How to Be the Best Lawyer in the World

8/6/2019 How to Be the Best Lawyer in the World

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How to be the best lawyer in the World

I can see you reacting with incredulity.

´There is no such thing!µ

But as Seth Godin says in his wonderful book The Dip:

´Anyone who is going to hire you, buy from you, recommend you, vote for

you, or do what you want them to do is going to wonder if you·re the best

choice. Best as in: best for them, right now, based on what they believe and

what they know. And in the world as in: their world, the world they have

access to.µ

For me, the only way you can lay claim to this accolade is to find your

passion. And then you have to have the self belief (not arrogance) to stretch,

and reach for the top.

But rather than talking in the abstract or an ethereal way, have you set out

´Your best in the World Strategyµ yet?

Of course, you are unlikely to parade that along the corridors of power in

your firm, but have you got a plan of campaign worked out to rise to the top

² the top of your game?

There has been much debate about the regime underpinning CPD, but the

truth is that if you love what you do, have the desire to be the best at what

you do (as judged by your peer group) and are innately curious, then the

idea of CPD seems rather whimsical. You are likely to be so far ahead of the

game with your extra curricula activities that CPD is a mere blip in your

learning, education, personal development and passion for EXCELLENCE.

If you are just beginning your career and are not sure where to start then it is

important not to get lost in the weeds of doing it, doing it, doing it (see

Michael Gerber·s E-Myth Revisited). You have to have a clear vision of how

the best lawyer in the World would practice.



y His/her clients would trust them beyond reproach;

y They had the best work;

y They had the best clients;

y New clients came to them through word of mouth only;

y They were a respected member of the community;

y They gave more than 10% of their time to charitable enterprises;

y They had succeeded in developing people to be the most of anything;

y Clients first was their mantra ² pure and simple;

y They say thank you at least 10 times a day;

y Every project they work on is a WOW project (and everyone around them

thinks so too);

y They say sorry when things go wrong;

y They dream;

y They exist to serve, period;

y They are humble and don·t think they are better than anyone else.

I recognise that the problem with this sort of checklist/mantra is that most

people have a yoke that they carry round ² normally something resembling

the drone like experience of working in a factory, billing their heart out.

As I have said before billing is not the sine qua non of professional practice.

Serving is. Whether that is servant leadership or developing bonds with your

clients. When you have reached the zenith of client service, billing doesn·t

take on the hue of reluctance (Lawyer : ´The client isn·t going to like the size

of this billµ) but you feel a certain degree of accomplishment. The reality is

that the majority of clients will be only too pleased to pay your charges if you

have offered more in value than you have requested in payment.

I know I keep exhorting a style of lawyering that may seem an anathema to

many but all I know is that the market is not going to hang around whilst you

decide if you can, incrementally, make changes to your practice or the

wider firm ethos. I grew a number of practice areas and the driver that

underpinned my intense desire to see things work was not to accept that the

past dictated the future (´We have never acted for clients like that in the

pastµ) but to have the belief that to be thought of alongside of better firms

you have to want to be the best in the World (your World).



Please don·t go away and think that a listing in Chambers or another

directory is going to cut it. I don·t remember many clients ever making much

comment on that when I was talking to them about me and the firm I worked

for. You would be better focusing on the ethics and messages from How to

Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It will pay you in spades

if you live and walk the principles laid out in that seminal work.

Go create your plan.

Adopt an entrepreneurial mindset.

And have a passion for something. Something that you deeply and honestly

believe in.

And don·t give up until you have reached your goal. Remember

perseverance and determination are omnipotent.

~ Julian Summerhayes ~

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How to Be the Best Lawyer in the World