Articles by Debra L. Bruce Archives | Page 14 of 16

25 11, 2006

Arrival in Paris

2006-11-25T16:18:39+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|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 17^th 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. […]

18 11, 2006

Business Development: Follow-up or Fall Down

2006-11-18T13:36:17+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|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?

[…]

16 10, 2006

Keep the Cash Flowing: Collection Tips

2006-10-16T12:11:06+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Keep the Cash Flowing: Collection Tips

A reader’s question: Do you have any tips on how to get clients to pay their bills more promptly?

Response: Cash flow is important to the success of every business, yet many lawyers do not design their practice to assure that collections flow in smoothly and regularly. The measures appropriate for your firm may depend upon the size of your clients, the type of clients you serve, and the types of matters you handle for them.

As you read through the suggestions below, think about how you might experiment with some of them or adapt them to your needs. Some may be new ideas for you, and others may be familiar ones that you have just gotten out of the habit of doing.

1. Get a retainer in advance. Hold a retainer equal to one month’s fees in trust until application against the final invoice. Invoice the client each month for the current work. If the client has not paid the first invoice by the time you are sending out the second invoice, notify the client that work will be suspended until the account is brought up to date. Certain practice areas tend to attract a high level of clients with poor payment patterns. Practitioners may want to charge the entire fee up front for such services, or provide in the engagement agreement that the initial fee installment applies to the first stage of the engagement. Provide that the engagement will be put on hold or terminated until the fee for each next stage is paid in advance.
[…]

12 06, 2006

What Does Marketing Have to Do with Practicing Law?

2006-06-12T11:15:40+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on What Does Marketing Have to Do with Practicing Law?

The answer: Everything, if you are a small firm practitioner. How can you practice law without clients? Without marketing, how do you get clients? Most law schools don’t even mention the concept of marketing, much less teach aspiring lawyers how to sell their services. Selling and marketing, in fact, are dirty words among lawyers, being considered cousins of the unethical practice of soliciting.

The reality is, however, that you are probably engaging in marketing every week. The question is, how effective are you at it? Every time you respond to the question, “What do you do?” you are marketing. Every time you meet or greet someone who already knows what you do for a living, you are marketing. What are you advertising about yourself when you are not even talking about your business? Are you communicating by your demeanor and conversation that you are competent and knowledgeable, yet compassionate and trustworthy enough for someone to safely reveal a significant and troubling problem to you? Or do others feel inferior, judged and unimportant in your presence? Which professional would you choose to handle your important concerns?

Instead of marketing unconsciously, get on the road to becoming an effective marketer by following these three tips:

[…]

12 06, 2006

The Biggest Bang for Your Management Buck

2006-06-12T11:14:12+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|1 Comment

She tried to maintain her composure, but one large tear betrayed her as it slipped over the brim and slid down her cheek. “Why don’t they ever tell me that?” she asked plaintively. She had just received a positive annual review with quotes read by the firm administrator of the complimentary assessments by the attorneys she worked for. Like that legal secretary, most of us hunger for feedback, yet we are terrified of receiving it.

We have heard a lot over the years about what we do wrong from parents, teachers, bosses, spouses and even strangers. How often do we hear what we do right?

[…]

1 12, 2005

Clues You Can Use to Soothe Clashes

2005-12-01T10:43:48+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Clues You Can Use to Soothe Clashes

We all have someone we have to deal with who is somehow blocking us from getting what we want. It may be opposing counsel, but it may just as likely be our own partner or a staff member who isn’t performing to our expectations. In those situations our frustration levels mount, and some of us sneer or explode. We go from dealing with a difficult person to being a difficult person.

Many such problems can be solved or prevented if we can improve our communication skills. Here are some ‘clues you can use’ to improve your communication and reduce the conflict in your office.

1. Deal with annoyances while they are small.

This concept particularly applies to people we interact with frequently. Sometimes someone does something that annoys us, inconveniences us or hurts us, but because it is a small matter, we think it would be too petty to bring up. By the time it (or something like it) happens the tenth time, we have a big stack of grievances to address, and our emotions run high. We appear to react out of proportion to the incident, but actually we are reacting to ten incidents. Ambrose Bierce, an American author and newspaper columnist, said, ‘Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.’ If we simply address the issue the first or second time it occurs, we usually can discuss it calmly, casually and without a lot of emotional investment.

