With due regard to the author of a book by the same name, I believe that in today’s corporate environment, one person cannot service a client alone. It takes a team. For example, while I am away on trial, my colleagues are doing yeoman work for “my” (really, our) clients and I am lucky to be working with people who are so willing to jump into help out. With this as framework, I read with great interest Gerry Riskin’s post Witmer thinks some lawyers just fertilize the queen. Gerry read Larry Bodine’s post on comments by Neil Wittmer, Ph. D. and takes considerable umbrage with Dr. Wittmer’s thoughts.
The issue boils down to this:
“According to Witmer, the grinders and drones lack the essential personality elements to develop new business. You cannot change their personalities, and they may be unable to change themselves.”
Witmer’s theory is that the “drones” (I agree with Gerry that it is a most unfortunate choice of terms) should be left in their offices to “do the work” that other lawyers bring in. Gerry’s view is that
It is not personality that drives the client attraction process, but a combination of what the lawyer does and the skill to convey it — skill that almost every lawyer has or is quite capable of acquiring. If you look closely at a law firm’s top rainmakers, you will notice a wide diversity of personalities.
While there is a lot of team-oriented work in a law firm, in many cases the client is choosing the surgeon for the operation — the more specialized the work, the less relevant the personality. If heaven forbid, a dear one needed brain surgery, the doctor's personality is probably the last factor for consideration. (I will yield that in an undifferentiated commodity market personality is far more important but most top firms keep that work to a minimum in favor of specialty work.)
My view is decidely closer to Gerry’s, but not as extreme. As I said above, I believe it takes a village to serve a client. That said, I don’t see room on the team for people who cannot develop a relationship with a client and instill confidence. Talent and personality are minimum traits for everyone in law firm.
Beyond the client service issue, there is room for everyone to market. Marketing is not just sales, and it is not necessarily face to face. But someone needs to generate articles that the rainmaker can bring to a prospect’s attention. Someone needs to put content on the web site. And so forth. We have not yet arrived at the place in life where law firms are nothing more than groups of individual silos. It takes a village (but not a metropolis!).
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