http://www.patrickmckenna.com/blog
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Post #802 – November 10, 2018
Legal Leadership: A Handbook for Future
Success
 I’m pleased to have contributed a chapter to Legal Leadership, a NEW book
providing relevant guidance from those on the frontline of law firm
leadership and management, to serve as the catalyst for change and
the foundation on which a strong leadership practice can be built.
Drawing on their expertise, the authors – ranging from
behavioral psychologists to senior management figures and professional
coaches – present a wide range of strategies to cultivate as part of a
leader’s personal and professional development.
Whether you are already a member of your firm’s senior management
or in a junior position with big aspirations, this text should provide
some tools that you can put to practical use.
https://www.ark-group.com/product/legal-leadership-handbook-future-success-0#.W-W9k62ZNE6
Post # 800 – November 1, 2018
Every New Innovation Can Look Like a Failure in the Middle
 In the
"middle," you can overspend resources; both time and money, because
forecasts are always overly optimistic. You should expect to have the
unexpected pop up that no one knew would be there. After all, no one has
been down this path before.
And the middle is when
the critics attack. Opponents start to notice and will offer favorable
comments about the project . . . only when it looks like it might be a winner.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/every-new-innovation-can-look-like-failure-middle-patrick-j-mckenna/
Post # 799 – October 20, 2018
The
Advent of The Legal Practice’s Micro Niches (Part 2)
 Today, firms are facing yet another
structural and marketing challenge, that which I have come to call, “Tech-Driven Hybrids.” These are
practices that are not simply conventional in that they require a level of
expertise that goes beyond any one vertical (e.g., may require
regulatory plus tax, plus IP), and they are practices that extend beyond
impacting just one industry in that their effect will likely be felt in a good
number of different industries.
What are
the micro niches in your legal practice? And how can you use them to find new
clients and better service your existing ones?
http://www.legalexecutiveinstitute.com/legal-practice-micro-niche-part-2/
Post # 798 – October 5, 2018
The
Advent of Micro Niches (Part 1)
 There was a
time when we simply organized our law firms vertically, by the same subject
matter we studied in law school — a corporate practice, a litigation practice,
a labor and employment practice and so forth.
So that today, we tend to think of the typical labor and employment practice
as highly commoditized with practitioners doing low-value work for highly
discounted fees. In the real world,
however, those looking at the trends, monitoring the pace of change, and
exploring where new client needs may be, are discovering the answers might be
in highly-specialized micro-niches.
What are
the micro niches in your legal practice? And how can you use them to find new
clients and better service your existing ones?
http://www.legalexecutiveinstitute.com/legal-practice-micro-niche-part-1
Post #797 – October 1, 2018
Everything
You Need To Know Has An Expiration Date
 As a professional one
of the things we tend to ignore and overlook is that everything we know has an
expiration date. In an earlier era, many professionals retired having
practiced in the same area, having attained competency and then spent their
time doing pretty much the same thing from the day they entered their
profession. Today, continuous learning and skill building are conditions
precedent to maintain a healthy career.
Read this entire article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/everything-you-know-has-expiration-date-patrick-j-mckenna
Post #796 – September 15, 2018
For
A Truly Different Perspective on The Big 4
 There is a lot of buzz throughout the legal profession as of
recent, regarding the threat coming from the large accounting firms. However, it should be noted that the Big Four
accounting and audit firms – KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC – are in trouble like
never before. They face a multitude of
existential pressures all at once. First,
traditional accounting has been hit with a series of major (and expensive)
auditing scandals, such as TBW-Colonial and Lehman Brothers in the US;
Carillion in the UK; and the Guptas in South Africa.
One result is widespread concern that the current style of
auditing has become a hollow ritual that provides little assurance for investors,
lenders and employees. Regulators are
talking about forcibly breaking up the Big Four in the UK, taking antitrust
action in Italy, and pulling back from relying on the firms to advise the
government in Australia. In China, the
government is creating new firms to take on the Big Four in the marketplace.
Changing times are bringing a range of disruptions: Technologies
— such as digital analytics, cognitive AI, big data and blockchain — are
rapidly making old forms of auditing obsolete. A new era of transparency
(including a culture of hair-trigger leaking) is undermining services that
depend on secrecy, such as Big Four tax avoidance services; think Lux Leaks,
Paradise Papers and Panama Papers.
