The Gazette 1988

MAY 1 9 88

GAZETTE

The Challenge of Change

that many of us needed to listen to again. He spent time stressing the need for an accurate time recording system and a show of hands in the room proved that very few people actually had a systematic method of recording time. He stressed that the help which time recording is to billing is only one consideration and it was also essential for proper management information as a basis for running a practice. A good time recording system would allow you to assess the profitability of fee earners and various types of work. He went on to link this wi th organising a budget for t he practice. He emphasised that there is often a great deal of resistance from staff to time recording as they see the system as "snooping". He hinted how he had overcome this in his own practice and encouraged us to " s t a rt at the t op ! ". This was a fascinating hour as he went through some of the very basic elements of running a practice. Time and time again he stressed that there is no point at all in trying to develop new areas of business unless the practice is on a sound management base. Robert Parsons gave the next talk and began by stating that he felt that solicitors in Ireland had been

The Law Society, in consultation with John Loosemore and Robert Parsons of Lawyers' Planning Services, Cardiff, organised six seminars in November/December 1987 at Dublin, S/igo, Ballinasloe, Kilkenny, Cork and Limerick. In conducting a review of the seminars, the Public Relations Committee were well pleased at the overall attendances, and the general response. Provocative, obvious, simple, thought-provoking, useful, many were the adjectives used, and thankfully there was no condemnation of the actual content, which did reflect basic simple practices and procedures. The Committee deliberately mounted these seminars to encourage the profession as a whole, and throughout the country, to think and reflect as a single cohesive unit on the purpose and nature of practice, and the need for a system of Corporate/Institutional Advertising to expand and foster the base of Solicitors' Practice and thereby improve the image of that profession. A written survey of reaction,land further suggestions in the same field, is presently being conducted. We, as Solicitors, must respond to this progressive move by the Law Society. Please do respond. Herewith an account of the main points of the seminar as expounded by the speakers. ADRIAN P. BOURKE Chairman P.R. Committee

explained that the seminar would deal with each of these themes. Introducing the topic of office systems, he said he hoped he was not teaching us to "suck eggs". He covered basic elements — opening and closing the files, the post room, accounts, records and how to have an efficient reception area. By the looks on many faces it was obvious that, although these were very basic matters, there were lessons

This whistle stop tour by John Loosemore and Robert Parsons began with nearly 400 sceptical solicitors packed into Blackhall Place, waiting to see whether this really was a seminar that, in the terms of the publicity, " You can't afford to mi ss ". Joh n Loosemore began by outlining the speed at wh i ch changes a f f e c t i ng t he legal profession in many jurisdictions have occurred and by posing the question — " I n order to survive do we need to steal clients from other solicitors?" He went on to talk about the enormous potential that exists in unmet legal need. He said that many marketing consultants state that the market for legal services is limited. That was obviously not his view. He urged the profession to get back to being "men and women of affairs" to whom clients would turn to at first in any situation. He obviously believed that it was possible actually to create new markets for legal services, as well as recovering work recently lost to others. John Loosemore went on to ask, "Wh at is the secret of profitability in a solicitor's office?" He said that the anwer lay in how we handled our stock in trade — our time, the written and spoken word, money, technology, our clients and, most important of all, our staff. He

"Meeting the Chellenge of Chenge" John Loosemoore (left), Robert Parsons and Geraldine Clarke of the Law Society's Public Relations Committee. Blackhall Place, November, 1987. 101