Okay, I’ll give you a clue – ‘Declan took charge, or rather, he thinks he took charge. But he did smash the timer.’

The LPM Shake’n’Fix brings those who work in, and with, the legal profession, a down-to-earth round-up of updates, and weekly recommendations and tips! Shaken, not stirred.

Welcome back!

Article Round-Up

Throughout the week, I come across 10s, sometimes 100s of articles, posts and blogs, with many containing really useful information for the legal profession. This week, I came across just two that really stood out to share with you all:

Emotional Intelligence Has 12 Elements. Which Do You Need to Work On? (hbr.org) Emotional intelligence comprises of four domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Don’t short change your development as a leader by assuming that emotional intelligence is all about being sweet and chipper. There’s much more to it. This article is excellent!

(1) Meeting the SRA’s Mark: Lessons Learned from Recent Residual Balance Cases | LinkedIn Even the best teams struggle to eliminate them entirely, but the SRA expects robust systems for managing and returning client funds. (Article by Matt Pennington)

Top Tip

This week’s top tip comes direct from Clara Rose:

“Treat your CV as a diary and record your best deals, projects, outcomes, and your most challenging work – whatever is relevant to your role and as it happens. So when you look back at a role when updating your CV, it is far less daunting. This is also very helpful for appraisals and internal applications for promotion. It is also useful for managers to do the same with those in their team – record their wins, so you have them ready for discussion.”

IMPORTANT Compliance Update

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) is changed its postal address on Monday 22 January 2024.

This date has passed, so if your firm has not done this yet – get to it! I have seen lots of law firm websites this week that still have the old address on the complaints page.

The Legal Ombudsman’s new postal address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH

Further details can be found under: The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has change of postal address that requires law firms to change their information 2024. (ilfm.org.uk)

Book of the Week

On Monday 22 January, a game-changing book was published. I was invited to be interviewed for this book, where I feature as a ‘Wise Person’. This was alongside some seriously great people within the legal profession who were also interviewed, so I feel pretty honoured to see my name in print.

Therefore it makes sense, and to be fully transparent, to definitely plug this book this week.

If you didn’t work out why the penguin before, then you will now:

Author of ‘Ditch the Billable Hour’ is the wonderful gentleman, Shaun Jardine. He is unashamedly and unapologetically a disruptor within the legal profession. Shaun’s mantra is “What you do today, will determine your tomorrow.“

The book is incredible and for those considering value-based pricing, this is an essential handbook to have in your library.

You can buy the book here: Ditch The Billable Hour! Implementing Value-Based Pricing in a Law Firm – Shaun Jardine (hawksmoorpublishing.com)

Oh, and for those that are not sure who Declan is, check out Shaun’s website, Big Yellow Penguin.

Recommended LinkedIn Follow of the Week*

This is a lucky week, I have a 2-for-1 recommended follow. These two ladies know their ‘black letter’ HR and have fine tuned a straight-talking approach to assist SME law firms.

Helen Kirk-Blythe HR Consultant and Helen Manson HR Consultant, from ComplexHR.

Their LinkedIn posts always have snippets of super useful information, all done in an easy to read and/or watch and relatable manner. Plus, they are hilarious. We had a wonderful catch-up this week, and discussed everything from flexible working, to the numerous employee policies for law firms, right across to Trinny’s BFF cream.

Upcoming Events 2024

Key events that I recommend attending for the year ahead (updated weekly):

Mastering Legal Practice Management: Essentials for Law Firm Success ⚖️📈 | LinkedIn 📅 Monday 29 January ⏲ 3pm – 6pm 📍 LinkedIn Live (Online) 🎟 Free (I will be speaking with Robert Hanna and Henry Nelson-Case, and these guys have such a great vibe, so it will hopefully be an informative yet fun session).

VWV Approach – 10th anniversary seminar and celebration – VWV Plus 📅 Tuesday 6 February ⏲ 3pm – 6pm 📍 VWV, 24 King William Street, London EC4R 9AT 🎟 Free to law firms only

Cyber Security for Law Firms: Building Resilience and Preventing Risks 📅 Thursday 8 February ⏲ 12.00pm – 2.00pm 📍 Webinar (Online) 🎟£60 Registration (gotowebinar.com)

ILFM Legal Compliance Conference: Navigating Finance & Managing Excellence Tickets, Thu 16 May 2024 at 09:30 | Eventbrite 📍The Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL 🎟 From £99

Legal Geek Growth – Legal Geek 📅 Thursday 6 June ⏲ 8.30pm – 7pm 📍 Shoreditch, London 🎟 Free to law firms on application

Get your ticket – Bold Legal Group Conveyancing Conference & Soirée 2024 – Regent’s University, Wed 19 Jun 2024 08:45 – 19:00 (tickettailor.com) 📍Regent’s Conferences and Events, Regent’s University London, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NS

Embedding culture and taking people with you | LawFirmAmbition 📅 Tuesday 25 June ⏲ 9am – 6.30pm 📍 Regent’s Conferences and Events, Regent’s University London, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NS 🎟 Form Page – LFA Conference 2023

N.B. More to come next week as the events and conference season gets closer!

You made it this far…

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this week’s edition. I hope you found it useful, and if not subscribed, go click that subscribe link to be notified when the next edition is released. It is only going to get better!

If you would like to be part of ‘The LPM Shake’n’Fix’ journey, maybe provide a ‘Top Tip’, please email enquiries@arieslpm.com.

Have a great weekend!

From, The Lady in the Blue Trousers™️👖

(aka Kirsty Pappin | LinkedIn )

* These are personal recommendations and are not included on request.