| Every successful business has a philosophy - a reason for being in business. The philosophy of this office is to provide our clients with more than lawyers or great legal technicians. We strive to be counselors as well. Our goal is to move beyond gamesmanship -- a strategy which can, at times, operate to the detriment of clients' long term interests. It is not always wise to wage war. It is up to the counselor to advise his client as to what is best, not necessarily what is expedient. If more lawyers were counselors a great many evils in our judicial process would disappear. Toward that end we have set up three criteria to refer to during the business of the day. They may be called the three B's.
BE AVAILABLE. Answering phone calls is somewhat inefficient because it interrupts work flow. But it means a great deal to the people we serve to know that they can reach us when they need us. Unless there is an important project that must get done try to be available to the clients. At least answer the phone and tell the client that you are working on something very important and ask if you can call them back. If possible arrange a mutually convenient time for your return call. This also means being available to each other for questions and problem solving. We have arranged meetings during the day to solve problems. This is encouraged.
BE RESPONSIVE. Means more than just following up on commitments to our clients. It means preparing a course of action that meets their needs and keeping the strategy on course. Every case must have a plan of action with a specific goal in mind. This also means spending quality time on the cases each day and with the clients. There is no other way to make intelligent decisions about the best legal strategy. This also means the client is kept fully informed about the progress of the case. All paperwork should be copied to the client.
BE EFFECTIVE. Are we doing the RIGHT things RIGHT. There is a difference between being efficient and being effective. We can be very efficient at counting how many times a client calls the office. But do we need to know this information in order to meet our responsibilities? This is best illustrated by an excerpt from the book "Getting Things Done," by Edwin Bliss(c): He says "The day of the old-fashioned 'efficiency expert' is long gone. Today management consultants think in terms of effectiveness, which is a broader and more useful concept. Efficiency concerns the best ways of doing an assigned job. Effectiveness, on the other hand, concerns the best use of time-which may or may not include doing the particular job in question. ... Sound time management involves thinking in terms of effectiveness first and efficiency second."
Never let a day go by that you don't examine yourself, your office and your colleagues and notice how the work gets done. There is always a better way. | 
