Presidents’ Day
I just finished reading Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize author, does an extraordinary job of bringing Jefferson to life, his genius, idealism, practicality, enormous personal struggles and major shortcomings. Whatever one’s opinion of Jefferson, surely, without him, the United States as we know it today would not exist. The same can... Read More
Tribute to Steve Keeva
Steve Keeva was a pioneer in the transformative law movement. As the author of the ABA book, “Transforming Practices” and distinguished writer for the ABA Journal, Steve wrote extensively on how lawyers could avoid the cynicism and burnout prevalent in the legal profession. Sadly, after a long illness, Steve passed away on Friday, December 7, 2012 leaving his wife and 2 children.... Read More
the extraordinary last hour of a life
The other day, I was on the phone listening to a caller I didn’t know talk about a banking service I didn’t need. As my mind wandered to my long todo list, I started losing patience and getting annoyed with the caller and the person who had made the introduction. I decided to cut the conversation short by thanking the caller and extending an invitation to a fundraiserI was... Read More
the heart of business networking
In my last post, I mentioned that I was participating in a Haitian earthquake relief fundraiser organized by my brother, Steven Herz, and his team at New York’s If Management. On only 48 hours notice, over 200 people attended the event last night and raised more than $3,500 for relief work being done through the nonprofit Esperanza International Foundation. NBC News correspondent... Read More
what a third grade holiday celebration can teach us about connecting with clients
The other day, I attended my son’s holiday celebration in his third-grade classroom. To capture the true spirit and meaning of the season, the kids took turns standing up in pairs and reading narratives about one another. These weren’t fill-in-the-blank recitations. They were insightful and moving reflections. With their teacher’s guidance, the kids had taken the time to... Read More
seeing matters through your clients’ eyes: an intervention for lawyers
My longtime client, artist Pamela Lawton, recently showed her abstract paintings of New York City’s modern architecture at an exhibit called Liquid City. Describing her work, Pamela says: “It’s almost an ‘intervention,’ that’s sort of an art term that people use to talk about taking something ordinary and conventional and altering it in some way.... Read More
What President Obama can teach us about client relationships
This isn’t a post about politics. It’s about human relations. As I’ve written here before, as lawyers, we’re in the business of human relations. To do our job well, we have to connect with the people behind the legal matters we take on and provide meaningful solutions to their problems. Connecting with clients in this way is not an opt-in exercise in cutting-edge legal service... Read More
everything old is new again: the re-birth of the client-centric lawyer
For the last few years, I’ve devoted a lot of space here to the idea and practice of client-centricity. You can sample my take on the topic via posts like these: evangelizing legal service delivery client experience management legal service delivery: what controls the client experience are you remarkable? client centered care (re)designing legal service delivery around... Read More
lawyers are not service providers
Last week, I discussed why clients and prospective clients view lawyers as commodities. I suggested that we can avoid this type of identity crisis (yes, I think that being labeled a commodity is not a good thing) by taking some time to figure out what the people we help really want from us beyond fairly priced services. I found some good guidance and inspiration on this front in... Read More
don’t give clients a reason to think that you’re a commodity
Through my daily reads, I tapped into an interesting conversation about the commoditization of design services. One point that stood out for me is how the traditional client-provider relationship gets flipped when the service and its offerer are seen as commodities. As one observer puts it: “Suddenly a client can define all aspects of a job from price to design, causing the designer’s... Read More
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