"As with most significant changes in a law firm, change is driven by
clients." So says the
estimable Doug Caddell, CIO of Foley & Lardner. The specific
change he has in mind—and which he forecasts with confidence will
come about—is partners’ adoption of CRM.
What is the state of CRM in the US? "In the starting blocks,"
although the starter’s pistol has unquestionably gone off. The
reasons are cultural and not technological, but the forces of change
are mounting. Clients demand teamwork from their management, from
their employees, and soon they shall demand it from their law firms:
Teamwork there shall be.
But let’s step back a moment: We (meaning I and regular readers)
all assume lawyers prefer to operate as lone eagles and business
people prefer to operate in teams. Why do we think this? Where
does this come from?
As someone with a JD and 98% of an MBA, I have an idea: From the
experience of law school vs. the experience of business school. Law
school is competitive from (before the) start to (after the) finish. You
compete to get into a "name" law school, to interview with an AmLaw 50
firm, to get an offer, to make partner, to be a big rainmaker, to get
on the managing committee, etc. At business school, while the academic
competition is no less real, the experience and the course structure
demand teamwork: Not a single significant project in my experience
at business school was an individual event; all put me in teams.
So lawyers will be dragged, miserable and clawing to retain their lone-eagle
identity, into teams? Is there no more humane, not to mention effective
and good-for-business, alternative? Simply taking a page from the
business-school experience would go a long way.
Not that
managing partners want or need MBA’s: But what’s wrong with a two-week
retreat for a "mini-executive-MBA?" A win for the law
firm, a win for the client, and a win for your friendly local business
school dean.
