Friday, February 10, 2006

In The Beginning

This is not a page of words, but a page of meanings all of which hope to bring us closer to understanding the life we dream to live as professionals in an industry that breaks the backs of its own people in the name of profits and billable hours. It is an act of crossing one of my hands in yours in order to solve a problem that is reaching a tipping point and is crying out for the minds of innovators and change agents in the professions. If the calling has not been clear from the mounting evidence over the past decade that the billable hour model is destructive both to customer relations as well as to the undervalued people who have chosen to dedicate their lives to serving others, let this be our wake-up call. Malcolm X said "If you are not a part of the solution, then you are part of the problem." For those with whom that resonates, I dedicate my time and thoughts to standing with you to solve a problem . . . . . . the solution to which can and will change thousands of lives through our leadership. Who will stand with me?

(By way of background, Exemplar Law Partners has chosen to lead the changover in the legal profession to a value-pricing model from a billable hour model)