I Heart Tech

Why Your Documents Look Like Crap and I Think I'm In Love

A lot of tough love going on at I ♥ Tech this week so sit up and take it like a lawyer! For today's digital lashing, I'm going to piggy-back on someone else's program. I stumbled across this great post titled "Why Our Agreements Looks Like Crap" from attorney Michael J. O'Sullivan who writes about "issues encountered by corporate lawyers" at his blog ; provided, however,. I think I love this guy (I fall in tech love very easily). I found his points insightful and quite lawyerly. He points out some technical, possibly strategic and historical reasons as to why your documents look like crap (finally someone else who isn't afraid to call ugly ugly) but he doesn't hit on the root of all this formatting evil: lack of training. However, there is always me to do that...

He begins by describing one of the biggest failure points when it comes to creating and maintaining  good looking documents: OP. OTHER PEOPLE. I hear this excuse all the time. And likely from the same person that the OP are pointing their fingers right back at.The ugly truth is that most legal professionals don't really truly madly deeply know how to create complex legal documents. I don't care what your secretary tells you. As a matter of fact, most don't even know how to properly format a simple one page letter. There is an embarrassing amount of spacing and tabbing that goes on in the Word docs I often encounter. Microsoft Word is a complex program to a point. It's not that it's hard to use, it really isn't - and you are all very smart people. The thing about Word is that it's a structure snob and if you don't meet its standards, it spits on you. It requires some training. Just some, not even a lot. You wouldn't believe what one measly hour of learning will gain you.  Need some dollar figures to convince you? Read this other great post: Beware the Hidden Costs of Bad Formatting.

So get yourself some training and then get some for your clients too. Here's a thought: offer your most important clients (or their staff) some training. Get your trainer or bring one in *ahem*cough*cough* for a document workshop and figure out how to collaborate on the stream of documents you are and will be working on. Your clients will love you for it. Consider it part of your Make Our Clients Love Us and Want Us Campaign.

At this point I am SO SURE that you are SO INSPIRED to get some training that you CAN'T WAIT one more second! Yes? Yes! Let me lead you to some water: Typography for Lawyers by Matthew Butterick, lawyer, graphic designer, genius. Again, who is this guy? And I think I love him too! I implore you to take some time and read every page of this wonderful resource.

My friends, here is the thing, this day and age - your documents (along with all your other digital communications and exchanges) are a reflection of your commitment to the use of technology in your practice, which of course exists to help you better serve your clients.<VBG>.

Famous Law Firm Last Words: I'll Never Do That

I am going to take one tiny moment and NO pleasure in saying:

I TOLD YOU SO!

Yes, all caps and in red. I TOLD YOU SO. There are only a handful of you whose faces and names I can remember, but the rest of you, you know who you are...

Hey Legal Assistant, in the unemployment line...remember the time I invited you to a Word class on creating an automatic table of contents? You confidently, perhaps even defiantly, replied "I'll never need to know how to do that". She believed in job security, ga'bless'er. Just last week I was at a firm offering an Excel class and an Outlook class, one of the paralegals came in and sat down expecting the Outlook session to start, when she realized I was about to start Excel, she got up, pushed her chair in and said, "I'll be back for Outlook, I don't use Excel." Seriously? First, who REALLY doesn't use Excel? What paralegal with half a brain couldn't identify SOME way that Excel could be use on SOME matter SOME where? The more truthful statement would have been. "I'm comfortable in doing my job the way I do it, I'm very busy and I have no interest in expanding my skills in a way that 1) might make my job easier 2) might help my attorney better review or work on a matter and 3) I have no interest in learning how we can better serve our clients.

Whoa! Wait a minute, behind you, Legal Assistant, ...is that? Oh my, it sure is... it's Laid-Off C.O.O! I know you VERY well,  Mr-I-Have-People-That-Do-That-For-Me. Who's updating your resume and your cover letters now?  Don't you wish now you had taken a couple of those salaried hours of mine and learned how to perform simple tasks in Word and Excel? Yep. I know you do.

Esquire! You here too!? Wow. Remember the time, I begged and pleaded you to attend a lunch and learn on BASIC Word skills for lawyers? Or how about that totally awesome Training Golf Challenge that the entire firm participated in BUT you?

And you there, you look familiar...ahhhh yes, now I remember you.  You are that firm administrator that looked me in the eye at last years Central Florida ALA Partner Expo and said "Oh, we don't need training."

