suffice it to say, the security of data stored in APC is as close to failsafe as possible.
COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF PRIVATE CLOUD Because APC provides attorneys with a virtual, hosted desktop service, all users can connect to their familiar applications via a remote desktop interface, from any device, and from anywhere in the world. In essence, you merely click on an icon to your virtual desktop, and then begin using your preferred applications. Though it seems like a simple step, the use of the Abacus Private Cloud can save law firms of all sizes thousands of dollars in IT support through its automatic updates, removing the need to purchase hardware, including servers. In addition to savings from not having to buy new devices, IT support costs become nil, and the Cloud is scalable for the size of the firm, with its monthly service fee depending upon the number of users and applications. Firm staffing changes allows for an increase or decrease in subscription costs. Abacus Private Cloud also boasts and guarantees an incredible 99.999% uptime, meaning law firms won’t be wasting time, losing money, or rendered ineffective by downtime. Attorney James Farr, who wrote about his experience using APC in Law Technology Today, said of his first months using APC, “In five months of constant operation I think my virtual server was rebooted twice, resulting in a 5-10 minute outage each time, during off hours. Users are given advance notice of periodic night/weekend system downtime for maintenance upgrades. Also, tech support staff are on-call to respond to after-hours emergencies. The high level and degree of support for this product indicates to me that Abacus truly is concerned about the viability of my law practice, both now and in the long term.” Speaking of the long term, APC’s popularity is already exploding, and Farr is just one of many who are impressed with APC. TMC’s Cloud Computing Magazine named Abacus Private Cloud the winner of the 2014 Cloud Computing Storage Excellence Award. That award is given to companies that have
introduced or improved cloud storage solutions. APC was also the winner of the 2014 Cloud Computing Backup and Disaster Recovery Award, which recognizes technologies and vendors that have built cloud solutions that allow businesses small or large to remain active and productive under even the most challenging conditions, minimizing lost business opportunities. Indeed, under Lezama’s direction the new initiatives have fueled an extraordinary 100% company growth in just one year. But for Lezama, this is only the beginning. “This new reality is compelling legal professionals to think differently and seek help from outsourced legal technology solution partners where previously they may have been reluctant to do so,” she says. “With the recent launch of APC, and the expansion of our Service Delivery and Support teams, we remain committed to our clients by delivering Single Source Legal Technology Solutions that range from technology readiness assessments, to the design, deployment, implementation and 24/7 support of front and back end systems, paramount to their success. We look forward to continuing to offer legal professionals the turnkey technology solutions they need to accelerate their journey to the cloud and mitigate the risks posed by Public Cloud and SaaS applications, enabling them to take on additional cases while delivering premium results for their clients.” n Contact: Abacus Data Systems 800-726-3339 www.abacuslaw.com apc@abacuslaw.com 9191 Towne Centre Dr #180 San Diego, CA 92122
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How to Increase Your Law Practice Cash Flow by Helping Your Clients Choose Their Own Fees by Alexis Neely Alexis Neely graduated first in her law school class from Georgetown in 1999, and after clerking on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, began her career at Munger, Tolles & Olson and left to start her own firm in 2003. Within just three years, she had built her solo practice into a million-dollar-a-year revenue-generating business by implementing a new law business model she created. She now teaches that model to lawyers throughout the US and Canada as a Law Business Mentor. Learn how Alexis built her law practice from scratch into a million-dollar-a-year revenue-generating law business while only going into the office a few days per week at LawBusinessManifesto.com Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexis_Neely
One of the biggest reasons most lawyers struggle with the business end of law practice is because of the old, outdated, clients hate it and so do lawyers, practice of billing time on an hourly basis, often in six-minute increments. When I was working for a large law firm, there was really no choice but to bill time. The managing partners had no way to track effectiveness of associates without it. And, frankly, it’s one of the reasons I left to start my own law practice. As a corporate tax and estate planning associate, billing time just didn’t seem to work well. Clients weren’t communicating with us as often as they should because they knew they’d get a bill in the mail weeks later for the $67.50 email they sent and I would more often than not choose not to bill time for work performed because, honestly, I felt bad doing it when I was answering a quick question for a nonprofit or personal client. When I hung my own shingle and started my law practice, I knew that I’d have to make the switch from hourly billing to something else, but I wasn’t sure how to do it or what the something else would be. I found myself losing money because I wasn’t billing for the quick calls, the requests for referrals to other lawyers and the myriad of other little things that would come up that felt like billing would take more time and cost more than just writing off the time. I was losing money, fast. And I could see it wasn’t sustainable. So I made the shift to billing for my estate and business planning services on a flat fee basis. I looked at what other lawyers were doing based on their listserve posts and discussions and created my own flat fees. But there was a problem... clients weren’t signing up as often as I felt they should and I knew it all had to do with the fees.
