Even in good times (and by most measures, these are not good times) it is difficult to execute a long term marketing strategy. We are not wired as humans for delayed gratification. We want what we want now; no one wants to voluntarily postpone rewards for months or years.

But success in marketing professional services can take a lot of time. And bad economic conditions can further delay our success (e.g. you may have great relationships with real estate developers who want to hire you, but if few projects are being financed or built, then you are not going to get work from these clients.)

Lately, I’ve run up a string of successes and I can say with certainty that being successful in the here and now can help to build future success. I am feeling more confident and less desperate when speaking with prospects. Every conversation I have now is an investment rather than an opportunity to sell.

This is not to say that you need to be successful in order to succeed. That would be a Catch-22. Instead, find smaller ways to succeed on your path to success (I’ve written about this many times including here.) If you can feel good about things you are doing outside of your professional life (e.g. from doing volunteer work, playing basketball to participating in your town’s chorus), your work will benefit.

This post is dedicated to my accountant (who I generally resist contacting because after all, I’m smart and I should be able to figure this stuff out myself!)

The other day, I was struggling with a tax question. I knew there was probably an easy answer, so I decided to run some computations myself. As I grew increasingly frustrated and anxious (the phrase “interest and penalties” scares me), I decided that it was time to turn to an expert (i.e. my accountant). In two quick e-mail exchanges, I got my answer and quickly noted that my blood pressure had dropped considerably.

There is a moral to this story. As I get more senior in my career, I am allowing myself to ask for help with much greater frequency. It is a lesson that lawyers are not really taught. In college and in law school, we are rewarded for individual achievement. As we try to advance our careers, this belief carries forward (i.e. that success comes from working hard and figuring it all out on your own).

While success generally does require hard work and individual action, along the way, there are a lot of people who help us to achieve success (parents, siblings, mentors, friends and sometimes, other paid professionals). So work hard and take responsibility for your own achievements. But don’t forget to ask for help along the way. Law is a challenging profession (and don’t think for a minute that anyone at the top made it all on their own!)

I’m not a big reader of fiction. With three teenagers, a wife who works full-time, a coaching business to run and a dog who also deserves some attention, I can still find time for squash. I even find time to do a fair amount of professional reading.

Unfortunately, reading fiction doesn’t often make it to the top of my priority list. But since it did this weekend, I’m pleased to report that I have a good book to recommend.

The Life O’Reilly is a first work of fiction by a young litigator in New York, Brian Cohen. In his first novel, Cohen tells the story of Nick O’Reilly, a “successful” litigation partner at a top Wall Street Law Firm. O’Reilly seems to have it all professionally. He works on great cases, he owns an apartment that overlooks Central Park and he has been written up in several of the major legal publications. With a good track record of helping get his corporate clients out of trouble, he has also been able to generate a substantial amount of work for his firm. While he seems to recognize that he may not be leading the most balanced life, it takes a pro bono case to make him recognize that there may be more to life than a large pay check.

The Life O’Reilly is a quick and compelling read that captures the essence of our times. While most lawyers will not have quite the same awakening that the main character experiences, certainly the Great Recession is giving many lawyers an involuntary kick in the pants. The question raised by The Life O’Reilly is one that many lawyers are asking themselves right now: is this the life I want and if not, is it too late to change?

At this juncture, I’ll take the opportunity to recommend coaching to anyone who is contemplating a change and needs help. But in reality, this post is simply an endorsement of a law related book that you probably won’t be able to put down. Enjoy!

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Clearly Shakespeare was not giving advice about marketing when he wrote those lines in Romeo and Juliet. What you call your business can have a great impact on how you are perceived by potential clients. Even if you are a great personal injury lawyer, calling yourself Business Lawyers of Boston is going to attract the wrong inquiries.

For many years, I have operated my business under the name Seckler Legal Consulting. While I realized long ago that “consulting” is an ambiguous term, I was trying to cast a broad net that would include both the coaching I do and the consulting I provide to law firms.

But as coaching lawyers on marketing and career issues has become my primary focus, my messaging needs to change. And so, Seckler Legal Coaching is born.

While I’m still the same professional who helps both individual lawyers as well as law firms, Seckler Legal Coaching better captures my primary focus. I still care about how law firms manage themselves in a changing business environment for legal services. I still consult with firms about how to attract, develop and retain talent and how to market more effectively. But “Coaching” best captures the essence of what I do.

This post by Jim Rhyner, worldwide lawyers professional liability insurance product manager, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, is one of a series of guest posts on CounseltoCounsel. Special thanks to Jim for his contributions.

In my last Counsel to Counsel post, I talked about recent financial scandals in the legal profession. In both cases, a senior partner’s deception slipped through the cracks after a period of rapid profit growth. These incidents underscore the value of an effective system of checks and balances which can help ensure that no one person has total control over the inflow and outflow of the law firm’s cash.

In some law firms, financial responsibilities are limited to a small group or an individual, allowing the rest of the firm’s attorneys to focus on the practice of law rather than running the business. This format may work in some contexts, but it is not without risk. If only one person is responsible for keeping the firm’s books and signing the checks, the opportunity for that individual to commit theft or fraud is heightened – and it reduces the likelihood that others in the firm will discover such behavior. Spreading financial responsibilities (such as billing, payroll, and reconciling the firm’s expense account reporting) among several people makes it difficult for one greedy employee to cause trouble for the whole firm.

Attorneys who aren’t directly charged with managing finances can consider the tips below which may help reduce their firm’s exposure to embezzlement and internal theft:

• Ask questions and speak up – individual attorneys are ultimately responsible for safeguarding their clients’ funds; even if it’s the senior partner who’s guilty of raiding the coffers, you could be held personally responsible, so trust your instincts if you think something is amiss
• Get it in writing – make sure that all of the firm’s transactions/payments are recorded
• Check the checks – two signatures on every check a firm issues to ensures that no one person has total control of the finances.