July 5, 2007
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ALA Currents is a free newsletter about management trends and innovations
provided exclusively upon request to members of the Association of Legal Administrators.
News & Views
COMPENSATING THE RISING STAR
Developed especially for this issue of ALA Currents and copyrighted by Altman Weil Inc.
For more information, visit Altman Weil’s Web site.
By James D. Cotterman
jdcotterman@altmanweil.com
A young, dynamic partner is rapidly building a practice. She is active, visible, and well connected
in the market. She aggressively pursues business opportunities. She is known for her keen intellect,
is highly respected, and her work is first rate. Clients regularly comment on her ability to seamlessly
blend pragmatic legal and business advice that advances their agendas in very positive ways. Other
firms have periodically made runs at her beginning around her mid- to senior associate years, but
she began her career here and feels much attached to the firm.
She has come to you, the Compensation Committee Chair, and a member of your firm’s
Executive Committee, to discuss her compensation. She was delighted to be the youngest associate
invited to become a partner. She saw partnership as affirmation that hard work and loyalty to the firm
would be rewarded. She has been happy in the past with her pay package and very upbeat about her
future with the firm. But now she is conflicted because other firms are offering her substantial increases
in pay to lure her away. Politically astute, she is not demanding or threatening. Rather, she is wrestling
with the conflicts between her loyalty to “her” firm and her obligation to her family’s economic future.
This is not an unusual situation. So what do you do when a future leader of the firm being
courted by other firms? You do not want to lose her, but you understand the practical and political
repercussions of simply matching offers.
Internal and External Considerations
First take a look at the pay decisions you have made. Compensation decisions should be internally
equitable based on relative merit using a broad range of factors, with solid economic contributions a
fundamental necessity. Could you be more aggressive with her position relative to others and still
be within what you believe are equitable allocations for all of the partners? If she does merit more
and you are inclined to make an adjustment, where will it come from? You already distribute 100
percent of the profits. The specifics of your pay program will affect the difficulty in making an
adjustment.
If you are okay on internal considerations, the next area to explore is external competitiveness.
Does the market really value this person differently, or have the firm’s financial results slipped relative
to the firms you consider your peers? Remember that the market is dynamic. An individual’s market
value will fluctuate from time to time and from firm to firm. A firm with a critical gap to fill and few
candidates to select from may be more aggressive and be willing to offer a premium, maybe even a
substantial premium. It is probably not practical to bid against a premium offer, but if the market
generally values your partner more, some adjustment may be warranted.
As Compensation Committee Chair, you are making a recommendation to adjust your colleague’s
pay higher, but within the merits of her contributions and market conditions and not outside your firm’s
philosophy or in competition with the current highest bidder. So you now have two problems: getting
the internal approval and selling it to the young partner.
If the adjustment is clearly appropriate on its merits, the internal approval may be relatively
straightforward. Adding that this will be funded out of a reserve fund, current year bonus pool or simply
proportionately by all other partners may just get the job done. Your challenge is simplified by how well
she has conducted herself and the very high level of esteem her colleagues have of her. If the
recommendation is perceived as a stretch on its merits, however, the challenge can become much more
difficult. Other partners may begin to advocate their own agendas. You are on a narrowing balance beam.
Remaining upright and in good form is going to take some effort, determination, and focus.
Making a Balanced Counter-offer
Now how to demonstrate to the young partner that this is a fair adjustment, considering all the factors?
Some other considerations will come into play. Part of the Compensation Committee Chair’s job is to
help the partner realize that she is well paid internally and compared to the market, as well as that she is
respected and valued by her colleagues.
First, is the grass truly greener? The competitor’s large signing bonus, much larger draw, guaranteed
bonus if certain performance thresholds are met, and liberal relocation assistance package all sound alluring.
But what does your partner know about the firm making that offer? How well will she fit into that culture?
What will the other firm expect of its new hot-shot lawyer, and how quickly must she deliver? How big of a
target would be on her back as a result of the generous package being offered by the competitor to lure
her away? Will there be upside potential, or will the new firm seek to recover the premium in future years of
stagnation? Careful due diligence of the other firms and even more thoughtful deliberation about the wisdom
of changing firms is required.