Within the Big Four sphere, tensions have been mounting, including
increasing conflicts between advisory services and auditing as firms enter new
fields, such as marketing, law, real estate and IT. And the #Metoo
movement has exposed a darker underside within the firms’ cultures. Finally, the limitations of the Big Four’s
thinly capitalized international franchise structures make it difficult to
change direction, or to make large investments in IT and IP. Without
conventional corporate structures, the firms can’t raise capital easily.
That’s not to suggest that they
are not a threat to the legal profession only to cite some of the external
changes that the Big 4 are having to contend with. For more on this subject, check out the
writings of Professor Ian Gow at the University of Melbourne.
Post # 795 – August 22, 2018
 In new white paper published
by Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute, authors Patrick J. McKenna and
David J. Parnell delve into what it takes to be a law firm leader today,
culling valuable insight from a survey of law firm leaders and identifying some
key issues related to the role of being firm chair or managing partner.
The white paper is based on
a comprehensive 30-question survey, distributed in June and July to a group of
about 300 law firm leaders, many among the Am Law 100 and 200 ranked
firms. The data uncovered some surprising
and potentially valuable findings, according to the authors.
For example, they found that
many leaders of America’s largest firms who are managing multi-million-dollar
businesses are too often thrust into the role with minimal planning time and no
clear job description. “They’re given
next to no formal preparatory training and are expected to either sink or
swim,” the authors write. “ Further, they’re expected to approach the end of
their term with no precise parachute or exit agreement in place when they decide
to step down or retire.”
Not surprisingly, the survey
found that a majority of today’s law firm leaders — no matter the firm size —
see the challenges they are facing as far more complex than even just a few
years ago, and a percentage of them reported feeling “almost overwhelming at
times.”
You can download a free copy of the
“State of Law Firm Leadership 2018” white paper here.
http://www.legalexecutiveinstitute.com/white-paper-law-firm-leadership-2018
Post #794 – August 22, 2018
Law
Practice Management 2.0 Conference
Join me October 4th at the
University of Chicago, Gleacher Center. We will begin by exploring how one
might organize new ‘tech-driven hybrid’ groups like Blockchain or Synthetic
Biology; hear directly from panels of highly-experienced Practice Group Leaders
and Chief Practice Officers; participate in an interactive exercise with the
LEADING EXPERT in the field of “virtual distance;” hear first-hand, from the
professions’ leading client research firm concerning why some practices thrive
and others dwindle; and conclude our day by venturing outside the comfortable
corridors of our profession to hear from one of the most distinguished leaders
in the accounting world.
https://www.ark-group.com/sites/default/files/PracticeManagement%202018_Chicago_OCT%204_1.pdf
Post #
793 – Friday, June 29, 2018
Get Your Free E-Book: Leadership Lessons From The Trenches
 I’m
pleased to announce that my good friends at Legal
Business World, Joek Peters and Allard Winterink, have published a
collection of my leadership articles and are making them available as an e-book
at no cost for you to download or read on line.
This 120-page
book is a compilation of some 34 concise, leadership tips containing pithy,
pragmatic and sometimes, provocative advice on everything from how the best
leaders get exactly what they expect to being a good coach to your colleagues
(contained in Part One: In The Trenches With Colleagues) – and – from how to
signal what you value as a leader to why those supposed ‘best practices’ are
not always best (in Part Two: In The Trenches With Your Team).
These
meanderings were inspired by those I’ve had the honor of working with, were fun
to write and so I hope equally rewarding to read; but more importantly provide
some guidance on how you can make your leadership journey more meaningful for
those you serve and more personally gratifying for yourself.
For your PDF
Download copy – go to:
http://www.leadership.legalbusinesslibrary.com/index-h5.html?page=1
AUGUST 20: My
good friends at Legal Business World (https://twitter.com/LegalBizWorld), Joek
Peters and Allard Winterink, advised that my collection of leadership
articles made available as an e-book, at no cost for you to download or read online, has been warmly received - OVER 9600 copies downloaded thus far!
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