Are you where you wanted to be when you started practicing law? Has your law firm grown according to your plan? Did you start out with a plan? Many attorneys don’t have a plan for their practices – they just jump in and start practicing law, and keep doing it, thinking that if they’re good enough and work hard enough, things will just work out.

Unfortunately, things rarely “just work out.” The result is that you work and work until eventually you’re a slave to your practice. Reaching a place where you’re happy and fulfilled with your practice starts with stepping back and asking yourself some fundamental questions about where your law firm really is, and where you want it to be.

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have the basis for making changes to your practice so you can get to a point where your practice works for you…and not the other way around.

I’ve found that there are three simple components to making lasting changes in the way you operate your practice:

1. Have well-defined, specific measurable goals. Most peoples’ “goals” are so vaguely defined that they’re really just dreams
2. Have a structure for honest, consistent measurement of your progress toward the goals. You need to know, step-by-step, how you plan to reach your goals.
3. Find someone to whom you can be accountable for regularly reporting progress on your goals. This is the most important ingredient to actually changing things. You need someone you can trust and who will hold your feet to the fire and make sure you really do what you say you’re going to do.

Setting and reaching goals to transform your practice is one of the topics we’ll be discussing on our teleconference for non-member attorneys coming up on August 10^th. If you’d like to join us, you can send an email to info@aaepa.com, and we’ll be happy to send you the registration information.

Sanford M. Fisch
CEO & C0-Founder
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Road, Suite 240
San Diego, CA 92124
www.aaepa.com

In order to become – and remain – a top performer in any field, it’s my belief that you need a coach.  Even if you’ve been adept at your practice area for decades, you’re not exempt from a basic, universal human truth:  it’s impossible for us to see ourselves the way that others see us.  Because of this, we often judge ourselves based not only on what we actually do, but also on our intentions and motivations. Not so for the people around us; they respond to us based on what we do.

It’s important to have someone who knows your goals and who will honestly and constructively help you see how you really come across, and what the actual impact of your actions is.  How can you make changes and improvements if you don’t really know what you need to do? Even if nothing is particularly wrong, getting a different perspective on things can change your outlook and enrich your professional life.

In addition to giving you an accurate reflection of yourself and helping you figure out what direction you need to take, a coach is someone to whom you can be accountable. Having someone who will keep tabs on how you’re progressing toward your goals, and who will challenge you if you’re falling short on promises you’ve made yourself, is an essential element of actually reaching your destination.

Even Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, has a coach. Consider his Forbes magazine interview on the value of coaching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVfeezxmYcA.

For those of you who do have a coach – how has he or she helped you improve your practice?

Robert Armstrong
President & Co-Founder
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Road, Suite 240
San Diego, CA 92124
(858) 453-2128
www.aaepa.com

Creating a business is not necessarily all about columns of numbers and cash flow. An entrepreneur, and let’s face it, that’s what attorneys with their own practice are, creates a place where employees spend a large percentage of their life and a place where clients can change the course of their lives.

Looking at your law practice as a place where you can have a positive impact on others – can give your life meaning. It can fulfill the dreams you have for yourself and your own family. Empowering talented people you hire to join you in your pursuit to make a difference is one level of success you can measure. By delegating the tasks that don’t require legal advice, you are creating time to make a difference in more clients’ lives and gives you the freedom   to run a business.

Keeping a time log for a short while of all of the “tasks,” busy work and actual legal work that you do is a great place to start when it comes to identifying exactly what you can delegate.

Those attorneys who are unwilling to delegate are often full of excuses as to why their situation is unique instead of putting a plan in place to change their circumstances. Some of the most common excuses not to delegate include:

• I don’t have the staff in place to delegate to
• The staff I have isn’t of the caliber that could handle the responsibility
• My staff is skilled and talented enough but I don’t have time to train them
• I don’t think anyone can do a particular task as well as I can do it

Which one of these is likely the biggest reason? What responsibilities are you hanging onto that would free up your time to do something more meaningful for your practice and your clients?

Jennifer Price
Director, Member Services
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Road, Suite 240
San Diego, CA 92124
(858) 453-2128
www.aaepa.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Robert Armstrong and Sanford M. Fisch Co-Author the E-Myth Attorney

SAN DIEGO, June 18, 2010–Attorneys nationwide have long looked to Robert Armstrong and Sanford M. Fisch as pioneers in law firm practice management. Now, with the publication of The E-Myth Attorney: Why Most Legal Practices Don’t Work and What to Do About It (ISBN 0470503653, Wiley, http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Attorney-Legal-Practices-About/dp/0470503653), Armstrong and Fisch are showing attorneys everywhere exactly how to build a successful legal practice while enjoying a balanced life.

Armstrong and Fisch, co-founders of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc. (AAEPA, www.aaepa.com), co-authored The E-Myth Attorney with small business expert Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. Though the authors are estate planning attorneys, the principles they lay out in The E-Myth Attorney can be used to build a thriving legal business regardless of practice type or law firm size.