As a trainer (I'm more than "just a trainer" btw) I face these people every day. I'm always amazed at the number of people who turn - if not  RUN away from training. In this case, I'm of course, I'm referring to computer and legal technology training but certainly the thought can be applied more broadly.

I'm contracted by a large firm with several offices in two states to provide their new-hire training as well as to offer regularly scheduled and varied monthly training sessions. At first, attendance in those sessions (which are webinars kept to 30, 45 or 60 mins) was sparse. Just a few of those types who actually chase after these opportunities would loyally attend. But little by little as the word got out from them to their peers and to their office administrators about how useful the sessions have been, I've seen a steady growth in attendance. Hmmm, am I that good or the economy that scary?

What can you do to promote training and attendance in your firm? Well, here are a few things to consider:

1. Keep sessions short and relevant. Don't offer a 3-hour "Word for Lawyers" session, instead offer a 45 minute session like "Top Ten Things Every Attorney Should Know About Word".
2. If your state requires CLE, look into applying and getting it for your technology sessions. Most states offer it and it's pretty easy to qualify.
3. Be sure you have a likable and trusted trainer in front of your attorneys and staff. Not every Help Desk tech is right for a training job. See my old post about this topic.
4. If a billable hour is to be lost, make it worthwhile. Be sure they walk away satisfied - no THRILLED that they attended and with some new skills that they can use the minute they get back.

If you are lucky enough to have a firm that offers training and development - in any area - be sure to attend or sign up for upcoming sessions - do it today. If you don't have that sort of resource inhouse, but would like some help, maybe I can help. I offer legal technology training sessions either in person or over the web at times that are convenient for you and your firm.

Successful Training? Offer Happy Hour

Feliz Cinco De Mayo! Do you have a favorite bar you'll be visiting this afternoon? Yeah, me too. Take a sec and think about what makes it your favorite bar.

...giving you time to think...

Did you come up with things like great atmosphere, good music, love the bartender?

I bet many of you, like me, rank a bar based on the bartender(s). Bartenders are fascinating characters in our society. They become our best friends, our confidants, our counselors and sometimes even our mates (Whatever. Don't act like I'm the only one who's been there.) Even an ugly bartender can become attractive and keep you coming back as long as other important "bartender elements" are in place.

In our world of law firms and legal tech, the person you allow to interface between technology and the people is often a trainer, or a help desk attendant. They ARE your firm's bartenders. Used wisely, they can be the most valuable weapon in your technology arsenal.

As a free-lancing trainer, I'm often asked by clients what they should be looking for in a full-time trainer. The answer is quite simple: they, like bartenders, must be likable.

A really good trainer is first and foremost naturally likable and liked by everyone - by partners, associates,  word processors, staff, even by outside vendors. If they show up with a copy of The Likeability Factor : How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life's Dreams, think twice about hiring him or her. Think about this...you have to find (or be) a person who an attorney is willing to trade-in a billable hour for.

Second, they need to be trainable. They should have a broad knowledge base that can easily and willingly be expanded and connected. Every mixologist graduates with the same skill-set. But based on the bar, region, holiday, clientele, etc, they are constantly learning and perfecting new concoctions. They are not afraid to say. "Never heard of that one! How's it go?" They need to love learning and experimenting as much as they do teaching. I worked at a firm once where the other trainer couldn't accept work outside her training scope. She truly believed that she was "just a trainer". That meant, not sitting at the help desk or participating in roll-outs. Can you imagine? Everything I know is from doing just those things. Guess you better not hire any prima donna's.

They also need to be incredibly perceptive. They need to be able to hear, smell and touch thirsty. Good story for you:  After a 3 hour training session with a group of secretaries, a trainer came out and said to me, "What a great class! They were so good, they were really fast learners. This upgrade is going to be a breeze." Well, upon further investigation (we simply asked), we found that the trainees weren't getting it, weren't following along and found her patronizing and annoying. She couldn't tell. She was terrible and so was her training. These types of trainers are often encountered when you hire a national training firm whose goal is to meet contractual needs and just put bodies on the floor...but that, my friends, is for another day. The situation was remedied (she was let go and they were offered extra deskside training) but it wasn't without some pain.

So keep in mind, your bar is only as good as your bartender. How's that saying go about customers...if they like it they'll tell one person but if they hate it they'll tell ten?  Get it as right as you can, because as with customers, with users you only get one chance.