Every law firm has people.
People need instructions to do their jobs well.
They need processes.
They need systems.
They need procedures.
They need checklists.
They need key performance indicators to know if they're
doing the job the way you want the job done or not.
While RJon was away, Team RJon came to play.
Well the cats out of the bag
now folks.
But we're still here bringing you our favorite and most importantly, actionable
insights to RJon's newest book Profit First For Lawyers.
We're going to help you
accelerate your law firm's growth so that you can experience more
profit in every aspect of your life.
We're also going to be providing
some behind the scenes footage at what it's really like to
work with RJon Robins.
So
put your B.S.
aside for
the next few minutes and put your yourself, your family, your
firm, and your profit first.
Welcome back to another episode of The Profit First For Lawyers Podcast.
My name is Karli, and today
we're continuing in our seven part series on the Seven Main Parts
of Every Successful Law Firm.
If you haven't seen the previous episodes in this series, I highly recommend
that you go check those out first.
We have links in our show notes for easy access to those.
So click those.
Watch those.
Come back to this one.
I am going to continue on in a little segment.
We at the studio here like to call Tea
Time with Karli.
Where I
outline why chapter five was the absolute bane of my existence, even though it
is my absolute favorite chapter today.
And
then we're going to go into kind
of the meat and potatoes of today's
episode where RJon's going to talk
about part four of the seven main parts of every successful law firm.
And then, don't go anywhere, folks, because we are wrapping things up with
another clip from the cutting room floor.
You're not going to want to miss
this one, so stay tuned.
For now...
wait, did you hear that whistling?
Oh, that means the kettle's hot.
It's time for tea.
When last we left our
heroes...
So RJon's attempt
number two to get through chapter five in the studio had been a complete
failure .And we had left me at the desk furiously reworking the original
transcript for use the next day.
Okay, so now I'm back at my computer.
I'm typing up a storm.
We're editing, melding, taking
feedback that RJon had gave
me the day before.
We're smoothing out the rough edges.
I fall into bed that night.
I am completely just an exhausted heap.
And the next
morning I meet RJon in his kitchen
very early.
He's cooking breakfast, and like when I say early, I mean early.
Like the rest of the family was still all sleeping.
And I was there, I was gripping my laptop really tightly in my
hands to keep them from shaking.
And I approached the cooking
entrepreneur, Mr.
RJon, and I was
nervous like you would not believe.
And before I can even say a word with his back, still turned to me.
Does the man have eyes in the back of his head?
He says.
"Did you do it?"
And I injected some confidence into my tone and I said, "Yeah, I think so."
So I opened my laptop.
I laid it out on the table with a bit of a flourish, but he says as
he turns around and he's rushing around the kitchen cooking, right?
And
he says, "Karli, this would
be much more helpful if you just read it to me."
So I started to read.
I'm sitting at the kitchen table, but he can't hear me above the
noise of sausage sizzling in a pan.
And I'm not going to speak any
louder with the rest of his family all sleeping upstairs,
right?
I don't want to wake anybody
up.
So I end up picking up my laptop.
It's open, and I'm
n around his
kitchen, just like a little duckling.
Oh, I'm giving the performance of my life reading this chapter to him.
My heart completely stops as he interrupts me about halfway through, and he asks,
"Is the rest of the chapter like this?"
Now like I couldn't interpret his tone, but I really braced for the worst.
And I said, "Yes."
And he said, "Great.
I think that'll work.
Let's do it."
Woo!
The instant relief.
So we pack up breakfast.
No, we eat the breakfast.
We pack up our binders.
We head to the studio for an exciting day knocking out chapter five at last.
But spoiler alert, it did not work.
Oh, it absolutely did not work.
Well, that's
where I'm going to leave the
story today, folks.
Now let's get into the meat and potatoes of this particular lesson.
So in the
following clip, RJon's going to
outline what the fourth main part of every successful and unsuccessful
law firm is and how to get it in alignment so that it works for you.
If you're watching this on YouTube, folks, don't adjust your screen.
This clip is audio only.
Let's go ahead and roll the clip.
The fourth main part of every successful law firm is the people.
Do you have a written job description for the job of the receptionist, secretary,
paralegal, junior, associate, senior associate, rainmaker, manager, or anyone?
Do you have key performance indicators that you use to engineer each job
so that you can make sure that each job is designed to be profitable
and not just leave it to chance?
Do you have objective criteria and clear job descriptions that will
give your staff some protection?
Protection against what you ask?
Protection against you.
That's what they need protection from.
They need protection for when you come in ranting and raving, asking
your people, "Why didn't you do this?
Why didn't you do that?
Your staff needs protection against you.
Job descriptions allow your people to say, "Look, this is clearly
within the realm of my job."
Job descriptions also will allow your employees to say, "Look, this is
clearly outside the scope of my job.
If you want me to do this, let's put it inside the scope
of my job, and that's okay.
We can revise my job description, but don't start yelling at me for doing
things that I'm not supposed to do."
This is not an excuse for someone to just say, "That's not my job.
I'm not going to do that."
You don't want to have someone like that working for you.
But you do want people who know clearly whose job is what, .Because
when it's everyone's job, then it becomes no one's job, and that is
when things fall through the cracks.
Another reason to have key performance indicators is so that
you have objective data and metrics.
By which to judge the performance of your employees.
That way the employee is protected from favoritism, and this way you are
protected from accusations of favoritism.
