Learning from Our Mistakes

By Debra Bruce

A wise person said, “A mistake is not a mistake unless you fail to learn from it.” I made my share of mistakes in my legal career, and here are a few I learned from. I thought I would offer you the chance to learn from some of mine, instead of making them all yourself.

1. Viewing speaking and writing as non-billable time. It is true that we usually can’t bill anyone for those activities or the preparation time required. When I looked at it that way, however, I tended to de-value the activity, and put it behind everything else. Of course, that means I didn’t get around to developing talks or writing articles that would showcase my expertise and expose me to new contacts. The wiser course would have been to view those efforts as important business development activities, so that I would give them the appropriate emphasis.

2. Focusing on prospective clients and not on prospective referral sources. As a corollary to the first law practice management mistake described above, I didn’t take advantage of opportunities to speak to audiences full of referral sources. At a time when I represented small businesses, the managing partner of the regional office of a large national insurance company asked me to give a talk to their sales stars about shareholder agreements in closely held organizations. I never got around to it. I saw it as a favor to them and I didn’t recognize that they would be highly motivated to act like my free sales force convincing business owners that they needed shareholder agreements backed by key-leader life insurance. I didn’t recognize the opportunity, even though I had seen how an initial small project could develop into a significant long-term client. When those life insurance clients didn’t like their existing counsel, or needed a referral for other reasons, I would have been the corporate lawyer all those sales people knew to recommend.

3. Not networking enough with lawyers in other practice groups. As an associate in a large law firm, I billed a lot of hours. Although I liked getting to know the other attorneys, I had my nose to the grindstone so much that I rarely ventured to the other floors. As a partner, even in a smaller firm, I had many additional duties and tended to focus my networking outward. In those years I got a myopic view of firm politics, and missed a lot of opportunities to build or strengthen valuable alliances. Life in a law firm can have striking similarities to the reality television show Survivor, where alliances play a crucial role.

4. Training one subordinate after another on the same thing. The work in a law office requires smart people at all levels, so lawyers tend to develop people-dependent practices. People smart enough to be good lawyers or good legal support staff have multiple employment opportunities, however. As a result, many law firms today experience a lot of turnover. Illness, life changes, or even advancement within the firm can trigger the need to train replacements. After suffering through temporary employees and new trainees a few times, I learned to ask the people I supervised to develop a desk manual respecting their responsibilities. For any redundant work, the manual set out detailed explanations of the procedures involved and the location of the useful or necessary resources. I also established indexed form banks that I could point people to. That made my practice more system-dependent and less people-dependent. I got higher quality product from my direct reports, I spent less of my own time in the delegation process, and I didn’t get crippled when the inevitable turnover occurred.

5. Working myself into poor health. The ranks of lawyers include a lot of workaholics, and I’ve been one of them. When the law firm culture rewards martyrdom in the name of client service or higher revenues, lawyers may fail to recognize the true price they pay. Until I learned to establish some boundaries and engage in self-care, I went into the hospital twice during one pregnancy due to overwork; I allowed a cold to develop into bronchitis and then pneumonia; I experienced a period of excessive weight loss; I missed out on a great vacation that I regretted for years; and once I fell asleep at a stop light while driving home from work. I have not even mentioned the impact on my most important relationships. Looking back on those days from the maturity of my years and the vantage point of experience, what I gained was not worth what I lost.

6. Telling an experienced assistant how I liked things done without asking her how she liked to do things. When I joined a new law firm, I blew it on the very first day. As a result of that faux pas, we got off to a bad start and I experienced a lot of passive-aggressive foot-dragging and low quality work product from a very competent staff member. If I had started out by asking her how she suggested doing things, I might have learned a few new ideas. There would be plenty of time later to develop a working methodology that satisfied us both. I would have had a more willing guide through my initiation at the new firm, and I definitely would have saved myself a lot of frustration over the next few months.

These are just a few of the mistakes I made over the years. I invite you to share with me some of your experiences of “learning the hard way.” I suspect that together we could have enough fodder for quite a few more columns.

© 2008 Debra Bruce

Debra Bruce (www.lawyer-coach.com) practiced law for 18 years before becoming a professionally trained Executive Coach for lawyers. She is Vice Chair of the Law Practice Management Committee of the State Bar of Texas, and board member and past leader of Houston Coaches Network, the Houston Chapter of the International Coach Federation. She welcomes your questions and comments at debra@lawyercoach.com or in the comments section of this newsletter.