Second, are there opportunities for the young partner to be more involved in your firm? This may be
a good time to increase the investment in this young partner. Look for opportunities for her to be more
involved in leadership roles. Are there committees or postings that might offer growth and tie the partner
even closer to the firm? Encourage and assist her to pursue training in leadership and management
concepts. There are many good leadership and management training programs in the market: from a
single-day seminar such as Altman Weil’s Law Firm Leadership Program to Harvard’s week-long Leading
Professional Service Firms to semester and longer curriculums at several graduate schools.
Does this young partner have a good mentor? If so, get that person in the loop. If not, consider finding
someone to do this. If there is no one at the firm who connects well with the partner in this way, then
consider a coach. More and more coaching is becoming entrenched in law firms – there is fast growing
acceptance of this concept as something to do for top performers and not just as a remedial intervention.
The world’s top athletes and musicians use coaches to improve what they do, and corporate leaders use
coaches to improve their performance; clearly these are not remedial actions forced on underperformers.
Compensating the rising star is partly about money. But the best practices go beyond the pay
dollar and extend to other factors that bind anyone to their careers and organizations. Being respected
and valued are important considerations. So too, are feeling part of the firm’s future through the
opportunities made available for career growth, experience, continuing education, and leadership training.
Management Innovations
INTERNET CIRCA 2016
The Internet in 2016 will be an all-encompassing digital playground. Always connected, we’ll all
be immersed in a flood of digital information, whether we’re wandering through physical spaces or
virtual worlds. That was the general picture painted in a draft report summarizing the conclusions
of several dozen pundits who convened last May at SRI International in Palo Alto, California. The
first Metaverse Roadmap Summit gathered to prognosticate the “pathway to the 3D Web.” Within
10 years, the report suggests, we’ll be able to wear glasses that record everything around us. We
will likely see little distinction between our real-world social lives and our interactions in digital, 3D
virtual worlds. This synthesis of analog and digital worlds means we’ll increasingly turn to services
(like an enhanced Google Earth) that present real-time data on what’s happening anywhere, at
any time, as it unfolds. The Metaverse Roadmap Summit report is the first comprehensive look at
the predictions of leading minds in academia, video game companies, virtual-world publishers,
geospatial engineering departments and the media. “Metaverse” is a term broadly used to
describe everything from 3D virtual worlds to immersive digital geospatial environments. The
Metaverse Roadmap team uses the term to divide the summit participants’ broad prognostications
into four main scenarios: augmented reality, lifelogging, virtual worlds, and mirror worlds.
Originally published on
CNet News.com
CONNECTING FAR-FLUNG ONLINE DATA
The so-called Semantic Web “tags” online information so it can be better understood in
relation to other data, even if they’re tucked away in some faraway corporate database or
software program. While today’s search engines quickly serve up reams of information, they’re
unable to show how it all fits together. Analysts say the Semantic Web has enormous potential
to transform research and data mining. The market for the broad family of Semantic Web
products and services could hit $50 billion by 2010, according to a report by consulting firm
Project10X. The study found semantic tools are already being developed by more than 190
companies, including Adobe, AT&T, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, and Sony. Citigroup is
evaluating the tools to help traders, bankers, and analysts better mine financial data.
Kodak is investigating whether Semantic Web technologies can help consumers more easily
sort digital photo collections. NASA is testing ways to correlate scientific data and maps so
scientists can more efficiently carry out planetary exploration simulation activities. But making
it easier to comb through online data could also make it easier for prying eyes to get at your
personal information. A British company, Garlik, is using Semantic Web technologies to help
individuals monitor their personal information online and guard against identity theft.
Originally published in
Business Week
Building Buy-In
KNOWING THY AUDIENCE: AN INTERVIEW WITH DENNIS MANGERS
By Paul Trout
Dennis Mangers is the President of the California Cable and Telecommunications Association.
He helps cable television operators lobby government when there are issues that are integral to
the pursuit of their business plans, so he knows a thing or two about building buy-in with superiors.
Read on to learn the importance of communication, the key to persuasion, and how to handle
snakes in the grass.
Q: How would you define politics and how does what you do parallel what goes on inside organizations?
A: If you got to the Latin root of political is populi – the people – and we know that people have a very complex
web of interrelationships any internal environment.
What I’ve learned over the years is that all human relationships are essentially political. When
people ask, “How can you engage in something that is so inherently corrupt or dirty or negative?” I
remind them that there is nothing they have ever done in their entire lives, whether it be the PTA or
the church or whatever, when they weren’t engaging in politics.
