Instititutional Repository of the University of PittsburghProfessor Pat Chew and her co-author, Professor Robert Kelley of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, published “Secrets of the Stars: Looking Outside the Legal Profession for Inspiration” in the November 5, 2009 issue of The American Lawyer. A sample:
Like every other enterprise hit by the meltdown, law firms need to rethink their entire business model. Doing so could be the key to making it through the crisis. For particularly forwardthinking firms, this recession could be an opportunity to adopt a new business model that helps them thrive.
So although lawyers are not accustomed to it, they need to look beyond their current business practices to innovative approaches outside the law firm world that can help them gain a competitive advantage. They should begin with the presumption that their traditional business practices are not good enough anymore.
One of us (Pat Chew) is a law professor, and the other (Robert Kelley) has, along with his company, spent 25 years studying what separates stars from average performers in intellectual-capital jobs at such companies as Hewlett-Packard Company and 3M Company. Law firms could use this business research to get higher productivity from their partners. Instead of firing less productive partners, get a higher return on your investment in them by teaching them how to become star performers. Instead of being satisfied with your current solid-performing partners, improve their productivity even more.
Success is not just about having expert knowledge on a legal subject, managing clients’ work well, or bringing in business. These things are a partner’s baseline job. Instead, partners need to learn how to perform these basic functions with optimal outcomes. This requires an understanding of the work strategies that star performers use.
