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Recent Articles from Cheryl Leone, Special To Lawyers Weekly
One firm’s example can be a blueprint for handling change
Having spent almost a half century working in and with law firms, I feel I have had a front row seat in watching the evolution of the law office practice. The last 10 years have forced lawyers to see that there is the practice of law and then there is the business of the practice of law. To sustain a profitable law firm, you had to change or be left behind. You have to embrace the fact that the la[...]
Soaring Eagles: Want success? Take ownership of your fears
The goal of teaching self-mastery is to provide an understanding of our reactions and the tools we need to better control our lives. These principles apply to business settings as much as to your personal lives. The principles of self-mastery can be placed in four categories, or paradigms, to better simplify our understanding fear, duty, […]
Take note paralegals: attitude beats aptitude in many situations
Many a debate has been launched as to whether attitude trumps aptitude or vice versa. In working with many very good paralegals and other law firm employees, I found myself becoming more and more convinced that while an aptitude towards the profession has to be at least at a basic level, time and time again […]
Law Firm Coach: Is it a want or is it a need?
We have been constantly asked how to recession-proof your firm. While there are many specific things a law firm could do, we developed one rule. Anytime you are getting ready to spend firm money, ask yourself this one question: Is it a want or a need? Last year, when it was obvious our economy was […]
Mentoring relationship facilitates mutual growth for paralegals
I recently spoke to one of the paralegal classes at Duke University about how to interview and launch your first job in a law firm. One of the things I firmly believe is that law firm culture is different than the culture of other service practices or businesses. And it is hard to teach someone […]
Law Firm Coach: Accountability through quality assurance
We admit that it could be that a law firm is somehow the only unique business out there where standard industry business standards do not apply, but we doubt that. A law firm may have different terminology but it is not unique. The purpose of quality assurance is to provide early warning of potentially missed […]
It's all in the execution
We have all kinds of theories on what a leader, manager or a technician is. We even have a theory on how to do strategic planning. Implementation does not negate any of those theories. There is a book dedicated to execution theory (Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan and […]
Success depends on finding 'wind beneath your wings'
While we all want to be secure in who we are, most of us aren’t. I believe we all need daily affirmation from something or someone that inspires us to be truly great at who and what we are. The important question is to consider what makes you soar personally and professionally. In other words, […]
LAW FIRM COACH: When do you hire management?
We find that most people in law firm management at small to medium-size firms came up through the ranks. They started out handling simple things and slowly took over more and more of the daily duties that were handled by the owner. When lawyers are building firms, it is hard to justify the cost of […]
Law Firm Coach: High-performance law firms
A high-performance organization has a well-defined purpose, vision and mission. These three elements are understood by the leadership, and the leadership team is passionate about them. The principle behind a high-performance organization is having a purpose that you are passionate about. This is not a marketing gimmick, but a guiding principle. The purpose drives the […]
Finding the right person for the right job
You can’t hire the right person unless you are hiring the right person for the right job. We all have those valuable lessons that are wake-up calls. There was a legal secretary who was the best legal secretary we had ever seen. She was so above her job requirements, we felt our solution was to […]
Soaring Eagles: Is it a want or a need?
Since everyone else in the United States has given advice on the economy, the recession and how to make it through, I thought I should get my two cents in though, in candor, my two cents is being used to help Wall Street, banks and auto makers. We are indeed in difficult times. We are […]
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