If you’re involved with people, each will naturally have differing ambitions, expectations, and personalities,
and all will be vying to prevail with their viewpoints. In order to achieve your objective, you have to become
skilled in working your way through those various ambitions, expectations, and personalities that may differ
from your own perspective.
Q: What would you say the core skill set is for people wanting to learn how to be better at
understanding how to prevail in this complex web of internal relationships?
A: Communication skills are essential. You need to master the language of commerce and culture.
First, you need to learn how to speak well, to learn how to communicate effectively with others
in an efficient, economical way.
Second, you need to learn how to listen. Most people are not very good at the art of listening. By
developing eye contact and riveting your attention on another person when they are speaking, it’s more
likely they will give you the same courtesy. If they don’t give you the same courtesy and they’re not
listening, it doesn’t matter how effective a communicator you are, you’re not going to get there. So
you earn a listener by being one.
Finally, “know thy audience.” I never take a meeting without looking at a bio, getting some background,
maybe sometimes calling people who know them and getting insight.
Q: When you look out at the political landscape, how would you begin to assess who might be a
champion of your idea, who might be an ally, who would be neutral, and who might be a snake in the grass?
A: The more you get to know people, the more you get to know what makes them tick, and so the
more you know where potential champions are. Conversely, if I’m advancing something that I know a person
or group won’t like, they might be a potential snakes, and I’m going to have to try to find a way to get around
that and develop a plan. Ultimately, I have to get the votes.
One of the ways of getting the votes is to develop champions that are held in high regard and who
have spheres of influence around them. I also have to develop strategic alliances. Often, if I go in alone,
I don’t look potent enough to affect the kind of outcome I want, so I have to go find others who are of
like mind on the issue.
Q: So, when you propose an idea up the food chain, it’s better not to propose it alone? It’s better
to have alliances and champions and acknowledgement of snakes in the grass before you propose it an idea?
A: Absolutely. It’s actually parallel to my earlier work in theatre where a common phrase is, “you better
have your act together.” You’d better have memorized your lines and gotten inside the person you are playing
if you want to persuade the audience. Have your act together so that you’re believable.
Q: If you were to offer a checklist of items readers should consider before going into a meeting to
persuade someone who has power over them or through them, what would be on the checklist?
A: If I had a checklist it would be things like:
- Learn to be well organized in your approach.
- Learn to be economical in your use of time.
- Be prepared to work harder than the next guy or gal.
- Get your facts.
And rather than just spout the facts, recognize that the prize normally goes to the innovator. I hate
the cliché “out of the box,” but if you can take yourself out of the normal patterns and approach something
differently, that can be important, because that’s what I think people in power are looking for: something a
little different.
Q: How do you close the deal?
A: The trick is to look for the win-win. I have to think not so much just about what I want but I have
to think about what can I say to make him see that that’s the right thing to do.
Q: Do you say, “May I have your vote?”
A: A lot depends on the person. Some are pretty blunt and straightforward in their approaches,
and they like that. Others are more subtle and will not like that directness. Ultimately, your approach
will depend on “knowing thy audience.”
Paul Trout is a Managing Partner with
Akina and helps Executives, Lawyers, and Consultants rethink how they sell. This article is an excerpt
from one chapter of a book he is currently writing on the topic of Building Buy-In. He encourages readers to
submit case studies, learnings, or questions about Building Buy-In, which may become part of the book
and appear in a future column. Contact him at ptrout@akina.biz
or (312) 224-8028.
Peer Points
ALA Management SolutionsSM is a free service provided as an ALA membership benefit.
The professionals who staff this help desk explore resources and share information about hot law-office
management topics like the one addressed here. If you have a question, call ALA
Management SolutionsSM at (847) 267-1252 or e-mail
infocentral@alanet.org.
DEVELOPING TELECOMMUTING POLICIES
My firm is implementing a telecommuting policy. Do you have any resources that explore
the flexible staffing option elements of telecommuting?
Check the ALA Legal Management Resource Center (LMRC)
for its articles from associations, consulting firms, and government agencies, as well as ALA sources. Enter the search term
“telecommute” for results, such as the article in the ALA
Management EncyclopediaSM “Telecommuting: The Road to Sound Policy” by Nicole Belson Goluboff.
Encyclopedia articles are available for individual purchase or in its entirety by subscription.
The federal government seems to be very involved with and supportive of the telecommuting concept.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published several documents on telecommuting, including the following:
The DOJ also published a number of resources that focus on work/life issues. Refer to the section
“Worklife Basics.”