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I wasn’t explaining them properly. I almost considered switching back to the hourly model, which all clients could understand and, it seemed, almost expected. Then, I engaged a client for a $5,500 trust package. Success! Except then it wasn’t... Within 2 weeks they had called me back to cancel the planning. They had found another lawyer who would provide EXACTLY what I was providing for just $2,500. And while they said they would be happy to pay me $1,000 more for the additional service and relationship I provided, they couldn’t justify more than double. I was devastated. I knew I was offering more than the lawyer who was charging just $2,500 for EXACTLY the same thing, but I didn’t know how to articulate that more. So I let them out of our agreement. As I did so, I made a request. I said to the client, “Okay, I understand what you are saying and I have a request. Would you please get back in touch with me after the planning with this other lawyer and share your experience with me?” He said yes and, frankly, I never expected to hear from him again. But hear from him I did. And it was better than I could have ever hoped for. In fact, what he shared with me became the basis for a complete redesign of the way I charged for my legal services, explained them to clients and was most likely the #1 single thing most responsible for my being able to go on to build a million-dollar-a-year-plus law practice. This client came back to me with a point-by-point analysis of my process and the other lawyer’s process and what I was able to see is that the plan the lawyer was delivering for $2,500 was not EXACTLY like the one I had quoted a $5,500 fee for. In fact, for the plan that lawyer was delivering to his clients, I would have charged only $3,500, which was the exact amount the clients said they would have paid for my enhanced service and relationship offering.
In fact, I was including two additional items in my $5,500 plan that I could now let my clients choose whether to include or not and they could, in effect, choose their own fee! Today, those $1,000 questions are the foundation of the fee quoting system I developed and have now taught to hundreds of lawyers who are using these questions to engage more clients and receive higher fees by clients who are happy to pay them. While I cannot explain the $1,000 questions in full here, I can describe the starting place for making the shift from hourly services to packages your clients are happy to pay for.
First, identify three levels of outcomes or value you provide to your clients. For example, in the estate planning practice, our Personal Family Lawyer members have a basic plan for families who don’t have assets that would go through probate, a mid-level plan for families with assets that would go through probate and a high-level plan for families who want their lawyer to handle not only all the planning and documentation, but the transfer of their assets as well. In the business planning practice, our Family Business Lawyers may have three packages focused on clients just starting up their business and need all the deliverables associated with a new startup, a package that is for the business owner who has been at it for some time and needs ongoing strategic support and finally a high-end package for the business owner who is ready to consider selling the business and wants to prep it for sale. In a divorce practice, you may use stages, such as pre-divorce consultation and planning, filing of the complaint and all pre-litigation matters, mediation or collaboration of marital settlement agreement and then a whole separate set of packages if litigation is necessary.
Second, assign a value to these outcomes. The value is not about the hours you will put into the outcome, but instead about the value of the outcome to the client. For example, a startup client in the business side of a law practice may require far more hours than the strategic support for the ongoing business owner needs, but the start up client has less available assets and your package would be priced less with the intention that the start up work is just the beginning of a life-long relationship with the client that will net your law practice quite a lot of income over time—if you can support the business to get off the ground. A client family with less assets at stake in the event of a death or disability would naturally want to pay less than a family who has assets that would go through probate or even be subject to estate tax.