“This is a NOW read for attorneys. Gerber, Armstrong, and Fisch hit the mark by applying E-Myth principles to the legal profession,” stated Larry V. Parman of Parman & Easterday. “The attorney’s unspoken fear is, ‘What happens if I’m not here’ [The E-Myth Attorney] is a roadmap for creating systems that make a business out of a practice, one that works for you, not you for it… Live and apply these principles and watch what happens to your practice… and your life.”

While most attorneys have a solid understanding of the technical aspects of a legal practice, far fewer have the training or experience needed to run a successful business. The E-Myth Attorney combines Gerber’s business development expertise with Armstrong and Fisch’s experience in implementing legal practice management systems to bridge the gap between attorney and entrepreneur.

The E-Myth Attorney serves as a blueprint for building a practice that attracts qualified clients and produces exceptional work, while allowing time for family and a fulfilling life outside of work. Equally valuable for start-ups and existing practices, the book details the systems and processes Armstrong and Fisch developed in their own successful California law firm. In fact, the American Academy, a national membership organization for attorneys, was built on the foundation of these very same principles. Those systems give attorneys the tools they need to balance successful estate planning practices with quality of life.

A limited number of attorneys will receive The E-Myth Attorney free for participating in the Academy’s August 10, 2010 teleseminar, “7 Deadly Law Firm Mistakes That Can Kill Your Estate Planning Practice.” Though Armstrong and Fisch have co-authored estate planning books for consumers, The E-Myth Attorney is the authors’ first book for attorneys. The authors’ blog, blog.aaepa.com, gives attorneys additional insight into systems and how they serve as the foundation of a thriving practice. Learn more about The E-Myth Attorney and the AAEPA at www.aaepa.com.

For further information please contact:
Erin Laverty
Event and Publicity Coordinator
(858) 453-2128
erin@aaepa.com

Jennifer Price
Director, Member Services
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
(858) 453-2128
www.aaepa.com

In an ideal world, no one would.  However, in the real world, we form an impression of a person in the first 30 seconds to 2 minutes after we meet him or her.

Okay, you may be thinking.  I’m willing to sacrifice a little upfront PR for comfort since I’ll have the chance to impress them later with my business acumen.  Don’t count on it.  Recent research suggests that, not only are first impressions hard to change, if someone makes a negative first impression on us, we’re less likely to seek that person out again. So while initial impressions can be changed, human nature works against us having the opportunity to do so.

Why do Clothes Matter?

You are seen before you are heard. As a result, before you open your mouth, your appearance has already spoken volumes about you. Whether the other person realizes it or not, s/he has already made assumptions about your competence, intelligence, judgment and so forth.  In fact, according to Dr. Albert Mehrabian’s research, our visual image (physical appearance and body language) accounts for over half of the first impressions we create.

Are People That Superficial?

Yes we are, although not quite in the way you might think. Because we have so much going on in our brains, our ancestors learned to make mental shortcuts, i.e., simple rules to help us categorize and make quicker decisions about things we encounter. Unfortunately, these often lead to unconscious biases where we tend to see what we expect.  In other words, people are affected by your appearance, whether or not they realize it, and whether or not they think appearance is important.

So here’s how this works when it comes to what we wear. Two psychological shortcuts people use are the “halo effect” and its opposite, the “devil effect.”  The “halo effect” is our tendency, if our first impression involves one or two positive things about a person, to develop a generally positive overall impression, sometimes in spite of later evidence to the contrary. And, of course, the “devil effect” is the opposite side of the same coin.

A Lapse in Judgment or Fashion Faux Pas?

In other words, the reason what we wear to work is important is because of what our attire represents. What’s really being evaluated by what you wear is your judgment – how well you understand the social rules of the context you are in and whether or not you are willing to follow them.

An attorney who shows up for court has the same skill level whether he’s dressed in blue jeans or business formal. However, he is likely to get a very different reception from the judge, who is likely to assume a Levi-clad attorney either doesn’t know the social codes or doesn’t care about them. And, from a client’s perspective, an attorney who doesn’t “look” like a lawyer isn’t likely to inspire confidence that she can excel as one.

The Bottom Line

No, it shouldn’t matter if a woman wears a tight, pencil skirt or a man wears Birkenstocks and Bermudas as long as s/he excels at work. But know that to some people, it does.

Dr. Joni E. Johnston is the founder and CEO of WorkRelationships, a corporate training and consulting company specializing in workplace mental health problems as well as employee conduct issues including workplace harassment, workplace violence, and effective discipline/termination. Dr. Johnston has been performing human resource seminars for professional groups and industry associations since she founded her interpersonal risk management firm in 1991.

Dr. Johnston writes a monthly column for HR.Com and HR Gateway, serves on the advisory board of a European-based HR publication, and has served as an independent expert in numerous employment lawsuits. She is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Psychology and Appearance Obsession: Learning to Love the Way You Look.

Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys
6050 Santo Road, Suite 240
San Diego, CA 92124
www.aaepa.com