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About Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.

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So far Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC. has created 193 blog entries.
22 02, 2007

Trimming Expenses to Fatten the Kitty

2007-02-22T12:37:43+00:00By |Comments Off on Trimming Expenses to Fatten the Kitty

Recently I have been getting a number of questions about reducing overhead in law firms, so this article will give you some tips. For a strong first step, get a clear picture of the existing expenses, and determine which of them are necessities, and which are luxuries.
Review and Investigate the Firm Financial Reports
Do you review your firm’s monthly financial reports? Do you really know what the specific numbers on your financial statement represent? Are there some categories that fluctuate pretty dramatically from month to month or year to year? If so, that might indicate some discretionary spending items, and it may be worthwhile to review the expenditures represented by those numbers. It may be appropriate to develop some approval procedures within those categories. Establish a budget and follow-up on over-expenditures to get a real handle on expenses.
By investigating the facts underlying financial reports, lawyers I know have discovered seriously overdue accounts receivable, employees using firm services and accounts for personal purposes, courier services used daily for routine non-urgent transmissions, unnecessary equipment service contracts for nonessential or infrequently used equipment, infrequently used season tickets, and downright embezzlement. (Lawyers are rather common victims of embezzlement.) Some of those expenditures sound deminimus, but with frequent repetition, they add up.

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19 02, 2007

A Year by Design, or by Default?

2019-02-10T23:15:55+00:00By |Comments Off on A Year by Design, or by Default?

A bright and talented lawyer lamented: “Where did all the money go?” He was a charismatic guy and had attracted a few good cases. Because he was a skilled lawyer, he enjoyed some success. However, when profits began to dwindle, at first he didn’t notice. Then he didn’t know how to adjust his strategy, because he didn’t really have one.
In the business world, companies can’t get financing if they don’t have a business plan. That’s because bankers know that owners who run their businesses by the seat of the pants are more likely to fail. A business plan doesn’t guarantee success, but in the process of creating one, we establish goals. We consider ways to achieve those goals and how to address the obstacles to achieving them. We set a clear intention about how we want to spend our resources of time, money and talent. That clarity of intention helps us make better decisions when opportunities or obstacles arise. Sometimes during planning we have thought through the consequences of various options in advance. Other times we can ask ourselves, “Is this opportunity more likely to move me toward or away from my goal?”

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28 01, 2007

Are You Getting in Your Own Way at the Office?

2007-01-28T13:25:23+00:00By |Comments Off on Are You Getting in Your Own Way at the Office?

    
 
 

Have you ever considered what role you may play in the effective functioning of your office staff? I have worked with lawyers who were unhappy with the performance of their administrative assistants, and who wondered what to do to correct the situation. I have worked with dedicated firm administrators and support staff who were stressing to the breaking point from working with difficult attorneys. Even as a lawyer myself, I learned that at […]
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10 01, 2007

What’s Holding You Back?

2007-01-10T16:45:28+00:00By |Comments Off on What’s Holding You Back?

A couple of years ago I wrote about strategies for actually accomplishing the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year. It’s that time again, and you can read that article by going back to the January 2005 issue of The Practice Manager or you can view it on our website. If you implemented those ideas, I know you made a lot of progress. If you didn’t make progress or didn’t implement any strategy to achieve your goals, then some hidden factors may be influencing you. […]

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11 12, 2006

Lawyer Burnout Likened to WWII Pilot “Target Fixation”

2019-01-16T22:18:44+00:00By |Comments Off on Lawyer Burnout Likened to WWII Pilot “Target Fixation”

There’s an excellent article called Target Fixationon the “Life at the Bar” blog by Julie Fleming Brown. She likens lawyer burnout to the World War II fighter pilots who were so intent on hitting their targets that they failed to pull up in time after dropping their bombs, and literally hit their targets. If after reading Julie’s article you realize you need to find some ways to gain more time and disengage from “target fixation,” perhaps my article about ‘work/life’ balance tipsposted on December 7, 2006 will help. I’m also happy to brainstorm other solutions with you.