Price your packages accordingly. Third, create a fee schedule that lays these packages out clearly I invested $10,000 to work with a consultant to design my packages and fee quoting system. Then I invested another $2,500 to visually represent the packages in a fee schedule. That $12,500 was the best investment I ever made in my law practice because it took me from struggling to engage clients and command fees I knew I deserved to engaging just about every single client who came into my office and at higher fees than I ever had before. The best part is my clients were happy to pay the fees because they were choosing the fee themselves. And, thanks to the $1,000 questions, in many cases, they were choosing to pay me $1,000-$2,000 more than they would have if I had just quoted a fee without the questions. Are you ready to make this kind of shift in your practice? If so, why? If not, why not? What’s stopping you? n
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COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE IS AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF
BETTER LAW FIRM DECISION-MAKING by Janet Ellen Raasch
by computer hackers like Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. As much as we enjoy the book and the movie, and want Lisbeth to succeed, we cannot condone her tactics. This kind of corporate espionage makes for good entertainment, but bad—and unethical—business. The ethical gathering of competitive intelligence complies with all applicable laws—domestic as well as international. It is obtained from legitimate online and print sources, in both public and subscription databases. When obtained by interviews (either with targeted competitor staff and customers or as general field research), the ethical interviewer discloses up front both her identity and the purpose of the interview. Before starting any competitive research project, it is essential that you have a plan. Thanks to the Internet, there are an almost unlimited number of resources out there. You can waste a lot of time and money searching them all. If we know your goals for a particular research project, we can help you concentrate your resources on the most likely, valid and reliable sources for your purpose. Important law firm decisions should never be made in a vacuum. Instead, they should be made with an abundance of the right information in hand. For many law firm decisions, “the right information” means competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence is defined as a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing and managing information about the external business environment—information that can affect all of a law firm’s plans, decisions and operations. Competitive intelligence can be information about organizations—like your clients, potential clients and adversaries. It can be information about other law firms— like collaborators, opposing counsel or even potential merger partners. It can be information about the legal needs in particular industries or markets. Competitive intelligence can also be information about people—like the people you will meet in a pitch, in the boardroom, in the courtroom (like opposing counsel or an expert witness) or in a hiring interview. In any of these settings, knowledge of companies and people is power. When gathering competitive intelligence, there is a wrong way and a right way to go about it. The wrong way is typified
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Competitive intelligence on companies, competitors and adversaries Some sources of competitive intelligence about companies, competitors and adversaries are paid and some are free to the public. Because of the nature of their work, many law firms and law librarians already have access to many of the paid resources. These include products offered by industry giants LexisNexis and Thomson West. For industry research, competitive intelligence professionals also like to use a product called Profound, offered by MarketReserch. com. They offer a wide range of reports for purchase. An entire report can be costly but, if you know exactly what you are looking for, you can order just part of a report for a lesser fee. And don’t forget. Many of these paid resources are available for you to use free of charge at your local public library. Free resources for company research include llrx.com and Zimmerman’s Research Guide. In its database, Zimmerman’s offers links to both company information and company personnel. Both of these sites are great places to start if you are trying to get an overview of the kind of research that is out there. The Virtual Chase product by Justia.com offers business research as well as county and municipal law resources.
Information on companies can be found at Hoovers, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance, Nexis company information and Valuation Resources.com. A lot of good research is available from Google. We all know how to do a Google search, but much more refined searches and results are available via the Google Advanced General Search Page. Google Scholar and Google Advanced Scholar Search offer useful results that have been ‘purged’ of casual hits. Court and government sites—especially the Secretary of State’s office—include public records and a wealth of useful information. If you want to know where a company is headed, check the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Database.
Competitive intelligence profiles When preparing to meet with a potential client, lawyers often ask marketers or librarians to prepare a profile of the client. All too often, this is done just a few hours before the scheduled meeting—and we need to scramble. Even with very little lead time, you would be surprised at how much information you can turn up by simply visiting and mining the potential client’s website. You should also search company or firm pages on social media sites. When you have a little more lead time to prepare—like for a proposal or the resulting beauty contest—then you can delve more deeply into client background. Good sources for public companies include SEC filings. Good sources for private companies include Dun and Bradstreet reports. A good profile addresses some or all (depending on your time and research skills) of these categories:
· Quick facts · Company overview · Business segments · Products/services · Business partners · Board of Directors · Key executives · Key developments · Representative clients
· Legal issues and litigation · Locations · Case studies · Patent information · Marketing strategy · Competitors · Sources · News articles
Armed with this type of information, your lawyers and law firm are well-prepared to make good decisions about how to approach a potential client (or anyone else), and how to make a good impression once the contact takes place.