Let me give an example.
Bob has a big personality and everyone likes Bob because he's Mr.
Big Personality.
Mary, she doesn't have a big personality.
Everyone doesn't necessarily love Mary because she doesn't have a
big friendly personality like Bob.
Now, without clear job descriptions, without key performance indicators,
without objective data and metrics to use to manage Bob versus Mary, who
both have the same job, we all know
how this is going to go down
most of the
time.
Bob is going to be the one
who gets the promotions.
Bob is going to get the bonuses.
Mary is going to get overlooked.
Mary is going to get passed over for opportunities because you
are going to end up gravitating towards big personality, Bob.
But when you look at the data.
When you look at the metrics and the key performance indicators, you're going to
be able to see that objectively speaking, Mary is the more valuable, profitable,
productive, and more reliable employee.
The point is you need proper job descriptions.
The jobs need to be engineered to be profitable for the employee.
The job needs to be engineered to be profitable for the clients.
And the job needs to be obviously engineered to be profitable for the
law firm and for you as the owner.
I have had KPIs for just about every job that I've had since college.
I've never really heard them explained in this way and in how
it not only protects the employer,
but also it protects
me as the employee.
And I think it really goes back to, you know, part three
when we were talking about
production, that, you know, it's a great non-biased,
unbiased way to measure
performance.
And to attack behavior
rather than people, rather than the employee itself, right?
And even me as the employee, it's a great way for me to measure my own performance
in a really unbiased way and to make sure that I'm always driving towards the goal.
And I've never used my KPIs that way before.
I've never thought about them that way
until I heard RJon talk about
this subject in this manner.
We have one last clip for you today, folks.
This is a deleted scene from the cutting room floor from the outtakes of the
many attempts to record this chapter.
In
this clip, RJon is talking
about the purpose behind getting these seven main parts in alignment and how to
really make sure that your business works for you and not the other way around.
Let's roll it.
Of course.
I would want to see that there are systems and processes and
procedures that would allow the business to continue functioning.
Even if the owner were to go away for a little while or a long time,
or maybe even gets hit by a bus.
I actually know a lawyer who actually got hit by a bus.
Yeah, no joke.
Say that.
Sorry.
I've heard you say that a few times.
I didn't realize that was a real story.
Well, there's a euphemism, a thing people say, you know, if you get
hit by a bus, but I know a lawyer who actually got hit by a bus.
I know a lawyer who get hit by a bus.
I know a lawyer who got attacked by a seal.
I don't mean like a Navy Seal, I mean like an actual seal.
I have a, he showed me a video of him getting attacked by a seal.
He had to take a couple
weeks off because he got
bit on the foot by a seal.
Wow.
New fear unlocked.
I know a lawyer who had a epileptic attack, seizure.
Never in her life ever had
this happened in her whole
life until she was like in her thirties, mid
thirties.
And then all of a sudden out of nowhere,
bam.
It just happened.
Life happens.
You know what?
Every single personal injury lawyer can tell you that every single
one of their clients all have in common, without one single exception?
None of them expected to get in the car wreck the morning they woke up, left the
house, and got in the car wreck, right?
Life just happens Anyway, the point is, I
wouldn't want to invest in
a business, and I don't want your family to be invested in a business
that is being run by the most brilliant, amazing, wonderful, spectacular
person in the world, i e you.
Unless the business has processes and systems and procedures for how the
business will continue to function.
How each of these seven main parts of the business will continue to
function even if you have to step away for a little or a long time.
Maybe for good reasons.
Maybe you decide to go to your best friend's wedding.
Maybe you decide to go on a vacation.
Maybe you decide to take your kids on a college tour.
The point is it doesn't always have to be doom and gloom.
We want to build a business that is
sustainable.
We want to build a business
that can operate independently of you and your brilliance.
Otherwise, it's not a business, it's just a practice.
It's just a job.
So when we look at law firms, and I've been looking at these law firms
for a long, long time, ever since 1999 when I started working at the
Florida Bar's Law Office Management Assistance Service, and
what I'm sharing with you is not my prescription.
I'm not telling you this is how I want it to be.
I'm not telling you this is how it should be.
I'm reporting to you the reality of how things actually are.
In reality, there are only seven main parts of every successful
law firm.
And they are the
same seven main parts of every struggling law firm.
The difference between the successful law firms and the struggling law
firms is the difference between the degree to which the owner or owners of
the firm, #1 are even
aware of these seven main
parts.
And #2, attend to,
thinks through.
Makes these seven main parts work in a systematic, organized,
intentional, logical way.
And then of course manages them and maintains them.
Because just like any other machine, it needs maintenance from time to time.
And if your business is growing, it means it's probably outgrowing one or more
of these seven main parts all the time.
At least I hope it is.
Otherwise it's stagnant.
And that's what we have for you today, folks.
I hope you found this episode helpful.
Be sure to tune in next time as we have a special guest interview with
our friendly neighborhood cameraman.
You've heard me mention his name pretty frequently and you've even
heard his voice in the background of some of our studio clips.
Here to regale us with his
favorite RJon stories
and share his favorite pieces of
wisdom is, Dillon.
You are not going to want to miss
this one.
We'll see you then.
Thank you for joining us on another episode of Profit First For Lawyers.
If you're enjoying what you're hearing, tell a friend.
And buy your copy of
the book at www.ProfitFirstForLawyers.com.
Your future self will thank you for it and we will see you next time.