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7 12, 2006

Work/Life Balance: Are You Tottering on the Brink?

2006-12-07T10:04:19+00:00By |Comments Off on Work/Life Balance: Are You Tottering on the Brink?

As a coach to lawyers, this is the time of year when I really hear the life balance questions. All year lawyers struggle to maintain work/life balance, but the challenges become more acute during the holidays. At the same time that family and friends clamor for our attention, year-end deadlines for budgetary, tax or financial reporting purposes cause our clients to pressure us with non-negotiable demands.

Here are tips to implement all year long to help achieve balance between work and your personal life, but especially during the holidays.

1. Put your own oxygen mask on first. This is the most important tip, and the one you’ll be most tempted to skip. The flight attendants tell you this for a good reason. You can’t help others or meet their demands if you deplete your own reserves. What replenishes your energy? What relieves stress for you? Spending a few minutes with nature nurtures the soul, even if you merely water the plants in your office. Create space for 15 minutes of quiet at the start of your day, and protect it. It sounds counter-intuitive and maybe impossible, but my clients are surprised at how problems roll off their backs, instead of developing into time-sucking crises, when they start the day with quiet time.

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25 11, 2006

Arrival in Paris

2006-11-25T16:18:39+00:00By |1 Comment

The following article continues the saga of my Leap of Faith, which turned out to be my journey from lawyer to coach. This article was originally published in the Orlando Sentinel in 1999.

Arrival in Paris

A year in France sounded like a reasonable antidote for the forty-something mid-life crises of a couple from Houston. Because Jim and I had minimal travel experience in France and minimal French language skills, we made a trial move to Paris for one month. It started out well. When we landed at the airport, we breezed through customs and immigration so easily that we did not recognize the process had occurred until we found ourselves at the street exit.

Then, unlike in New York, our cab driver spoke a little English. He took us straight to the furnished apartment we had rented for about $1800 a month, despite the fact that we could hardly pronounce the name of the small street, and could only tell him that it was in the 17th Arrondissement. Already life was so different from home.
We found our small one-bedroom apartment nicely decorated, and it even resembled its picture on the Internet. The kitchen and the bathroom were so tiny that they were cute. (We knew from talking to seasoned travelers and researching floor plans on the Internet, that apartments in Paris were small.) In France most major kitchen appliances are in miniature. Our dishwasher barely accommodated breakfast and lunch dishes. We had to stoop to peer into the refrigerator. We had an understanding that he who cooks doesn’t clean up, because there really wasn’t room for two people in the kitchen at the same time. We just bumped into each other a lot.

The bathroom had barely enough room for both me and my reflection in the mirror. […]

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25 11, 2006

A Little Thanksgiving Montage

2006-11-25T03:18:30+00:00By |Comments Off on A Little Thanksgiving Montage

On the day after Thanksgiving and I realized that I had the capability to make a little video montage of a few photos from Thanksgiving, complete with music, using software that comes with Windows XP. It was wonderful to have time to do something just because it was creative and fun.

The legal field is so left brain intensive. It is important to engage in right brain activity to help keep the communication flowing between the hemispheres, and to strengthen the right brain neural pathways. We need those right brain pathways for a lot of purposes, including when it’s time to do some “out of the box” problem solving.

If you want to view my little 2 minute Thanksgiving montage, click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUlNHHf5O4Y.

Hoping you are enjoying the holiday!
-Debra

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18 11, 2006

Business Development: Follow-up or Fall Down

2006-11-18T13:36:17+00:00By |Comments Off on Business Development: Follow-up or Fall Down

 Recently I celebrated a business development victory with a lawyer. I asked him what he thought was the most important ingredient in his success. “Persistence,” he replied. “I just kept following up.”
That’s where many of us fall down. We attend networking events, give speeches, join organizations, and do other things to be at the right place to meet prospective clients. We succeed in meeting what appear to be some good business prospects or good potential referral sources. Hooray! Now what do we do?

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