[…]

1 11, 2005

Get Noticed to Get Business

2005-11-01T10:46:49+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Get Noticed to Get Business

An important axiom of marketing is: “Customers do business with people they know, like and trust.” The significance of that axiom swells when you market a professional service instead of a product, because your potential clients can’t see, touch or taste your wares in advance of the purchase. To achieve that coveted status of being known, liked and trusted in advance of providing the service, choose marketing strategies that enhance visibility, credibility, personal relationships and referrals. Clients can’t like and trust you if they don’t know you exist. So this month we’re focusing on how you can augment your visibility to potential clients and referral sources.

The Value of Name Recognition

When you increase your visibility, you increase your name recognition. People gravitate toward names they recognize, even when they don’t remember why they recognize the name. The “I’ve heard of her somewhere” factor pays off. A while back I read an article reporting the polling results about the best lawyers in another city. I recognized the names of many of the lawyers selected, and could confirm the quality of a number of them from personal experience. I also recognized the name of one lawyer in a category that I didn’t have much knowledge about, but I assumed he was good because I had heard of him. Later I saw his name selected in several other categories requiring dramatically different skill sets and knowledge bases. Something seemed awry. With today’s in-depth specialization, rarely can a generalist truly excel in multiple legal practice areas, and this fellow was named among the best in four different areas! On reflection, I recognized that he had been very active in leadership roles in bar and community activities, and was a former State Bar President. He may be a genius and a multi-tasking time management pro, or he may […]

1 10, 2005

Leadership Lessons from Katrina

2005-10-01T10:55:18+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Leadership Lessons from Katrina

Together Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita brought destruction and chaos to much of the Gulf Coast. In every situation, however, there are lessons and gifts. Here in Houston as a Katrina volunteer at the Astrodome/Reliant Park, I received the gift of watching leadership lessons demonstrated before my eyes.

Usually the impact of our leadership style plays out gradually over time, and we are not able to easily distinguish which variables caused the results we received. In the time-compressed atmosphere of the Katrina relief effort, however, we had the benefit of something like time-lapse photography. We could see strangers form work teams that either dissolved into dysfunction or developed an efficient rhythm despite the rapidly changing environment.

I will briefly describe the leadership keys I observed that worked.
[…]

1 09, 2005

Behavior Styles Affect Communication

2005-09-01T10:54:42+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Behavior Styles Affect Communication

“I ask you what time it is, and you tell me how to build a clock!” John said with exasperation. Ben felt confused and, frankly, a little hurt. He just wanted to make sure John had all the facts before making his decision.

***

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Carol asked.

“You file it with the county clerk,” Glen responded.

“I don’t understand, ” Carol said, furrowing her brow.

“You file it with the county clerk,” Glen repeated.

“What do you mean?” Carol said, raising her voice a little.

“You file it with the county clerk,” Glen said slowly and distinctly. Then he turned and walked into his office, feeling exasperated.

[…]

1 08, 2005

Dealing with Distractions

2019-02-10T23:15:54+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Dealing with Distractions

A reader asks for advice on how to deal with distractions. If you, too, have difficulty putting aside distractions, here are a few subjects to investigate for the source of the problem, along with some possible solutions.

Which goals fall by the wayside?

First, let’s look at what goal you get distracted from accomplishing. What is the purpose or goal of that “to-do”? Is it a compelling goal? Is it your goal, or really someone else’s? For a mundane, but common example, let’s say your to-do is to get your messy desk organized. If your purpose for cleaning up your desk is so other people won’t think you are a slob, then that’s just a should, and not very compelling. It really is someone else’s goal, not yours. No wonder you are easily distracted from it! If, on the other hand, your purpose is (i) to get a burst of energy from releasing all those little worry strings tied to every piece of potentially important paper lost on your desk, (ii) to be able to respond promptly, decisively and effectively to challenges that come your way today (leaping tall buildings in a single bound) because you know how to quickly put your hands on every piece of information available to you, or (iii) to avoid repeating the embarrassment you suffered yesterday when a client called and you couldn’t find her file well, those goals sound significantly more compelling. It is easier to keep motivated and on track when we have vivid outcomes in mind. So the next time you have a to-do of reviewing a deed of trust or a routine set of responses to interrogatories (yawn), consider the purpose of your review and the outcome you desire. Ask yourself a few questions: What’s important about this task? What will I be able to […]

Make an Appointment

Setting goals for
your life and career?

Make an Appointment

Setting goals for your life and career?

Setting goals for
your life and career?