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. General Services Administration provide a
telework/telecommuting site that offers guidance regarding reasons for, policies and procedures,
steps for implementing, FAQs, and additional resources. Click
here to visit the Web site.
The U.S. Department of Energy published “Beyond Telecommuting.” Check out the following:
The Web has employee handbooks from the governmental and academic worlds. These links are to
sample telecommuting policies from:
Along with staff, lawyers use this flexibility option. As the legal profession moves into a new era of
communications with increased security, access and speed, and more of the workforce reaches
childrearing years, telecommuting is becoming a viable alternative way to work. The American Bar
Association (ABA) offers several publications regarding telecommuting. Its Law Practice Management
section lists products such as the book
Telecommuting for Lawyers.
The Altman Weil Publications (AWP) title Complete Personnel Administration Handbook for Law Firms, Volume 1,
edited by James Wilber and Susan D. Sjostrom offers a comprehensive exploration of the telecommuting option for
law firms. With the warning “…alternative work schedules must bow to client demands,” AWP suggests an alternative
work schedule policy that “informs your staff that you’re open to negotiate, but the policy leaves you free to negotiate
each request.”
Altman Weil also gives guidance on developing telecommuting policy. It suggests blending the
business goals and objectives that telecommuting is intended to support with the activities,
circumstances and locations that are covered under the policy. It stresses that “clarity and
comprehensiveness are crucial” elements of such a policy. Telecommuter candidates and
management should develop the policy jointly. Once the policy is finalized and approved, a
written telecommuting agreement should be developed to acknowledge both parties’ “awareness
and commitment to respective expectations, rights, and responsibilities.”
The International Telework
Association & Council provides public policy, resources, incentive programs, etc.
Gil Gordon Associates
offer telecommuting administrative FAQs, addressing issues such as productivity gains and management
resistance.
The American Telecommuting Association in Washington, D.C., offers resources and links.
The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) published a paper
“10 Tips for Managing Telecommuters.”
SHRM also provides a
sample policy and discusses
creating policy. Please note that some SHRM materials are for its members only.
This response was posted recently on the ALA Web site in the
Human Resource Management Online Discussion Forum to a member requesting other firms’ policies:
We don't have a formal policy on telecommuting. We make remote access available
to all of our lawyers and exempt managers via Terminal Services. Lawyers telecommute at
their own discretion, with shareholders having more discretion than associates. Managers
typically use it for weekend or after-hours access, occasionally if they need to stay home
for illness or other personal reasons.
If you are thinking of non-exempt personnel working remotely, we don't do that as a standard
practice due to loss of control of hours worked. That said, on a couple of occasions, we have made
Terminal Services available to a (non-exempt) paralegal for a specific period of time for a specific
project but removed his/her access upon completion of the project. Paralegals do not have remote
access or telecommuting privileges at will.
Technology note: Initially, the traffic shared the same DSL line/bandwidth used for our e-mail and
Internet access, but as the number of remote users increased, we were noticing slowdowns at peak
access times, so we installed a separate line for Terminal Services access which seems to have been
the right decision.
For further resources, law library staff can help locate these articles on telecommuting:
- O’Brien, Shannon P. “Focus on the Two Rs: Recruiting and Retention. Implement Policies to Keep Employees in Your
Pasture.” Legal Management. July/August 1998;
- Africa, Martha Fay. “The Opt-Out Alternative: Asking Your Firm for Accommodation.” Law Practice, April 2004;
- “Do Your Homework Before You Let Employees Telecommute.” Illinois Employment Law Letter, March 2000;
- Law, Patricia and Melissa Jones. “Telecommuting: One Law Firm’s Evolution.” ALA Independence Chapter
Newsletter, Fall 2000;
- Reidy, Andrew. “Home Work Problems: Employers must address liabilities of telecommuting.”
ABA Journal, January 2000;
- “Telecommuting Growing Pains: Five Tips to Make Your Program Work.” HR Matters newsletter from
Personnel Policy Service Inc., March 2001;
- “Teleworking Pays Benefits in Potential Practice.” The Templeton Reporter, Templeton
& Assoc., Volume VI, No. 2; and
- Viner Samborn, Hope. “Phoning It In: More Lawyers Picking up on Telecommuting.” ABA Journal, January 1999.
Special Note: ALA members have free access to the ALA Reference Desk. Send any question on legal
management here. Staff will conduct
personal research on each question.
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