By Mark S. Britton
Special to the Legal Technology Blog
In 1999, I left the comfort of my law firm for the uncharted waters of online travel. I was hired as the general counsel of my client Expedia.com, at that time a division Microsoft. It was a big change. Suddenly, I was a corporate executive managing a legal team and budget. Suddenly, I was being asked to think through business issues as much as legal issues. Suddenly, I was an operating expense rather than a revenue generating asset.
The list actually goes on and on and aggregates into a professional gearshift that I will always remember -- partly because it was often hair-raising but mostly because I learned so much by submersing myself in the sophisticated Microsoft/Expedia ecosystem. One of my first and greatest lessons was in the area of organizational management, as the entire Expedia organization set up to foster innovation and communication. For example, each manager blocked an hour every week to meet with his or her direct reports. These meetings were called "one-on-ones" and the best managers pursued them religiously.
My first reaction to weekly one-on-ones was that they were largely a waste of time. Wouldn't monthly meetings be enough? What could we possibly have to talk about every week? At each of the law firms I worked for prior to Expedia, I didn't really have a manager. I just did a great job for any partner that asked me to do something and then the department head gave me a review at the end of the year based on the input from the different partners. Totally sufficient -- right?
Well, I quickly realized that I was wrong and probably quite organizationally naive. Through one-on-ones, my boss at Expedia was not trying to make busywork or attempting to spend more time with me. He was reinforcing that communicating between the CEO and general counsel was critical to our legal performance and the health of the overall organization. Over the years, every one-on-one uncovered something important that required direct and honest communication. Maybe it was my team's performance; maybe it was his or the company's performance; maybe it was a briefing on important litigation or a corporate acquisition; maybe it was getting ready for the next board meeting - there was always something. Even today, in a smaller company like Avvo, one-and-ones serve as the best tool we have for pursuing organizational efficiency.
And this is where I would like to offer some advice to every attorney out there that has another attorney, paralegal, administrative assistant, etc. helping drive the practice: Make sure that you are meeting weekly with each employee you manage. Take the time to solicit the employee's thoughts and offer your own. Tell the employee when he has done a great job or a poor job. Lay out for the employee where the firm or an individual case is headed and explain where she fits into the picture. Set objectives for the employee and measure his progress against those objectives. In short, communicate. No matter how big your practice may be, every employee needs a single manager who is constantly critiquing, guiding, supporting and ultimately communicating with the employee.
Now many attorneys will respond, "But our employees work for many different lawyers, they can't have a single manager." I disagree. Every associate -- even in the largest firm -- will have one maybe two partners for whom they do the most work. Have the one or two partners establish objectives for the associate and then have one or both of the partners conduct weekly one-on-ones with the associate.
The result will be partners, associates and other employees who are better informed regarding every aspect of their and the firm's performance. Efficiency and higher output will follow, which simply benefits everyone. A small organizational investment for a substantial return.
Mark Britton is the Founder and CEO of Avvo. He is a 17-year lawyer with deep experience in the legal and e-commerce industries. Mark is the former general counsel of Expedia.com and has worked as an attorney in large, medium and small law firms. In 2007, Mark was named one of Seattle's "Top 25 Innovators" by Seattle Business Magazine. He is also a frequent commentator on financial, legal and other business issues, regularly appearing on programs such as ABC's "Good Morning America," Fox Business's "America's Nightly Scoreboard," CNN "Money" and Dow Jones "MarketWatch."
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