Competitive intelligence on people Sometimes you need information about an individual rather than a company. This person could be a client, a prospective client, a competitor, opposing counsel, a potential hire or a potential merger partner. When you know something about the person you are meeting with, you can plan appropriately. Sometimes, you need other kinds of information about people. For example, you might need to track down a former employee or a potential witness. When such a person has gone
‘off the grid’ electronically, you might not have much to go on. This is where creativity comes into play. In one such case, a former executive had been gone from a company for five years. He had a common name, which made the search even more difficult. Someone recalled him saying that he wanted to take over his family’s farm. By using the farm subsidy database and narrowing the search by general geographic area and the man’s age, we were able to locate him for our client. Another reason to search for people is to acquire their contact information for use in a marketing database. Good sources of contact information include telephone directories, professional directories and professional licensing agencies (if you know a person’s profession). Online sources include a search on Yahoo! People. Many of the commercial and general resources mentioned in the “companies” research section in this article work just as well for people. Competitive intelligence experts often use a site called Jigsaw, owned by Salesforce. It is a business-to-business contract database populated by marketers and salespeople around the country. By contributing their contacts, users gain access to the database. It includes 30 million contacts. It is an especially good source for the contact information of individuals below the usual c-level executives that show up in most directories. If you know a person’s location, you can search local and regional media for mentions of their names and activities. Social media—like Martindale Hubbell, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Twitter and YouTube—are also good resources. So are blog searches. Social media include contact information, but they also broaden your research with less formal “chat” about people, their activities and the companies they work for. In gathering information about people, you want to use a wide variety of sources—and you want to be very careful to validate any information you find before you act on it. There is a lot of faulty information out there. There are also privacy concerns. Today, information about companies and individuals is widely available. In fact, you could easily drown in all the data. The trick is to focus your search in light of your business goals. With this information in hand, you are well-positioned to make good decisions about the future of your law firm—and its work. n Janet Ellen Raasch is a writer, ghostwriter and blogger (constantcontentblog.com ) who works closely with professional services providers—especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal professionals—to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of keywordrich content for the Internet as well as articles and books for print. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.com. This article is based on a presentation to the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association by Wanda McDavid and Judy Goater of Access Information, a Denver-based firm that provides competitive intelligence for law firms around the country. Article Source: EzineArticles.com/6838291
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ANALYTICS The Ally Law Firm Leaders Need
by Norm LaCroix
DO YOU KNOW what (and who) drives the profitability of your firm? Can you distinguish among the clients that truly make a difference to the bottom line and those that merely add “noise” to the top line? While you may know who the biggest revenue producers in your firm are, do you know which among them make the most meaningful contributions to the bottom line? Can you measure the impact of changes to multiple key performance indicators, your drivers of success? Can you provide real and timely insight for decision making based on those performance indicators? Are you able to access a full range of data and information when you want it, totally independent of an already burdened IT organization? Can you or your team respond in minutes to the myriad of ad hoc requests for information from all sides of the organization? If you can’t answer yes to these questions, there is almost certainly a serious information gap that exists between actual business performance and timely actionable measures needed to drive strategic solutions, which needs to be bridged. The professional services industry, and legal in particular, has undergone dramatic change, and market dynamics everywhere have been altered in a lasting way. Competitive pressures, more cost-sensitive and better-informed clients, rising expenses and static fees have challenged law firms as never before. These changes have driven the need for integration of analytics and business intelligence management tools into the business process of professional service firms in order to be able to access truly relevant data, discover real knowledge, make informed decisions and take the actions necessary to provide a meaningful competitive advantage, improve service to clients and potentially enhance profitability. The embrace of business intelligence and analytics as an embedded management tool, however, requires a mindset that not all law firm leaders, practitioners or managers embrace, or even understand. It requires a re-set at all levels of the organization and needs to be an investment priority in much the same way it has become in the corporate world. Given the proliferation of user-focused BI tools in the marketplace today, that investment is modest, however, compared with the historical “IT-centric BI platforms for large-scale systems” according to the Gartner Group, which “have tended to be highly governed and centralized, where IT production reports were pushed out to managers and knowledge workers.” While ad-hoc querying and other analytic tools have been available, “they were never really fully embraced by the business analyst masses, primarily because they are perceived 30
Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 135, 2014
by most as being too difficult to use,” the Gartner report adds. In recent years, as a result, demand for user-friendly BI tools has shifted the focus of platform emphasis from “IT-authored production reporting, to governed, business-user-driven data discovery and analysis,” the report adds. So today, there is little reason for law firm management not to join their corporate client colleagues in the use of the most sophisticated business analytical tools to better manage the business of law. n Norm LaCroix has more than 20 years of experience in the legal industry. As a senior executive of one of the world’s leading law firms, Norm was responsible for the management, development and profitable growth of the firm. He increased profitability by integrating business intelligence and analytical tools into the management of the broad-based business activities of the firm. For more information, visit decisionanalyticsgroup.com. Article Source: EzineArticles.com/8347503
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